99 ranger 3.0L turbo install.

i want to install a turbonetics T3 50 Trim / Stage 1 .48 A/R turbo,with dry ceramic bearings.is there any electronic sensor changes i need?i read a 88 ranger did this and had to switch the maf to a map sensor.i want one with the light weight turbine, will this give me a lower rpm pressure? im looking from off idle to 4000 rpm boost.never at high rpm off roading so i dont care if the waste gate opens after that 4000 rpm.i also read that the ranger can handle stock,18psi before it pops head gaskets,but i was planning somewere between 8-10 psi, will i get that?any turbo gurus,help me. and please dont post any bs all i want is help thanks.

I would stick with the MAF, however, you might have to purchase a MAF that can handle more airflow without pegging. Pegging is essentially when so much air is flowing through that MAF that it can no longer read accurately.

As for as actual sensors, you shouldn't really need to change much, if any at all. What you will need to address is the fuel situation. The stock injectors are probably like a 19# injector - on a 6cyl turbo'd motor, they'll stand to about 150hp reliably. I'm not familiar with the power of a 3.0L offhand, but I would imagine that you'll make well over 150hp at 10psi... Typically with bigger injectors must also come a larger fuel pump to support the flow. A 190LPH fuel pump should work fine for this.

Now, by changing MAF's and injectors, this will confuse the computer. SCT makes an excellent programmer that many people have had success with. Sniper Tuning also makes a solid package for tuning this type of setup. Either will suit your needs.

Now, I haven't looked up this particular turbo, but why did you pick this one? Are there other people using this on a 3.0L? Sizing is extremely important here. Note that even though a Supra, Nissan 350Z, etc are all right around 3.0L, this wouldn't be a good example to follow because of the kind of rpm those motors will spin, whereas the Ranger won't. Where you ask about "will this give me a lower rpm pressure?", I assume you are asking about less lag time at low rpm? Sizing is the key here. The weight of the turbine wheel isn't going to change that drastically; picking the right turbo will be what will make or break it. 50 trim is the pitch of the turbine wheel. Different pitches are available and will change the characteristics of the turbo significantly. The "1.48 A/R" is also key to look at. That's the area vs. radius ratio of the turbo, and will also change the behavior of it drastically.

The wastegate is not rpm-dependent. The wastegate uses a reference to intake pressure to 'decide' when to open. When it sees a certain pressure in the intake, it opens to give exhaust gas an alternate path past the turbo to keep from overboosting. Thus, with the right size turbo, you will be able to make boost early in the rpm range and the wastegate will be able to keep it there as long as you want. TiAL makes excellent wastegates that are reasonably priced, and many places allow you to order it with the correct pressure of spring already installed. With the right size turbo, the wastegate is what will determine whether or not you will achieve 10psi. With the right spring, you will get 10psi. With the wrong spring, you could get, say, 3psi max, or even like 20psi max. This is simply for ease of tuning later.

18psi sounds like quite a bit on a stock block. Not to say it isn't possible; I think you will be fine at 8-10 however. Because 3.0L's are already prone to head problems, I wouldn't push this too far. I know the little 2.3L Ranger guys can get 16+psi without huge problems, but then again, most of them are using a motor that was factory-turbo'd.

Also, are you installing this yourself? Are you paying someone to do the fab work? Note that there is ALOT of fab time involved in something like this.

the reason i picked that turbo is because it is rated in the 150-300 hp range.i know i need to install a smaller turbo for lower rpm boost,i just dont want to go to small and choke myself.

i have done custom turbo work,and yes i know the hours and fab it takes.kind of funny you brought the supra in cause that is what i use to have and installed the turbo,but it was allot easier than this will be.

yes i was planning on geting a aftermarket maf sensor to keep it from maxing out the sensor.thanks for the 2 companys that make the computors.

i am going to go by ford later and see if the mustang 4.0 injectors will work with my engine for the starvation problem.

i am going to call the turbo company and talk to them about sizing and pitch angle i should use.

also since i want lower rpm boost and really no lag , should i put the turbo between the 2 pre cats and the main cat. or after the last cat?

the 4.0L and 5.0L engines both use 19# injectors factory.

With the stock cast pistons you may want to look more into the 5 psi range, it's not the head gasket you need to worry about but the 3.0L is known for pinging. With the engine n/a it can put up with a lot of ping daily, but adding boost will severly compound the problem and the cast pistons will NOT like it. The 2.3Ls that run boost on cast pistons have issues if they go above 6 PSI but with forged pistons and a good headgasket (thankfully they have a turbo specific headgasket for the 2.3L) the 2.3L can easily run over 20 pounds all day long, but again thats with forged pistons.

Oh and for 5 PSI you shouldn't need to change your MAF but you will need to tune it properly. You might be able to get away with a 19# injector (thats the upgrade for running 5-12 PSI on a 2.3L) but there are also 24# injectors out there if you need a little more. I think the thunderbird supercoupe ran the 24# injectors factory.

yes i read about the 24# injectors so i will prolly get those if they fit into place?

is there a company that makes forged pistons? i just looked on summit and they have Hypereutectic aluminum pistons,is this what u are talking about?

and i talked to the turbo company about my size and i was surprised they said i should run a TO4E-60 / Stage 5 .63 A/R turbo ; rated for 200 -350 hp. the reason being is it has a light weight t3 turbine with the high flow t4 housing and ceramic bearings which in terns means fast spool up.thats what i need.kind of weird i figure stage 1 for an engine like mine but its the opposite stage 5 is for me.

now im having a brain fart so is this how i should run the intake side. air filter - maf sensor - iat sensor - turbo - intercooler - oil vent tube - throttle body.
or should the iat sensor be after the intercooler for true intake temp?

also will the turbo be ok under the truck where dirt and road water and crap like that can get on it? wondering because theres not a whole lot of room in the engine bay for all that crap.

why does a turbo not build boost in neutral, why only driving?

also will i need to use a MoTeC / Horiba wide-band oxygen sensor.

rngrdngr said:

yes i read about the 24# injectors so i will prolly get those if they fit into place?

is there a company that makes forged pistons? i just looked on summit and they have Hypereutectic aluminum pistons,is this what u are talking about?

and i talked to the turbo company about my size and i was surprised they said i should run a TO4E-60 / Stage 5 .63 A/R turbo ; rated for 200 -350 hp. the reason being is it has a light weight t3 turbine with the high flow t4 housing and ceramic bearings which in terns means fast spool up.thats what i need.kind of weird i figure stage 1 for an engine like mine but its the opposite stage 5 is for me.

now im having a brain fart so is this how i should run the intake side. air filter - maf sensor - iat sensor - turbo - intercooler - oil vent tube - throttle body.
or should the iat sensor be after the intercooler for true intake temp?

also will the turbo be ok under the truck where dirt and road water and crap like that can get on it? wondering because theres not a whole lot of room in the engine bay for all that crap.

why does a turbo not build boost in neutral, why only driving?

also will i need to use a MoTeC / Horiba wide-band oxygen sensor.

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Forged pistons for the 3.0 are going to have to be custom made and $$$$$$. Those hyperuetectics are a little better than the stock cast ones but they're not really designed for forced induction.

I run a .48 A/R hot side and .60 A/R cold side T3 on a 2.3 and I don't really get boost until 2500 RPMs and thats with a tubular header and 3" madrel bent exhaust (both of which help boost come on faster). I'd say my turbo on a 3.0 would do what you're looking for. The one they recomended would be a good choice for making optimum power with a 3.0 which occur between 3000 and 6000 RPMs.

With your setup you can run the MAF in any position you want, before or after the turbo. You can also run any fuel injector you want, 3.0's came stock with 14s. 19's would be enough for as much boost as the cast pistons can handle but I would go with 24s for more boost than that. Just put everything together where you want it and then take the truck to a dyno shop to have it tuned.

Yes you can put the turbo under the truck but then you have to run a separate oiling system for it, which may be easier than adapting it to the trucks. I would highly recommend that you not subject the thing to mud and water. A turbo at 1200 F sure doesn't get along well with mud and water.

Turbo's don't build boost in neutral because there isn't enough energy in the exhaust to power the turbine when the engine isn't loaded up. Boost comes on as the engine loads up and the enthalpy of the exhaust gases increase. It's basically textbook engineering thermodynamics. Basically a combination of the standard internal combustion Otto cycle and a basic turbine-compressor cycle. You can control when boost comes on by varying the size of the turbo. But if you had a turbo that made boost at idle your engine would choke at 1500 RPMs.

A wide band O2 sensor would definately be helpful with tuning and would let you monitor rich/lean conditions while driving. This would be especially important with a 3.0 that like to ping even without a turbo. But it's not necessary for it to run.

My final thought is that a 3.0 is far from an optimal engine to boost. The fact that you'll most likely be stuck with cast pistons coupled with it's high compression ratio really limit how much boost you can run. By the time you get the thing really prepared for a turbo (forged pistons and rods, lower compression, smoothed out combustion chambers, inconel exhaust valves, etc) you could have a boosted 351 for what you spent getting the 3.0 there.

I'm not saying it's a bad idea, it's just that if it could be done while costing less than other ways to make power, someone would have done it by now.

Not claiming to be an expert on the 3L but in my mazda 323 I have a 1.8L dohc 4 cyl, putting out ~ 240whp (6500rpm) 220ftlb (3000rpm) at 14psi on cast (9:1 comp) pistons and 91 octane. This is a car I drive daily and have no problems with reliability in.

I don't have dyno numbers available but with good tuning (in my case factory mazda with a little vaf tweaking) the motor holds together and returns mpg's in the mid 30's.

Oh and I can make about 3psi at 5000rpm in neutral but only for an instant and thats cause my turbo is too small.

and if that seems like too much tuning for you you can always pick up a 5.0 and get a bolt on supercharger kit for a mustang they're getting cheaper and cheaper all the time maybe less costly and quicker then all that fabbing for the craptastic 3.0l

did you get all forged internals and low compression pistons b4 you put the turbo on

90mm maf and 42lb injectors out of a lightning or cobra, with an SCT X-3 will ease tuning a bunch. Look into innovate for an wideband/narrowband for your o2, i reccomend an LC-1

If you gonna run 18psi of boost, you need to find forged internals(lower comp), and alot better HG than you got now.

The turbo you got picked out, will/should boost from mid 2grand-early 5grand, depending on your set up. I dont know of any turbo headers made for a 3.0L, So def go for a remote mount set-up.

If you do go with a remote mount set-up and your cranking boost, highly recomend water/meth injection.

You sure you really want to do this? Look into a 2.3T swap(if it were me)

i might suggest getting a pair of 9b Mitsubishi turbos i would generate boost at idle in my old stealth r/t you could get them up to about 13 lb of boost dependably or you can get one step bigger n use 13g's off of a gst or gsx eclipse. the 3.0 is really not a good forced induction candidate man....that being said ifi could find my old turbos id put them on. consider propane injection it will help you fight off pinging and detonation by keeping your charge cool, and it will give you the ability to be able to safely add boost on the fly. plus you can keep using 87.

i was thinkin about doin a remote mount turbo on my truck too sometime and i was thinkin about makin a box go around the turbo so mud cant hit it and affect the cast from crackin due to heatin and coolin too quick.....just my 2 cents

you can also use methanol injection or water injection to help cool your intake charge to help resist detonation. between that and a good intercooler with a decent tune, you can proably get away with stock internals under a little more boost

88gt said:

you can also use methanol injection or water injection to help cool your intake charge to help resist detonation. between that and a good intercooler with a decent tune, you can proably get away with stock internals under a little more boost

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love the avatar bro i like the propane idea bc you could run said tank to run the truck in an emergency. they already made CNG rangers right? you could rute your windshield sprayers to spray your intercooler and freeze it with the propane. and a propane system can help you cool your intake at a greater volume for a longer time not to mention the tailgate party's you water and alcohol injection will give an engine a self cleaning effect these two liquids dont like to compress. i would be concerned about blow by.....but i wouldn't be too worried about that. if you do any high speed dessert off roading could be a concern that a liquid form of induction cooling could suffer a injection consistency issue. im just thinking that hot arid dessert climate + high engine load (sub woofers A/C ect) + extra high boost(i would imagine if i turboed my truck i would run as little boost as possible till its fun time bc mpg sucks as is and 93 octane costs more than Remy Martin)+ a given cylinder not getting uncooled air/fuel= detonation. but might not even be a worry for all i know. just thinking too much oh well

Water/Meth is very effective and IMHO a much better idea than messing around with propane. It's cheaper and safer.

http://www.alcohol-injection.com/

Also, I am relatively sure there has never been a stock CNG ranger.