and the supercharger kit is for the m112. a guy on ford ranger forum is re-releasing his m90 3.0L setup so id go with that. you can check out the thread here under other engine tech. he might even be roaming this site his name is 98blownranger on FRF

 

I would rather have aids than buy another 3.0

 

Be careful what you wish for.

 

i wouldnt waste my money. i drove a 3.0 and i laughed when i floored it going down hill. not to say it isnt a reliable engine (which is all it will ever be and all it should be)

i say if your spending the money at least build the more powerful engine or just get a V8.

although i could see throwing a cam or something in there while your engine is apart during a head gasket replacement or something like that.

 

Yeh you could do this to a 3.0 waste money la de da what ever. But in the long run take that money put a 5.0 in your truck take the left over money of what you would have spent and put it into the 5.0 and you will make more power that that 3.0 would. And still have more room to go....

 

The 3.0 is one of the worst engines made for the Rangers. My first one lasted 52K miles with Mobil 1 oil changes every 3-5K miles. My second one sounds like a piece of **** I have gotten it checked out and everyone says it fine. I have a feeling its about to go.

Instead of WASTING your money on a 3.0 just do a 4.0 swap and you will be alot better off.

Christian is not trolling in this thread he is just stating the facts everyone else is by say the 3.0 is a piece of ****!

 

I woulda been happy dealing with the 3.8L's that came in the thunderbirds. The tbirds were heavy as hell but those 3.8's were pretty torquey.. 3.0 motor just seems like a stupid idea espically when they put them in the 4x4 models. I can see them putting the 3.0 in the 2wd rangers but 4x4 just seems lame.

 

or you could swap a 3.0L duratec in it put forged rods and pistons and spank the Fudge out of the 5.0L. 3.0L duratec stock crank is good for 1200hp. one dude is running 970hp with 728tq.on pump gas. so..... 5.0L is not the high and mighty. yes you can make power but like everything else that takes mods. but if done right i could see a 3.0L vulcan pushing 600hp. lower the compression a little up the boost. its not the best motor to build but it will be up to the occasion. and you might wanna check what you say about the 3.0L being a piece of ****. performance wise? maybe? (i say maybe because no one really has took the time to really make power with it) durability and able to outlast some of the so call best engines? its far from ****. if taken care of this thing is like a damn diesel the truck rust around the motor. and your saying the 4.0L is much better? the 4.0L produces 51.75 HP/L the 3.0L i just a little behind at 50 HP/L so once again check what you say. And that being said the Almighty 5.0L rated at 215 is 43 HP/L or i think the highest stock 5.0L is what 250hp? which brings it back to par with the 3.0L at 50HP/L

 

mines just a daily. I don't care.

I'll go buy a STi if I want something fast.

 

Wut? 1200hp on a stock crank from the duratec? Its not forged... What kind of all mighty metal is this crank you speak of?

Sean

 

X2. I know it's a dog sometimes but you learn to live with it. I'll take care of it until I sell the truck.

 

exactly. My 3.0 has plenty of power to get around. I dont need that truck to be fast. that's what the 95 will be in a year or two

 

It's always been forged...

http://www.rumodded.com/warmonger/20...ure_Page06.jpg

Here's a 970 BHP Duratec on a stock crank:

YouTube - Noble Engine Dyno 970HP

 

I understand where you two are coming from and after reading through this entire thread I'm somewhat disturbed to see that no one ever really brought up the major factor in why the 3.0 isn't a good mod motor (IMO).

COST! Yes, I'm sure you can get the 3.0 up to 500+ HP and have a grand ol' time with it, but for most people who don't own Engine Rebuild Shops, the shear cost of having a 3.0 built to that point (and possibly re-built if something were to go wrong) is what makes it not worth the time IMO.

I can go on Craigslist and find 5.0 from 5 or 6 wrecked stangs right now. I could probably have on in my garage for around $100 bucks in 2 weeks if I tried. Rangers are a very common truck so yes I could have a 3.0 as well. The big problem I see is once you start modding the motor.

5.0s are super common mod motors. Meaning parts are every where, much more readily available and cheaper. To take an example, a stroker kit. I can get this 5.0 Stroker Kit for $750 that claims gains of 10 to 20%. Taking the middle ground of 15% and stock 5.0 HP of right around 200, you get a 30HP gain.

Pro Power : The engine parts professionals : 347 BUDGET STROKER KIT-FLATTOP PISTONS [990-21347BFT] - $775.00

In comparision, the Morana Stroker kit comes with the price tag of $3500 and claims to give 30 HP and 30 Torque for a 3.0.

Ok. So we got the same HP and Torque upgrade, however, I spent 1/4 as much on the 5.0 and I'm still sitting at more Torque and HP by about 60 or 70 since I had a higher starting number. Just seems like a no brainer since I would still have that money to spend on Intake, Headers, etc.

I'm not ragging on the 3.0. I have one in my 07. It's a great little motor. I can get upwards of 23-24 MPG on long trips (stop and go mileage sucks a bit), and I haven't had a single problem with as of yet (only at 54k on the truck so far). The power is a little bit sketchy, but with the 4.10 gears it's not bad.

In my mind though, it simply isn't a motor that I would ever want to mod. Unless I had some need for it (like a racing class displacement rule or something), I can't see my self wanting to spend $10k to get 500 horsepower out of a 3.0, when for $12k I can rebuild something like a Cammer V8 kicking out 700 HP and have a motor that was part of history. Or spend $5k to get a 5.0 built up kicking out 500 HP and isn't that much heavier.

 

I think it's interesting that so many 4.0 owners are experts on the 3.0.

I had a 4.0 OHV Explorer. It was a dog. As much noise as it made it should have been able to spin a tire, but no.

My 3.0 is a dog too, but at least it gets better than 14 MPG, doesn't spray coolant from the intake manifold gasket when it gets warmed up, or make a ton of lifter noise. It's not fast, but I bought a Ranger, not a Veyron.

If someone wants to build up a 3.0, who cares? Building up a 4.0 is just as stupid.

 

How exactly did you manage to blow a 3.0 so early? Complete cam synchronizer failure or what? That's the only part I can think of that would cause such an early engine failure, and it usually gives plenty of warning before it ever gets to that point. If not that, then a lot of abuse.

My truck regularly tows trailers with 4 wheelers and sees over 5000 RPM several times a week. Oil changes have been with regular Motorcraft or dino Pennzoil every 3-6K miles. The cam synchronizer had to be replaced at 64K miles, but other than that no work has ever been done to it. It currently has 85K miles and runs like new.

 

*and for the record when i say I don't care I mean I don't care that its not fast.

I really care about how my truck is treated so I hope to have it around till 300,000.

 

This whole thread makes me giggle...

You know why I didn't get a 4.0? Because I enjoy getting an average of 23 mpg in the city.

I wanna see your 4.0 do that.

Sure you might be quicker, but that's nothing a re-gear wont solve for me. I will take bulletproof reliability over horsepower every day.

 

And I could go on Craigslist and find a 460 for about fifty wrecked F-350s in my area and the 460 is more capable of even more INCONCEIVABLE(!) power than a 302 and in the end have a truck capable of only standing burn outs and no traction at anything past 1/4th throttle.

There are people like me in the world that don't go out and find out what is the biggest and most powerful thing you can stuff in everything, but rather, love the challenge of a build, love not following a crowd Most importantly, love the look on someone's face when they just got blasted by a 3.slow.

 

And hey I can understand that. I totally appreciate build-ups of the odd stuff. It's cool to see something out of the ordinary, especially when it works well.

But for most the 3.0 will always be a reliable motor, that will never be fast, or powerful, or torquey. It'll just be a motor that gets you from Point A to Point B for 200,000+ miles.

 

Hmm, that I didn't know. I know my SHO has forged, crank and rods. Learn something new every day!

Sean

 

No abuse and no warning just the worst engine EVER built. I have had 6 cars that went over 100K miles and this one didnt even make it to 50K. The engine I have now is just a piece of crap too. Makes so much noise and no body can figure it out.

 

Sounds like you had the same problem I had. Basicly the oil pump shaft and gear were defective in causing the #2 and #4 bearing to spin snapped the #4 rod and then at that point kaboom. To answer your question the 3.0 wasn't the worst motor ever built. I'm on my 4th 3.0 this year. It depends on whom builds them. If you got the motor from ford then you'll be alright. If you got the motor from someone like Greenleaf Corp. (Geico's supplier) then you're screwed. 2 engines from those butt monkeys in less than a month. Good thing I'd paid my deductible and it was under warranty. The first one Geico sent lasted almost to the first oil change. It would pump out 2 quarts of oil in 10 minutes just at idle. The 2nd motor Geico sent lasted 2 weeks. Too much machining cause the rear main seal to pop, busted the hanger on my exhaust and yet again oil seaping out of every possible location. We pulled the oil pan off and can move the crankshaft 1/4 of an inch bare handed and those idiots tried to tell me that the oil pan was leaking by itself, yeah and I'm the incredible hulk. They went to Old dominion salvage yard and geico bought the last engine which is still in use and it's out lasted both of Geico's sorry engines. Theirs was indeed JUNK. Geico no longer uses The Greenleaf Corporation because of this and 5 others with the same problem. Basicly what they're saying is why would you spend all of that money building up the 3.0 when you can build up a 5.0 or 5.8 and swap it in for about the same price you're willing to spend on the 3.0 is what they're saying. 3.0 is not the best that ford built nor is it the worst. The 4.0 DOHC was the worst. Too many valvetrain defects and problems (That was my 2nd ranger). It stayed in the shop.

 

Got an email from Tom Morana today.

 

kool. Can't wait to see the part. He's about the only one that will work on the 3.0 V6 which is so sad.