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What should Saleen have done?

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boumacj

Hard-core CEG'er
Joined
Jun 28, 2006
Messages
1,333
Location
Grand Rapids, MI
I've heard all the stories about Saleen and Roush trying to supercharge these motors and blowing them to pieces and over the years there have been some serious powerplants developed by CEGers. My question is, if you worked for Saleen back in 98-99 and knew what is known now, what would you have done to build the best, most durable, supercharged motor? I know that the turbo kit is hot, but Saleen uses superchargers so I would like to stick to that.
 
I think theres a big difference between an enthusiasts motor and one that needs to be road worthy and can be a daily driver [and include a warrenty].
 
Yeah, I don't think any of the FI stuff people have been running so far would even come close to passing a 300 hr FIE test.

Saleen might have been able to pull it off if they had dropped the compression and put in Forged pistons and rods. Depending on calibration, they may have also needed new exhuast valves as well, definately would have needed them for a turbo application.

But, it all boils down to what bensenvill said, what is ok for an aftermarket kit on an existing engine very rarely will fly on an OEM type setup. This is part of the reason why Roush and Saleen's aftermarket kits for Mustangs are so expensive, because while they may not fully meet the entire durability specification from Ford, they come much much closer than any of the other kits, and have actually been through a good bit of the OEM level of testing.
 
From the picture I have of the car next to the sign they made for it, it shows they were only trying to get 260 HP @ 6800 RPM and 225 LB-FT @ 5400 RPM. With those numbers, and the possiblilty of using a 3.0, now what would you say they should have done?
 
boumacj said:
From the picture I have of the car next to the sign they made for it, it shows they were only trying to get 260 HP @ 6800 RPM and 225 LB-FT @ 5400 RPM. With those numbers, and the possiblilty of using a 3.0, now what would you say they should have done?
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Figure out some way to transfer the power to the ground.
 
boumacj said:
From the picture I have of the car next to the sign they made for it, it shows they were only trying to get 260 HP @ 6800 RPM and 225 LB-FT @ 5400 RPM. With those numbers, and the possiblilty of using a 3.0, now what would you say they should have done?
Click to expand...

Well, I know that isn't what they were really trying to get out of it, lol. But, I'll play along. They could have done more than 260/225 at the crank easily with a mild SC on a 3.0L, but they still would have had some trouble meeting all the OEM level durability requirements, but at least at that level it would have been possible. Then as Jim said, they still would have needed to figure out a way to put it to the ground, lol. A torsen would help, but its still WWD for a high powered street car.
 
and you can take the 3L out of the equation because that was not an engine offered for our platform, I've been under the impression that that would have required them to submit that car for crash tests and recertification. [where slapping parts on a 2.5 wouldnt]
 
bensenvill said:
and you can take the 3L out of the equation because that was not an engine offered for our platform, I've been under the impression that that would have required them to submit that car for crash tests and recertification. [where slapping parts on a 2.5 wouldnt]
Click to expand...

They could have gotten around it, the 3L is essentially the same block casting and heads as the 2.5L, plus the rules are a little different for low volume production.
 
Saleen tearing into the motor and not just doing "drop in" enhancements would have produced a car closer to $38 - $40K in 1998. I'd assume the price point they were trying to meet was $30K or roughly $7K (30%) more than MSRP.

A Quaife LSD back in 1998 was a $1,250 part plus the man hours to install it, so like Rara said, them getting the power to the ground was a huge hurdle with them going over 250HP and keeping there costs in check.
 
if only they had the 6-speed from Europe at the time that would have handled the power easily. run a standard SE motor with the lower compression and svt cams with a mild SC a mondeo suspension setup and bingo you have a [blank] contour... problem solved :)

What i want to know is why they didnt make a SHO Contour???
has anyone done that? take a sho 3.0 and drop it strait in a contour?
 
kscontourkid said:
if only they had the 6-speed from Europe at the time that would have handled the power easily. run a standard SE motor with the lower compression and svt cams with a mild SC a mondeo suspension setup and bingo you have a [blank] contour... problem solved :)
Click to expand...

Congrats on not knowing WTH you're talking about.
 
kscontourkid said:
What i want to know is why they didnt make a SHO Contour???
has anyone done that? take a sho 3.0 and drop it strait in a contour?
Click to expand...

You could put a SHO 3.0 in a Contour but if you wanted it to run and drive there is a ton of modifications past that point. I mean if you were going to go to that much trouble why not just go RWD while your at it.
 
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