My truck is such a pooch. Its a 96 Supercab w/ 3.0 auto tranny and it is 4x4. While traveling west on I-80 I was passed by many old folks and fully loaded semis going up a slight grade. I've known this truck was a pooch, but it really ticked me off to see so many people fly by me like I was standing still. There has to be some way to get more power out of this thing. Any ideas....without having to tap out the 401K

 

intake, headers, exhaust, chip. maybe a supercharger if you have that kind of money. those are the only things i know of.

 

Hey,

My brother has almost the same truck. His is a regular cab and is two wheel drive though (same engine and trans.) I got him a shift improver kit from B&M. It's an electronic shift controler. It ran around 40 bucks and I ordered it from Autozone. It installed real easy and it came with a switch that fit right under the dash. It makes shifts firmer. It has three modes: Race, Towing, and Normal. Race is soooo hard (almost as hard as my C4 in my truck before I swapped it out.) I don't suggest leaving it in race b/c I don't think it's good for normal driving. Towing mode firms it up a lot and actually makes it feel as if there was some torque to this puky car motor. Other than that you could put some headers on it as well as a free flowing exhaust (Flowmaster is my fave) and maybe get a replacement, performance CPU chip. These are hard to find parts, with the exception to the Flowmasters. I looked around on the internet for a long time to find stuff for my bro's truck. Here's some sites I found:

http://www.accessoriesgiant.com/ford-ranger.html
http://www.kustomz.com/cat1.html
http://www.2kracing.com/index.php/cP...df2f393af8318e
http://www.speedyperformanceparts.com/ford-parts.html

Finally, here's an article that I had my bro read before buying the truck. He decided to buy the truck even with it's lack of speed. It was a steal (4000 for 20000 miles, no rust, one owner, accident free, until he hit a mailbox.)
http://www.sporttruck.com/techarticles/1392/index2.html


Erik

 

Will headers and exhaust really make that much of a difference? I have a Flowmaster 40 series on there now (I think its the 40 series anyways). Sounds pretty good for a puny 3.0. As far as chips go, I really dont trust them, I've read too many bad things about them, so I think I'll skip that one. And for the supercharger i.e. whipplecharger....I'm not rich nor stupid enough to drop that kind of dough into a truck that is 8 years old.

What about K&N conversion? Would that help much?

 

I think headers would make more of a difference than a complete exhaust system. And yes it would make a noticeable difference especially if you added both. The engine is never going to be what we all want it to be...haha. As for K&N I'm also looking into getting an intake by them, but if you read around on the site you'll see that the feelings about them are mixed. Good luck.

 

Who carries headers? I've got a 4.0, but still want a bit more power. I'm gonna home-build the exhaust system, but am just wondering where to get some 4.0 headers.

 

Hey,

Momudder... Check the sights I listed above. I think I saw some 4.0 headers on there. They are pretty common (4.0 performance parts.) The 3.0 will be harder to find. Headers will make a huge difference. They will also be about the biggest pain in the butt you can imagine. First off, you will have to find block huggers, b/c you have 4wheel drive. Second, you may need an entire new exhaust. This can be a problem if you don't have a good shop. I got duels run on my truck all the way back, with mufflers for 135 bucks. BTW you probably have a delta flow Flowmaster. Not as loud as the Original 40 series, but okay. My buddy got a chip for his truck and he said it made a heck of a difference. Some times it's just tweaking a few things like fuel/air ratio that make the difference. Remember, you computer is set to run at 13:1. If you can make the mixture a little richer, you can unlock some much needed torque and hp. The only other thing you could do would be a gear swap, which would be very expensive and you would have to change the front end to match the rear. Otherwise.... LOOK FOR A TRADE-IN AND GET A FULL SIZE!!

Erik

 

Dont get me wrong, I'd love to have a full-size. However, I have an attached 3 car garage and it's only 19' deep. A full size won't fit, so I will stick w/mid sized. I refuse to buy a vehicle that I cant even fit in my garage (had that w/an Excursion....had to sell). Yeah I looked up some headers....$550 is steep considering I'd have to get my exhause rerun as well. guess i'll be stuck w/ a pooch for a while til I get the 03 Explorer paid off.

 

I have the same engine in my '90 aerostar 2wd. I'd imagine that the aerostar would weigh quite a bit more as well. It in no way can be called a pooch. I cut the exhaust off right after the y pipe and reran it all the way back. Put one of the $20 cherrybomb glasspacks on it too (was very broke at the time). My cats were plugged so i just removed them, as my state has no emissions regs. I put on a cone air filter and shortened the kick down cable, then dropped 4.10 gears with limited slip in the back. Now it will beat most stock cars in any category off the line and up to about 75mph. Its not bad at all on the highway with the different gears, the engine spins a little faster but it just puts it more in the power band. Before i did the gear swap it was still pretty fast though. Did you ever think that yours might be having problems? I dont think the 2.3 was that bad let alone the 3.0. Maybe its just in need of a tuneup?

 

My brother's runs perfect and it's still a pooch. The gear change would help a lot, but remember he's runnin a 4wd vehicle. That's a lot of money, more than the headers (150 per ring and pinion, 100 bucks per installation kit, labor at shop @60 bucks an hour adds up.)

Erik

 

JohnCFox,
I have also have a 1995 Aerostar 4.0L, and it makes my truck look like a geo metro. And yes it has had a complete tune up including about every possible sensor. It's just simply a POOCH. However we just had 15" of snow and I gotta admit, it kicks some butt in the snow.

 

No offense, but don't waste the time and money on a 3.0. Sell it and get something with more power, like a 4.0 or a different model altogether. You'll be happier in the end. I can't see the bolt ons adding more than maybe 10-15hp total combined, but admittedly, I've never modded a 3.0, just 5.0 Mustangs.