exhaust/cold air
 

i have just got my ranger about 2 months ago put a new head unit in it wich looks great but i wanted to get some more pick up and was wondering if anyone has had any good results with a exhaust nd cold air intake

You already have a cold air intake(CAI), pretty much every fuel injected engine has a CAI from the factory, including all the Rangers.
If done right an after market CAI can look better and sound cool, but won't add any power, if done wrong it can look better and sound cool, but you lose power.
Just FYI the CAI's available have all been dyno tested by independent groups, all show no power gain if done right, and power loss if done wrong.
On pre-fuel injected engines with a carb and a big flat air cleaner sucking in engine compartment air a cold air intake DID improve power, that is why manufacturers switched to CAI with fuel injection changes.

Headers can change where your power band is in the RPM range, they don't "add" power.
Factory exhaust is tuned for mid-band power.
Most headers are tuned for Low-band power, so more power starting off but power drops off at a lower RPM than factory exhaust.
You can also get high-band headers, so power band starts at a higher RPM and then continues to a higher RPM than factory exhaust.

Tuned exhaust means the flow in the exhaust pipe actually creates a suction(negative pressure) at the unopened exhaust valves, the smaller size of the exhaust valve pipe and its length creates a velocity in that pipe, when it expands into the larger collector pipe the velocity, and more importantly, the pressure drops, creating lower pressure in the other 2 pipes(V6) on that side.
This is where the Myth of engines needing "back pressure" comes from, people would put on larger pipes at the exhaust valves, "free flowing" is often mentioned, lol, but what they were doing is decreasing the velocity in the pipe so they lost the lower pressure at the exhaust valves and so lost power with the larger "free flowing" pipes.
So without understanding the principles of this they assumed the power loss was a loss of "back pressure", when in fact they created more pressure with the larger pipes.

What tuned headers do is to create the lowest exhaust valve pressure at a specific RPM, that establishes the middle of the power band curve.

so basicly dont even bother jus leave the stock shit on unless i feel like doing the headers. i would say i would want to put n exhaust that makes it sound nicer if it got me power too cool but i want it to have a nice sound deeper rather then louder if you know what i mean. oh an im having a tough time getting the shifter knob off i know im missing something like a set screw but i cant seem to locate anything obvious. thanks for the advice!

The shift knob is just pressed on, there are splines so it has a good grip, lots of surface area.

Best way to remove it is to heat it up with a heat gun then pull like hell.

Or

Put a towel/rag on a 'pickle fork'(ball joint/tie rod tool) put it below the knob then strike it upwards with a hammer, vise grips will work as well, loose on the shaft of course.
If knob is heated it would be better.

okay i have a heat gun but i thought it was threaded on

Nope, just pressed on

does it have a thread under it or are they all pressed on? cause obviously i want to replace it with a nicer one

aftermarket intakes are a waste of money. In the summer, my old K&N raised my intake air temps so it made the truck slower lol. Factory intake with a clean filter is all you need. If you want it to make more noise, pull the air silencer out. itll sound like an aftermarket K&N and its a free mod.

No threads, just splines, pressed on knob.

where is the air silencer and is it easy to get to?

so if i want a new one i have to press it back on?
or is the shaft threaded under cause most of the knobs ive seen just thread on.

The silencer is the plastic tube coming from the front of the airbox to behind the head light. If you unhook the intake tube and then the top from the airbox. Giu just yank up on the box as long as you dont have screws.

^

And if you'd like the truck to make a better exhaust note, simply replace the muffler; no need to change out anything else in the exhaust if it's just a "tone" your looking for.

The muffler shop I've used for years (small family run business) will put 3 or mor different mufflers on the truck then start it so I can hear the exhaust "note", then decide what I like best. Then they weld it on.

If it were me though, I'd stay away from the "choc-ful-o-nuts" coffee can type mufflers. There's enough of that sound floating around already. Although, that fad has seemed to die off a bit (finally).

no i want it to sound like it has more roar or rumble then that tin can sound thanks for the advice!

If you can't find a shop that will let you test sound like that pull up some youtube videos till you find one you like. I have had 2 flo-pros on mine and love the sound but people also like flow master and borla mufflers it just all depends on the sound you want and how much your willing to spend.

Mbrp sounds the best. Aside from no muffler at all.

"No Muffler at all"? You must be refering to the Roush!

I'm referring to not having a muffler..... Lol

Yes, same thing as a Roush. I've never understood why folks buy Roush mufflers, when just running "muffler-less" is the same sound!

Roush systems have mufflers.... Its most definitely not the same sound lol

I knew what you were talking about, but I've always called these air horns.

OP- Removing this part won't allow your factory COLD AIR INTAKE to ingest COLD AIR as efficiently. It's using the air horn to funnel in cold air from behind the headlight. Without it, it's pulling air from inside the engine bay, granted only 3-4 inches deeper in than it will with the air horn.

How so? By pulling this "air horn", the air for the intake is still coming from the front grill area. How would it be drawing air from the engine bay when the hole opening is facing towards the front grill?

Lol umm...no. IAT is not affected at all removing that piece

So pulling air from outside of the engine bay (the area enclosed by the firewall, two fender rails, and the radiator support) is no different then pulling the air from right beside the radiator tank (which is where the side of the box is lined up with)?