Written/Photography by Albert V

Jeep 4.0L performance is always on a lot of Jeeper’s minds. The tough little 4.0 does a great job with bottom-end torque. Even so, many owners are looking for a bit of a performance edge to get a little more “go” into their Jeeps. Many performance upgrades can be bought individually. Edge Performance has put together a package that includes three of the most popular engine performance enhancements, all tuned to work seamlessly together.

The Edge Trail Jammer package is a potent upgrade for your Jeep 4.0. To boost power, the Edge system comes with a performance module that plugs right into your stock harness and a new large bore billet throttle body. To let the engine breathe more efficiently a new free flowing air tube, air box and cone filter are also included. The install of all these parts can take less than 2 hours with a few simple tools.

The Edge Trail Jammer kit comes with a performance module, cold air intake system and a new machined throttle body. National 4WD has upped the anti on this system by adding a Magna Flow cat-back exhaust system and selling the Edge Trail Jammer and exhaust system as a combined package for added savings.

The Trail Jammer boasts a power gain of 20% and a 2-second improvement on 0-60 times. The fully stainless Magna Flow exhaust offers mandrel-bent tubing for clean exhaust flow and a tuned stainless muffler for a nice sound while not being too loud.

The best part about the kit is the ease of install. All the parts are direct replacement for the stock parts. The Trail Jammer install starts with the removal of the stock air box and air tube. The throttle cables can then be removed and the throttle body unbolted from the intake manifold. Once the old throttle body is removed the stepper motor, throttle position sensor and map sensor can be removed – all of these units will be re-installed onto the new Edge throttle body.

The air box gets replaced with the shield and cone filter you see below. Unlike other similar upgrades the shielding actually fits tight against the hood to seal out most water penetration. The cone filter from AFE offers far superior airflow over the stock air filter.

With the air tube removed – the throttle cable and cruise control cable can be removed. Before removing the throttle body from the intake manifold all the wire connectors to the throttle body must also be removed.

With the old throttle body removed, the TPS, MAP sensor and stepper motor need to be removed – these will be reinstalled onto the new Edge throttle body.

The stock throttle body (above) is removed in favour of the Edge over-bored throttle body (below). Notice the gasket above – the bottom of the stock throttle body tapers down causing an air restriction as the air enters the intake manifold. The Edge throttle body below removed this entire tapered section for greater airflow.

The install starts with the removal of the stock air box and air tube.

Once all these components are bolted in place on the new throttle body it can be reinstalled with a new gasket onto the intake manifold.

The Module plugs inline from the map sensor to the computer. A safe place will need to be chosen for the new Edge Module. Once this is done the new air box assembly can be installed in place of the stock air box. The new larger air tube can then be installed on top of the throttle body and connected to the cone-style filter. That’s about it.

As for the exhaust, a lot will depend on how rusty your old exhaust is. Though TJs came with a stainless exhaust system, they used steel nuts to attach the flanges together and they rust – smart eh? Stainless also doesn’t cut well with a torch so it may take a bit of time to remove the rear portion of exhaust from the catalytic converter. However, once that’s done, the Magna Flow cat-back system is easy to install. The rear portion of tubing is designed in two pieces so it slides easily over the rear axle and uses the stock exhaust hanger locations to attach the new mandrel-bent tubing.

The throttle and cruise cables can then be reinstalled.

The Edge module plugs inline with the MAP sensor. A safe place under the hood will need to be selected to mount the module.

With all the cables and wires reattached to the throttle body, the new free flowing air tube can be installed.

From the driver’s seat:

National 4WD in Burlington & Calgary have packaged the Trail Jammer with a Magna Flow Cat-back exhaust system. The stainless exhaust bolts directly in place of the stock system and offers superior flow with a nice exhaust note that you can easily live with – even in a daily driver.

To make the installation of the exhaust easier the rear section of tube is in two pieces. The muffler is bolted to the stock catalytic converter then the rear section of tube can be snaked over the rear axle. The new exhaust uses the stock exhaust hanger points as well.