Turbo or Supercharger??

[Jymmyc]

I have a 2000 Ranger XLT ext cab 4.0 w/auto. replaced orig eng with 4.0 out of an explorer. Has a K&N air filter and am using the flashpak tuner with performance. Just seems it does not have much power. new plugs wires new coil pak. Throttle pos sensor, map sensor, oxy sensors, one cat removed and straight pip all the way back. Runs great and sounds good and mileage is 19 on highway. put 31" tires on it instead of the orig 245/75/R16. I want more power and have thought of a V8 5.0 or a 4.6 up to the 5.4. Being disabled it is hard to work on it but I get along. Or is an aftermarket turbo or super charger more feasable than an engine swap? Sucks when you get beat by a prius.. Please some one help!!!

 

[stmitch]

I'm assuming that since your truck is a 2000, that it's a 4.0 OHV, and not the 4.0 SOHC. If that's the case, you'll be hard pressed to find any aftermarket sources for boost. I believe Paxton used to offer a centrifugal supercharger, and BBK used to offer a roots type supercharger, but both have been discontinued for years and would have to be found used. You can look into a cutsom supercharger setup of course, but that's lots of fabbing and/or money. I've never seen a turbo "kit" for any Ranger v6 available in the aftermarket. They've been done, but it would be totally custom.

 

[Jymmyc]

Any ideas?

Thank you for the info, one more question if I may? Any ideas on how to get more power that will not break the bank?? I wanted to put in a 5.4 but from what I have read so far, they are as big as a 460. Would a 4.6 give me a little more power and maybe not as expensive? or just do a rebuild and put in cam and pistons?

 

[stmitch]

I'm think the 4.6 and 5.4 are pretty much the same size externally, or at least very close. You'd run into the same problems with either one. Both have been done in Rangers, but both would require a fair bit of customizing. You'll have to eliminate AC, and custom fab headers and/or a steering shaft. You'd have to run a transmission compatible with the new motor because your stock one won't work. Custom driveshaft is likely. A decent amount of wiring work to make it all happen too. If you are very capable, and get a great deal on a Mod motor, I'd consider it. Otherwise, there are better swap options out there. You can read about swaps in the v8 swap section. The Explorer 5.0 is the most popular swap for a reason, especially for 98-04 trucks.

I'm not an expert on the 4.0 stuff, but I do know they offer a couple of cams and headers for the OHV models. I recently saw that along with his other parts, Tom Morana is now offering roller rockers but they aren't cheap. The 4.0 engine section would turn up more info about adding power to your OHV.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

The 5.4 has a taller deck than a 4.6.

Then you get into more valves and cams and they can vary quite a bit too. Both engines were offered with 2, 3 or 4 valves per cylinder and SOHC and DOHC.

There are a few guys that have done 4.6 swaps, one SOHC and one DOHC that I know of if you search. I think GregR was the DOHC, I can't remember the SOHC guy's name.

 

[Mac]

If you are worried at all about breaking the bank, then the best option would be the Explorer 5.0l. Both the 4.6 and 5.4 require a lot of work and fabrication while the 5.0l has been done so many times, real easy in a 2000 Ranger.
Dave

 

[MastuhWaffles]

Just do both at the same time.

 

[anupaum]

I have a 2000 Ranger XLT ext cab 4.0 w/auto. replaced orig eng with 4.0 out of an explorer. Has a K&N air filter and am using the flashpak tuner with performance. Just seems it does not have much power. new plugs wires new coil pak. Throttle pos sensor, map sensor, oxy sensors, one cat removed and straight pip all the way back. Runs great and sounds good and mileage is 19 on highway. put 31" tires on it instead of the orig 245/75/R16. I want more power and have thought of a V8 5.0 or a 4.6 up to the 5.4. Being disabled it is hard to work on it but I get along. Or is an aftermarket turbo or super charger more feasable than an engine swap? Sucks when you get beat by a prius.. Please some one help!!!

I had a blower on my 2.3 liter Ranger for many years. Any kind of "abnormal aspiration" will wake up that 4 liter engine of yours. Have you seen the Moddbox kit?

http://modd.me/product/06-11-rangerb4000-supercharger-kit-copy/

All the engineering has already been done for you. This is about as simple as forced induction can get.

 

[stmitch]

Have you seen the Moddbox kit?

http://modd.me/product/06-11-rangerb4000-supercharger-kit-copy/

All the engineering has already been done for you. This is about as simple as forced induction can get.

That supercharger is only for 01 and newer 4.0 SOHC engines. It won't work on a 4.0 OHV like the OP's.

 

[Mac]

I had to look at that kit but for $1999 without the charger is kind of steep. Explorer Express used to make a kit also but long gone. A guy used to be on here that did the 5.0L swap into his '98' for that price.
Dave

 

[anupaum]

I had to look at that kit but for $1999 without the charger is kind of steep. Explorer Express used to make a kit also but long gone. A guy used to be on here that did the 5.0L swap into his '98' for that price.
Dave

You can buy an M90 on e-bay for around $100. Given the amount of engineering that went into the kit, I don't think it's too expensive at all. If I added up all the money I put into my 2.3 project, I'm sure I exceeded that by a wide margin. What you get is a kit that includes EVERYTHING you need for a successful install. You're not going to run around to the machine shop, the parts and hardware stores to figure out what you need to get the project done. Don't underestimate how much time it takes to make a blower install work properly, between positioning (which is crucial, if you don't want to blow through serpentine belts!), fabricating, testing, tuning and tweaking.

I'm writing from experience. Doing the job right the first time is nearly impossible unless you have a pre-engineered kit like this one.

 

[MastuhWaffles]

With either turbo or supercharging your looking at a gain around 100HP, turbo will get you that high end power, while supercharging is more low end and responsive. Both are gonna run you 2-3 grand, maybe even more and you also have to remember that not everything else on your truck will be happy with the extra power gain. I'm going to go with supercharging, but that's because I have the 4.0 SOHC and its a full bolt on kit.

 

[stmitch]

You can buy an M90 on e-bay for around $100. Given the amount of engineering that went into the kit, I don't think it's too expensive at all. If I added up all the money I put into my 2.3 project, I'm sure I exceeded that by a wide margin. What you get is a kit that includes EVERYTHING you need for a successful install. You're not going to run around to the machine shop, the parts and hardware stores to figure out what you need to get the project done. Don't underestimate how much time it takes to make a blower install work properly, between positioning (which is crucial, if you don't want to blow through serpentine belts!), fabricating, testing, tuning and tweaking.

I'm writing from experience. Doing the job right the first time is nearly impossible unless you have a pre-engineered kit like this one.

I totally agree that a well designed kit is worth the money. And the Moddbox kit looks well engineered and high quality. But it is very expensive for the gains you'd get. You pay $2000 + the cost of the actual supercharger for a low boost/ no tune kit that might get 50 whp. That's a lot of money for just 3.5 psi.

If you want more, you have to buy a smaller pulley, bigger injectors, and a tune. All of a sudden, it's $3000 easy, plus whatever you pay for the m90. And you still might not hit 100 additional whp.

Whipple sold a complete supercharger kit for the 3.0 that didn't void the stock warranty, and would run 8psi all day, for that kind of cash. Or, a healthy v8 swap or 2.3T setup is easily within reach for that kind of coin.

I just don't know many Ranger owners who are willing and able to drop that kind of money to get decent but not great gains in hp and tq.