thinking about turboing or supercharging my 4.0 and i was wondering what the limits are for the stock internals, and fuel system are? how much boost can be ran with pump gas and water/meth inj. i was looking to get around 350whp, whats that gonna take. and where can i get a clutch to handle all this? thanks

 

Doug904 Bama Chips does all the tuning for the Superchargers from Explorer Express and he has found that the max rwhp that a ranger can put out with out changing the internals of an engine or the transmission is 275.

 

damn thats pretty freakin weak...

 

275 at the wheels is pretty good for a ranger, my 24v 5.4 gets 265 with exhaust fans and pullies

 

but if your saying the most whp a ranger can do on stock internals is 275 then personally i think thats kinda low for a 4.0... i mean some 4 bangers can break into the 300s before touching the internals or transmission for that matter... some even 400 to 500's.... but a 4.0 V6 can't even get into the 300's...

i dunno... i was considering FI for my ranger but if what u say is true thats gonna be a lil more work then what im willin to do

 

i've been looking into fi with the 4.0 and i've been seeing 250-300whp with just a few bolt ons and either supercharger or turbocharger and thats with like 7lbs of boost withouth water/meth inj. so i'm wondering if anybody has ran like 10lbs with water inj. and more bolt ons. is the comp. ratio to high or something, can you get head gaskets to lower the comp. and what about pistons rods, rod bolts, headstuds, girdles, do they sell this stuff for the 4.0?? thanks for the responses so far

 

i would PM D. i know he has built a short block 4.0 and i think doug may have too. they would know where to get the parts from, but a phone call to explorer express may help too, they have a lot of experience with those engines

 

check out super six motorsports, they have a website something like their name. they have 8.8-1 forged pistons as well as 10-1 forged pistons for the 4.0 sohc which is apparently the weak link since the rods and crank can handle the power. they also have cams and engine packages, not very many yet, but it is a start.

 

Remember....there's about a 15% loss going through the drivetrain. Meaning it's about 315 at the crank, based on Doug's 275 at the rear wheels. Every engine has it's weak spot. Remember, those 400hp Hondas are running massive turbos, and nitrus, and all that other jazz.

 

there are 400-500hp srt4 with 50trim turbos and no nitrous on stock blocks... nothing touched on the engine itself... this is just a 2.4l dodge motor

 

According to a lot of people who have gone through the 4.0 sohc (like Super Six Motorsports) the rods are pretty strong stock, as well as the crank. They say its the pistons that are the weak spot. I wouldnt compare the other 4 cylinders to this truck, it was built to last, not run 12s. If you want 350, you need a built block and a mig supercharger, m90 0r m112, or a big *** turbo like a t4 which will lag like crazy. The tranny wont handle it so you need to get an adapters for a c6 or t-5 to work on your truck and you will need either a really custom tune with a new MAF and Injectors and throttle body or a whole stand alone system and big injectors and throttle body. 350rwhp is a crazy number for any v6, thats over 400 at the crank. look at what built OHV 4.0s do and then continue thinking that you can crank out 400hp without spending way too much $$. Remember everything is possible, just depends on how much you are willing to spend.

 

yea...but the 2.4L dodger is speifically made for a high horse, fast application. Straight up made to haul a$$. These rangers are made to haul dirt. Plus, take a loo kat all the aftermarker. NOTHING in the field of rangers, at least compaired to thousands of parts for hondas and neons and stuff. The SRT already have an awesome bottom end. It's beefed from the factroy. The engines that are beefed from the factory, are made to hold up to high hp figures. Did you type "turbos"??? Umm....there's only one turbo on a stock SRT4. If someone threw an extra 20lbs of boost by adding an extra turbo, I can definately see 400-500hp SRT4s. They come stok with 245hp. I don't think you can get 400-500hp w/o touching the engine itself. Come on.....if he's cranking 500hp, he better have way better injectors in it, probably having to change out the boost spring......the list goes on. I'm just saying that there is no way to make 400-500hp out of a srt4 w/o touching the engine. W/o touching the engine would basically be adding a tuner to it.....I've never seen a tuner that boosts hp from 245 to 400, or a 155hp jump, with the only exception being new diesel pickups.

 

when i say stock block or engine i mean same heads, cams, crankshaft, pistons, rods... not injectors... these 400-500hp srts mostly have 750cc injectors... and i said turbos cause i was talking about multiple srts...

go to srtforums.com if you wanna check up for urself what these cars are putting down...

and the 2.4l engine in the srt is the same 2.4 in the PT Cruiser... so its not o so tuff... and it puts down 230hp 260tq... may be a lil underrated tho...

change out the "boost spring"... making up parts are we???


im not trying to start ne thing... i just think that our 4.0 V6 should be able to put down in the 300's to the wheels without having to worry about throwing a rod...

 

Bro, it's all good....it's nice to have an arguement once and a while. Yea, I only know a little bit about the cars, been an enthusiast since their debut. Love them SRTs. Anywho, I know it may be surprising that the 4.0L won't put out more. But truth is, there's really not that much aftermarket for these engines. Yea I know K&N makes and intake, and Gibson makes and exhaust....but take a look at all the awesome parts to which are avaliable to these other cars and stuff...I suppose, if say JE Pistons were to make .060 over pistons, and CompCams to make bad *** cams, and have Lunati make a stroker crank, I suppose our 245s would become about a 265....But, I think there may be a possibility for high power in the future with the mustang getting our motor.

But then again, there's that 302 option also.....don't forget that.

 

Can't compare I-4 engines and v-anything for bottom end strength. It's hard to beat a rod sandwiched between two mains for strength. The 4-cyl manufacturers also beefed up their engines because their small displacement automatically meant they would have to work harder. A standard cab 4 cyl ranger isn't very far behind an unmodded 3.0. While I haven't tried it, I THINK a manual 4 cyl ranger could wax an unmodded auto 3.0.

 

well to start this engine will be going in a prerunner i'm building. at most the trucks gonna see 200 miles of road driving a week. and as far as the tranny i was thinking about swaping in the t5 out of the mustang. i hear they will bolt up to the 4.0 if you change the mainshaft and clutch out for the ranger stuff. how involved would this swap be and would it be enought to hold 350+whp? i was gonna use an m90 supercharger with bigger injectors and megasquirt for ecu. looks like i'll be giving super six a phone call soon :)

 

[QUOTE=BOB. A standard cab 4 cyl ranger isn't very far behind an unmodded 3.0. While I haven't tried it, I THINK a manual 4 cyl ranger could wax an unmodded auto 3.0.[/QUOTE]

I second that, I could outrun a '94 2wd 3L with my old '88 4x4 bronco II with the 2.9L, both auto's.

 

www.pdpracing.com

 

listen to him..your trucks life depends on it...

 

DUDE! Do you really have 11000 posts??? WOW-O

 

I "waxed" my friends stock '03 2.3L reg cab XLT manual, and that was when my ext cab 3.0L manual was stock.. I do agree though, the auto 3.0L's that I have driven seemed a little umm.. lifeless?

 

ya **** happens..

 

There are some basics to making big power on a OEM stock long block.

The number one killer is detonation. And when squeezing the stock motor (boost) you have to consider compression ratio, sharp edges on the cylinder heads, clearances of all moving parts, and the pure strength of mechanical parts.

To say a "piston" is the weak link may or may not be correct. I'd want to know what failed in the piston before saying it's the weak link. Just my 2 cents..

With a propely tuned boost application **on a stock motor** you'll see one of only a couple *mechanical* failures.

1) Spun rod bearings
2) Broken rods (break apart under tension loads)
3) Broken pistons in the wrist pin area (break apart under tension loads)
4) Swelled pistons seizing in the bore
5) Head gasket failure

If the motor is fed enough fuel, proper oil / pressure, free flowing exhaust, & most importantly is tuned properly? The perfect failure would first to see a swelled piston.

It's all a balance between these items and it takes a fair amount of either high tech study.. or trial and error failures.

Could someone show me a pic of a failed piston under these boost conditions?

btw: The best bang for the buck on a stock engine is almost always nitrous. Properly controlled nitrous can make more and safer power than you'll get from a SC or turbo.

Rich

 

Super Six has posted a dyno run on a 4.0L mustang of 440 rear wheel horse power and 388 rear wheel torque, with 14psi pro-charger supercharger, their stage 3 heads and cams, and no mention of pistons or rods. I doubt that ford changed the internals of the 4.0L much between the ranger and the mustang, someone with more knowledge may want to chime in on that but I would guess if the mustang can take it the ranger could as well. Keep in mind, and look at the Dyno sheet on their site, that the high hp doesn’t kick in until high rpm’s, not where most people will use it, for the street anyway. But id does have a high torque (say 240 lbs+-) from about 2000 rpm on up. I have been leaning toward the STS universal system but haven’t done any in-depth research on the project.