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Jeep Wrangler

  1. 10 Ways To Start Winterizing Your Jeep

    10 Ways To Start Winterizing Your Jeep

    Proper vehicle preparation and maintenance can ensure your Jeep survives the low temperatures of winter. We put together a list of 10 checklist items you can complete to give yourself peace of mind as the temperatures drop. We recommend starting this list around October if you're in the Northern Hemisphere and May if you're south of the equator. Follow this checklist to make sure you're ready for the season ahead.

    1. Test Your Battery

    If possible, have your battery tested prior to the cold weather snap and replace if it's testing

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  2. Steal the Limelight - Transmission Cooler R&D, Part 2: Design

    Steal the Limelight - Transmission Cooler R&D, Part 2: Design

    Despite its simple appearance, improving upon the stock 2018+ Jeep Wrangler JL transmission cooler will take some clever engineering. In many cases, the solution to extracting more efficiency from a heat exchanger is to make it bigger, but with the cramped cooling stack of the JL, the size of our cooler would be limited.

    In our last post, we looked at the stock 2018+ Jeep Wrangler JL transmission cooler and its home in the 2.0L Wrangler. Our performance trans cooler will fit all of the available engines and the 2020+ Gladiator, but the complexity of the 2.0T's cooling stack makes it the perfect R&D vehicle. That complexity also restricts how much we can change the dimensions

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  3. Youth Elevated - Snorkel R&D, Part 3: Production

    Youth Elevated - Snorkel R&D, Part 3: Production

    This Borne Off-Road Snorkel for the 2018+ Jeep Wrangler JL and 2020+ Jeep Gladiator is now available! Click here to check it out!

    There's something about the outdoors that lets us reconnect with our youth. Maybe it's the memories of playing outside with our friends, or the simplicity of nature reminding us of simpler times. Whatever the reason, we could all use a little more time outside. Your Jeep Wrangler JL is marketed as a go anywhere, do anything machine, but sometimes it needs a little help to live up to that persona. Here at Mishimoto, we've been working on parts to help it do just that, including our latest project: the 2018+ Jeep Wrangler JL/2020+ Gladiator snorkel.

    In the last post, we began the design process by 3D scanning our JL inside and out. We also discussed our options for routing the snorkel. In the

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  4. Youth Elevated - Snorkel R&D, Part 2: Design

    Youth Elevated - Snorkel R&D, Part 2: Design

    When we were kids, we had Legos, Erector sets, Lincoln Logs, and K'NEX to satisfy our need to tinker. But as we've grown, so have our toys. Modifying cars and trucks is the adult (ish) version of our childhood pastimes, and vehicles like the 2018+ JL Wrangler are as close to Legos as you can get. The latest brick in our JL Wrangler build is a snorkel to help keep the intake clean while you're reconnecting with your youth on the trail.

    In the last post, we looked at the stock intake and discussed why you might want to add a snorkel, even if you're not fording four feet of water. To recap, we explained that your JL's intake utilizes a fresh-air inlet in the fender area to

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  5. Youth Elevated - Snorkel R&D, Part 1: Introduction

    Youth Elevated - Snorkel R&D, Part 1: Introduction

    When we were 16, our cars were our tickets to freedom and endless possibilities. For many of us, those early days of driving were the basis for a lifetime of automotive passion. It didn't matter if we were driving our dream car or our grandmother's 1991 Buick Regal, as long as we were behind the wheel with our friends in the back.

    Somewhere along the road from 16 to adulthood, we lost that sense of freedom. Room for friends has been replaced by space for the kids and their bikes. Gas mileage now supersedes a killer sound system in the hierarchy of features. "How comfortable will this be on my 45-minute stop-and-go commute," has taken the place of "Will my crush think I'm cool in this?"

    But growing up doesn't have to be all car seats and MPGs. Many vehicles, like the 2018+ Jeep Wrangler

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  6. Steal the Limelight - Transmission Cooler R&D, Part 3: Testing

    Steal the Limelight - Transmission Cooler R&D, Part 3: Testing

    When we last saw our 2018+ Jeep Wrangler JL performance transmission cooler, it was nothing more than a box, constructed from aluminum u-channel, with plastic end tanks glued to it. This time, however, we'll be getting our hands on a fully functioning production sample.

    In our last post, we began the design process for our performance transmission cooler and created a prototype. Thanks to the JL's cramped cooling stack, our ability to enlarge the transmission cooler was severely limited in the vertical and horizontal planes. However, we were able to significantly increase the thickness of the core from 19mm to 32mm. This 68% increase

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  7. Steal the Limelight - Transmission Cooler R&D, Part 1: Stock Review

    Steal the Limelight - Transmission Cooler R&D, Part 1: Stock Review

    Engines get a lot of press these days. Every manufacturer wants to flaunt their latest, most fuel-efficient, technologically advanced, or powerful engine yet. The hype is even more prominent when manufacturers make drastic changes to a long-standing model, like the 2018+ Jeep Wrangler.

    When FCA announced the 2018+ Wrangler JL in late 2017, all the journalists were clamoring for headlines on the new 2.0L, turbocharged, mild-hybrid engine. How would the mild hybrid perform offroad? Would the turbo lag make it a dog in stop and go traffic? What about that 24-volt power system? Everybody forgot about the 3.6L Pentastar that's powered the Wrangler, and over 20 other models, for almost a decade. But the 3.6L Pentastar wasn't the only thing forgotten in the fanfare over the new 2.0T.

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  8. Breathing Fresh Air - Intake R&D: Simply Power

    Breathing Fresh Air - Intake R&D: Simply Power

    As automotive technology advances and manufacturers try to squeeze more power out of every drop of fuel, forced induction (specifically turbocharging) is becoming increasingly prevalent. But, while forced induction can make a 4-cylinder as powerful as an engine twice its size, nothing compares to a naturally-aspirated engine's linear powerband. Natural aspiration is power in its purest form - a one-to-one connection of right foot and forward motion.

    For many Jeep enthusiasts, the simplicity of natural aspiration has kept them loyal to the 3.6L Pentastar V6 in their 2018+ Wrangler JL or 2020+ Gladiator. That simplicity also makes modifying an N/A engine straightforward. Unlike modern turbocharged systems that usually require a tune to gain power from bolt-on modifications, N/A powerplants benefit tremendously from anything

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  9. Breathing Fresh Air - Intake R&D, Part 9: Production

    Breathing Fresh Air - Intake R&D, Part 9: Production

    As Ye tightened the last bolt on our intake production sample, we breathed a sigh of relief. Over a year of painstaking R&D came to a close with that bolt.

    In all our years designing intakes, few have been as complex or demanding as our 2018+ Jeep Wrangler JL 2.0L intake. We've fought check engine lights, tested more variations than we could have imagined, and learned a lot along the way. But the time is finally here to see the product of our efforts in its final form.

    Shortly after we finished our final design from the last post, we began production on a sample to test fit. This test fit is the final (and often the most crucial) step in the R&D process. It tells us if our design

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  10. Breathing Fresh Air - Intake R&D, Part 8: Final Design

    Breathing Fresh Air - Intake R&D, Part 8: Final Design

    The last post for our 2018+ Jeep Wrangler 2.0L JL intake ended on a low note. We had worked for months on our high-flowing intake only to find that it made the 2.0T Hurricane engine less powerful in the RPM range that counts the most. Instead of a torquey and responsive engine that made peak power at 3,250 RPM, our intake shifted peak power up to 4,500 RPM, making the JL feel laggy and sluggish. 1,250 RPM isn't a huge gap, but when most of your driving is done below 4,000 RPM, it can make a huge difference.

    All was not lost, however. We looked back at the stock intake and found part of our solution. The branch resonators that we previously thought only affected the intake's sound appeared to play a much larger role in performance. A little research combined with our engineer's expertise

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