Increase Power

[AdminPower]

I have a 99 ranger (3.0L) with about 104,000 thousand miles on it.. It's been a great truck for me over the years and I'm now in the position where I can afford to do a few modifications. The truck came with a flowmaster dual exhaust system on it but it got old and one of the pipes rusted off the muffler After that I had the system replaced with a stainless steel magnaflow system. (Single) which seems to improve my mileage a good bit. I went from getting 14.5 in the winter to about 16.5 and about 17 - 19 in the summer. Anyway I was wondering what the best thing to do to it at this point would be. I've heard good and bad things about aftermarket intakes... mostly bad. I'd like to do something that would give me a moderate performance upgrade. What I wanted to know about intakes is, would it make any difference in my case that the intake would be paird with a performance exhaust system? Everywhere I read where people are complaining doesn't say anything about an intake paird with an exhaust system. Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[rurouni20xx]

the intake system (i built cuz none were avail for a 93 ranger 3.0 a few yrs back) combined w/ my exhaust (dif cat and multiple exhaust combinations) helped a good bit, at 180000 miles i was getting the 21 23 original mileage that i got stock at 70000 miles, but over time fell to 16 18. yours being a newer trk may get better mileage and lil more power by adding one to your exhuast system. b4 warned, your exhaust note may get louder from the added extra air. some ppl are going throttlebody and maf mods as well, i have a thread posted about the potential problems of the maf mod under maf mod interesting tidbit. another route you could go would be 1.7 roller rockers and possibly even underdrive pulleys, which according to others is more worth the money than an intake system. i personally dont have experience w/ the rockers or underdriving because i was unaware of their availability b4 my trk died at 280000, but im going to install them when i stroke it to 3.3 and add a turbo.

 

[AdminPower]

Would I receive any boost in fuel economy by adding an intake even if I didn't receive a performance increase?

 

[Rearanger]

Fuel economy and performance increase do not compute. More HP needs more air and more fuel. If the truck is overly restrictive in intake and/or exhaust then allowing better flow would help, but that would mean you could get more performance by opening up the throttle to take advantage of the better flow - which would equal more air and more fuel = less fuel economy.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

the factory intake upstream of the throttle body is not a restriction. niether was the stock exhaust. there are no improvements to be had here.

lower gears, roller rockers, chip, and underdrive pulleys. if you do all that and it still isnt enough, sell it and buy a 4.0 SOHC, boost it, or swap in a v-8.

 

[fleck]

the factory intake upstream of the throttle body is not a restriction. niether was the stock exhaust. there are no improvements to be had here.

lower gears, roller rockers, chip, and underdrive pulleys. if you do all that and it still isnt enough, sell it and buy a 4.0 SOHC, boost it, or swap in a v-8.

the intake and exhaust are specifically designed to give the most power and fuel economy without mods. but what happens after mods? i bet there would be a gain to be had with a more open exhaust if you do mods.

 

[Wicked_Sludge]

any internal engine work that would render the factory intake and exhaust restrictive is not worth the time and money on this motor. you could spend thousands on porting, polishing, boring, stroking, etc etc and still have less power than simply turboing the engine.

only one of the mods i suggest (rockers) increases the air the engine moves...and then not by much. the other mods change the engines load or timing to create a percieved gain in power.

 

[Hypnotic Toast]

lower gears, roller rockers, chip, and underdrive pulleys. if you do all that and it still isnt enough, sell it and buy a 4.0 SOHC, boost it, or swap in a v-8.

+1

 

[rurouni20xx]

like sludge said an intake and exhaust system are the start to many other costly mods later, but the most the engine will push n/a is around 150-160ish. valvetrain and head design along w/ slight undersquare engine makes this more of a candidate to make torque, not hp. it is quite a revver tho, if you do the underdrive itll free up the ponies on top and a chip/tuner to clean up the map will help as well. the more mileage conception of the larger intake and exhaust is true under these conditions: you increase the power and dont have to open the throttle as much to accelerate, but the little bit you helped just changed the amount of a/f overall, and any amount of throttle you give it the engine is sucking in that much more to create this power, hence there is not an effective gain in mileage. giving the engine bigger lungs is great on some vehicles, but def not on the 3.0. the only effective increase ive seen by putting an intake and exhaust on a vehicle was a cummins turbo diesel, and that my friend, is a huge difference.

 

[betomonroy]

How about HHO?
I am a couple of weeks from installing this system and I'm hoping I can curve more horses and mileage... Any bets?

 

[Bob Ayers]

How about HHO?
I am a couple of weeks from installing this system and I'm hoping I can curve more horses and mileage... Any bets?

If you do, it will be from the "placebo effect"!!