I'm sure this has been discussed many times before, and before anyone says use the search. I figured I'd just ask the question and see if anyone has any opinions. Obviously we all know the 3.8L sucks at producing power. I can't justify getting a new jeep (3.6) because mine has such low miles for a 2010 (and I love my Jeep!). I think a supercharger is out of the question. To many problems out there, and I think reliability is important. IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE I CAN DO??? CAI, Exhaust, throttle body? Do any of these actually work?

Thanks Gents!

 

Regear and tuner.

 

First of all the 3.8 has more then enough power. The problem is the transmission and factory gearing.
Tune it and regear appropriately for the tires you want to run and you will be fine.

Take a look at the gear charts and compare the 3.8 to 3.6 ... A 3.6 with 3.21 is roughly the equivalent of 3.8 with 4.10.

 

Lifted, 35's, at altitude? You can remove the lift, drop back to stock tires, move down to sea level with flat roads. You could also start dumping weight. Remove the seats you don't use, drive without a spare, take any armor off, generally make it less fun and less capable.

You should be geared for the tire size.

For the exhaust/cai/tb, do some reading. Plenty of threads on them. Some people say they work great, but most people ... don't really seem to agree. You'll have to read enough different opinions to make up you own mind.

Tuners, look at the dyno charts and see what is really going on. They splash a big, bold +25HP all over the advertisements, but don't mention that it is way up at like 5,500 rpm. What are you likely to see down where you normally drive? 6 or 8 or maybe 10 HP? And that's if you are running an aggressive tune and paying for 93 octane? Buy a programmer/tuner for the gear ratio and tire size recalibration and all of the other nifty features, view any HP gain as a bonus.

 

Make sure you are geared properly for your tire size. This should give you good performance at slower speeds (around town, city driving, etc), and good off-road performance.

If you're still not happy with performance at higher speeds (accelerating quickly up to speed, merging onto freeways, passing performance, maintaining speed up hills on the freeway, etc.), then the only thing that can help you is more power in the mid-to-upper RPM range.

We can help you with that



(dyno chart shows stock, Stage 2 turbo, and Stage 3 turbo; stage 3 is available for manual transmission only)

More than 100% gain (DOUBLE stock torque/power, DOUBLE the acceleration) from 3500 RPM up with our Stage 2 turbo.

Let me know if you have any questions.

~Jeff

 

A regear is the single most effective change you could make to feel more power. I just went to 4.88 w. My 6sp 3.8 w 35s, it will throw you back in your seat now. I wouldn't waste any money on a CAI, throttle body spacer or exhaust. Save your money, put it into gears. A tuner will help with an auto for shift points, but get gears first.

 

On my '14 you need a tuner with an auto or you will go into limp mode when you change gears. Not sure how valuable they are with a stick though. I also am using the 91 octane tune and you can definitely feel a difference in the seat of your pants, most noticeably higher shift points if you mash it.

 

Throw some 4.88 gears in it and you will be impressed with the performance on 35's, 5.13 would be even better on the steep grades unless you run a lot of highway miles but from your post it does not seem that way.

 

Thanks everyone for your feedback. A little more info: I'm currently running 5:13 on 35s, moving to 37s shortly, 6spd. Daily driving is "fine" for power, rock crawling is great. Going up I-70 at 10,000 feet? F*cking sucks. I get passed by 18 wheelers cause I can only do 45mph. I do get to enjoy the scenery though! I currently have a rugged ridge snorkel, but I'm thinking of getting rid of it, wonder if it inhibits air flow? Maybe a CAI, Exhaust and a tune would get me a little more power to make it at least bearable on the highway (at altitude), who knows?

 

I have 5.38s and just love it with the 37's.