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Supercharger/ turbo

21K views 22 replies 14 participants last post by  rblapham 
#1 ·
I have an '06 commander 3.7 wondering if anyone has installed either a supercharger or turbo. If you have can you shoot me some details
 
#2 ·
Never heard of one for the Commander, but the 3.7L has been used in a lot of vehicles, so maybe a kit is out there that could be adapted.


A couple things to keep in mind:
*Because of Gov Standards for crash resistance, the engine compartments are extremely tight and crowded, so despite the Commander being a larger car, don't think you have the room to fit a turbo/super charger that is designed for another vehicle. NOT without massive modifications that might exceed your abilities/tools.


*Even the best turbo/super charger kits are NOT as good as the Manufacturer, that engineered your engine to be reliable and long lasting. You slap a kit like a turbo/super charger on the engine, you change that, and have to improvise as well. You will likely have breakdowns and need to repair it more often.


*The best super/turbo charged engines are designed from the ground up to be that, NOT slapped on later in life in an engine designed to be NA. If you ever looked at the comparison of a Turbo version of an engine done by the Manufacturer to its NA roots, you'd see just about all new parts in the engine with lots of design changes to stand up to the stress and heat. An NA version of an engine, you are best limited to a mild boost, or you risk damage, as well, you do increase the stress and heat in the motor and it will wear faster.


So I'm NOT saying don't do a turbo/super charger, I'm saying know what you're getting into and don't bite off more than you can chew. A mild turbo/super charger, that gets an extra 50-75HP, with modest boost that the stock engine can handle, probably won't blow up the engine. But it will be expensive, it break down more often than if it was stock and it will wear out faster than if it was stock.
 
#3 ·
I would say that you would be better off buying a Hemi commander.

Turbo kits are fun to talk about, but by the time they get designed/installed/tuned you could be in for thousands and thousands of dollars for something that *maybe* performs as well as the big V8.

Doing something just for the sake of being unique is one thing, but typically requires a budget that outweighs the benefits.
 
#4 · (Edited)
I would say that you would be better off buying a Hemi commander.
That's not really a very realistic option considering Kdilling already owns a 3.7L Commander.

I would say your best bet would be to contact some reputable turbo and supercharger companies directly, give them your vehicle information and let them research if they have anything in their inventory that might fit your application.
 
#5 · (Edited)
One thing to consider is that the 5.7 has roughly 140 more hp and gets 1-2 mpg less (according to the EPA) than the 3.7

If you wanted an extra 140hp, you could spend a lot of money for a one off kit that might work, would require a ton custom fabrication, and might come close to the long term reliability of a stock motor. This is assuming that it would be possible to nearly double the stock horsepower without serious upgrades that come with boosting a motor. These would include head studs, extra fueling, most likely intercooling of some kind, getting into forged internals, and some sort of a fuel management system, either piggyback or standalone.

Assuming you could get all of this done for the same amount of money as selling your 3.7 commander and buying a 5.7 commander, which I find highly unlikely, you would be left with a high strung motor with a lot of custom parts that would most likely need to use premium fuel, would probably get about the same mileage as the 5.7, and would be much more difficult to get serviced if something did go wrong.

If it were me, I would sell my 3.7 commander for what I could get for it, and assume I would have to throw another 3-4k to upgrade, and possibly get something with fewer miles/more options, and have a nice, stock, reliable, servicable engine that happily runs on 87 octane and wouldn't scare off prospective buyers when I eventually sold it.

If it does get done, post lots of pics, because turbos are cool.
 
#6 ·
This reply is a little outdated, but a friend of mine has a 2016 Grand Cherokee with quadratrack and a 3.6 litre pentstar, 300 hp. 8 speed automatic. He's got more power,and better mileage ,21 real world mpg. in a heavier vehicle.
I wish I had one in my Commander, His GC is huge, and ugly, I much prefer the Commander, but I would love his drivetrain.
 
#8 ·
Not my opinion but read this on a different board.


"In stock form the 3.7 can not handle any boost as the top pistons rings are located to high on the pistons for emission reasons,bad thing is under any boost the pistons will break apart.KenniBell made a supercharger for the 3.7 but yanked it fast when they blew up there 3.7.You must install forged pistons to handle boost and by then you might as well trade in the Jeep with the 3.7 and get one with a HEMI and still come out ahead on money and fabbing nightmares"


The Kenne Bell is a roots type blower which makes a lot of boost fast so it could be too much and a turbo might not cause the same damage but it is something to think about.
 
#10 · (Edited)
anyone know if the HEMI can handle boost:? haha i know i know its already very powerful...but im a "tim allen" kinda guy. **grunts**
so anyone know?>:)
It can....to a point. The over-all answer is not really any different than the answer for the 3.7. There's actually a lot of SC options for the 5.7 since they are very popular in all the Chargers, Challengers and Magnums. Edelbrock makes a real nice low-profile twin-screw kit that might fit under the Commander's hood. Most of their kits for the 5.7 are either for the Ram truck, or any of the cars and while all the engines/blocks/heads are the same, the intake positioning and hood clearance are all different than the Commander's....the Ram intake actually comes off the BACK half of the engine and the cars pipe to the left where our battery is. Also all the engine accessory drives (AC, alternator, etc) and belts/routing is way different. Probably not that bad to retro-fit if it clears the hood and the frame brace. Further NONE of the intercoolers would fit, save MAYBE the GC SRT. However, at $6500 to $7500 depending which year model you have (changed to VVT for 2009).....that's a costly experiment.
Without doing any engine work your weak points are going to be head gaskets and head bolts since they aren't designed for increased pressures....as a result, most of these "bolt-on" kits have a rather low PSI rating. I think the Edelbrocks are only 5 psi. They still claim like 500ish HP at the flywheel or 450ish at the wheels depending on what vehicle the kit is actually designed for.

Your best bet is to look into a centrifugal type like a Pro-Charger....there'll still be a lot of custom fab parts you'll have to do because no one makes a bolt on kit for the Commander. But almost everyone at least makes a kit for the SRT Grand Cherokee and all the Hemi engines are the same on the outside- 5.7, 6.1, 6.4, etc. This would be the same process as a turbocharger almost but WITHOUT all the extra plumbing needed with regards to the exhaust- there is almost NO room down at the headers on our Jeeps. There are rear mounted turbo setups on some cars- like back at the muffler, but all that loss through the long amount of piping just does not seem like it's not worth it.

Lastly- all this intake work is for not if you don't replace the small "log" of an exhaust manifold setup that's stock on the Commanders. That's another $1700.



......but I haven't put much thought into the idea.... :lol:
 
#12 ·
Trying to make a Hellcat Commander? While it would be fun, and unique projects are always attention getters at events, I'm more along the lines of improving of what a vehicle is already good at or designed for. The amount of money and effort doesn't seem to match the outcome on this project idea to me. But I'd still give a thumbs up to anyone who does it!


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#13 · (Edited)
Trying to make a Hellcat Commander? While it would be fun, and unique projects are always attention getters at events, I'm more along the lines of improving of what a vehicle is already good at or designed for. The amount of money and effort doesn't seem to match the outcome on this project idea to me. But I'd still give a thumbs up to anyone who does it!

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Yep, this is definitely off the beaten path for sure....but hey, different strokes.....

Personally, I have other mods I still want to do, that are far cheaper than $10,000 and more in line with what a Jeep Commander was built for.
 
#15 ·
Order a new Grand Cherokee TrackHawk and drive away from everyone except the Shell station. And your 2nd mortgage broker!


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#16 ·
Order a new Grand Cherokee TrackHawk and drive away from everyone except the Shell station. And your 2nd mortgage broker!

ha, I forgot alll about that thing...I'd love to drive one. but that's it :lol:
 
#17 ·
There's a guy on instagram that swapped in an SRT 6.1L into a salvaged 4.7 XK. Obviously the entire drivetrain, etc. was probably replaced too, but still...
 
#18 ·
That's awesome...hadn't seen this yet! That thing sounds mean!!
There's been a few people pass through here saying they've done similar (SRT swaps, etc) but never hang around more than their initial posts with some pictures....no discussion or question answering. None that I have seen had a forced induction system, though!
It's all fully possible- the SRT Grands still have the same frame and mounting points as our XKs, so as long as you have access to all the SRT parts, PCM/TCM as well, it'll all transfer over pretty easily. It's just when you start mixing and matching parts that it gets more complicated. The 6.1 block is still the same as the 5.7 block.

I wouldn't mind finding a wrecked SRT and a blown up XK and just move everything over, lol....ahhh 'cause who needs more huge projects??
 
#20 ·
There is no 4.3 commander. You probably have the 4.7.
“Worth it”— no. Why? What are you looking to achieve?
Read the previous posts on this thread and you’ll see that no one here has done anything like this, and there most likely are no “kits” to just bolt one on and go.
 
#21 ·
I'd second that. Considering the costs and risks associated with trying to get a turbocharger onto the 4.7, you'd probably be better off even going with a full engine swap (not recommended either).
 
#23 ·
Yes - but all commanders are 13 to 17 years old. You will need to do a lot of looking around to find a nice one, just like any used car.
 
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