how to get more power

[madeforspeed]

How can u get more power out of a 3.0

 

[stmitch]

The same way you get more power out of any pushrod engine. Increase efficiency by aiding air flow into/out of the engine, and add fuel accordingly.

What are your goals? What are the details of your truck? What is your budget? What is your skill level with a wrench?

 

[bucko]

How can u get more power out of a 3.0

Trade it in for a V8.

These 3.0's are not going to provide much in the way of power gains. Doing a search here or on google will net you a few things that can be done, but for the money spent, it's not going to gain you any neck snapping or seat of the pants gains. There is a supercharger kit (I think) for the 3.0, but I'm not sure if the stock internals could handle that.

Most who want to impress the other small truck crowd with their Ranger do a Ford Explorer V8 swap. Engine, transmission, ECU and it's wiring are required.

 

[James86]

I've pondered what the results would be with milled heads to raise the compression and a port and polish. I only run E85 anyways and in any event if I don't have the foresight to fill up at any of the hundreds of ethanol stations in my state, there's premium. I'd imagine I would need a tune to take advantage of the raised compression and higher octane though.

 

[JP02XLT]

Trade it in for a V8.

These 3.0's are not going to provide much in the way of power gains. Doing a search here or on google will net you a few things that can be done, but for the money spent, it's not going to gain you any neck snapping or seat of the pants gains. There is a supercharger kit (I think) for the 3.0, but I'm not sure if the stock internals could handle that.

Most who want to impress the other small truck crowd with their Ranger do a Ford Explorer V8 swap. Engine, transmission, ECU and it's wiring are required.

You may not know this but, a 3.0 will hold 16+ psi all day long on stock internals, and a great tune. There are no direct serious performance hard parts for the 3.0 available other than (Morana stuff) but there are some interchangeable parts from other engine platforms that also fit the 3.0 engine with some work

At 16-18 psi it will easily make really good neck snapping HP & TQ, well over any bolt on modded V-8 in any vehicle. Is it easy to do? no, nor is it cheap, custom parts / machining is not cheap, the real question is how fast do you want to go? speed costs money.

As for the v-8 swap, I have personally ridden in and help build an S10 with a cast iron v-8, fairly modded, final word, it was slow, handled like a pig, traction suffered dearly as it was nose heavy, and was a pain to work on as far as anything in the engine compartment, oh I forgot, it ran very warm anytime the temp was in the 90's and he had to sacrifice the A/C for the install, the long tube headers super heated the floor of the truck all the time, it was a real joy to drive or ride in (Sarcasm).

A Ranger or Dime with an all aluminum 4.6/5.4 or LS1 could be an entirely different animal, seen a couple in the mags, never had the pleasure to take a test ride, but a build I have thought of often.

Long story short, there are much better platforms for fast than the Ranger, but I can tell you that having a little sleeper is a blast, so it can be done.

JP02XLT

 

[bucko]

I believe the early Explorers shared the same frame as the Ranger (?), so that may be why the Explorer V8 swap is a talked about swap for the Ranger.

I was not aware that the 3.0 could handle that much boost, but as I stated, the cost to utilize it would, IMO, far outway the benefits you might see over doing a V8 swap.

For me, the 3.0 is doing fine chugging along. If I want more go power, I drive my 2011 Mustang.

 

[stmitch]

I believe the early Explorers shared the same frame as the Ranger (?), so that may be why the Explorer V8 swap is a talked about swap for the Ranger.

I was not aware that the 3.0 could handle that much boost, but as I stated, the cost to utilize it would, IMO, far outway the benefits you might see over doing a V8 swap.

The stock explorer 5.0 was rated at 210-215hp at the crank. Those numbers are easily beatable by just boosting the 3.0. And, you'd have something less common than the v8 swap, and you'd retain better weight balance for Improved handling.

There's nothing at all wrong with a v8 swap, but lots of people seem to think that they'll be getting a 10 second truck with a 5.0 swap, and that's not really the case without lots more cash, and work.