| | |  | WHAT'S NEW
 | | | "Go anywhere, do anything" | Owning a Jeep is a macho thing, so owners expect performance. | And if it isn't a macho thing, owners still expect performance: certainly enough performance to tow a trailer with at least a quad or a couple of sports bikes, at a decent pace. | Well the good news is that the development continues unabated on an SAC conversion to meet these requirements. | |  | | Initial results show a significant performance improvement, but fuel consumption and refinement still needs to be improved, and the next R&D phase is focussing on these areas. | In independent testing it achieved a 174 km/h top speed and manage a 0 - 100 sprint in an impressive 12,3 seconds, along with vastly improved overtaking ability. | Another plus is its ability to maintain a comfortable cruising speed on the freeway, despite its brick-like aerodynamics and gearing which is, quite frankly, longer than ideal. | Most of the additional 33 kW which the 4,0 litre straight six produces comes from bigger valves, a larger throttle body, revised engine mapping, and a custom-built airbox. | SAC's engineers are looking at the entire exhaust systems to unleash more power, and also the final drive ratio to give it more suitable overall gearing in the interests of better economy. | |  | |  | |  | | A Jeep disguised by Power |  | The 4.0L Wrangler models, that share a engine with a few other Jeep's has been under the development light at SAC. | These vehicles have been popular for conversions over the past few years within the SAC group but given the extremely long gearing the power increase simply wasn't enough. | Extensive testing has been completed around the Air Intake System and the Throttle body. We found the vehicle to be very starved of air and made some changes... | | READ MORE... | | | | "JEEPERS" - A Wrangler that goes! |  | The Jeep Wrangler is the archetypal compact sports utility vehicle, but in the South African high altitude / high ambient context its overall performance is impaired by two shortcomings – both of which can be addressed by tuning gurus, Steves Auto Clinic. | A combination of absurdly long gearing and a conservative, closed-loop engine management system have resulted in poor acceleration and excessive fuel consumption... | | READ MORE... | | | | | | | Jeep Wrangler - Wrangler buttoned up | SAC Holdings is putting the finishing touches to its development programme with the Jeep Wrangler, a vehicle which is growing in popularity thanks to its strong fashion appeal. | While it has been on the market for a number of years, its success is partly due to recent changes in specification level and pricing. | It has been the subject of some development within the SAC network in the past, but the benefits of this have been hampered by excessively long gearing. | More recent R&D has focussed on the air intake system in general and throttle body in particular. Holdings' engineers realised the fundamental problem was air starvation and designed an enlarged throttle body, measuring 63 mm. | This made a huge improvement leading to a prototype 73mm throttle body being developed, along with an enlarged inlet duct between the throttle body and a custom-made airbox enclosing a high performance air filter. | The 'stage one' conversion was rounded off with a suitable exhaust system, and then fine-tuned and mapped via a Unichip. | The Wrangler also benefited from some attention to the cylinder head (bigger valves and an increased compression ratio) and the final result was an additional 33 kW. | The vehicle now pulls the long gearing more easily. | Further development is underway to change the rocker shaft ratios to enable the enlarged intake and exhaust valves to open even further. | Watch this space for a more detailed look at the Wrangler, and driving impressions from Adrian Burford. | This will be followed up by a media publicity campaign, including road tests by selected publications. | | | | |
