sciguy6

I won't call myself a mall crawler as I have been off road a few times, done the dunes in Michigan and was able to snag some Rubicon factory take off BFG KM's but I am disappointed with the weak engine. I travel alot to visit my family in Wisconsin, our cottage in Mich and my college boys (One plays college ball) and I have a hard time getting out of my own way merging or in a headwind. I had my Corvette modded some with headers, a cold air intake and larger exhaust with hi flo cats. It really opened my engine up. I had a local performance shop, FLP, do the work and I wanted them to do some work on the Jeep. I know there's a lot of different info out there but I was hoping for some feed back on this. FLP has a dyno and what ever I do, will be tested to see what I gain and they are good about backing what they do. 150 hp to the rear wheels is just not enough for me.

What has worked for you? Have you had it followed up with dynos? Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks

ctra

I don't think intake and exhaust would do too much for the 3.8

Rockroaster

Add a superchips flashpaq. Best mod for that engine.

Mad-Hatter

x2...doesn't get much worse than a Jeep for aerodynamics. Engine swap or Ripp if you want sizeable gains. I've owned various jeeps so I knew this going in and accepted it.

jeepgrnjk

I have aftermarket exhaust, intake, stage 2 chip and high performance coil and wires, I found I downshift less, better throttle response and more pulling power when towing a ton of wood pellets but when it comes to a strong head wind it still feels like it has a lawn mower engine in it Thats life when when we drive vehicles that have less aerodynamics then a brick wall!

08JKRHD

I have CAI, Superchips, and exhaust as well and I would say the Superchips gives you the most gains followed by the CAI. Exhaust doesn't do much for HP, but for me I wanted it to reduce engine heat and I like the sound. Without a hemi swap or a supercharger don't expect to gain anymore than 30 hp from these mods MAX

sciguy6

So far thanks, I know we are limited as to how much we can go but an itch has to be scratched and I just have to prioritize which will give me the most satisfaction. Anyone else with pros or cons?

Mark Doiron

Take your pick: Regear. RIPP or Hemi if you have bigger bucks. The rest will give only very modest improvements--you get what you pay for.

A regear from 3.73 to 4.88 will give you a 31% improvement in torque--nothing to the air intake, programmer or exhaust can come even close to that. And, virtually all of the torque improvement is making it to the rear wheels (because you've already "paid" for the drivetrain loss with that first 205 HP).

On top of that, for a six speed and 35 inch tires (because those are the numbers I have at hand) at 70 MPH, you'll be revving at a much steeper part of the 3.8L's torque curve. That will give you an 80% improvement in HP and a 55% improvement in torque to pass someone (when compared to 33s and 4.10s--again, because that is the analysis I did a couple weeks ago). With all of the other mod's, you won't see those dramatic gains because your Jeep is still revving in the weak part of the torque curve--except when it downshifts to try to get the needed torque and HP.

sciguy6

Awesome info! thanks Mark. 7,000 posts! When do you find time to wheel?

cfr

I've read almost every performance thread. The consensus opinion seems to be these upgrades in order of cost.

1. Superchips flashpaq ($300). Especially if you have an automatic.
2. Regear ($1k-2k)
3. RIPP Supercharger ($5k)
OR
4. Hemi swap ($25k)

Intakes and exhausts seem to be a matter of personal preference. All headers suck except the ones from RIPP.