Anyway to beef up my 2.3?

[Shawn_248]

I know the 2.3 is no powerhouse to begin with, but I was wondering if anyone knows of a cheap way to squeeze a little more power out of it? Maybe just something as simple as doing something with the intake?

 

[dngr_rngr94]

Pull the intake muffler out, get a cone filter adapter/cone filter. Exhaust.

 

[96Greenster]

Check out my cardomain page. This mod did make a lil difference in sound and performance, i think... my lil banger does make an awsome whistle sound while driving at a steady 2500 rpm and a loud roar while taking off, I think that alone is worth the modification. But thats me. Hope it will help u out. http://www.cardomain.com/ride/3012692

 

[96Greenster]

I forgot to say... I used 3'' exhaust pipe, bu I recommend using a 2.75'' pipe cuase i had to cut and bend the ends to make it fit. And for filter I bought the K&N filter for that truck, but i cutted the airbox almost all of the half that covers the filter. I just left a round ring and the bottom part that holds the cover in place, hope i make sense. I must say that the intake roar at WOT is way louder than my exhaust. Let me know if u need more info or help. Later.

 

[Capt Jay]

Earrings on a pig. I hate to say it but a 4 banger in a truck is and oxymoron. Enjoy the mileage and upgrade when you can afford it.

 

[96Greenster]

...mmm...okay,....what...who has earring on a pig?

 

[timpat92855]

Whats your gear ratio? Prob. 3.73 or higer. Find a axle with 4.10s and swap in it for some added grunt. It will be the best bang for the buck. I found a axle from a 2000 4x4 with 4.10s for $150 local so they are not expensive if you shop around. My 97 with stock tires loved the 4.10 gears. I have 31s and steel wheels now and its sad.

 

[Frank The Tank]

We have nose rings in our hogs... to keep em from rooting under the fences.

He is however way off base... there are some bad mama jamma 4cyls around... they just cost a lot of money, there isn't a whole lot you can do on the cheap to get power out of one. Turbo's are the way to go, but do you really wanna rebuild the entire engine and drop that kind of coin to pull the true power potential out of it?

I'd just do a nice exhaust and free up the intake and drive the hell out of it... then later down the road dare to be different and bale on yet another naturally aspirated v-8... like a bellybutton.
I have the truest bellybutton in the world... a red camaro with a N/A sbc 4 bolt main, but i did just get my set of Keith Black pistons in... and aluminum heads are on the way to replace my worked over 375hp double humps, so i might just keep picking my bellybutton for a while.

But dang I always wanted something along the lines of a 600hp 4.3 liter v-6....... or a 3.8 guess after modding diesels and v-8's i just have an extreme drive to do something off the wall. It's all hp and tq, it's all bada$$

 

[dangerranger83]

I'm putting a 2.8 in my 1983 ranger 4x4. The 87 4-banger it currently has just doesnt have any power and I dont want to put a turbo on it (even though I think it would be great to have). My 4-banger only has 120,000 miles. The v-6 has 180,000 miles on it but I am rebuilding it.

 

[96Greenster]

Yep. Like frank said, easiest and cheapest you can do is the exhaust and intake. That will let OUR lil 2.3 inhale and exhale alot easier... What I do every now and then is inject water or throttle body cleaner in the intake manifold to keep the inside of the intake clean, it will run alot smoother also. Also shuts that damn sparknock or pinging for a while!

 

[Ranger Sport Honduras]

any pics of the header??

 

[Shawn_248]

Whats your gear ratio? Prob. 3.73 or higer. Find a axle with 4.10s and swap in it for some added grunt. It will be the best bang for the buck. I found a axle from a 2000 4x4 with 4.10s for $150 local so they are not expensive if you shop around. My 97 with stock tires loved the 4.10 gears. I have 31s and steel wheels now and its sad.

Trucks got a 3.45. Thought it had a 3.73 but I saw the tag on it when I was checkin the fluid the other day. maybe thats y its so slow

 

[Sprag-O]

Mine had 3.45's and I was running on stock tires.... Thing was a dog.

Now with the 4.10's, even with 31's on truck, the thing is wayyy better then stock.

Also have the "Cone removal" mod, and 3" hi-flow cat - 2.5" back, but that won't net enough power to feel it in the butt dyno.

 

[Beanmachine7000]

Just drive it... I drove a 2.3 Ranger for years and had no problem ever getting up to speed even pegging the speedo if I wanted... Of course it never did do the 1/4 in 12 seconds, but It wasn't my race car either... It was my DD I could put the trash in the back and sill get 26-27 mpg...

 

[Frank The Tank]

I removed the intake baffle.... and for real it added a good hill pulling gain.

Frank