I just returned from the North American International Auto Show, where I had the opportunity to talk with the Regional Manager of Saleen.
They had the Ford GT, Saleen Mustang, Saleen S7, and the Saleen Sporttruck S331. All made by saleen (saleen builds the GT)

The Sport Truck has a Saleen supercharger, a water to air intercooler, they run 4.5# of boost on the 5.4L 3v and they make OVER 500hp, 500trq. He said they dyno'd the truck they had on display prior to the show and it put out over 500/500. This is a Very sharp looking truck. It pulls .89G in the turns (better than a Ford Mustang or the New Shelby (more on that later).
He said it's all in their supercharger design and we talked about it for a few minutes. Basically it compresses it more efficiently than any other model. Something about the rotors are tapered down, being large diameter at the intake and smaller diameter at the exit. This guy knew what he was talking about, because he stated the exit air temperature is under 115 degrees. SO with this design, they can put 4.5# of boost through the 5.4L 3v and get over 500/500. That's DAMN impressive.

They put their supercharger on a Ford Gt and it picked up over 100hp at the wheels.

While this truck weighs 5300# it will outhandle any mustang ford puts out. THen I got the inside news on the delay of the shelby. The Saleen uses a 4.6L with their supercharger, the Shelby uses the 5.4L supercharged. The shelby weighs 400# more with that engine in there than the Saleen. The reason for all the delays is that the shelby handles like crap with the extra 400# in the front.

Okay back to tthe truck>
It has an updated transmission, but is basically stock, he said it can handle all the power they throw at it. The reason they are running 4.5# of boost is because the internals of the 5.4L 3v is like our lightnings, still quasi-fragile. to go into the engine and beef everythung up will put the truck over the $50,000 make. as it is right now it is $47,000. He allowed me to sit in the truck and I must admit, it is damn comfortable. (the truck was roped off and no one was allowed to get near it)

While the advertising states 450hp and 500lbs trq, its actually over 500/500

So can all you supercharger guru's out there explain why the saleen supercharger is superior? I mentioned the Kenne Bell and whipple, and he said the saleen supercharger out performs them all. I realize he's promoting his company and parts, but they could slap anything in these vehicles, and choose to produce their own, now that has to be a very expensive decision.


Now granted we aren't comparing apples to apples, the Ford lightning is a 2v, and the Saleen is a 3v, but the Ford needs 8# to reach 380/450. Where Saleen only needs 4.5# to reach 500/500.

 

I'm guessing he doesn't know his @ss from a hole in the ground. I highly doubt their charger will outperform a Whipple or Kenne Bell.

 

The 05 Mustang Saleen blower design is very smart, and it works very well. We have that unit on our 05 Cobra project. It's a 2300 twin screw (Lysholm based, i.e. whipple) that blows up from bottom through the heat exchanger, into the heads. That method takes out two nasty 180* air turns, and we all know air doesn't like to turn.

BUT, their hp claims are, well, a little exagerrated in my opinion. They claim their 05 Mustang kit, at 4 psi, produces 425rwhp on a 3v 05 Mustang. I have installed and tuned many of these blowers, and they don't even come CLOSE to that. Most are in the 360-375 range. But the potential is there. After all, it's basically a 2.3 Whipple blower. The 4 psi kit comes with a 4" upper pulley. I ran a 2.5" pulley on my Works 140, and it made 26 psi on my Lightning . I'm running a 3.4" on the 05, which makes about 10-12psi. That's still barely half the blower's potential.

 

He's the regional manager of the US, I'd hope he know something

 

The 3V 5.4 has a 9.8:1 compression ratio which helps it make good power at low boost. But because of that and the internals, I don't see it being good to go to high on boost.

 

No disrespect, but he know he has to sell them if he is going to stay the regional manager of the US.
Mike

 

Everybody!! Get the lawyer!!


LOL... Actually I tend to agree. Most.. no make that all of the top level managers I've run accross only know what the guys in the shop tell them. Then they mentally *round the numbers* when presenting to others.

I can't begin to tell you how many times I've seen that happen here in motown.
Some facts to keep in mind. The 05+ F150 is heavier and it's got more frontal area. Both those things alone will take increased power just to KEEP UP with a Gen2.

Rich

 

Exactly. Numbers will sell people things if they don't know what they are talking about. Obviously Sal pulled their card on one unit that they don't make near the claims they do. This guy sat there and thought he was suckering you in as a prospective buyer.

I deal with salesman, product reps, and salesmanagers every day and some of them would sell their soul to push sales. Gotta love the effort though!!!!

Can't wait to see if they live up to their potential. I know JDM has one on their GT and put some pretty impressive numbers down.

 

Does 400 lbs sound like BS to anyone else. No way that much weight comes from an engine swap. You could throw a big block in there and not come up with that much difference. The guy was just talking down the much cheaper competition. SVT killed Saleen sales with the '03 Cobra.

 

I don't know about 400lbs, but there may be a pretty big weight difference. If the GT500s 5.4 uses an iron block like the 03-04 Cobra did, that's a good chunk there over the 05s aluminum block. Also, the 4v heads are much larger dimentionally, so that's gotta be some weight. Then again, the 20" Dodge truck rims that the Saleen uses should equal that weight difference out .

Either way, the new Mustangs are portly. Our 05 Cobra weighed 3840 with Evan Smith in it, and he's about 160lbs. I wouldn't be surprised if the GT500 i over 4 grand in production form.

 

Where is the "this thread suck without pics" smiley.

 

Yeah. I'm sure it's heavier; but, 400 lbs is a lot for just the front end. Even with upgraded suspension parts. A 2 ton Mustang? I might have a chance of spanking that in my truck.

 

I can see the car OVERALL being 400lbs heavier, just not from the motor alone. The GT500 has bigger brakes, heavier T56 trans, 4 valve 5.4, and who knows what else. The beefed drivetrain stuff adds a lot of weight. Of course, the flip side of the extra weight, is you are getting much better parts .

 

http://www.saleen.com/2007_s331.htm

There you go! Good looking truck.

 

That I could buy.

The engine (With the S/C) in the GT-500 is 175 lbs heavier according to C/D; and, the front tires carry an extra 539 lbs over the rear tires. (57/43 weight distribution on a 3850 lb. car.) Of course, that's the pre-production vehicle. It also weighs 275 lbs more than the Mustang GT they tested earlier. That sounds more in line.


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