I have 2002 ford ranger edge auto trans 3.0 I wanna know some good intake and exhaust mods. Like a performance intake manifold? A cold air intake? Let me know some suggestions.

 

1 word

ZERO.

 

Man do you hate 3.0s? What did it do to you?

 

Morana racing 3.0l mods: Tom Morana Racing Engines

Rangers all come with cold air intakes, also mid-RPM range headers

The 3.0l Vulcan is an odd duck engine in that it makes best power at 3,500rpms, most other engines do that at 2,500rpms
Its a good reliable engine as is, and there are just not alot of worth while modifications to increase power
It runs 9.3:1 compression so not even a good candidate for turbo or super charging

Your biggest challenge is that your automatic transmission shifts WAY to soon when in Drive, you can manually shift it to keep RPMs above 3,400 or so to get full power but thats a pain


Get a vacuum gauge, and a long vacuum hose that you can run thru the firewall so you can temporarily mount vacuum gauge on the dash so you can clearly see when driving
Hook vacuum hose up to intake manifold
Find a place where you can get to TOP SPEED without getting a ticket, OR CRASHING, lol
What you want to test is air flow into and out of the engine, under load, the only thing that counts, lol

At say 4,000-4,500rpms and WIDE OPEN THROTTLE(WOT) you want to see about 1" to 1.5" of vacuum, under 2"
If its over 2" then you do have some air flow restrictions
If it starts dropping to 0 then you have exhaust restrictions, air can't get out
It WILL drop to 0 when you float the valves, above 4,800rpms maybe, mechanically the valves can't close fast enough at high RPMs so you lose all compression and air flow stops, that's called "floating" the valves

You need the 1-1.5" of vacuum so new air/fuel mix is sucked into the cylinders, if it gets below 1" just not enough flow

After testing then you can decide how the spend your money on the 3.0l Vulcan...............but outside of an electric cooling fan conversion there is just not much that will help

E-fan conversion seen here: https://www.therangerstation.com/Mag...d_ranger.shtml

This can give you 3HP and better MPG, only thing that can do BOTH

 

they are complete gutless wonders

 

Lol. How much more power would I be getting with a 5.0 v8? Is there any significant difference in power from the v6 4.0?

 

4.0l OHV or SOHC have better power than the 3.0l for sure but you can buy a 4.0l Ranger cheaper that doing a swap, so its not a good swap to do

The 5.0l(302) V8 swaps are worthwhile because Ford never made a V8 Ranger
But you can buy V8 Rangers already done, people do sell their projects

Any swap will probably cost you $3,000, assuming the Ranger is already in good condition, and YOU do all the work, so FREE labor cost

 

OK. But how much more power would 5.0 have than a 4.0 in a ranger? Would it be significantly faster? Better on gas? I'm more concerned of the power

 

You can go a whole lot farther with performance options on a 5.0 than you can even dream of on a 4.0. Thst being said, a 4.0 with a supercharger would probably surprise you, but for that price tag, I feel you'd be better off and happier with a 5.0. I've driven a 5.0 swap ranger that was done in a back yard with zero performance mode and it was night and day to my 3.0 even when I ran 31s with 4.88 gears for a few weeks.

 

4.0l SOHC Ranger(2001-2011) was rated at 207 HP and 238ft/lb torque
5.0l(302) OHV 1996-2001 Explorer was rated as 215HP and 285ft/lb torque

The torque is what you think of as "power", thats what gets you from 0-60MPH the fastest
Horse Power is what holds you at 60MPH, or 80MPH, ect
So the higher the torque the better, HP is for sissies, lol, thats where the V8 kills the 4.0l, or 3.0l

3.0l has 146HP and 180ft/lb torque

Diesel engines in semis may only have 200HP, but have 450ft/lb torque, so they can get 20,000+ pounds moving down the road

 

Would throwing a v8 in wear out the suspension parts and tires because of a heavier engine?

 

no, it should make the ride smoother

but its only maybe a 150lbs difference so like having a passenger all the time

 

I’m working on a ‘98 3.0 Ranger, and haven’t found much of anything that doesn’t require some imagination and fabrication......a lot like the good old days in the 60s. Here is what I’m doing.
1) modifying the intake air filter box to use a chevrolet 350 k&n filter. Intake air behind the headlight needs to be enlarged.
2) the MAF sensor was modified (see rogue performance elsewhere in this forum)
3) the plastic intake air pipe between the MAF and throttle body is restrictive, so I’m fabricating a bigger one. Look inside, and you’ll see what I mean.
4) I picked up a 60mm Mustang gt throttle body, and fabricated an adapter plate out of aluminum. It doesn’t do much good to do this, unless you made sure you have a clear 60mm passage behind it, either....so grind away! Manifold runners are increased from a 1.4” minimum to 1.5”
5) stoxk injectors are only good for 150hp, but you can get flex fuel model injector, which flow 220cc/min, good for 220 hp. If you’re going to do all the steps I’m doing, you’ll need to do this.
6) I’ve ported the heads, and gone to bigger valves, better springs. I’m trying to find someone to flow these heads to get an idea of flow before I decide which rocker arm rate I’m using....If flow drops off past .460” lift, it doesn’t make much sense to add a higher ratio rocker. I’d use the prw 1.6 roller rockers with adjusters if I don’t go 1.7:1.
7) Cam Craft is regrinding my cam to 215/220...i think stock is around 190/200.
8) I bought 1.5” shorty headers (titanium ceramic coated), which will exit into a dual 2 1/4” mandrel bent exhaust system, with a dual borla straight thru muffler I’ve had laying around here for 25 years. Someone stole my EGR valve 😉, and I don’t think your car has one....
9) stock ignition is fine.
10) a good dyno tune will be essential when this is all done.

I’ll be disappointed if I don’t see at least 200hp with this setup. It would be easier to buy a wrecked 5.0 explorer....everything is a bolt in, but this is a fun project for me, eh? Good luck!

 

I'll be surprised if you get 170hp and it runs properly.

 

+1 ^^^

Fuel injectors are NOT the same as Jets in a carburetor
The computer controls open time for fuel injectors, so "larger" injectors just means computers calculations with be off so you would get RICH codes and exactly the same fuel flow as stock injectors
No increase in power at all, just a CEL and rich codes will be the result

If you turbo or super charge an engine then you MIGHT need to go to larger injectors to prevent LEAN codes
At no time was the engine running rich or lean, the codes just mean computers calculations were off
If engine actually runs rich it will smoke, if lean it will ping/knock

 

You can certainly get more power out of it but your gonna do a lot of unnecessary mods for minimum results. It's a 3.0 reliable but sluggish. And the 5.0 v8 will also be time consuming (if done right) and obviously more power. I think the 5.0 swap is something we all would do if we could lol.
Just stick to basic mods on the 3.0 intake throttle body etc..

Find something that works please share 😂

 

Prepare to be surprised Supercab! 170 @ the wheels maybe. Some of us learn a lot over doing this for 50 some years, eh?