No funny smell from the exhaust, doesn't even smell like it is running rich.
I thought the cat. was stopped up when I first got the truck and I disconnected it and there was no difference in the way it ran, so I hooked it back up. Never looked at it in the dark to notice the red glow until tonight and I only had the cat. unhooked for a few minutes of run time anyway.
I guess I will try eliminating the cat. from the system (temporarily) to see what happens.
Other thing is that only the passenger side was getting that hot. The driver side which has the EGR tube from the exhaust did not and earlier I had the EGR vacuum line disconnected and the truck seemed to run a little better.
If I could only remember half of what I used to know about these engines then I would be doing great, but for now I am trying little things here and there as I remember them, so any and all suggestions will be appreciated.

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1994 Ranger XL extended cab. 3.0 auto. all stock for now. Just bought for my 16 year old son.