Turbocharge Your Jeep’s Pentastar to Kill Musclecars
Jeep’s Wrangler has never been known for acceleration-based performance numbers, but Prodigy is looking to change that.
A bone-stock JK Wrangler with a 3.6-liter Pentastar V6 will make the quarter-mile run in around 16 seconds. Even the 7-8 second 0-60 time that these wheelers are capable of is pretty respectable when you consider their low gearing and heavy 4WD system. These are much quicker times than any of the older Wranglers were capable of, and we should just be satisfied that progress will continue from the factory and leave it at that, right? Prodigy Performance disagrees, and they want you to have a 12-second quarter-mile turbocharged Jeep. They’re crazy … or are they?
The power-adder kit they’ve devised isn’t really intended to make your Jeep better on the trails, though extra power is never really a bad thing out there, either. No, their intent is to make the Wrangler a more pleasant driving experience in the everyday world of two-lane highways and on-ramps and passing lanes. For years, people have been swapping big V8s into their Jeeps to make them easier to live with in daily traffic.
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Hemi swaps do exist, and they’re proven to be excellent engines for Jeeps, but that’s a very expensive method of developing power. A stock 3.6-liter Jeep produces an acceptable 285 horsepower. Prodigy conservatively estimates that its turbocharger kit will increase your Jeep’s power and torque outputs by at least 95 percent, netting you something like 550 horsepower.
If you do all of the installation work yourself (Prodigy includes a 50-page instruction manual), the kit price is just $6,999. Swapping in a readily available 5.7-liter Hemi V8 will bump your output up to around 390 horsepower, depending which car/truck/SUV you source it from. It’s a platform that works, but you’ll get less power out of it, and you’re sure to spend a lot more than seven thousand dollars in the process. Check out some of the videos on their YouTube channel to see their turbo kits in action beating up on unsuspecting Mustangs, Challengers and Cherokee SRT8s at the drag strip.
Here’s what Prodigy says about their kit’s components:
Powered by your choice of a Precision or Garrett turbo, the kit comes with EVERYTHING you need for the install. Only the highest quality components are used in this kit. From the Precision and Garrett turbo to the Tial wastegates and blow-off valves, Meziere coolant tank, custom tig-welded pipes, K&N filters, custom-built intercooler, to the Fragola fittings and nuts and bolts — their attention to detail and quality is obvious. The complete bolt-on package comes in two UPS-shippable cartons.
