You could allways upgrade to the 4.0 V-6, you'll have more cubes and hp from the get go and there is a lot more performance parts available for the 4.0. There's allways power to be found in a compression bump. I thought JBA still made headers for the 2.9, I know there are still cams being made for the 2.9. I know an iginsion upgrade like MSD will add some power to the older engines. The ranger power sports forum has a whole section dedicated to 2.9 performance. I don't know if it's just me, but I allways thought the 2.9 felt more peppier than the 3.0 in the newer rangers.