Have a 10 jk 3.8 L Also known as the anemic motor
Well installed a RIPP STAGE II SC with long tube headers
To keep it short it's worth every penny
The really thing to be careful about its the tranny know
As far as I know the 42RLE was not made to Handle the stress of a SC
ALSO THE LATEST TUNE FROM RIPPS has worked out regarding my shifting points
Thanks to All and enjoy the 3.8 L super motor

 

Thanks for all the input, guys. I'll probably end up getting the Ripp with the intercooler. Anyone else using a SC with an auto?

 

I live in Colorado and have a 3.8 with and Automatic, 37" tires, and 5.13 gears and would like more power. I offroad quite a bit, so good offroad driving characteristics are important as well as getting there.

@co99xj Do you have the automatic or manual transmission? How does the Magnuson SC work offroad, any spooling or power hit?

@ProdigyPerformance I have been following you guys for years and love the product! With an electronic boost controller could we prevent the turbo from spooling when we don't want it? Is the electronic boost controller something you can assist with? On the 3.8 is it possible to get the Precision Turbo vs. the Garrett to get it to spool earlier and faster?

@TOTL Innovations Is Jack / Avenger still making and installing kits in C Springs?

 

Had the Ripp on my 2011 JKUR 6 speed and it certainly helped in the mountains of CO. I felt it added around a gear and 10-15 mph. For example climbing passes dropping to 3rd at 60mph instead of 2nd at 50mph before the SC. That said I did end up doing an engine swap.

Bought the SC new for around $5,500 and sold for $3,700 (could have got a little more but some parts were lost during the engine swap). Did the SC install myself, so for me it was worth it at the time, but not an ideal solution, especially when pulling a light trailer. The Jeep deserves a V8....

 

Since you are not able to install yourself, then be sure to find someone who has done a few of whichever brand you go with. As usual, Max required extra and needed additional shift point tuning. But, once that was done the effortless ability to climb long grades is great. Plus, as long as I keep my foot under control he consistently gets 16.5 mpg in So Cal commuter travel.

 

Unfortunately not

 

You'd love our product even more if it was on your Jeep

In my personal experience, that question is somewhat nonsensical. The turbo requires engine load to spool. It's already sized properly so that it doesn't spool during steady cruising and light acceleration (that would cause throttle control problems, surging, excess heat from the turbo working inefficiently to produce boost across a mostly-closed throttle, etc).

I assume you are concerned about the turbo spooling while off road. With slow off-road driving, you are not putting much load on the the engine. Instead, you are getting the torque/power you need through gear ratios (torque multiplication, mechanical advantage, etc). My experience, and what has been reported by other customers as well, is that the turbo simply doesn't get in the way for slow off-road driving. It doesn't really *help* slow off-road driving either... but you shouldn't need extra power for slow off-road driving if you are geared properly, using 4LO as necessary, using low transmission gears, etc.

I personally try to keep my engine RPM no lower than 2000 RPM while driving in off-road conditions where I may need substantial power and throttle response. In the type of off-road driving I do (mild-to-moderate trails, state/national forest roads, twisty steep climbs with ruts and small steps), the turbo simply never gets in the way at all. It rarely spools, and when it does, it does so in a smooth/predictable way. With some situations, the turbo helps off road, like steep climbs where you have the opportunity to use more speed/acceleration (longer relatively smooth climbs, sand dunes, etc). It's a lot of fun for sand dune and gravel hill climbs

So long story short, I don't think any modifications are necessary to prevent the turbo from spooling "when you don't want it to".

BUT... if you really want to guarantee minimal chance of turbo spooling while off road, I would recommend running a lower boost level wastegate spring, and using a boost controller to bring the boost up to normal levels for street driving. Then you could turn the boost down for offroad driving if you wanted to. Depending on the type of boost controller, it will also help your turbo spool more quickly when you have the boost turned up for street driving.

I suggest that you try the turbo "out-of-the" box first without any modifications, though. You will likely find that it doesn't "spool when you don't want it to" already. Addign a boost controller afterward is easy enough if that's what you decide you want.

I could discuss different types of boost controllers with you, help you decide what to get, etc. But you're on your own for getting it installed and setup properly, and it's officially "at your own risk". If you don't feel comfortable with doing that yourself, I recommend finding a local performance shop that works with aftermarket turbo systems to do the install/setup.

I personally run the GrimmSpeed MBC: Manual Boost Controller - GrimmSpeed

It's a very simple and robust solution, easy to install and setup. Being a ball-and-spring type MBC, it actually keeps the wasteagate completely closed until near target boost is reached, which helps the turbo spool quickly. It has also been very consistent for me. Setup once and forget it.

Bleed valve style MBCs are junk. They give you the boost you want, but don't help the turbo spool any quicker.

Inexpensive electronic boost controllers are often actually less capable/consistent than a good manual boost controller, while also being more expensive and more complicated to install/setup.

Expensive electronic boost controllers can do some awesome things, like tap into throttle position sensor and engine speed signals, allow you to tune boost maps across the entire range of throttle position and engine speed, different maps per transmission gear, etc., to really fine tune the spooling behavior. But they are much more complicated to install and tune. Youw would likely need to pay a tuning shop to tune the boost maps.

The Precision turbo does not run well on the 3.8 engine. It spools too easily while cruising on the freeway, causing surging problems and inconsistent throttle control. This has to do with the 3.8 being a larger displacement engine that moves more air through the exhaust at any given RPM compared to the 3.6. I haven't personally driven a 3.8 turbo Jeep, but I'm told that the spooling performance of the Garrett on the 3.8 is somewhere in between the Precision and the Garrett on the 3.6. You're not really missing out on spooling performance by not having the Precision as an option.

Like I mentioned before, switching to a lighter wastegate spring and adding a simple ball-and-spring MBC to bring boost back up to normal levels would be an option if you want to improve spooling a bit. Not an amazingly huge improvement, but a small noticeable improvement, especially when suddenly transitioning to full throttle at higher RPM.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

~Jeff

 

Jeff,

Does it have a nice turbo whistle? I had a Dodge diesel before my Jeep and that sounded great.
Too bad we couldn't get that bad ass 6.0 Powerstroke VGT sound!

 

The Garrett turbo is actually pretty quiet (at least from inside the vehicle). I could hear a faint whistle with the windows down with part throttle acceleration at low speeds. Under load with the turbo really spooled up creating boost, the sound of exhaust flowing through the wastegate seemed to overpower any noise from the turbo. The Garrett turbo is actually quite a sleeper during "normal" driving

Here's what the Garrett sounded like on my 3.6 Wrangler from the outside:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kfYyeRwRSI
The Precision turbo (available for 3.6 Wranglers, as noted earlier) is substantially louder when it starts spooling up. Part of it is the sound of air flowing through the anti-surge ports on the compressor housing, but there's also a separate turbo whistle sound at full throttle. Even during "normal" driving, the Precision will spool up a bit and make some noise while accelerating. You have to drive more gently if you want to keep it silent. This video captures the sound from inside the Jeep very well (you saw this one already, but it's still relevant):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TCzCAcfajU
~Jeff

 

I am in the middle of installing the prodigy kit on my 3.8, so far its pretty straight forward. I did decide to do some other maintenance while I was in there though which has nothing to do with their product but it is making the install take longer.

I am wondering if I should install a lower degree T-stat though? Will prodigy be able to tune the E-fan points for this?