94 3.0L intake

[Redav72]

I bought a non-working 94 Ranger from a young guy. He'd removed the stock airbox and intake as well as the stock muffler. In place of the intake I have a some 3" PVC tubing from the Menards discount bin, he did jerry rig the MAF but I'm not sure that it's measuring correctly now that it has to manage a much larger intake pipe. I've been unable to find a stock intake at the local junkyard and am looking for options on how I can restore a more regular air flow to the engine, what I have now is loud and obnoxious.

 

[Redav72]

I found a local 94 4.0 in the U-Pull-it lot. Does anyone know if the airbox assembly is the same on the 3L and 4L? I know the snorkel is different but I can get that on ebay. If the 4.0 airbox works I should be able to cobble together the systems.

 

[SenorNoob]

I can't speak anything that new, but the lower filter housing was identical on my 88 2.9 and the 91 4.0 I was pulling parts from. The top was only different in that one had the MAF bolted to it. You could try looking up the stock filter for both vehicles. If they use the same air filter, the housing can likely be made to work.

 

[mtnrgr]

I found a local 94 4.0 in the U-Pull-it lot. Does anyone know if the airbox assembly is the same on the 3L and 4L? I know the snorkel is different but I can get that on ebay. If the 4.0 airbox works I should be able to cobble together the systems.

Ford did the same style air filter box from 92-94, only the bottom part was the same. The top part for the 2.3 and 3.0 were the same, the 4.0 was different..4.0 maf sensor housing is bigger . A 3.0 maf housing will not bolt to it. For a 4.0 lower air box, make sure it has the hole for the iat sensor, can't remember if these had it not..haven’t messed with a 4.0 in years. A 92-94 2.3 top airfilter box lid will work. In 2022 I needed to replace the entire unit on my 94 3.0 ranger, absolutely found nothing anywhere. One day I went to my friend's yard, and he still had a 93 3.0 ranger I had forgotten about..been there for years. I went to look at, needed a good cleaning. I removed it and gave it a good cleaning and installed it. Last year I found a complete unit intake hose, airfilter box etc from a 94 b3000. These older 3.0 rangers are getting more rare in yards theses days. Sometimes we need to peice things together, we know what other parts can work we make it work. There are aftermarket oem style intake tubes on ebay...as you mentioned.

Could you post a couple of pictures to see what all your needing to accomplish? I have a good idea, I like to see what you're working g with.

Here's some of my 3.0.

 

[Redav72]

That's a great looking engine bay! You can see the prominent home-depot air system that my young friend cobbled together. I'm pretty sure the MAF section is unusable for anything stock at this point. Does the airbox have a snorkel that extends toward the bumper or does it draw air directly from the engine compartment.

 

[mtnrgr]

Appreciate it, in almost 31 years of ownership of my ranger...alot of work has been done to the engine compartment, etc.

I've seen worse, yet that's shady work done. You will definitely need a maf housing, hopefully the sensor is still good. There is a snorkel that goes to the front and mounts to the radiator support..you will see a hole between the radiator and headlight. I will get some pictures of it in my truck and the spare one I have to see how it's designed.

With a setup like that , that engine must run horrible.

Is there a heat shield mounted on the passenger side exhaust manifold? Yes, great, no, you will need that for the lower part of the bottom airbox assembly.

 

[Redav72]

pictures would be terrific. The heat shield is gone so I'll add that to my junkyard list. The engine does run pretty poorly, but that's a multi-factor problem. It's also got an aftermarket IAC valve that is also creating some challenges with idle, but one thing at a time.

 

[mtnrgr]

Those aftermarket iac are junk. See if you can find an oem at the yard..may need a cleaning, yet still better than the new junk these days. I have 3 oem spares from the yard I've gathered through the years. You may need some vacuum lines to run this correctly if they have been removed. My collection of those hoses also gathered over time.

Here are some pictures.

 

[Redav72]

So what’s the purpose of the heat intake? Does the actuator flip to get or cool air in the presence of vacuum?

 

[mtnrgr]

Vacuum hoses are for that cool / heat sensor on the airfilter box lid. The route to the exhaust manifold, I don't remember for that one.

 

[arse_sidewards]

I bought a non-working 94 Ranger from a young guy. He'd removed the stock airbox and intake as well as the stock muffler. In place of the intake I have a some 3" PVC tubing from the Menards discount bin, he did jerry rig the MAF but I'm not sure that it's measuring correctly now that it has to manage a much larger intake pipe.

The MAF generally doesn't care what's before or after it unless something stupid happens involving resonance or something which is not going to be a problem at low volumes like start/idle. Furthermore, a bad MAF reading won't prevent the truck from at least trying to start.

I've been unable to find a stock intake at the local junkyard and am looking for options on how I can restore a more regular air flow to the engine, what I have now is loud and obnoxious.

Perhaps that's why the other guy threw some PVC on it

That's a great looking engine bay! You can see the prominent home-depot air system that my young friend cobbled together. I'm pretty sure the MAF section is unusable for anything stock at this point. Does the airbox have a snorkel that extends toward the bumper or does it draw air directly from the engine compartment.

Other than the lack of air filter what you have there seems fine. You're almost certainly barking up the wrong tree with regard to the no-start.

 

[mtnrgr]

He mentioned it's not running properly. With a full on shady intake like that setup, it will definitely make it run poorly. Seen to many thru the years to people remove the stock setup for this and runs horrible, won't start, etc.

I suggest they put the stock intake back on, that person did and all problems went away. This owner needs to find a complete stock intake and this ole 3.0 will be much better and happier.

 

[arse_sidewards]

The intake isn't helping but there's probably some other underlying problem.

 

[Redav72]

Yep, I don't the intake is the sole issue. I pulled the ignition coil and condensor, they aren't testing quite up to spec and it's a quick swap so I'm going to take care of that today. I got the timing to 10-degree TDC with the spout jumper removed. I haven't been able to find any vacuum leaks. Just trying to work my way through methodically.

I did replace the aftermarket IAC with a stock Motorcraft, that's really helped the idle.

 

[mtnrgr]

Great to hear you're getting this 3.0 sorted thru. It will all come together to have a good running engine.