my cobbled together thing/questions as I think of them

[03ishfrankentruck]

hey my name is Traui, I bought my truck last year, it had a bunch of stuff that needed fixing, but I knew that from the start. Most importantly it was the right price Anyway, it is now all the same color and doesn't shake when I drive it, so that's good. And I'm learning to wrench on stuff, so that has been a ton of fun. until stuff gets stuck, then it is a lesson in swear word vocabulary. Mostly that mine is insufficient for hidden bolts with rounded over heads.

 

[03ishfrankentruck]

So far the list of repairs and a couple mods is...
Both front fenders replaced,
bed replaced,
I welded in a new floor in the driver side made out of metal from the old bed.
then after getting slightly less turdlike at welding I welded in a cab corner on the drivers side.
Also tie rods, upper control arms, and new brake lines/pads/rotors
ohh and because I had to replace the shackles on the leaf springs I got a two inch rear lift shackle set, and put in new torsion keys.
and bushings
Today I replaced my left cv axle, the boot had split, and being in nh junk and probably salt got in there and wore it away, so it started binding in four wheel drive.

 

[03ishfrankentruck]

Anyway, as for questions, I need to replace the exhaust, the most recent thing is that there is a hole in the muffler, and I'm going to just replace the exhaust, doing a cat delete because its legal where I live. I was wondering, what will give more power, a dual exhaust or a single?

 

[03ishfrankentruck]

And im new to the whole forums thing, so is there a place I should move this thread? Thank you to all who have written such useful stuff on this website, it has been incredibly helpful to me as I work on my truck.

 

[03ishfrankentruck]

This was the truck a couple days before I painted it, late July first week of august this summer

 

[03ishfrankentruck]

And yes that is a terrible way to mount a kayak, thankfully we were only driving five minutes,

 

[bobbywalter]

4.0 cammer?


i would leave the cats and single 2.5 from there out past the bumper. it likes the cats, the o2 sensors work better with them.

but if you are willing to have it tuned, you want to tune out the secondary o2s and relocate the primary o2s to more heat then you can dial it in for decent power. at this point a nice h or x pipe with 2 in duals might make sense.... finding a tuner is not always the easiest thing for these though...

if it is a 3.0. well. i would just leave it alone.

 

[03ishfrankentruck]

Okay thanks! It's a '03 4.0, SOHC, at this point just trying to rebuild the stuff I have to in such a way as to maximize the power, and hopefully eke out a little more gas mileage. It's not a nice enough rig to warrant dumping a ton of money into it.

 

[bobbywalter]

Okay thanks! It's a '03 4.0, SOHC, at this point just trying to rebuild the stuff I have to in such a way as to maximize the power, and hopefully eke out a little more gas mileage. It's not a nice enough rig to warrant dumping a ton of money into it.

then just buy and install the oem replacement pieces or a borla system or something....those borla cat back systems are pretty awesome and not too bad in the driveway.

 

[03ishfrankentruck]

Got it. I can weld stuff together, and my dad gave me a 2.5 inch muffler he never used, I think it's a flowmaster. It's not the best or something but it beats a tube of rust and holes. I'm just trying to figure out what is the most efficient/power adding way to build it. What is the best place to get exhaust stuff? Advance just seems to have very small individual parts, and I don't know what is trustworthy on amazon. Thanks for the help!

 

[bobbywalter]

https://www.partsgeek.com/j6j6ww3-ford-ranger-exhaust-system.html?srsltid=AfmBOooPUr1X07nr62jWu14MM8HtzGBZET3ERVMESoUt1P9UWjkaueat

 

[Blmpkn]

Anyway, as for questions, I need to replace the exhaust, the most recent thing is that there is a hole in the muffler, and I'm going to just replace the exhaust, doing a cat delete because its legal where I live. I was wondering, what will give more power, a dual exhaust or a single?

Operating a vehicle made after 1973 on the road without a cat is Federally illegal.


A true dual exhaust with either an h-pipe or an x-pipe will provide more power than a single.

 

[03ishfrankentruck]

Got it, I was misinformed then, thanks. I'm still very new to all this, and trying do things legally. Thanks for the heads up!

 

[Blmpkn]

Got it, I was misinformed then, thanks. I'm still very new to all this, and trying do things legally. Thanks for the heads up!

While your county may not have emissions testing or emissions equipment inspections, yeah.. cats are a federal thing. Truth be told though... your odds of getting caught & fined by the feds are probably much less than winning the lottery the same day you get hit by lightning..

That all said.. truck wouldn't run right without its cats anyhow. So its in your best interest (as well as the earths) to definitely keep them.

 

[nesralyrrej]

agreed, the removal of a cat on a stock engine will net you almost no power anyway. my supercharged 4.0 has nearly no restriction through the stock y pipe and cats, into dual 2.5's