890 replies to this topic

[whale392]

Mike, that Saleen you posted IS NOT a real Saleen (the Black car). Look at it closely, the give-away is the 1983-86 quarter windows on an 87-up body. Beautiful car none the less, but not a real Saleen.

[Rick Schmidt]

I dunno 4 Eye rear glasses and SVO sail panels don't disqualify it as being real just not original. lotta Fox guys use Aero glass on the 4 eyes so whats to say it was the other way around ??

[Rick Schmidt]

I stand corrected here ..... those aren't 4 eye Quarter glass. They are way to flush to be 4 eyes. Those are the correct for 88 Aero glass with a cover over the rear section mimicing an SVO Sail panel

[whale392]

The SVO sail panels over the quarter glass is what I was referring to. IF (this is a BIG if) it is a true Saleen, why do it? To ruin real SVO panels to ill-fit them over 87-93 quarter glass? Yes, the guys with the 1979-86 cars do quite regularly use later 87-93 Quarter glass and tail lights, but I have yet to see a 1987-93 go back to the less aerodynamic 1979-86 quarter window/sail panel treatment. My 86 had 87+ quarter glass, and theoretically it is a simple swap to do (just remember, the interior panels have to be changed to do it all correctly). My 1991 has 1983-86 tail lights (and seat headrests) for a bit of old into the new (same with the 83-86 Mustang GT/Mercury Capri/84-86 SVO non-cruise steering wheel I have installed. THAT was a wiring chore).

[sln583]

You have a sharp eye Bradley, but if you look close, those arent SVO sail panels, they are sail panel covers.
Saleen planned to use them on all the aero cars, and actually installed them on a dozen of so of the first 1987 Saleens built. They quickly found the tape used to hold them on didnt stick well, and they fell off while driving. If you look in the Saleen registry, the majority of cars in 1987 are listed as "sail panel (d)".
This is a picture of a preproduction 1987 Saleen. Notice the sail panel covers and prototype 5 star wheels that didnt show up till late 1988 production.

I always liked the look of the car in the above picture. I bought a set of the sail panel covers years ago when they were readily available and figured out a way to get them to stay in place.
Its not original to my 1988 Saleen, but its original to the way the car was meant to look.
#583 is not 100% factory correct, but anything I have changed has been in the spirit of the original (or later, in the case of the vortech supercharger, which was optional in 1992 and 1993) Fox Saleen Concept. I have had the car going on 17 years and it was my daily driver for the first 5 of those, that made me not as concerned with originality as some would be.
Check out the SCOA website and forum, more info on fox Saleens than you can shake a stick at.
http://www.saleenclubofamerica.com/

Hopefuly I will have more work done on the saleen model soon, You guys have inspired me to make it more acurate.

[sln583]

here is a pic of the car before I installed the covers.

the back side of the panels, they are abs plastic, I had them professionaly painted.

During the install

I take it as a compliment that detail oriented enthusiasts such as yourselves thought they were SVO sail Panels, that tells me they dont look tacked on.

[Dirkpitt289]

Do you have a shot without the tape?

[sln583]

here you go

They are longer than SVO panels. They do a good job of covering the uv damaged quarter window moldings too.
I have a glue bomb SVO model I plan on using to replicate these on the one Im building, but I will have to make them bigger to make them fit.

[Dirkpitt289]

Looks good. Is that a roll bar you installed in your Saleen?

[sln583]

It is, installed it for the harnesses when I dabbled in open tracking the car.
It gives a nice boy racer feel.

[whale392]

Thanks for clearing that up, Mike. I am, what you could say, a bit of a FOX guy. I have 4 of them at the moment, with my first (the fifth) having to be scrapped due to an accident. Guess the SVO-style sail panels are/were like Fords 1987 SVO DOHC engine prototype. Good looking Saleen by the way, and my apologies for the toes I may have stepped on by the NOT a real Saleen comment (just going based on what I saw).

[sln583]

No toes stepped on Bradley.
There are a lot more tribute cars out there than there are docmented Saleens.
At least you know what a Saleen Mustang is, I usually have to explaine how to pronounce the word and explaine what it means.

[whale392]

Considering the 1993 Mustang Cobra wears body cladding very similar to Saleen goodies, I can reasonably say that even Ford took notice of Saleen and his 'Racecraft' efforts. One of my all-time Halo wants is a 1993 SA10 (of which only 9 were built) or a 1983 Saleen clone (as only 1 1983 exists....that being the car he talked his sister into buying and letting him modify!).

One of my 1:1 Mustangs is a 1984 TurboGT, the baby SVO for that year. One of less than 4,000 built that year (and less that 4,200 total built over the two years of production). It was a full-optioned car, with dealer-added sunroof. Here I come, buying the remains of it (Ohio rustball) and am converting it into a track monster (staying 2.3T, but with a .030" over, 9:1, Volvo head swapped engine.

[sln583]

Your Turbo GT sounds like a very cool build.
If you like SA-10s, check out What Bob is doing.
http://www.almost4.com/the-find.html
He found the car that was supposed to be made into SA-10 #4 and is building the ultimate tribute car.

[Rick Schmidt]

I'd love to have a 2.3 T for my 82 I was almost to the point of going to North Carolina to buy a Turbo GT car was a basket case and had title issues if I remember right but had the complete 2.3t in it. Wouldn't have been as much power as I'm gonna have now but to sneak up on the ricer bois woulda been worth it lol

[whale392]

That is cool, Mike. I remembered Brad Bowling talking about the SA10 and the one car that never made it. Awesome that it still exists and will make it after all (better late and BETTER than never at all).

Rick, I will tell you now, building the 2.3T can be fun and done relatively cheap for lower horsepower. Start really escalating the power though and you better bring GOOD money to the dance, as the 2.3 is NOT cheap to make into a killer. You could build a HOT 5.0L for what you would have into a well-modded and mid-power 2.3T. My pistons and rods alone were $1,200.00 (remember, 4 rods and 4 pistons). You can get good 5.0L stuff for that. And yes, I do want to go up against the imports with their own technology/on their terms. To beat a modern 4 cylinder with an arcaic 4 cylinder would be a great feeling, even more so than beating them with the V8. The look on their faces when you tell them they got smoked by a 4 cylinder Mustang IS priceless.

[Devilsnake98]

That is a very good point on cost on building a modded 4 banger compared to the 5 liter. Also another good point is, pulling up next to a hot ricer, revving at them with the sound of you're 4 banger, them laughing at you, and then you launch and they see nothing but you're taillights and one big shiny exhaust tip, haha awesome idea for a street sweeper.

[Abell82]

I've had 2 Turbo Gt's (well one Gt and one RS) and while fun I would prefer not to have another.
They don't make as good of a sleeper as you might think, as when you rev it up the turbo kicks in, even in neutral.
And the whine or the whistle from the waste gate is almost always a dead give away, of a turbo car.

[whale392]

That is why I find no reason to rev. Let them rev on me, and when I unleash the car it is too late for them. I prefer to run around and let them think they are running a 5.0L, as every kid with a Fart-Pipe Civic thinks he can run a 5.0L. When that light is about to go green, mat the throttle to bring the 2.3T up on low boost and let it out when the bulb flashes green. By then, I am sitting at about 5psi and 2,000rpm.........just as the boost starts to climb to 35psi. The little 2.3T just sounds like a demented tractor engine whith a massive whistle! Then again, by that time the Buzz-Bomb is nowhere but the rear-view mirror. Next light, I get the 'Jesus Christ' look, and that is when I tell them they just got railroaded by a 4cylinder.

But I digress, with a mild build, the 2.3T can be fun, but it will not be mistaken for a 5.0L (they have very different sounds at idle).

Jason, what year is your Turbo GT (83 or 84?), and I am assuming your Capri RS is an 85-86?

[Abell82]

I'm afraid I sold them both long ago. They were both 84's One was a Charcoal metallic RS the other an 841/2 Anniversary Mustang.

Edited by Abell82, 20 February 2012 - 03:02 PM.