The what and why of the 3.6 Pentastar Intake Manifold Upgrade:
When Chrysler created the latest version of the Pentastar 3.6 (often referred to as the PUG engine), they made a change to the lower intake manifold, and it is significantly better than the outgoing model. We figured our Jeep could benefit from slightly improved induction, so here's an upgrade that might be hard to quantify the impact of, but it is clear either way that the new manifold has much better port geometry than the old. For reference, the new part is Mopar P/N: 05281803AA and it comes from the newer 3.6 found in the JT/JL among others.
To demonstrate, see the stock JK on port the left, and PUG lower intake manifold port on the right:
Installing the 3.6 Pentastar Intake Manifold Upgrade:
The install is very straightforward because it fits just as the original did. In fact, the only modification I made to the manifold was to sand down some of the sharp plastic left behind from manufacturing as this can't be good for flow. We did also upgrade the oil filter housing and fuel injectors while it was all apart. Those mods are worthwhile on their own, and bout 90% of the labor is shared between these 3 jobs.
All things considered, this wasn't a very difficult or expensive job, and while we can't prove how good the upgrade really is, we can safely assume it has a positive effect, or they wouldn't have redesigned it.
Driving impressions:
This is the other tough part as we didn't do just this mod alone. While we were in there, we also upgraded the fuel injectors, exhaust, and intake. Despite the simultaneous mods, we'll place this one in the "worth-it" category as it was super easy, cheap, and very likely to have contributed to the peppier feel since the changes. Our Jeep certainly has more power now, and there seems to be a noticeable improvement right off idle too. If you've got work planned in the valley of your 3.6, or you're chasing every last ounce of performance you can get, this is a must-do mod.
0 comments