Ellie the Explorer

[Nazak2009]

Finally after a few months of Steeda part delays I have gotten back from the modified shop! I can finally say part one of the many modifications to Ellie is completed! Steeda sway bar and steeda lowering springs installed along with SPD downpipes and an awesome Magnaflow exhaust added!

I got to say right out the bat even if you don't want to do any engine or exhaust modifications you have to get it lowered and a stiffer sway bar! Its like driving a brand new vehicle! So much more planted and smoother on the road! No ghost bounce after hitting a good old Missouri rainy pot hole! And just looking at the vehicle or walking up to it as it is parked there just sitting a hair lower! Sexy! I have only been driving it for a couple days and can not say any issues but also helps that the shop I went to made sure they took care of the explorer while it was in their care! I will definitely going to them for more modifications and they where excited working on it! So much so one of the shop techs is now looking to shop for one himself.

The exhaust is low and loud! It has the deep sound on start up and man is it good on the road! Wife gives me a hard time as its now a loud car but already have all the neighbors in love and the many thumbs up on the road is a good feeling! Am so glad to be gone with the cheap OEM flex pipes and will never go back to those. They where so bad the shop said they broke apart when removing the exhaust. The other thing to be aware of is that the marriage between the mid pipes and SPD are not perfect. Had the same issues as F=MA and they had to cut, expand, and then weld the expansion of the mid pipes that connects to the downpipes. Glad I went to a guy who knew what to do!

I only have a few photos and a video but will get you guys more after this snow storm and cold weather hits the midwest area! I also update you more as the car settles a little more and the exhaust has a few miles on it!

Thanks oh and ignore the chalk drawing in the video! Family Fun!

 

[gofishn]

KC does'nt get Cold.
Mildly Brisk, at worst.
Missiouri is like Arizona for poor Iowians.

 

[F=MA]

Does it have a drone on the highway in 9th and 10th gear in the 1600 to 2000 rpm range?

 

[Autoworker]

Looks Sharp!

 

[Nazak2009]

KC does'nt get Cold.
Mildly Brisk, at worst.
Missiouri is like Arizona for poor Iowians.

Ha ha we’ll today it’s winter in April! So we never know what to expect.

 

[Nazak2009]

Does it have a drone on the highway in 9th and 10th gear in the 1600 to 2000 rpm range?

I haven’t driven it long enough to give you a definitive answer. I’ll get back with you on that.

 

[Nazak2009]

Sorry it’s been a few months team! Had some big corrections and new upgrades since last post!

The magnaflow exhaust after a few weeks developed a drone. Frustrating but we put in some resonators to to help and has made it a lot milder! Also had an exhaust leak from the spd downpipe. Cracked right at the weld closest to the turbo. My guy got it all welded back up and removed the downpipe support brackets on the pipes that connect to the transmission(see pic.). Man does that make a world of difference!! I don’t feel the vibration in the steering wheel or foot pedal any more from the deep tone of the exhaust.

While there we added intercooler, blow off valve, spd thermostat, oil catch can, and hood struts. Then we did the tune! Man was I excited and amazed when they where able to pull an extra 110hp and 130 torque frothe tune! I thought driving her before was fun and damn this is a whole another level of happiness! Also make sure you check out the dyno run!

Still waiting for steeda to send the front strut brace. But now looking to start working on wheels and brakes!
Talk again soon!

 

[F=MA]

I am adding Fenfab catted downpipes and CR Stage 5 turbos soon and have a set of Magnaflow 14156 resonators I can add. Wondering which resonators did you use and where did you position them?

 

[F=MA]

Regarding removing the downpipe support brackets on the downpipes that connect to the transmission in order to eliminate any vibration in the steering wheel or foot pedal any more from the deep tone of the exhaust. Anyone else having this issue with SPD or Fenfab downpipes? Sound similar to the exhaust vibration I was getting from the angled hanger support ahead of the center muffler (Magnaflow 19515) that was expanding when hot and vibrating on a heat shield bracket.

 

[Ford Guy]

I'm curious as well. I just ordered the SPD downpipes and waiting for them to ship.
Anyone have any tips I can pass off to the dealership before install?
Looks like the support bracket on the DP that connects to the transmission is one?
How did the DP crack like that?

 

[Ford Guy]

How

Sorry it’s been a few months team! Had some big corrections and new upgrades since last post!

The magnaflow exhaust after a few weeks developed a drone. Frustrating but we put in some resonators to to help and has made it a lot milder! Also had an exhaust leak from the spd downpipe. Cracked right at the weld closest to the turbo. My guy got it all welded back up and removed the downpipe support brackets on the pipes that connect to the transmission(see pic.). Man does that make a world of difference!! I don’t feel the vibration in the steering wheel or foot pedal any more from the deep tone of the exhaust.

While there we added intercooler, blow off valve, spd thermostat, oil catch can, and hood struts. Then we did the tune! Man was I excited and amazed when they where able to pull an extra 110hp and 130 torque frothe tune! I thought driving her before was fun and damn this is a whole another level of happiness! Also make sure you check out the dyno run!

Still waiting for steeda to send the front strut brace. But now looking to start working on wheels and brakes!
Talk again soon!

How did it crack like that?

 

[twin001]

I'm curious as well. I just ordered the SPD downpipes and waiting for them to ship.
Anyone have any tips I can pass off to the dealership before install?
Looks like the support bracket on the DP that connects to the transmission is one?
How did the DP crack like that?

The first round of SPD down pipes were prone to cracking, but SPD was on top of the issue ASAP, replaced affected DPs, and revised the design. Don't worry about the ones you just ordered.

Your dealership may not install them as it involves removing emission items (catalytic converters). I was at my dealership and casually brought it up, they replied with a quick "NO". The dealership has a "Performance" division, and one of the salesmen from that group was walking by as I was talking to the service advisor and started chatting with me about my ST. He asked if it was at the dealership and wanted to look at it. Gave me the name of a local guy that has an AWD dyno and could do the install. No to call to sched the install as my FenFab catted DPs are being delivered today Hopefully I can get it done this week as I'm out of town all next week.

 

[Ford Guy]

The first round of SPD down pipes were prone to cracking, but SPD was on top of the issue ASAP, replaced affected DPs, and revised the design. Don't worry about the ones you just ordered.

Your dealership may not install them as it involves removing emission items (catalytic converters). I was at my dealership and casually brought it up, they replied with a quick "NO". The dealership has a "Performance" division, and one of the salesmen from that group was walking by as I was talking to the service advisor and started chatting with me about my ST. He asked if it was at the dealership and wanted to look at it. Gave me the name of a local guy that has an AWD dyno and could do the install. No to call to sched the install as my FenFab catted DPs are being delivered today Hopefully I can get it done this week as I'm out of town all next week.

Oh ok. SPD look to be very professional in how they manage things. Really glad I went with them. Excitement mounts every day.
I think I'm more excited about the exhaust tone more than the power lol.
With the Borla Atak and custom x-pipe I already have on, this thing should scream even more.
Many have said it will deepen the tone which I like..not too raspy.

 

[ItsTheWifes_ST]

How

How did it crack like that?

It should be noted that the "First Round" of SPD pipes that are known to crack, were cracking because of bad welds. The lack of gas on the welds, apparently is what caused them to crack. Some cracked immediately, others are cracking after 10k miles. SPD is sending out new sets to people, but they're not paying for the Labor. A buddy of mine just replaced his exhaust, SPD downpipes due to cracking and after having to pay to remove them, plus pay to add the new ones, he's a little over $1,200.00 - not real "professional" if you ask me. I went with Fenfabrication downpipes as Brett @ Fenfab was once an engineer for Ford on these eCoBoost platforms and I trust his work. None the less, the welds that he puts out, are incredible. The "ONLY" downfall to a Fenfabrication downpipe is that you will need to run a defouler since they're a true "high flow" downpipe. I believe he's using a "300 cell" cat opposed to SPD epa compliant 400 cell, which do not require the defouler. Fenfabrication supplies the defouler and it screws into the 02 bung, at time of install. Takes 20 seconds.

 

[Ford Guy]

It should be noted that the "First Round" of SPD pipes that are known to crack, were cracking because of bad welds. The lack of gas on the welds, apparently is what caused them to crack. Some cracked immediately, others are cracking after 10k miles. SPD is sending out new sets to people, but they're not paying for the Labor. A buddy of mine just replaced his exhaust, SPD downpipes due to cracking and after having to pay to remove them, plus pay to add the new ones, he's a little over $1,200.00 - not real "professional" if you ask me. I went with Fenfabrication downpipes as Brett @ Fenfab was once an engineer for Ford on these eCoBoost platforms and I trust his work. None the less, the welds that he puts out, are incredible. The "ONLY" downfall to a Fenfabrication downpipe is that you will need to run a defouler since they're a true "high flow" downpipe. I believe he's using a "300 cell" cat opposed to SPD epa compliant 400 cell, which do not require the defouler. Fenfabrication supplies the defouler and it screws into the 02 bung, at time of install. Takes 20 seconds.

Wow. Well hopefully the severity of your friends experience is an isolated incident and has been rectified now through better welding.
I've never dealt with SPD so all I go by is the forums and people seem to be happy with their service especially since they're sending new sets out.
Fingers crossed.

 

[Nazak2009]

I am adding Fenfab catted downpipes and CR Stage 5 turbos soon and have a set of Magnaflow 14156 resonators I can add. Wondering which resonators did you use and where did you position them?

The positioned the resonators behind the mid muffler. And vibrant is who we used.

 

[Nazak2009]

Wow. Well hopefully the severity of your friends experience is an isolated incident and has been rectified now through better welding.
I've never dealt with SPD so all I go by is the forums and people seem to be happy with their service especially since they're sending new sets out.
Fingers crossed.

My downpipes where apart of the early batches. Order them back in January and had installed in April due to other part delays from Steeda. SPD had the issue and corrected it for the future. They have since corrected the mistake and fixed the weld issue. The modified shop I used “modifies” so we corrected the crack and removed the supports.
Both Fenfab and SPD are good product. Either one you go with will be a much better product then the current factory set up. Your Explorer will be able to exhale so much better!

 

[ItsTheWifes_ST]

Wow. Well hopefully the severity of your friends experience is an isolated incident and has been rectified now through better welding.
I've never dealt with SPD so all I go by is the forums and people seem to be happy with their service especially since they're sending new sets out.
Fingers crossed.

Either set that people go with will do the trick, just fine. SPD is a GREAT product and has since fixed the issue. It was a mistake, overlooked and they've owned up too it. I would run SPD all day long, but I went with FenFab at the moment this was all going down, so to be safe, for me. That was my pick. SPD stands behind there product 100% but the bad part is, the labor to add and or remove, like I mentioned. Not everyone has the ability to get these installed by themselves. They're tricky and not fun. It took me 4hrs laying on my back and I wish I had paid someone.

 

[Nazak2009]

Regarding removing the downpipe support brackets on the downpipes that connect to the transmission in order to eliminate any vibration in the steering wheel or foot pedal any more from the deep tone of the exhaust. Anyone else having this issue with SPD or Fenfab downpipes? Sound similar to the exhaust vibration I was getting from the angled hanger support ahead of the center muffler (Magnaflow 19515) that was expanding when hot and vibrating on a heat shield bracket.

They looked at removing the brackets to help with the stress on the welds. As we all know the cold engine start has that insane vibration. They felt that vibration was a contribution to the cracked downpipe along with the weak welds from SPD.