Ditto what lil_Blue_Ford said on the EGR. Nothing to really be gained from deleting it. Potential to loose, especially if anyone decides they want to look closely at your swap and emissions equipment. Vast majority of tuners will no longer consider deleting emissions equipment after a crackdown by EPA on tuners a few years ago. Companies that make the equipment, like SCT, have allegedly removed the ability to disable it from their software. You'd have to talk with your tune provider about things like that.
You can swap in a manual transmission without a tune. It will throw codes and may have a few running oddities, but should work and not have drivability issues. The biggest thing is that you've got to rewire the starting circuit from neutral safety switch to clutch switch.
The pool of OBX/Maximizer headers have mostly dried up dried up, I'm not even sure if the company will make any more. I've got a set installed and while they work they ain't that great. The real deal Torque Honster headers are again available to be ordered from the original source, but expect a 12+ month lead time. I intend to get put on the waiting list myself when the money frees up but that's not happening soon. If you find a set used grab them quick because they won't last long. I've seen one set sell used in the last several years, it was on eBay for about the same price as originally paid for them years ago (or a set of OBX now) and were sold before I could get a computer to make an offer.
You don't say if your Ranger is 2WD, 4WD, coil spring, or torsion bar. If you're 2wd coil spring, you might want to look into other header options. I think people have made mustang and Tri-Y type headers work before. Of course those won't work with the EGR tube, so you'd either have to get a custom tube made and bung added to the header or find someone willing delete.
If you plan to stay stock with the engine, there's not much point in the headers. The stock manifolds are restrictive, but you won't gain a lot from replacing them. The cherry picked results provided by Torque Monster said 20 hp increase, but the results weren't back to back with no information about weather or any other variables that can affect performance. Seems like 10 hp is a more realistic hopeful number for increase from headers alone, and you're looking at about $110 per HP.
If you're set on getting TMs, place an order and wait. Seems like everyone that has is getting them eventually, somewhere between 12 and 14 months later from what I've heard recently. Don't expect any updates while you wait. They'll be finished when they arrive at your doorstep. In the interim, install the stock manifolds and benefit from the added torque and V8 noises.
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