Power Gains

[99RNGxlt]

so i am new to the site, witch is an awesome site, but i have 99 ranger 4.0L standard 4x4. i just put in a 3'' body lift a 4'' block in the rear and torsion keys in the front on 33's. Now i am looking for some power gains hoping you guys can help me out. I was thinking of getting headers and upgrading to 2.5'' exhaust, k&n cold air intake, and putting in an electric fan.... would that be noticable for power gain....... and what about chips i know they do lots for a diesel but about for a ranger

 

[chazz79]

Of everything you have listed do the fan first. It's the least expensive with the best results. The entire package you listed is worth 10-15hp the fan kit will give you an easy 3-5hp for under 200 bucks. Thats a better return per dollar than exhaust or filter kit. The reduced engine noise is a great benefit too.

 

[Gatorjoe]

You'll notice more "power" from the intake and headers, if you're exhaust flows well enough. The combo is probably good for around 8-12 hp depending on a large number of variables. You'll see improved fuel economy if you don't drive it hard, and even better is improved throttle response. The fan is honestly more negligible IMO. You may see a hp or two but I don't see 5 from it. As far as tuners, I'll probably be goin with superchips.

 

[Gotta_gofast]

Turning the larger tires, you're first concern for performance would be gears. 4.56:1 would be a good start. You will see a slight gain in the upper range of your tach with an exhaust and intake combo. But be wary of K&N or other popular brands that supply a "heat shield" (like that prevents hot engine air from being consumed...) I use a Volant intake because its the only one that really seals the new filter from the engine compartment. The right tune will give you gains all around (at the expense of 91-93 octane fuel). It will also allow you to calibrate your speedometer for larger tires and gear changes. But again, be wary of generic "tunes" such as the ones offered by superchips and diablo. I use an SCT X3 tuner with custom tunes by Fred Sittman (rogueperformance.com). He will write you three base tunes based on any other modifications you have made. You can go further and download SCT's LiveLink software onto a laptop and connect your truck to your X3 to your laptop and datalog various engine sensor parameters. Send it in an e-mail to Fred and he'll fine tune your programmer for the best possible tune short of dyno-time.

Seeing that you have the 4.0L OHV you might want to look at comp cams "410" camshaft. Its an "all around" cam. The nice thing about the X3 is you can have your tunes altered later on if you add or change parts.

 

[pcollins]

Cold Air intakes are a Lie and a waste of money. They often cause more issues than its worth. Your stock intake sucks in colder air than a "CA" intake.

Electric fan, under drive pulleys. Tuner. Those would make a difference.

 

[Beanmachine7000]

Cold Air intakes are a Lie and a waste of money. They often cause more issues than its worth. Your stock intake sucks in colder air than a "CA" intake.

Electric fan, under drive pulleys. Tuner. Those would make a difference.

+1... I would go as far as saying forget it all... You have a 4.0L... Regearing it properly and you'll have more than enough power (it's a truck btw)... Why waste the money?

 

[kemo]

Cold Air intakes are a Lie and a waste of money. They often cause more issues than its worth. Your stock intake sucks in colder air than a "CA" intake.

Electric fan, under drive pulleys. Tuner. Those would make a difference.

You forgot an exhaust system upgrade. But remember, more noise doesn't necessarily mean more power!

 

[pcollins]

You forgot an exhaust system upgrade. But remember, more noise doesn't necessarily mean more power!

Well he stated in his original post an exhaust upgrade so i just left it out of mine. But yea it'll make a small difference. I do miss my 4 liter. got a 2.3 now...not much I can do to my truck to upgrade it.

 

[Beanmachine7000]

I'm not trying to be an @$$, but of the 2 4.0L's I've owned (one with 235/75's and one 235/85's [short 33's/tall 32's]) and stock 3.73's I've never had any problem with power (torque is really what you're wanting)... Even towing I never felt like I was missing power... I don't see why everyone is all worried about power... If you think about it the for 300 I6 has closish (yes, I made that word up) to the same power as the 4.0L does and our old farm truck (300 I6) has towed 2x what my Explorer did and I never felt like it had a problem with it... I guess the way I see it is that it's a truck... If I wanted something fast I'd buy a sportscar... My drunk ass 2 cents...

 

[Gatorjoe]

Cold Air intakes are a Lie and a waste of money. They often cause more issues than its worth. Your stock intake sucks in colder air than a "CA" intake.

Electric fan, under drive pulleys. Tuner. Those would make a difference.

It's not about the cold air intake. It's about a HIGH FLOW intake. Fords stock airboxes (and everyone else's too) don't flow well. The silencers always move less air than they need to and the air is very turbulent. High flow intakes such as aem, spectre, and, yes, k&n do give you better power, fuel economy, and throttle response. This is fact, whether or not you get the gains the big companies want you to believe is dependent in far more than air filter. I didn't even change my intake tube, and took off the stock airbox, put on an adapter and spectre cone filter. After 100 miles of driving it hard to et te computer used to more air, I had improved fuel econonmy 2 mpg in combined driving. The throttle response is definitely improved and power is up, if only very slightly.
Combined with an exhaust that flows better, the combo will get you better hp than either modification alone, and come this summer the exhaust will happen.
Remember, an engine is an air pump, and really nothing more. Move more air in, move more air out, the efficiency inside the motor will improve.

 

[pcollins]

More Air In does nothing. Unless the computer is Re-tuned Along with it to compensate for the extra air. It won't re tune itself.

If one was to Add a high flow intake and exhaust AND re flash the ECU all at the same time there would be a noticeable difference.

 

[Gatorjoe]

Actually the computer will adjust. No, it won't retune itself, but they constantly adjust to driving habits and "learn" what you're doing. That's why I said I drove hard for 100 miles. The car will adjust and improve your power, if you allow more airflow. That's why you have all those sensors. If a car was tuned to just do one thing all the time based on the factory or aftermarket tune, why would there be any need for mass airflow sensors, O2 sensors, or any of te rest of it?

 

[daniel3507]

I'm with gotta go fast. Before you do anything regear the truck. It will be a way bigger change than just exhaust or intake even though that's the "cool" thing to do.

Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk

 

[Gatorjoe]

Regearing is the right thig to do with bigger tires. I agree. But the question was will intake, exhaust, fan add power. The answer is simply yes. It will.

 

[Dirmaid]

just throwing a couple pennies in here, gatorjoe is right on the money. More air into the engine is always going to be compensated for (we're talking n/a engines here) in the form of the proper amount of fuel as is defined by the ecu. The days of carb'd engines needing to be tweaked when the air gets cooler is over. Modern computer systems can compensate for more/less air, which means more/less fuel, which means more/less power, respectively. better flow usually equates to more air getting in and out the engine, thus intake and exhaust power gains.

Again, as Gator said, yes, you will see more power. How much? well thats a different story