Ok, now that summer has started and i have my job back at the fishing resort, the money flow is returned and I have ordered a good # of parts lately. Here's a breakdown, I know a lot of people ask about certain aftermarket parts and what not, i'll try and give the best descriptions that I can so they can refer to this before posting!

B&M Electronic Shift Plus ($47) for AR55E transmission. Fairly simple install which requires you to splice into the wiring harness leading into your computer with the supplied pieces. Otherwise all you have to do is find a good place to mount, i velcro'd mine to the top of my ashtray. It definetely makes for a real nice advantage in racing, but it's not for around town driving. I assume this is because it's not built specifically for our vehicles. The 1-2 gear shift under normal driving and on mode 1 is terrible, i swear it like misses the first time and ends up shifting twice real hard. Maybe it has to do w/ the drivetrain gearing due to the weight differences between the Explorer and Ranger. ***Good for racing, but bad for daily driving, easy install, really worth the $47. I will be posting pics soon showing where to splice, good place to run wires from cab to computer, and good place to mount.

BBK 66mm Throttle Body($160 used from JTR4.0) Very nice looking part, JTR4.0 gave me his TPS so I didnt' have to worry about getting my lok-tited one off of my stock TB. JTR also included the little black rubber tube that is used to hook up to the vacuum line. This is only needed on 4.0's w/ the black composite upper intake (pending verification). Otherwise real easy install, mostly common sense. Very impressive performance gains, and only helps even more w/ the addition of an aftermarket MAF and intake. Pulls much harder all of the way to the end of each gear. ***If you can find it cheap, get it. Regardless, it's eventually gonna be a necessary mod if you ever plan on making your Ranger respectably quick. I will be posting pics soon comparing this to stock.

Pro-M 70mm MAF w/ modified bridge ($207 shipped from Performance Parts Mall, Pro-M's distributor) Probably my favorite mod so far, installation is a breeze! Unhook your battery for half hour, go swap your MAF's and your set. Actual install took 3 minutes, just had to wait to reset computer. I would not buy this part w/out the modified bridge as that's where the better airflow is gonna be gained. The actual housing is the same as the factory MAF, but I think it tapes a lot less in the middle and it doesn't have the bridge. They give you the flow sheet from when they individually flow test every MAF sold. Has the date and time and everything. The truck pulls much harder through the whole gear, better throttle response, this mod rocks! I will be posting pics soon comparing this to stock.

Street Smart Design Intake ($70 something w/ K&N Filter) I got the bracket w/ the MAF adapter and the K&N 3.75" intake flange. Awesome customer service, they make the customer feel like they are the #1 priority. It's a nice looking part, although the bracket doesnt quite fit like you'd think from looking at it. It doesn't really sit flat. However it more then gets the job done. The MAF adapter does all that is needed. Make sure that you clean your mass air sensor a week or so after installing the K&N b/c more then likely a small amount of oil from the filter got on the hot wire. You can never be too cautious. ***Didn't feel any gains over my previous custom setup w/ the open air cone filter, just looks better and makes me a lil more confident about not having any leaks. The stock intake tube flows pretty decent, so this is a very inexpensive mod that anyone w/ a 4.0 should do. Even if your not into the performance aspect, the 4.0 is night/day as far as gas mileage and driveabilty w/ the ssd intake. Will get pics soon!

JBA Spark Plug Wires and Bosch Single Platinum Plugs ($62) 45,000 miles on the stocker wires and some crappy Champion plugs. They look real nice w/ the cool blue color, the swap of plugs and wires pretty much cured the miss i was having. At idle my truck would kinda jump around, shake just a lil bit. Slightly smoother acceleration, I don't feel that it really made my truck noticeably faster though. Still worth the $$$ considering Ford wanted $160 for factory plugs and wires!!!

Flowmaster Dual Exhuast ($300) Had mine custom made at Merlin, they did a very nice job, I was more then happy. I have the Flowmaster 40 series non-delta flow, the orignial Flowmaster. My truck sounds great, although it does have a slight buzzing at certain rpm's, this is because of the tips. Anything w/ tips will do this. I'd assume the best sounding setup would be the flowmaster 40 non-delta w/ dumps. When I got this the only other mod was the intake, so I felt like it hurt the performance at first until I opened up the intake. I have 2.25" pipes into 2.5" tips out the back.

***With just the custom intake, exhuast and throttle body I went 16.3 in the 1/4 mile, but their was a 22-25mph headwind all day. I also ran that 1/4 mile w/ a blown valve body gasket and my tranny had 10 psi of pressure in it, when it actually needs 20-30, this explains all the problems I was having w/ the tranny. I now have a new valve body and fluid. My vehicle speed sensor was also shot, this was also replaced under the extended drivetrain warranty.

The dealer also wanted $136 before taxes for a new Idle Air control. I went to NAPA and got an actualy really nice looking one that comes w/ a gasket and everything, for $40. This also cured the whistling as well as the idle problems I was getting from the old one. If yours is whistling after you've cleaned it a few times do this. Does it come from the factory w/ a gasket? My old one didn't have one, but this new one does. Looks different then factory one, I'll get pics.

I just thought I'd post all of this so that people could refer to this if they ever had questions about the price or difficulty or improvements from a modification. Maybe some of these could be of some help as tech articles, I dont really care. I just thought I'd share my info.

Great info other than the transmission should be a 5R55E instead of a A5REE.Thanks for posting that up.:beer:

Nice info. You should go back to the 1/4 mile and see what kind of times you can lay down.

Was that 16.3 with the 3.55's?

ya, 16.3 w/ the 3.55's and open differential in the rear. i had the headwind and a broken tranny. I'm praying that their's a time in the 15's when the lady hands me the ticket at the end of the track!!!

I'm thinking about buying this 3:55 rear end this guy has for sale here on rps, cause that would have the limited slip. I am also going to port and gasket match the lower intake with in the next month or so, as well as either get my Diablo chip burned or sell it and get the Apten. Either one. W/ those two mods and limted slip I will obviously be in the 15's.

hey Rutt, did you port the lower intake at the same time as everything else, or did you actually get a chance to see what difference it makes? What gaskets did you need to buy from Ford? Any tips? Either reply on here or pm if you'd like. Thanks.

I had it done the same time as everything else. I have some pics of the port job. My friend calls it a 'stage II' port job because in order to completely remove the bump in the #6 port you'd have to get it welded.(although you can get it pretty close) A stage III would include welding on the intake and opening it up all the way. He even came up with an idea of removing the injector boss's entirely but he's still working on that one.
I bought the head gasket/intake gasket set from ford. I don't have the number anymore since someone threw my box away. I'd just get the intake gasket set from ford unless you're planning on removing the heads anytime soon. I hope to hit the dyno sometime soon. Just as soon as I finish my exhaust system. Right now I'm running ported 95tm exhaust manifolds from a 95 B4000 4x4(no money for real headers). I had both cats removed(both plugged) and had the flange welded to a 2 foot piece of 3 inch 13 guage pipe. So as it sits I have no cats and just the 2 foot piece of three inch pipe with a 3inch turn down clamped on.(way loud:nuts: ) When Gerry gets back from his business trip he can testify to how loud my exhaust is now. (I really need a muffler):)

Corey-nie info!
Yeah, I'll take your old intake setup off your hands if you don't mind. By the way, i was looking at getting 3:73's....called a few places and the cheapest i heard of was $350 for install. That's without the 190 for the ring and pinion. Stop by Nextel sometime, I wanna take a ride now that your almost done.

If you're gonna buy a new rear end, I would go ahead and get a locker. Powertrax apparently makes one for the ford ranger, Though I don't see one in their application guide for a 97-00 4.0... but some people have them, so I can only assume they sell them. By the way, I'm referring to the No-Slip system.

Nice write up, we told you the MAF would make a big difference :).

Originally posted by FordRangerFan17
JTR also included the little black rubber tube that is used to hook up to the vacuum line. This is only needed on 4.0's w/ the black composite upper intake.
The rubber hose is needed on all 4.0's not just the ones with the plastic upper intake :).

Originally posted by Rutt
So as it sits I have no cats and just the 2 foot piece of three inch pipe with a 3inch turn down clamped on.(way loud:nuts: ) When Gerry gets back from his business trip he can testify to how loud my exhaust is now. (I really need a muffler):)
Yes, that thing is way too loud, I almost went deaf in the parking garage of my hotel when Jason and his wife showed up for dinner. Dude, you need a muffler in the worse way :).

Originally posted by Gerry
The rubber hose is needed on all 4.0's not just the ones with the plastic upper intake :).

I know for a fact that it said something concerning the vacuum line for the black composite intake only. I'll try and find the box w/ the instructions, it's up in my attic but my dad's car is in the way.

By the way, thanks a ton for making this a sticky, I'm just happy to try and help out some of the newer members or even senior members who are anxious to see the results of the bolt-on mods. I'll definetely get pics as well as 1/4 mile times as soon as I am positively done w/ all my mods. Ah hell, maybe I'll just get a chip on and port match the intake and run it. Then get the limited slip and 50-65 shot of nitrous, pending the response to the questions i've been sending out to some of the nitrous experts on here.;)

Reminds me of the information that I've posted on my website. It's good to see these types of write-ups though. Always good to get several people's opinions ont he same article as it can vary. Glad you finally went with the Pro-M unit. We told you, you wouldn't be dissapointed. :)