How would a 40 series sound on an old 2.3?

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88 ranger, 100% rebuilt, 100% incredible.

"This thing is insane for a 4-banger" -TJ

Like a honda with a fart can. A 4 banger is always gonna sound like a 4 banger.

It will sound like a Ford 9N tractor with a hole in the muffler. Kind of like sonic diarrhea. A 40 series is a 2 chamber race muffler with minimal baffling. If you really think you need a flow master, a single 2 1/2" full length pipe with a big block series 3 chamber muffler would be a better option. The larger diameter exhaust tubing will make any exhaust system sound deeper. BTW, Summitracing.com sells generic "fully welded" flow master mufflers that are half the price and sound better than any Flowmaster, IMHO. I have done 5 or 6 V8 systems using Summits "fully welded" mufflers and they don't have the "tin" sound that Flowmaster has.
I have a 4.0 V6 with headers and a single 2 1/2 inch full length pipe and a summit muffler. I am very happy with the sound. I'm getting ready to do it to my 3.0L in my other Ranger. Very low tone and no droning in the cab. BUT it is not really a fair comparison when we are talking about a 4 banger VS a V6 or V8. I hope this helped. Best of luck to you!

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1990 Ford Ranger ext cab, bought new, 278,000+ miles.
1999 Ranger 3.0 5spd 4X4 extended cab 221K
1977 F-250 2wd super cab 460 tilt/cruise/air
1978 Bronco
1986 Bronco II
1964 Galaxie - 55K orig miles

+1 on not running a 40 series.

I ran a thrush turbo (was actually cheaper than a walker replacement) on my 2.5L wrangler. Granted a 40 is welded and a turbo is rolled steel, but yeah it sounds like a beehive with a microphone to it. The displacement is the size of a coke bottle and a large coffee its not going to sound nice.

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1997 Ranger XLT 4.0L 2wd 3.55 open
RCX leveling coils, Pro Comp AAL, 1" BL
31x10.5x15 General Grabber AT2