Ok before I go whole hog on this..I need soem feed back.
I read about the intake deck plate mod and perhaps the whole tube intake mod. Now if I do that and upgrade the muffler/exhaust, how many more screamin gerbils will it add and will they drink less fuel?? what about a duel exhaist ..are there headers for the 3.o? (That looks like a scary small fingered job)
any feed back appreciated I commute with my 95/3.o runner as well as go back country
Thanks

 

I have estomates that you can gain 5-10 HP with exsost and the same for the intake for a range of about 10-20 hp gain total. As for gas milage, it will go down if you strieght pipe it or it will go up if you put a high performance mufler on. Just depends on what you do.

 

Putting headers on the 3.0 is a pretty big job. As for the rest of the exhaust system, if you go too 'free flow' you will loose low end power (most engines need a little bit of back pressure to run properly - and I learned this the hard way). Also remember that v6's will not produce a deep sound like a V8. Again, If you go too free flow it will sound like a ricer.

Headers were one of my first mods and it definately made a difference in power. I would say around 15 hp. After that I had my intake and plenum ported and polished and my throttle body bored. Now with all of these things working together you will get considerable gains. My 3.0 is now faster than a stock 3.4 (I have test drove a few).

 

You cant really deckplate the 3.slow. But you can go with a custom intake. Some guys have hacked up their stock box, others have gone K&N, and some have just modded the intake piping. Sounds like you do some wheelin, so I would be very careful what route you take for the intake mod.

There are headers for the 3.slow, and they do help a lot. Install really sucks, so be prepared. Exhaust will help too. With all those mods you will probably gain about 10 - 20 peak HP - if you are lucky. I would lean more towards 10HP to the wheels.

You can also do the "Taurus Fan Mod" which will take some parasitic drag off the motor. Do a search for that.

You are looking down the right road. Intake/Headers/Exhaust should be your first performance mods. You can also modify the crossover pipe, which I hear is a great mod for those that do not want to deal with the R&R of the manifolds/headers.

 

"Thems fightin words!"

You really think you are up past 183crank HP and 220TQ??

I dont know man, that's a huge improvement!

 

The few I have test drove were at used dealerships so I'm sure they were not maintained as well as you or I would maintain our rigs. But I wouldn't lie to you - it is faster than the three 3rd gens I have test drove.

 

 

Somebody with a 3rd gen race this guy!

Sweet man, I believe you. It just isn't that common.