Chasmoe

Well I've been considering putting a high flow air intake and a new chip in my ' 08 JK Wrangler's 3.8L V6. Apparently it makes one BIG difference on economy and overall performance characteristics, as fine tweeking/adjusting is possible. I was told not to worry with a throttle body spacer as I would be more than happy with the big air in and the chip. So now I'm wondering if anyone has done this and can verify my information as correct? Thanks for any input! - Chasmoe.

JTPhoto JK

Check out a couple of the big JK forums and you will find that CIAs and throttle body spacers make very little difference on the 3.8L power or economy. The one real thing that does help is the SuperChips Flashpaq programmer. The SuperChip is updatable with your PC and really smooths out and maximizes the engine and transmissions efficiencies. Changing the exhaust for better flow will also help. So far the best I've heard is removing the factory muffler at the rear and installing a Flowmaster40 mounted under the floorboards with a single tail pipe out the back. Catbacks and duals may look kewl but they are no advantage over the single Flowmaster40.
The 3.8L factory air flow design is very efficient from stock and does already get as much air as is needed.
If you require more power due to upsized tires consider regearing your diffs to compensate.
If you want lots of power the Hemi conversion is the best. kits are available, but they are expensive.

Chasmoe

Well thanks for that info. I recently learned too, that the Superchips Flashpaq is probably the best bang for the buck and is compatible with the manual tranny, whereas others are only for auto transmissions. You can gather I'm new and still learning. I recently took a drive up high, and the engine crapt out in first gear. I just shut it down for a while, restarted and then I was good to go.

PrairieRat

I am running Hypertech, Magna-Flo and Air-Raid. I cant give you a good idea of performance increase as all this was done before I picked up the Jeep. I can give you a honest idea on performance increase from factory settings to performance settings with the Power Programmer as I have updated the power programmer and tried different settings. Honestly the difference is virtually unnoticeable.The performance and fuel mileage sucks either way.But hey we didnt buy a Jeep for fuel economy, right? Or did we ? lol

At this point the 4.0l HO to me was a way better engine for a 6cyl. And this is one area I am disappointed in. On the bright side there is solutions!!

Ripp mods makes a supercharger or as stated there are some ultra coool Hemi conversions which are ultracostly !

What the hell happened to the cost effective chevy v8 swap anyway ? lol

There is talk of a turbo specifically for the 3.8 Heep motor coming soon, a bolt in kit.

So as far as your question goes, If I was to spend the money again I would have done the gears first before trying to squeak any extra ponnies out of mini van motor. But I knew this before I must have had a brain fart again !