so i take it that ripp thinks that the best gains come with an MBRP exhaust? or just a muffler?
thanks

 

Nothing new to report obviously, but I think in the next couple days and weeks I'll try to get some video showing where the Supercharger kicks in. One of the things that detracted from it's appeal was the fact that looking at the dyno charts seem to show it kicking in way too high in the RPM band to be of very much use. While that's true for just cruising around town casually or even on the highway, as I tend to stay right around 2k RPM give or take a couple hundred. The moment you want the power from that point it's there on demand. Take a look at your shift points when you stomp the gas and notice what RPMs your JK is shifting into the next gear at (I've got an auto so that's what I'm going on), they're right in the band where the supercharger kicks in.

Based on that, so far the RIPP gets a big thumbs up for around town driveability and performance. Again, I plan to take video to document and confirm this (or completely debunk my theory. lol).

I have yet to really get it dirty though as I've only had it in for 3 days now and I know a lot of you mainly care if it'll help out on the trails. Those of you who feel this way, what types of driving situations are we talking here? Keep in mind that I'm not set up for rock crawling. My initial tests in the "off road" department will consist of literally taking it off road in mclean, climbing a hill steep and muddy enough that 4wd is necessary and at one point (prior to the SC) I had to pick a different line, because it was simply too muddy for my BFG AT KOs to gain enough traction to go up. So, throw out some ideas and I'll see what I can do about getting a test and or some video done in a similiar situation.

 

...enjoying the write ups and observations...

 

lol I want to make it clear that it's not some giant muddy slope or mud bog, but the mud was slick enough that it completely filled the tread and made climbing nearly impossible. Mainly this was a result of not having enough oomph on the first pass, and having to try and give it more gas when I was already spinning a bit, which just made the mud worse. The hill itself is grassy, but was very slick from lots of rain and it didn't take much to rip the grass up and leave it as just a muddy path. I know someone who just got a new Rubi and doesn't yet know much about using all it's features, so I'm thinking I'll drag him out there with me and have him run up the hill to see how he does and compare the two runs, etc.

 

Well, I checked all the connections, washer fluid level, oil level and all looks to be good. No leaks anywhere. Not that I was expecting to find any, but I thought it best to kind of go over the system with the instructions and get a feel for where everything is since I didn't install it. Put another 30-40 miles on it, today driving it more "normal" with no "tests". I've enjoyed driving my JK since day one and today, since I didn't challenge it any the experience was still a pleasure and the only notable difference is it's easier to get up to a cruising speed. Almost a bit too easy. I have the trail guide GPS and keep forgetting the unit itself so I can double check my speedo to make sure that the settings I set with the AEV Procal are still in place for the speedo, because I actually have to watch how fast I'm going now on the highway. Prior to the supercharger, with the 5.13s alone, it was quite easy to get up to cruising speed, but I had to stomp the gas a bit to do it and if I wanted to go faster than say 65 I'd have to get into the gas again, rev it up and get there and I was fine. Now, that's not required and I found I was doing nearly 80 without realizing it and without pushing the pedal down much. I might actually have to start using my cruise control, to make sure I don't get any speeding tickets from not paying as much attention as I should to my speed.

 

Looks cool, can't wait to read what your final verdict is, plan to post videos?

 

lol See this is my problem, I ramble on so much people miss things. A few posts up I said I'm going to attempt to. Haven't used the feature yet on my camera, but think I should be able to figure it out. I will probably wait out the break in period to do so though, just so I feel extra comfortable pushing things.

 

Ok, so time for my update. Since my last update it went into limp mode three times. I'm going to attribute this to it working out the kinks and I realized friday that I didn't yet have the TRD Fix soldered in. I thought the previous owner had done it, but as it turns out he hadn't. So Saturday morning we got that done and it promptly did it once more. Wondering what the heck was going on, I sent off a PM to RIPP. Now, mind you it's Saturday and I STILL got a quick answer. How's that for service? I was told to do a hard reset on the Jeep, by touching the Pos and Neg leads together and a couple other steps. Since then, no limp mode. I am not very computer savy, but it reminded me of installing a new update on your computer and the changes not being recognized until you restart. I've actually been driving it fairly conservatively, but haven't had any problems yet when I get on it to enter the highway, etc. In the DC area, if I get in limp mode, it's often hard to immediately pull over and turn off the engine and restart, because our traffic is so bad.

Tomorrow morning I plan to do a few harder passes with it and see how it responds, but mainly I'm waiting out the break in period (which got reset with the TRD fix and reset). The problems thus far have been minimal with easy fixes and if anyone's keeping track, I still don't regret spending the money. The one thing I hope is that once the break in process is done, that I'll be able to stomp on the gas, floor it and have it take off and not go into limp mode. I've got an auto and manually shifting it with the stock shifter just isn't realistic in that type of setting, because it's quite easy to bump the shifter too hard and go right from 2 to D or worse to neutral. I've actually got an extra Hurst shifter from my 73 Camaro, that bump shifts, but I don't think that it would work on the Jeep.

So to sum it up, couple glitches with easy fixes. Overall the driving experience is absolutely enhanced, but I'm hoping that it truly will learn how I drive, because having 100hp extra isn't any fun if you can't stomp the pedal to the ground every now and again and really enjoy them. That truly is the only negative I could think of. So, just under 400 miles and I guess I (we) will find out.

Thanks for tuning in.

*Oh and I almost forgot I got stuck at 7-11 yesterday, not because of any type of problem, but because when I pulled in someone who used to own a CJ asked me if I had the stock engine in it. So I spent the next 30 mins talking Jeep with him. Thankfully I hadn't yet purchased my Slurpee.

*Oh and I almost forgot another thing, the sound of the SC takes some getting used to as there's just about a constant "whistle" or air sound. I most likely won't ever notice it once it's broken in, because I usually have the stereo on, but for the drives around town I've often had the radio turned off just to listen and make sure everything is ok. Now the sound when you go into the upper RPMs and it shifts is very cool.

Any questions, just ask em.

 

Can you check your 0 to 60 time? Nothing official, just grab a watch and find a relatively flat stretch of road...

 

Excellent info -

For the record - Saharablack bought an early kit - when he bought it we offered to upgrade the electronics for him at no charge - the updated tune was compensated for the TRD fix, however his harness didn't have the fix installed, which is why he's tripped the TRD several times.

You can probably start getting into now even though you've done the memory clear.

Couple of questions:
Do you have gears/what size
What size tire?
Did you use a tire calibrator, if so did you do it properly? By properly did you do one full rotation, measure and divide by pie?
Do you have a hypertech power programmer (or other brand) adjusted to high octane or other high output setting?
How loose or tight is the blow off valve

RIPPTECH