SCORE Journal

SCORE-Journal-Jan-2021

SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing

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POWER RANGERS Adding More Power To Your Gen4 Ford Ranger Has Never Been Easier By Dan Sanchez During the early 1990’s Ford Ranger pickups were a popular Class 7 mid-sized truck that was raced in SCORE with tremendous success. The factory backed Ford Rough Rider team of Dick Lanfield and Bill Stroppe had a few in their stable. Off-road racers such as Manny Esquerra, Parnelli Jones, Rob MacCachren, Chuck Johnson and others drove these trucks to victory as part of their legendary careers. While the Ranger has its roots in SCORE racing, and Ford is the Official Truck and SUV of SCORE International, fans were excited when the Ranger Raptor debuted from overseas, but were disappointed when it wasn’t made available in the U.S. Once the Ranger returned to the U.S. with production of the fourth-generation model in 2019, off-road fans immediately wanted to add more off-road performance than what is available from the showroom floor. One year after its debut, aftermarket manufacturers are still introducing new components for the Gen4 Ranger, some of which offer impressive performance increases to the truck’s 2.3L EcoBoost turbocharged engine. Ford Performance ProCal Programmer No off-road truck enthusiast has ever shied away from adding horsepower to their vehicle’s engine, but modern emission standards and fuel options make it difficult to add the kind of power similar to that of SCORE Class 7 race vehicles. Ford Performance however, offers one of the best horsepower per-dollar upgrades for the Gen4 Ranger that is also 50-state emissions legal, and comes with a factory warranty if installed by a authorized Ford Dealer. The Ford Performance ProCal Programmer (PN- M99603-REB) adds 45 horsepower at 4,500 RPM and 60 lb/ft of torque at 2,500 RPM and can also correct for larger tire sizes up to a 265/70/17 tire, as well as read and clear trouble codes. This upgrade alone changes the 2.3L from 270-horsepower to 315, and torque from 310 lbs/ft to a tire spinning 370 lbs/ft. The ProCal Programmer also comes with a K&N re-useable, high-flow air filter, a windshield mount, and cables to download the program to the ProCal unit from the Ford Performance website and to connect it onto the Ranger’s OBDII port. Installation is easy but you need a PC with Windows 7 or newer to download the program onto the programmer unit. Ford Performance Sport Exhaust System After adding more horsepower from the Ford Performance ProCal Programmer, you can improve the exhaust side of the engine too with a free-flowing exhaust system. The Ford Performance Sport Exhaust is specifically designed for the Ranger’s 2.3L engine and is made in the U.S.A. from 304-grade stainless steel. Featuring mandrel bent tubing, a high-flow dual-exit muffler, and dual exhaust tips the system free’s up some horsepower while giving the Ranger an aggressive sound. The system is available with black chrome (PN- M-5200-RA23SB) or polished stainless tips (PN- M5200-RA23SC) and installs easily to replace the factory exhaust under the Ranger. We asked the crew at Baja HQ in San Clemente, California to help with the installation of the new exhaust system, and they put Cody Beeson on the task. Beeson is no stranger to making repairs, especially in the field, as he navigated for Pro UTV Monster Energy racer Matt Burroughs, to the 2020 SCORE Pro UTV FI Championship. Beeson began by removing the front clamp on the inlet tube of the factory muffler, removing the front rubber and rear bolted-on muffler hangar, and replacing it with the new Ford Performance system. The installation took about 30-minutes and the Ranger opened up with a healthy performance sound from the dual tailpipes, but is barely audible inside the cab. Ford Performance Differential Cover Adding a new rear differential cover isn’t going to add more horsepower to the Gen4 Ranger, but it does speak to onlookers that your truck is something special. The Ford Performance Differential Cover (PN-M4033R) looks much better than the factory black cover over the Ranger’s Dana M220 rear differential. While the rear axle is heavy-duty enough to handle the extra power from the ProCal Programmer and Sport Exhaust, the cover’s sight and fill plugs will make it much easier to service the rear axle in the future. Cody Beeson at Baja HQ crew helped us with this part of the installation as well. One note of caution is that the factory rear axle fluid must be drained and replaced for this installation. This 4x4 Ranger has a factory rear locking differential and called for 1.5-quarts of 80W-90 gear oil as per Ford’s service recommendations for this axle. The kit includes new hardware except for the two factory studs that are re-used for the brake line support clips. A new O-ring style gasket is also included and once installed, the hammered powder coat finish looked great on the axle. Since the cover is made from cast iron steel, it will also withstand any rough terrain and rocks that may come into contact with it while off-roading. The cover fits all 2019-2020 models except Ranger Tremor edition. SJ SOURCES: Ford Performance www.fordracingparts.com Baja HQ www.bajahq.com

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