hey everybody it's chris from steeda an awesome day today we have a 2020
explorer st with us and a whipple stage one kit that we're going to be installing on this st so
first we're going to show you a baseline 0-60 with a draggy then a product reviewed showing
you all the features and benefits of this awesome whipple stage one kit
then a top level installation to give you all an idea what if what it's like to install this
kit on your explorer st and then ultimately what we're all waiting for the after 0-60 runs to show
you exactly just how much quicker this explorer st is with that big old intercooler installed
as well as the whipple calibration without further ado let's get this thing rolling
okay exciting here we're putting the whipple stage 1 kit on this 2020 explorer st with the
3 liter twin turbo ecoboost this this thing is already pretty stout right out of the box
so i'm really excited to see what the throttle response is going to be what that intercooler is
going to add and most of all that carbon proof calibration so first off we're going to do a 0
to 60 run with a draggy in normal mode then we'll move to sport and go from there let's see we got
all right a little bit of break boost nothing crazy
right off the line normal mode 5.55 seconds all right so next up we're going to put this
in sport mode and see what it's like on the completely stock calibration
there we go sport mode
okay and definitely a little bit quicker that's cool to see sport mode doing its job 5.3 seconds
so let's take it off for the product review and see what we got on this installation
here we have the whipple stage 1 kit fitting 20 20 plus explorer st's
the kit itself is rather simple it has a really big intercooler a rtd plus calibration tool as
well as a k n drop and air filter the calibration probably is one of the most important parts
of this kit overall but it wouldn't be as successful as it is without the intercooler
this thing is massive 214 percent more volume than the factory intercooler so you can expect
those charged air temps to stay low and frankly keep power going into that 3 liter ecoboost motor
unfortunately we won't be able to put this all-wheel drive explorer on the dyno to show
you before and after gains like we normally would because we don't have an all-wheel drive dyno
but the good thing is whipple does have an all-wheel drive dyno they have tested this kit
to see up to 60 horsepower gains as well as 120 pound-feet of torque
no slouch whatsoever we're really excited to see how this thing feels once it's installed
now let's talk about this intercooler it has high flow cast end tanks for maximum durability you
have a bulletproof bar and plate construction for the intercooler stealth now when you're talking
about the projected frontal area of the explorer st for the intercooler uh this has a projected 259
percent increase over the stock intercooler that means the air is going to be getting to this thing
cooling that charge temp down and ultimately getting you more power to the ecoboost
moving from the intercooler to the rtd plus calibration tool from whipple
this is super important because it's going to update the calibration on your explorer st and
allow you to use the absolute full potential this intercooler is going to get you you're
going to get an updated shift mapping increased rpm points auto start stop will be turned off
and best of all more boost to put through this intercooler and one of my favorite things about
whipple's calibration is the throttle response you will feel a definite difference in throttle
response with their calibration installed in the explorer so have a little bit of
fun with it because it's going to be hard to keep your foot out of the right pedal
whipple includes everything you need on this kit for an easy installation on your explorer st
they do include some detailed instructions so make sure you look those over really easy to
install at home on your explorer st in any of the 50 states because this is a 50 state legal system
really excited about this installation let's do a top level install we're going to show you
kind of what to expect for an install on your explorer st and ultimately some 0-60 runs after
the installation to see just how much improvement we're going to get from the stage 1 kit stay tuned
so installation itself really isn't that bad make sure that you have all of the kit components
listed in the instructions so once you unpack everything go through the instructions make sure
you have all those components grab yourself the quick connect fitting and go ahead and
connect it to the intercooler you do not need to tighten it all the way down just just enough next
up grab the brackets and go ahead and put them on the intercooler using the supplied hardware
from whipple there are brackets located on both sides of the intercooler next up to protect the
paint on your explorer make sure you tape up underneath and around the headlight and where
the bumper meets the fender of your explorer now is also a great time to unplug the negative
battery terminal as we will be disconnecting some electronics for our installation we did
take off the wheels and tires to get better access to the wheel openings but you don't
necessarily need to do this on your vehicle we just did it for the camera angles and for ease of
use but again not necessary make sure you do pull out all of the plastic push pins and screws
in order to get access to remove the fender flares plastic factory fender flares because
the bumper cover itself detaches from the car but the fender flares stay behind pull away the splash
shield then after that lift the car up higher or if you're on jack and jack stands get underneath
and remove all the fasteners holding the belly pan to your explorer as you're doing this make
sure you keep track of your fasteners and where they're coming off and where they go
ziploc bags are a great way to do this that way you know you put your the correct
fasteners back in the correct places next up move under the hood you can start removing the
hardware that is connecting the grille to the radiator support don't forget to get behind on the
passenger side behind the front bumper cover you will actually have to disconnect the windshield
washer reservoir line you'll grab a bucket and have it empty into the bucket this is an easy
disconnect just again you'll need to have it empty into the bucket after that you'll need to move up
to where the bumper tabs connect to the fender itself there are a couple nuts there that you'll
need to remove in order to get the bumper tab free you obviously want to do this on both sides
then grab a buddy go ahead and make sure that you grab the bumper cover securely on both sides and
make sure it's free the grille itself is free from the radiator cover where it hinges on top
and carefully remove the bumper cover from the vehicle once the bumper cover is removed find a
large towel or blanket to lay it on that way you don't damage the paint when it's off the vehicle
next up remove both the passenger and driver side headlights
they'll be connected on the back side you'll want to disconnect that connector and pull them off set
them aside after that you'll want to remove the crash bar from the front of the vehicle
it's four bolts on either side you remove the crash bar at an angle
the top comes outward towards you and then you're able to slide the whole crash bar out go ahead and
remove all the hardware that's still holding the header panel onto the explorer if it makes things
easier you can remove the shroud as well there is a harness on the top passenger side of the header
panel you want to make sure you disconnect that before you pull the header panel off of
your explorer before pulling the outer panel off you'll also want to make sure any other harnesses
are disconnected from the vehicle as you can see the factory intercooler is
rather small this is why whipple includes the massive mega cooler to go along with this kit
next up you'll want to disconnect the intercooler lines that are coming into that factory black
intercooler should be relatively self-explanatory a flathead screwdriver definitely helps once you
have the lines disconnected pull the intercooler out set it aside and then grab your whipple
mega cooler as you can see the size difference between these two intercoolers is massive
obviously you're going to be able to run quite the calibration with whipple thanks to that large
mega cooler all safe and 50 state legal make sure you put your brackets in place that are included
by whipple you also have those plastic bushings that you need to put into place so you can set set
your brackets inside without any additional nvh use the whipple included hardware to append the
bracket to the intercooler a little grease wd40 is would not hurt on those factory silicone hoses
they can be a little tough to get the factory intercooler inlet and outlet connected to the car
once you have everything lined up go ahead and grab your ratchet and get everything
tightened down grab all the proper sensors and get everything installed on the new wibble mega
cooler and at this point once you have the new mega cooler installed you're ready to reverse the
disassembly process and get everything installed back on the vehicle it's very simple really not
that bad of an installation altogether grab your k n drop in air filter that's also included in the
kit and replace that with your factory paper filter gain a couple more horsepower there
and now we're ready to see the results of the whipple stage one kit on this explorer s2
all right here we are the moment i know i've been waiting for i'm sure you have too
the after zero to 60 run after we've installed the whipple stage one kit on this 2020 explorer st
so right now um i have it in normal mode i'm going to go ahead and turn traction control and advance
track off i've been told that potentially we need to make sure that everything is secure
in the vehicle so nothing goes through the back window because it launches that hard
so i'm excited to see how this thing feels all right a little bit of brake boost
oh boy wow uh that felt like launch control on a focus rs i'm not gonna lie
oh my gosh uh so that was 5.02 seconds so three tenths of a second quicker
than stock we'll go ahead and see what this thing feels like in sport
all right now sport mode this should be a little bit faster we will see uh from normal to sport
shift points revised the throttle response is impeccably different uh definitely take
a little bit of getting used to but nothing to complain about it it feels great so sport mode
traction control and advanced track let's make sure those are off hold for advanced track off
it barked the tires on the 1-2 shift that was awesome
all-wheel drive alright let's see we got
4.88 seconds that is an insane difference from stock
i mean you just talk about the difference in the size of the intercooler from factory to
the whipple stage one kit it's a huge difference obviously that means they can be a little bit
more aggressive with the calibration but this thing's 50 state legal it's it's safe
it makes this 3 liter ecoboost twin turbo absolutely awesome out of the box can't say enough
about this kit freaking awesome i'm really having trouble putting the words just how quick this
explorer st is before and after the install of the whipple stage one kit uh it's awesome uh looking
at our baseline it's a 555 in normal mode 0 to 60 and then a 5.3 second 0 to 60 in sport mode
after the install massive improvements we're looking at a 502 in normal mode and a 488
in sport mode huge improvements that's nearly half a second in sport mode um and a 4.8 second 0 to 60
in a 5 000 plus pound suv is absolutely no slouch this thing pulls honestly like a focus rs out
of the hole in launch control all-wheel drive turpin tires even the 1-2 shift bar the tires
really have absolutely nothing bad to say about this kit the throttle response is great
is 50 state legal massive intercooler keeps the charge temps nice and low as long as you're moving
and at the end of the day it's uh it's an awesome kit so if you need any more explorer sd parts hit
us up at steeda.com as well for this whipple kit for your explorer st hit that comment button let
us know your thoughts we want to know if you want to see any more explorer parts if you have
any more questions about this kit want to see it hit the drag strip let us know hit that like and
subscribe button the notification bell and don't forget the most important thing speed matters
you