Prodigy Performance 3.6 Turbo DIY Install

[UselessPickles]

For a man that claims he didn't take that many pictures to create an install log, you sure did a great job taking pictures for your write up! Nice job!

Thanks. While reviewing all my pictures, there's been so many little details that could have been captured better, or that I completely missed. I guess I just have high standards. If the end result is that I set your expectations low, then over-delivered, then that works out nicely

(and of course, the new track bar relocation bracket, the upgraded flipped drag link, new steering strut, etc. etc. to fix all the problems that a lift creates, grin.)

And that's part of why I'll stick with my 2" lift and only go up to 33" tires

And of course... GET THOSE DOORS OFF! Toooooo many Jeepers drivin' around town with their doors on, sad, very sad... ;-)

Too much rain lately

Haven't had the top/doors off since before the turbo install.

[UselessPickles]

UPDATE!!! - I have since learned that I had too much boost with stage 1. I should have only had about 6.8 psi boost. When upgrading to stage 2, I found an exhaust leak at my wastegate, as well as a leak in the boost-sensing line to the wastegate. I'm pretty sure that one or both of these issues caused my excess boost.

Taking a break from the install writeup for some geeky data log analysis!

Here's the boost curve from a full throttle pull in 2nd gear:



Boost is not directly data logged, but intake manifold pressure is logged in psi, and barometric pressure is logged in inches of mercury. I converted barometric pressure to psi (came out to 14.4 psi) and subtracted it from manifold pressure to get boost values.

Based on the peak torque being at 4500 rpm in Prodigy's dyno results, I expected full boost at 4500 rpm. I'm thinking that maybe 2nd gear acceleration is just too fast, so the turbo doesn't get to fully spool at 4500 rpm. I'll have to try again with 3rd gear to test this hypothesis

Also note that I reached full throttle around 1700 rpms (whatever the first point on this chart is). I need to try again from a lower RPM to see if there's any amount of boost below 1700 rpm.

Once I'm satisfied that I have good boost curve data, then I'll also data log what happens when you stomp on the throttle around 4500 rpm to see how much lag there is in building full boost when going from cruising to full throttle.

[JeepLab]

Pickles, this is the best part of everything you do.

I LOVE the detail.

I wish prodigy would get there butts to NJ so we can put ours in. I've had this turbo in my living room for weeks!

I promised to wait for them to fly up for the install.

[UselessPickles]

Prodigy is finalizing some improvements. It should be worth the wait

[Snarf77]

Prodigy is finalizing some improvements. It should be worth the wait

The wait has been tremendous..but we're holding on! Really Pickles..the write ups are great. Keep 'em coming. Sorry you haven't had the top off much. I drove two hours on the highway to and from Rausch Creek on saturday and I feel half beaten to death by the wind and a bit deaf in the right ear afterwards. Something to look forward to!

[Timmy]

I drove two hours on the highway to and from Rausch Creek on saturday and I feel half beaten to death by the wind and a bit deaf in the right ear afterwards. Something to look forward to!

Right ear? Hmmm, that doesn't make sense. You must still have your doors on or else it would be your left ear with more hearing loss

I went rock climbing with the kids last weekend and by the time we got home, we had the radio cranked at 28 on the highway just to hear it. Our ears were so shot that anything less and it just faded away into the wind noise.

[Snarf77]

Right ear? Hmmm, that doesn't make sense. You must still have your doors on or else it would be your left ear with more hearing loss

I went rock climbing with the kids last weekend and by the time we got home, we had the radio cranked at 28 on the highway just to hear it. Our ears were so shot that anything less and it just faded away into the wind noise.

Don't want to threadjack pickles, but yup, right ear ringing. No top. open tube doors (no spidershade). Either way - next time earplugs are in order.

[Yoinkers]

We have a date on the JL install yet?

[UselessPickles]

Ok... back to the install.

Next up is to install the oil feed line for the turbo. You'll be working in this area:



That dark abyss is only that dark because it was a bright sunny day with harsh shadows. I believe that's the oil cooler just below the yellow circle. What you care about is the oil pressure sensor:



I think the smaller sensor in the foreground is the oil temperature sensor, but I'm not sure. It's the big sensor underneath it that needs to come out. This is where I lost several hours of time due to not having the right tool. It's tight in that space, and I didn't have a wrench large enough. I have an adjustable crescent wrench that just barely opens wide enough to fit on it, but the wrench is too chunky to get in there and get a good grip. I ran around to a couple stores looking for a wrench that would fit. The biggest wrench I found was 1-1/16", and it was a bit too small. I'm, thinking it might need a 1-1/8" wrench.


After failing to find a wrench, I re-visited the adjustable crescent wrench. I determined that the coolant hose underneath the sensors was blocking my access to get it firmly around the sensor nut. With some patience working in that tight space with needle nose pliers, I got the hose clamp off, then was able to get the hose off and out of the way. Of course, coolant spilled out into the valley of the engine, so I had to try to soak it up with paper towels, then dilute it with water and soak it up again. With the hose out of the way, I was just barely able to get the adjustable wrench onto the sensor and had just enough room to loosen it 1/6th of a rotation at a time. Note that while the smaller sensor seems to be in the way, you CAN attack the oil pressure sensor at an angle and work around the smaller sensor.

Once the oil pressure sensor is out, you basically install a T-fitting in its place, install the oil pressure sensor onto the end of the T-fitting, and compression fitting to the top of the T, then attach the oil feed line to the compression fitting:



Teflon tape (like PTFE plumber's thread tape) is used on all threaded connections here, except for the oil line itself, because that's a compression fitting. Search online for how to properly use thread tape (need to wrap it in the correct direction, about 4 times around).

Before you snug up the oil line connection, make sure you have it routed nicely between all the nearby wire harnesses, hoses, etc. I'll post photos later of the completed install, trying to show how I ended up generally routing everything. I'm a bit OCD about routing things nicely, so I actually ended up re-routing some things a few times until I was happy with it.

Such a simple and innocent looking step of the install, and it took me 3+ hours to complete between trying different tools I had, running to stores, cleaning yet another coolant spill, and all the tedium of working in that small space. I felt unstoppable once this step was over.

[UselessPickles]

See these plastic pipes with rubber connectors (the top of the picture highlights approximately where the pipes run behind everything)?




You can actually pull those out and get them out of the way earlier than instructed, whenever is convenient. They'll be easiest to remove once the upper and lower intake manifold are removed. Those are part of the crankcase ventilation system.

One pipe runs from the passenger side valve cover to the intake manifold. When idling or cruising, the intake manifold creates vacuum through the PCV (positive crankcase ventilation) valve and sucks nasty air out of the crankcase (blow-by unburnt fuel, water vapor, etc). Slight vacuum in the crankcase keeps oil seals happy, and sucking out nasty junk keeps oil more pure, avoiding corrosion, sludge, etc. I will refer to this as "the PCV pipe".

The other pipe runs from the driver side valve cover to the air box. This is just a breather; no significant vacuum is applied to this pipe by the intake system, but it runs to the air box in stock configuration to be recirculated into the intake to reduce emissions. I will refer to this as "the breather pipe".

The turbo kit replaces these pipes. The breather pipe is simply replaced by a long hose that runs down behind the engine, along the top of the transmission, with the end of the hose zip-tied in place to vent to atmosphere under the vehicle. The EPA won't like this, but Prodigy explicitly chose to go this route rather than maintain the recirculating behavior. Hot air with some oil vapor, unburnt fuel, water vapor, etc., flows out of this hose when running boost, because there is significantly more blow-by past the pistons with boost, and that extra pressure in the crankcase needs to escape somewhere. That hot contaminated air interferes with tuning for power. For example, oil vapor reduces the effective octane rating of the fuel, making it more prone to pinging/detonation. Rather than tune more conservatively (less power) and/or require higher octane fuel (already requires 91 minimum), Prodigy has opted to avoid the problem altogether and slap the "for off-road use only, wink, wink" label on the turbo kit.

It's hard to get a good picture of this breather hose, but here's the end of it after installation:




The PCV pipe is replaced by a hose with a check valve about at its mid point. The check valve prevents the crankcase from seeing positive boost pressure from the intake manifold.




However, I made the observation that the check valve has the hose fittings threaded into it:




And the diameter of the original plastic PCV pipe is a very close match to fit into the female threads of the check valve. So I decided to put a little extra effort into making my install just a bit cleaner:






Those are 3/8" pipe threads to match the threads in the check valve. I was able to borrow a rental thread cutting die at a local hardware store for $5 to get the job done at the counter in-store without paying any rental deposits, etc. If I had taken it home to use it, there would have been a $50 deposit, and the rental fee was $8. Just make sure you thoroughly clean any plastic shavings/dust from the cutting and threading. Don't want to suck that into your engine. Male pipe threads are cut with a taper, so it's a combination threaded/compression fitting. Because of this, and especially because the pipe is plastic, the pipe and check valve can be threaded tightly together and form an air-tight seal without any kind of thread sealant.




I like to keep as many things as possible appearing OEM, or at least OEM-like, and not obviously modded. You'll have to wait to see the modded PCV pipe installed, because there's plenty of other things that need to happen with the turbo install first


NOTE: The ventilation hoses/pipes are easily accessible after the install is complete, so you can start by following Prodigy's instructions, then customize it as I did at a later time if you decide to do so.


UPDATE: This modded PCV pipe needs a redesign due to annoying noise: http://jeeplab.com/showthread.php?13...ull=1#post2112

UPDATE: New revision successfully got rid of annoying noise: http://jeeplab.com/showthread.php?13...ull=1#post2116

UPDATE: Crankcase ventilation solutions are still being tested by Prodigy, so what I have described here is not final.