How much can a 3.0 be built for more power?

[BmarX]

I have 2 Rangers, a 98 I have had for years, and a 94 I picked up with a rod out the side of the block for $300 with the intent of doing a v8 swap on it. My son decided he wanted the 94, but wanted to keep the 3.0, so I picked up another engine, went through it replacing a few things and got it ready for him.(pictured). I originally wanted to v8 swap the 98, but picked up the 94 since the swap is easier, but now I'm back trying to decide what I can do to the 98. Can the 3.0 be built up reliably/, and where do you get the goodies to do it? Or am I wasting my time, and stick to the v8..and I do not want to do the explorer swap. I have a 70's 302 and a rebuilt 69 c4..

 

[stmitch]

It's a very similar design to the old 5.0, so most of the same things that work on a 5.0 work on a Vulcan. But the 5.0 has the benefit of a huge aftermarket, while the 3.0 has little to nothing and of course nothing is really interchangeable.

Tom Morana Racing Engines

is a decent resource for some parts or ideas. I've seen some suspect work from him in the past, but I run his ARP head studs and 1.8 roller rockers with no problems.

Whipple made a bolt on supercharger for the 3.0 if you can find one.

This info is all 15 years old now, but makes for a good read: https://rogueperformance.com/boss.html

The most confirmed power I've ever seen from a Vulcan was like 330whp in a Probe that had tons of work and was running 20+psi of boost.

I've got a worked over 3.0 with a Whipple. It's not absolutely maxxed out to the ragged edge, but you won't find many like it either. My engine build stuff starts on page 8 of this thread: https://www.therangerstation.com/forums/index.php?threads/pics-of-my-rig.102433/page-7

The best bang for your buck stuff for the 3.0 are an e-fan conversion, an underdive pulley and the throttle cable mod (although that's not specifically a 3.0 thing, just an old truck thing).

 

[Curious Hound]

I'm sort of in the process of building a 3.0. I was hoping to have built it last year and get it installed right about now. But Covid and finances have really slowed me down. Research on this isn't easy. I don't have my notes in front of me. But there are forged pistons, rods and a crank out of some other engines that are supposed to work in it. Stainless headers from a 3.8l work with adapter plates. I will order a cam. I plan on a supercharger. Would like to find the Whipple. But I have accepted the fact that I will probably use an m90 and make my own upper intake for it. I hope to use megasquirt for an ecu.

It's not an easy or cheap build. But I'm not in it for "easy". I'm in it for "Wow. Look what I've learned to do." And to get more low end torque for rock crawling.

My 3.0l is serving me well. I’ve done e-fan conversion and recently replaced my intake with a snorkel. I'm running 4.56 gears, 35" tires and lockers in both different. I like my 3.0.

 

[BmarX]

It's a very similar design to the old 5.0, so most of the same things that work on a 5.0 work on a Vulcan. But the 5.0 has the benefit of a huge aftermarket, while the 3.0 has little to nothing and of course nothing is really interchangeable.

Tom Morana Racing Engines

is a decent resource for some parts or ideas. I've seen some suspect work from him in the past, but I run his ARP head studs and 1.8 roller rockers with no problems.

Whipple made a bolt on supercharger for the 3.0 if you can find one.

This info is all 15 years old now, but makes for a good read: https://rogueperformance.com/boss.html

The most confirmed power I've ever seen from a Vulcan was like 330whp in a Probe that had tons of work and was running 20+psi of boost.

I've got a worked over 3.0 with a Whipple. It's not absolutely maxxed out to the ragged edge, but you won't find many like it either. My engine build stuff starts on page 8 of this thread: https://www.therangerstation.com/forums/index.php?threads/pics-of-my-rig.102433/page-7

The best bang for your buck stuff for the 3.0 are an e-fan conversion, an underdive pulley and the throttle cable mod (although that's not specifically a 3.0 thing, just an old truck thing).

I tried to find ARP head bolts for my sons engine, none found..not even on their website. I have a supercharger off of a v6, but not a ford..I wonder how hard it would be to make my own intake

 

[BmarX]

I tried to find ARP head bolts for my sons engine, none found..not even on their website. I have a supercharger off of a v6, but not a ford..I wonder how hard it would be to make my own intake

I tried to find ARP head bolts for my sons engine, none found..not even on their website. I have a supercharger off of a v6, but not a ford..I wonder how hard it would be to make my own intake

I wonder what parts can be used, Im not looking at drag racing it..(wellll)..lol, but the 3.0 and auto are pretty tired, it made several trips to and from california pulling a trailer..

 

[stmitch]

I tried to find ARP head bolts for my sons engine, none found..not even on their website. I have a supercharger off of a v6, but not a ford..I wonder how hard it would be to make my own intake

ARP doesn't market anything specifically for the Vulcan, but that doesn't mean they don't have parts that will work. You could look through their stuff and try to find the studs or bolts with the proper diameter, pitch, and length and you might save a few bucks. Or you can just buy them from that link to Morana's page. It looks like he's got a few options for better fasteners now that weren't available when I built my engine.

The 3.0 can take some boost pretty well. JP02xlt here was running a Whipple with a bunch of boost on his 3.0. He had a bunch of miles on it, and was spinning it really fast and stretched rod bolts. That's the only bottom end failure that I've read about, and it seems like a pretty extreme use case. You might look through some of his old posts to see if there's anything valuable

 

[racsan]

make sure your axle has low enough gearing to put the 3.0 in its powerband, they like to be revved up, I had a 3.0 that came with 3.45’s, thats way too steep, need at least 4.10’s (and thats with stock size tires) all the power mods in the world wont do much if you cant get the rpms high enough to be where they need to be. Swapping in a used rear axle with the gears you need isnt too bad of a job, might be the best “bang for the buck”.

 

[Dirtman]

You are all forgetting one important thing...

Engines is goes vroom.

 

[Bird_man]

To name a couple relatives of Ford's 3.0 Vulcan V6 engines 2 60degree ford engines come to mind. Starting with the 1932 Ford flathead v8. lts cylinder banks are set 60degrees apart for a clean narrow design. Ford's first V8 is legendary. Ford's latest and greatest V8 is also closely related to a 3liter Vulcan V6. Ford's new SuperDuty gas V8 the 60degree OHV Godzilla motor. @7.3liter/460 cubic inch l think its the biggest GAS truck motor Ford has ever built. 430 low rpm HORSES make it outpull any Gas V8 truck on the market. My neighbor works for a bridge company. He says his new F350 7.3 GAS outpulls anything he's ever seen in a pickup with its 4.30 gears and 10sp automatic. My little 3.litre V6/5spman/4.10 gears seems to pull as well as my 04 3litre Frontier w/170hp.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

To name a couple relatives of Ford's 3.0 Vulcan V6 engines 2 60degree ford engines come to mind. Starting with the 1932 Ford flathead v8. lts cylinder banks are set 60degrees apart for a clean narrow design. Ford's first V8 is legendary. Ford's latest and greatest V8 is also closely related to a 3liter Vulcan V6. Ford's new SuperDuty gas V8 the 60degree OHV Godzilla motor. @7.3liter/460 cubic inch l think its the biggest GAS truck motor Ford has ever built. 430 low rpm HORSES make it outpull any Gas V8 truck on the market. My neighbor works for a bridge company. He says his new F350 7.3 GAS outpulls anything he's ever seen in a pickup with its 4.30 gears and 10sp automatic. My little 3.litre V6/5spman/4.10 gears seems to pull as well as my 04 3litre Frontier w/170hp.

Neither the flathead or the 7.3 gas (both of which are 90 degree) are in any way related to the 3.0. Neither are the 60 degree cologne engines.

The 444.9 cubic inch 7.3 Godzilla is smaller in displacement than ye olde 7.5 liter 460ci V8 of yesteryear. Lighter too... although that would not take a whole lot.

 

[Shadowrider6661]

Welcome to the club.