Our favorite Commando Green Wrangler, Sgt. Rocker, is back in the shop for some more improvements, and we’re more than happy to get this future rock-crawler closer to its completion. In our last installment, we gave the JK a super-sweet upgrade to its looks with some attractive graphics courtesy of Extreme Terrain.

Affordable, slick, and with half the hassle of sanding and painting, the graphics were a worthwhile addition to Sgt. Rocker, who came out looking like he was ready for a parade drill. With stars and mountainous silhouettes gracing the hood and body, all Sarge needed was a machine-gun turret to complete the look.

Going From 4-F To 1-A

At the outset of this build, we were mindful of a few things we wanted to have this Jeep do: Be capable of rock-crawling, remain streetable since it also had to be a daily driver, and look awesome. So far, we’ve managed to make good on our expectations.

In its stock configuration, Sgt. Rocker is a 2013 Wrangler JK Unlimited Sport that came without much in the way of bells and whistles. There isn’t much to write home about with Sgt. Rocker: he has a five-speed automatic; Dana-supplied axles, with a 30 on the front and 44 on the rear; and the 3.6L Pentastar, churning out 285 hp and 260 pound-feet of torque.

Wider inlets, smoother passageways, and purpose-built filters can go a long way toward freeing up the flow of cold air into the intake manifold and then into the combustion chambers, where it can help produce more horsepower and torque. This is the sort of solution we want when Sgt. Rocker is finished and out doing its thing in the surrounding mountains, or heading north to try and conquer some sections of the Sierra Nevada.

We’re planning on keeping all the internals on the Pentastar the same, but that doesn’t forbid us from messing around with its peripherals to squeeze out as much power as we can. And putting on a new AIRAID intake will certainly help, as we learned from none other than Trent McGee, Marketing Manager for the company.

Morning Reveille and Workout

We worked with AIRAID to find the optimal choice in its product line for our Wrangler, and it turned out to be one of the SynthaMax air intake kits for 2012-14 3.6-liter JKs (PN 311-132). The company’s development of the kit involved some unique experimentation with design, as McGee explained.

“This kit is somewhat different for a couple of reasons,” said McGee. “One was that it used a portion of the stock system, the cold air inlet, to protect the filter from earthly elements. We found it was actually quite well-designed and even capable of compatibility with aftermarket snorkel systems, so it just made sense to repurpose it.”

With 280 hp and 265 lb-ft. of torque to its name, the 3.6L V-6 under hood had little to brag about.

“The second [design aspect] that made this kit different was the sealed design. Where most of our other kits are open-style designs, this one is special in that it is encased and fully protected from the outside elements, like mud and water, that Jeep drivers are more likely to run into while they are off-roading.”

We chose the dry filter, which McGee explained to us was the wiser choice for the purposes of cleaning and maintenance: “Dry [filters] are easier to maintain in the sense that they don’t need to be oiled every time you do maintenance. For folks who use their Jeeps mostly as daily drivers and do off-roading every once in a while, a dry filter configuration makes more sense than an oiled one.”

Now that we knew what the kit would do for our JK, the first step would be establishing a baseline. We ran the JK two times, the better of which gave us 205.7 hp and 178.3 pound-feet of torque. It looked like we needed to get Sgt. Rocker to the gym if we were ever going to get him to pass the physical, and fortunately the kit from AIRAID would help us do just that.

For the initial dyno test, Sgt. Rocker was able to produce 205.7 hp and 178.3 pound-feet of torque.

Tinker Time!

We popped the hood and grabbed our tools to get started with removing the stock system. For this task, we needed a a socket wrench with 8mm and 10mm sockets, 3/8-inch drill and bits, a flathead screwdriver, a vise, a hacksaw, and an Allen wrench set.

The first step was disconnecting the negative battery terminal and removing the engine cover. Following that, we took a look at the factory intake tube and removed its air temp sensor and two 6mm bolts holding the tube to the fan shroud, while also loosening both clamps on either end of the intake tube. The coolant line had to be unclipped and set aside as well.

Next, we disconnected the crankcase breather line from the airbox and hoisted the airbox out of the engine bay by wrestling it from the mounting grommets on the inner fender. The supplied filter adapter attached to the cold air box with three 1/4-20 x 1/2-inch button head bolts and three quarter-inch flat washers.

We made the cuts to the air scoop using a vice and a hacksaw.

Following that step, the air scoop bracket was connected to the cold air box using supplied hardware. We then had to drill out the rivet heads on the factory airbox to remove the air scoop, which we would soon repurpose for use with the finished intake.

The air scoop was measured on all four corners to a three-inch mark, starting from the end of the scoop and going toward the top with its lipped piece.

The reason for this is to allow sufficient space inside the box for the filter, which the three-inch section would have blocked. Using a hacksaw and a vice, we made the cut along the line we had marked on the air scoop and sanded off the remaining plastic strands.

The trimmed stock air scoop fits perfectly into the AIRAID cold air box.

The air scoop then went directly onto the cold air box, and was fastened using two 8-32 x 3/8-inch button head bolts, a flat washer, and two kep nuts. We set the cold air box aside for a while, as the instructions told us to turn our attention back to the engine bay.

The grommets from which we removed the airbox were replaced with three 3/8-inch well nuts to prepare for installing the AIRAID assembly. In went the new cold air box, which was fastened with three 3/8 x 1½-inch button head bolts. Afterwards, the 5/8-inch barbed fitting and air temperature sensor were respectively inserted into the intake tube in their proper places.

The tube was then fitted with the silicone reducer, double hump hose, and all the necessary clamps, after which the tube was put into its proper place spanning the distance from the air box to the throttle body. After that, it was a simple hookup job reconnecting the breather line to the intake tube by way of the barbed fitting, while every clamp was tightened and double-checked for security.

The coolant line was re-secured to the to fan shroud using two Adel clamps, 6mm bolts, and quarter-inch washers. We took the SynthaMax filter and attached it home to the filter adapter, while the air box lid received its gasket and promptly got screwed in to the top of the air box. After we reattached the engine cover and double-checked everything, it was back to the dyno to see just how well Sgt. Rocker had improved.

Sgt. Rocker Hops Back Onto The Treadmill

We strapped down the Wrangler and made two runs, just like before, and eagerly awaited the results. As the engine and dyno wound down, the numbers flashed on the screen: 212.1 hp and 178.1 pound-feet of torque.

The JK’s torque output was similar at the same at maximum engine speed, but the thing that was readily apparent was the increase in torque and horsepower in the mid-range territory, spanning 4,300 rpm to 5,900 rpm. As you can see in the chart above produced by our in-house Dynojet dynamometer, the Jeep is now capable of churning out much better torque and horsepower throughout the middle of the power band.

Previously, the Pentastar was pulling 104.2 horsepower and 127.2 pound-feet of torque at 4,300 rpm, but afterward, those numbers jumped way up to 131.4 horsepower and 160.5 pound-feet of torque at that same rpm. We’d call that a substantial improvement any day of the week. The better news is that in the mid-range, a much more useable engine speed on- and off-road, you can feel this change.

If you’d like to know more about what AIRAID can do for your pickup truck or Jeep, check out its contact information below. And sure to give the company a Like on Facebook, where you can stay updated on its latest news and promotions. Also stay tuned to Off Road Xtreme for more improvements to Sgt. Rocker in the months to come.

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