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Originally Posted by Gordo
No turbo's I know of sorry, but in a similar vein...
Yes 2003 OBC there were two Wranglers from Alaska, think one was a YJ - the blown 4.0L and the other a Chev V8 TJ. Not sure of specs. This from the obc website ( www.outbackchallenge.com)
"... The two teams from the US this year were Greg McClintock and Erik Marquez from Anchorage, Alaska and Eddie Angel and Randall Suden also from Alaska. Both teams were driving heavily modified Jeep Wranglers. Greg and Erik certainly knew what they were up against. The pair made the trek to Australia to watch the event and take notes in 2001. They then prepared their Jeep and shipped it to Australia last year to compete. Unfortunately they suffered transmission problems in that event but were not deterred and further modified the V8 beast for this year's assault.
Eddie and Randall, although no new-comers to this style of event having competed in the Rainforest Challenge in Malaysia, had only seen the Outback Challenge on video...."
On the XJ front (stock 4.0L) there was a sth african team with one who made themselves famous by floating in through a section :O
The local blown TJ from WA has the fastback softtop and cage with yellow decals on black paint with 'Rebel' on it. Seems to pop up in Just 4x4s every now and then. Some issues perhaps ?
...apart from the drivetrain twisted in half of course  |
I know this response is going to be way out of date, but I just stumbled on it, and in the event that it is still relevant at all, here goes:
I am the owner of one of the two Alaskan Jeeps entered in the 2003 Outback Challenge, the Black CJ-7 with the Ford V-8 5.0L HO. The officials always called it a Wrangler, but that name was not used in this country until the YJ models came out in the late '80's, and I just could not get that idea across to the guys in charge. My CJ had (and still has) a normally aspirated, SEFI Ford 5.0, an NV 4500 5-speed manual transmission, Atlas II transfer case, and Currie-built custom Ford 9 inch axles. Among other things.
The blown Wrangler belonged to my good friend and sponsor Eddie Angel. He has since sold the vehicle (which was dark blue, not black), but for the 2003 race, it was powered by the 4.0 six cylinder engine that came stock in his 1999 TJ, but was modified with an Avenger Supercharger that pushed the output rating from 190hp to around 300hp (I don't know how to convert that to KW, but I assume you will get the idea.) The supercharger caused constant issues with the motor during the race, and for a year or more after that. The Avenger is a good product, and the 4.0 Jeep engine is also a good one, but putting a blower on the engine requires a great deal of modification to operating systems, a lot of tinkering, and patience. When it ran, it ran like a scalded cat. When it didn't work, it was a pain in the ass.
My 5.0 is still more or less race ready, but finding the funds to ship to Oz and back gets harder to do every year. I have modified the engine with aluminum heads and performance intake, and now get more like 300 to 325hp, and I removed the front leaf springs in favor of coil-over shocks on a one-off long-arm conversion that works brilliantly.
Eddie and I both want to return to Broken Hill to give it another go, but only time and fortune will tell if that happens.
By the way, neither of our vehicles has ever had a decal that read "Rebel" on it, so I don't know where that came from.
Greg McClintock
Wasilla, Alaska
