KEEPIN IT COOL : MOBY'S New MoTECH Modifications

[wayoflife]

As some of you may know, Cindy and I have been working hard to get Moby ready for the final JKX and soon after we picked him up from Off Road Evolution, we took him out to Motech where we had asked Robbie to try something a little different.


For the most part, Moby ran fine with Camaro fan we had installed a while back but he still ran a bit hotter than we would have preferred and struggled to keep his trans temp down after a long slower climb up a steep grade. By the time we'd get to the top, the fan would be working hard to cool off the engine and it did but once it did, the trans would be left to keep cooking. Even at that, it wasn't too big of a deal if we could just sit around and let things cool off but being that we're taking him on the JKX and knowing how things go on it, sitting around wasn't going to be an option. So.... this is what we asked him to do.


Yup, what you're looking at is the very first JL Wrangler fan installed on a JK with an LS!


It was a tight fit and some trimming of the shroud was needed but Robbie was able to get it in and his initial tests showed it to work well!

But, for good measure and to help address our transmission temps, Robbie recommended that we add an additional cooler and had a nifty solution for it.


As you can see, it's tucked up in between the frame rail and rocker guard and should be protected well. And, even if it gets hit, the fins may grind down or break but the cooler should still be okay. At least, it's something we thought would work out well and are eager to give a try.


In fact, we're so confident that this new cooler will help, Robbie installed another on the driver side and with the plan of making it an oil cooler.


Unfortunately, we ran out of time and needed to get back home and so, we left that for another visit.

So, how'd everything work out? Well, when we left Motech, it was 104 out and the climb up to Indian Springs is typically a hard one. Essentially, there are 3 long grades you have to climb and with little time for your engine to cool off in between them and by the time you reach the third one, Moby typically ran pretty hot. In the past, we always had to make this climb with the AC off and even at that, we'd typically see a coolant temp in the 240 range and a trans temp at over 220. Not quite over heating but not good.

With the new JL Wrangler fan, Moby's coolant ran at a nice 221 the whole way up AND with the AC on the whole time!! Thanks to the new transmission cooler, it's temp never broke 170.


The rest of the drive home was only in the 90's and our engine was averaging a nice cool 208 or less. The further north we got and with the sun going down, the cooler it got and our temps really settled in at a nice 197 on coolant and 154 on trans.


So, I should note that before we left Vegas and while it was still in the triple digits, Cindy and I did some testing to purposefully get Moby's temps up. A lot of hard abrupt throttling and then coming to a stop and doing it again. Basically, making his engine work really hard and not give him a chance to cool off. This did get his coolant temp to climb up to 230 but the JL Wrangler fan kept it there. Trans never broke 200. This was a HUGE improvement over what we were seeing in the past.

Oh, one other side note, we had Robbie remove the speed limiter on Moby too. Before, we'd get up to 95 MPH and he'd top out. On the way home, I got him up and over 100 MPH

[USMC Wrangler]

Sounds like Moby is much better off with that JL fan. Very nice!

When I first looked at this shot I have to admit I couldn’t figure out how you’d get this fan to work on the trail.

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Glad to hear nothing is holding Moby back now too!

[wayoflife]

[QUOTE=USMC Wrangler;1156383]When I first looked at this shot I have to admit I couldn’t figure out how you’d get this fan to work on the trail.

IMG_8251.jpg[QUOTE]

Okay, that's pretty funny

[TrailHunter]

Very cool.... not that it matters, but will Moby now have that loud fan noise on the trail like Jet does... or is that just a JL computer thing?

[Rst8rox]

Glad to hear that Moby is cooler than ever!


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[wayoflife]

Very cool.... not that it matters, but will Moby now have that loud fan noise on the trail like Jet does... or is that just a JL computer thing?

In theory, yes but so far, I haven't heard it get as bad as it can get on the JL. For the most part, it's pretty quite and when it does need to work harder, we've only been seeing it get up to 69%. I think the only time it got loud is when I was really pushing things and got the engine to 230 but that didn't last long. I think as a whole, the JL run hotter and that's why the fan on it is always screaming.

[wayoflife]

Glad to hear that Moby is cooler than ever!

Thanks! This was without question, one of the best updates we've made to date. Fortunately, Robbie is always good about listening to me and being open to try new things. Of course, his cooler idea and placement of them was awesome

[WJCO]

Wow. That's awesome. Can you provide some info on that trans cooler? I've been planning on getting an extra one and that design is sleek.

[wayoflife]

Wow. That's awesome. Can you provide some info on that trans cooler? I've been planning on getting an extra one and that design is sleek.

I should note that what you're looking at is a secondary cooler. We still have the 8x11 B&M plate style cooler up front. That being said, this is an inline cooler and they can be bought in different lengths and sizes. Amazon has a few https://amzn.to/2H14RgH but you can also find some at Summit.

[benatc1]

Dang, that is awesome. Great idea with the JL fan, they are monsters. Pretty cool idea for the trans cooler and while I think it will hold up well too, I hope it does. Glad to see moby getting all this love, one bad ass Jeep!

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