Gearhead Tuned ~ 21' ST

First, I apologize for the picture, we bought the truck right be before the great Texas Snowmageddon!

As the title implies this will be wife's car and the family hauler. She has wanted an Explorer for last 10 years but it just never happened until the ST came out. When Ford dropped the price of the of 21' models we couldn't resist picking one with the intention of turning it into a street monster . The current plan is take the ST down to Houston Raceway on February 27th to get track times while the truck is 100pct stock. From their we plan to take the truck over to Gearhead Tuning in Texas to begin the project.

They are another solid Ecoboost tuner but this will be their first Explorer ST. I'm going with them is because they are local to me and did excellent job tuning my 17' Taurus SHO, plus they have a great autoctane tune for the SHO that I hope can be replicated on the ST. After nailing down some tunes in stock configuration a Whipple intercooler will be installed and truck will be dyno'd again. Then FenFabrication DP's and XDI fuel pump will be installed followed by more dyno sessions. The Gearhead already makes quality upgraded turbo's for other platforms and they are going to start working on some designs for the ST which will be used on this build.

The overall goal for the build is to achieve as much horsepower and torque possible from the stock motor with bolt-on's. After the project is complete the truck will be taken back to the track for some new times then back home for some exterior/cosmetic things like ceramic window tint along with paint correction and ceramic wax. It's going to be a fun year!

At first glance I thought you were in the process of washing this beauty and this was some kind of foam spray!

Welcome! Look forward to your build.

Project was delayed a bit but the ST is going down Wednesday for a baseline dyno run then the fun begins! My wife has been having a lot of fun running the ST at the track. The best time we have been able to achieve with full weight plus car seats and kid stuff is 13.5 with my wife driving. She’s really excited about making the ST go faster, more specifically she wants to beat my 17’ SHO

I should have a lot of dyno results to post over the next few weeks since a mod will be installed then the truck gets dyno’d, then another mod followed by another dyno session etc.

Here’s some of video of the runs.



SHO vs ST

Very cool. I’m sure Matt and Team will do a good job. I liked working with Matt


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Yah I have had a great experience with him tuning my SHO. He responds to emails quickly which is nice . I sent him a log last Friday and he sent me a revision an hour later for my SHO! I think we’ll be seeing a bunch of Gearhead tuned ST’s by the end of the year.

Awesome videos!

So I have some progress to report on the Explorer. Downpipes, intercooler have been installed. Still on stock turbos for the time being. The dyno broke so Matt wasn’t able to the final numbers but I’m guessing it’s putting down between 520-550whp. With intercooler and E30 she pumped out 500whp peaking 21 lbs of boost.
I picked up the ST from GHT this past Friday and just finished a 3500 mile road trip in it yesterday. The tune was great and the extra power is useful, hilarious, and seeming on demand even at the top end. On the Auto Octane tune I get around 22mpg highway on 93 and 23 mpg on the E30 tune.
I have not been able get any times yet but we’re planning to track the ST this Friday if it doesn’t rain. I am pleased to report that the ST smoked an AMG 63 from an 80 roll to 130mph on the auto octane tune running 93

In all the ST feels great and it’s obvious she’ll need some radials before I go much farther. The transmission shifts so smooth and handles the power with ease. The suspension feels great and and the explorer performs well at high speeds, no wafting or vibrations. I am really impressed with the platform and look forward to getting some times and pushing the build. I should have some video’s of my wife racing the ST this Friday at the import vs domestic @Little River Dragway!

I got two dragy runs in today. First one didn’t register for some reason but the second run resulted in a 12.35. I think I left some time in the launch by not brake boosting enough but I’m pretty impressed. The truck was full weight with a full tank of gas. Typically you lose .10 when you hot lap these eco boost engines. I’m still working with Matt from GHT so I’m sure we’ll be able to shave some more time. Those 11’s are right around the corner

Just to make sure, those latest times only reflect a Whipple intercooler and downpipes? Just for info, were these SPD catted downpipes? I know Lokiwolf is running low 12s completely stock with just a ZFG tune.

Not bad at all…it should be able to hold about 28-2900 rpm on the foot brake with a 93 tune and still get a solid launch. Mid 1.7X 60’s are pretty easy once you get the launch down. So you definitely have a little more in it. I’ve seen 12.10 on the same combo of parts on 93.
Mine will hold those RPM’s on the brake on E50 but the tires can’t handle the hit and it’ll blow them off..I can only launch on the street at 26-2700 on an ethanol tune but it’s substantially quicker.
I assume that’s a 93 tune….

Fen fab downpipes. Yah I kinda mentioned it earlier but GHT never got final numbers after downpipes were installed. The dyno broke so the tune is still in progress. The normal process of dyno run/ revision/ dyno run/ revision etc didn’t happen. It will take a few revisions and some runs to safely dial it. I’m not worried, gotta start somewhere. I already sent off a log from the run so we’ll see soon.

Yah my first launch was at about 2800 and resulted in an nice burnout. I tried another launch shortly after and hit gravel and briefly went sideways. The third launch was the 12.35 and I mis-timed the launch and let go at maybe 2k rpms. The wife and I went for a cruise later and she had a few nice launches but the stock tires bust lose on the street if you hit 2800+. Wheels and radials are coming soon! Either way it will be at the track Friday to get some more logs/data/times.


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I got a revision today, I also found a rattle that was causing false kr. False Kr was causing the tune to pull timing. Ass dyno tells me she has a little bit more omph, we’ll see tomorrow.

Track rained out on this Friday

Story of the south right now.

Soon to be followed by two years of drought.

At least my cars will stay clean for a change. lol

I found the false knock, I think. I had this faint rattle but could never exactly pinpoint. The rattle got way worse over the last week and flex pipes are the culprit. I saw another member had pretty good luck cutting out the stock mesh covered flex pipes and replaced them with some woven flex pipes. Here is a short clip of the rattle.

Took the ST up to Kinny’s Muffler Shop, they share a building with the transmission shop.

I cannot believe how amazing the exhaust sounds. It has a commanding bassy sound that is absolutely beautiful. When I dropped the car off it sounded like a I dragging tin cans behind me due to the flex pipes. Now it sounds like a super car, it’s awesome!

When I pulled in they were installing two systems in his and hers Maserati’s so I figured Is in the right spot. The exhaust cost $1100 installed with 3” tips and $1400 with 4” tips and the woven flex pipe.

I don’t think I have ever been so happy with an exhaust system, not mention the insane KR issues from the stock system are gone. I hope to get her to the track this week if it’s not raining but I’m sure it will be raining.

A few people have videos of the same system on YouTube if you search Kinny’s Explorer but videos don’t really capture the full range and feel of the system. Here’s a few pics of the system:

Found the last source of false knock. I hit a pothole a month ago in Michigan in the middle of the night and apparently a couple pins were broken on the fender which was also causing the wheels to run the inner fender well.