This was a great opportunity to swap out the original T400 3 speed tranmission for a 4 speed, so a new 4L85E transmission with the E-Rod transmission controller was installed. On the test drive to verify the transmission was working the engine developed rod-knock – the second catastrophic failure in as many weeks of ownership. I gratefully borrowed a friend’s trailer and towed the Rally Fighter home until I could find a new engine.

The thought was that the original engine failed because of oil starvation.  The oil pan on the LS3 was very shallow, so if the Rally Fighter had been jumped in it’s previous life, then the engine may have been starved of oil.  Not wanting to repeat this scenario again I consulted with Herbert Performance, who built a hybrid engine, with an LS7 bottom end and an LS3 top end.  This gave it the correct footprint to fit back into the Rally Fighter, while equipping it with a dry sump system to prevent any future oil starvation issues. An ARE dry sump system was chosen because of its proven off-road race heritage.  The engine was balanced and fitted with a Lingenfelter performance camshaft.  The engine was dynoed at a healthy 540 hp and 560 ft/lb of torque. 

With the engine built, I recruited Samco to perform the engine swap.  Samco have a history of working with GM and Hall Racing in the Baja 1000 program, so they were definitely the right people for the job.  Samce removed the old engine, installed the new one and fabricated the plumbing needed to accomodate the oil sump.  They also installed an oil cooler with electric fans, to keep the temperatures in check.

With the Rally Fighter back in running order I set to work on the “little things”.  The first order of business was the lighting situation.  The Rally Fighter came with round 7″ halogen lights from a Jeep, that lit the rode like a dim candle.  That was miserable in town and would be down-right dangerous off road.  I swapped them out with some JW Speaker LED headlights and supplemented them with a Baja Designs S8 20″ light bar.  To improve visibility in the dust I fitted a pair of Baja Designs S2 Pro amber fog lights (well, my friend Mark was the one brave enough to cut the fiberflass to fit the lights).  That super custom rear tire carried blocked the rear center brake light, so I added a Baja Designs RTL-M 6″ brake light, that also doubles as a license plate light.

The Warn winch came with a steel cable.  I replaced that with a Warn Spydura synthetic winch rope to lighten the load and added a Factor 55 Flatlink to create a closed loop recovery system.

Next on the list was on-board air.  This was taken care of with an ARB CKMTA12 dual 100% duty cycle air compressor mounted in the front bumper cavity and plumbed to air chucks on each side for convenience.

The tires on the Rally Fighter were the originials from 2014, so it was time for them to go.  I also wanted to try out Icon’s new Rebound Pro wheels, as they capture the tire’s bead like a bead-lock wheel, but without the weight.

The Rally Fighter is a work in progress.

If you want to know more about the history of the Rally Fighter and it’s place in car culture then visit RF0143.com.