Roush Curious to the potential of S281 S/C

Rotzs99 · Oct 19, 2006

Hey, I'm new, but I've just recently become obsessed with Saleens. I have a 99 cobra now, but i think a saleen is somewhere in my future. On to the questions...

What are the mod/power potential for 00-02 S281 s/c and 03/04 s/cs

I know pre 2003 had the roots type II supercharger and 03/04 had the twin screw whipple.

What do the cars dyno stock. and what can be done without adding a new P/A (pulley/port/intake/intercooler/etc.) What numbers and price range would i be looking at (by the way a s281-e is way out of price range)

any 1/4 mile times would be great guys. Thanks a ton!

Saleen Mike · Oct 19, 2006

Anything is possible, and it all comes down to one simple question-

How fast do you want to spend?

Saleen87-65 · Oct 19, 2006

mine made 300rwhp stock with nothing done to it. made 350rwhp with a pulley/xpipe/cai/tune, and now 400rwhp with a ported series2. I think with all the bolt ons minus any blower related stuff that 350rwhp would be doable

Saleen87-65 · Oct 19, 2006

i got an 01 s281 sc you can take off my hands 400rwhp/400rwtq

marcus95 · Oct 19, 2006

If you want a Saleen and you want to go fast then buy any year ( earlier the better for the money ) 99-04 S281 non supercharged. Go out and buy a Kenne Bell or if you want to save a few bucks a nice Vortech or Novi 2000. You can save a ton of dough by going non supercharged. It is a Saleen and solves your problem. Just save the take off parts from the blower swap and return it to stock when you are tired of it. Otherwise you are going to spend truckloads of money trying to make your car faster if you buy a 99-02 blower car. If you have to have a Saleen factory supercharged car then spend the extra money and try to buy an 02/04 car with the newer blower. Posting 1/4 mile times are kinda fruitless as everyone has different abilities. Stock supercharged cars will go mid- high 12's with a decent driver. Honestly, you can go just as good if you bolt on a Vortech on the Cobra but understand your Saleen itch. You won't be able to go anywhere without being hounded even in an SN95 car. If you can afford a low mileage 03/04 car you can afford an 03 E car. it has the Series V blower ( a huge improvement ) but save money for a new bottom end. Those guys were drunk when they assmbled those motors. You can't imagine what I have seen.

To summarize you can find a low mileage 99-01 non blown car for under 20K. A nice low mileage 00-02 blown car with little to any mods will set you back 23-25. It all goes up from there. Good luck.

dotbomb · Oct 19, 2006

marcus95 said:
If you can afford a low mileage 03/04 car you can afford an 03 E car. it has the Series V blower ( a huge improvement ) but save money for a new bottom end. Those guys were drunk when they assmbled those motors. You can't imagine what I have seen.

You may even have to do that a couple times. Poor Mike

marcus95 · Oct 20, 2006

Where is Mike?

His motor is done and on the crate at Chicane waiting for his car.

Rotzs99 · Oct 20, 2006

you guys are great. Thanks for the info. Not sure how much i want to spend. Eventually im going to turbo the cobra and keep it a cruiser. If i got a saleen it would be a nice weather summer driver and track car.

Ive seen some good 03/04 s/c cars for around 25-26, and under 20k miles. Not bad especially when im ready to buy in a year or two.

So 03 Es have bad engines? thats not good. I kind of like the supercharged cars just because it is turnkey fast with mod potential, like a terminator...but more special IMO.

In the roots type cars? what size is the blower? is it possible to swap it for a ported terminator eaton? (trying to be cost efficient)

but final question (for now) you say it would be better to get a non s/c and then a KB would be better than a saleen IV charger? how much different is the IV than V?

sorry for all the questions, i found the spec sheets on saleen's web page, but these are the type you need to ask owners.

HazeGray · Oct 20, 2006

Saleen01-677 said:
mine made 300rwhp stock with nothing done to it. made 350rwhp with a pulley/xpipe/cai/tune, and now 400rwhp with a ported series2. I think with all the bolt ons minus any blower related stuff that 350rwhp would be doable

Pretty close to the numbers my '04 made stock. IIRC, it put down 292 rwhp/343 rwtq. After pulley/cai/tune/injectors/tb/fuel pump I made 361 rwhp/392 rwtq.

My next mods will hopefully get me over the 400/400 hurdle. Looking at:

- Ported blower & lower intake
- Magnaflow X-pipe
- Chicane intercooler upgrade
- SCT 90mm MAF

Rotzs99 said:
In the roots type cars? what size is the blower? is it possible to swap it for a ported terminator eaton? (trying to be cost efficient)

but final question (for now) you say it would be better to get a non s/c and then a KB would be better than a saleen IV charger? how much different is the IV than V?

sorry for all the questions, i found the spec sheets on saleen's web page, but these are the type you need to ask owners.

The Series I is an Eaton M90 installed in 99-00 cars. The Series II is an upgraded M90 installed in 01-02 cars. In the 03-04 cars Saleen went with the Series IV (Whipple 1600AX twin-screw) in the S/C cars and Series V (Whipple 2300AX twin-screw) in the 'Extreme' cars.

As for size...the 1600 references a 1.6L blower and the 2300 being a 2.3L blower. You can compare that to KB's 1.7L standard blower and their 2.4L "race" blower. The M90 is 90 cubic inches...that equates to less than 1.5L of displacement. The 03/04 Cobras came with the Eaton M112...not sure if you can swap that directly onto the 99-02 cars with the Series I or II. If you can, I know you can find awesome deals on those blowers since most Cobra owners ditch them for a Whipple or KB.

Saleen owners looking to make more than 380-400 usually convert to the KB blower. Call me sadistic, but I just like wasting away my money and pushing the limit with the Series IV that came with the car.

But, I'll probably upgrade to a KB eventually.

Rotzs99 · Oct 20, 2006

HazeGray said:
Pretty close to the numbers my '04 made stock. IIRC, it put down 292 rwhp/343 rwtq. After pulley/cai/tune/injectors/tb/fuel pump I made 361 rwhp/392 rwtq.

My next mods will hopefully get me over the 400/400 hurdle. Looking at:

- Ported blower & lower intake
- Magnaflow X-pipe
- Chicane intercooler upgrade
- SCT 90mm MAF

The Series I is an Eaton M90 installed in 99-00 cars. The Series II is an upgraded M90 installed in 01-02 cars. In the 03-04 cars Saleen went with the Series IV (Whipple 1600AX twin-screw) in the S/C cars and Series V (Whipple 2300AX twin-screw) in the 'Extreme' cars.

As for size...the 1600 references a 1.6L blower and the 2300 being a 2.3L blower. You can compare that to KB's 1.7L standard blower and their 2.4L "race" blower. The M90 is 90 cubic inches...that equates to less than 1.5L of displacement. The 03/04 Cobras came with the Eaton M112...not sure if you can swap that directly onto the 99-02 cars with the Series I or II. If you can, I know you can find awesome deals on those blowers since most Cobra owners ditch them for a Whipple or KB.

Saleen owners looking to make more than 380-400 usually convert to the KB blower. Call me sadistic, but I just like wasting away my money and pushing the limit with the Series IV that came with the car.

But, I'll probably upgrade to a KB eventually.

Well thank you, you pretty much gave me what i needed to know. seems like a swap could be possible. I was deffinately interested in the roots blower just because terminator owners are shucking up their stage 3 ported blowers for very cheap.

I like your mods haze and i think im a crazy person like you, how much would heads and a good cam get you? and you ever run it at the track?

so basically. can i get 450-550 hp and run 11s from Haze's mods plus heads and cam?

Rotzs99 · Oct 20, 2006

i guess if i bought a non s/c car we're looking at 5000 for a kb kit. A S/C car would cost an extra 5000 PLUS the mods. I see where you guys were going. anything besides the S/C i would be missing by going with a non S/C?

I hate myself, there is something just cool to me about a GT mustang with a whipple on it from the factory...maybe i should just get a non s/c and buy the IV blower.

03s281sc · Oct 20, 2006

Rotzs99 said:
i guess if i bought a non s/c car we're looking at 5000 for a kb kit. A S/C car would cost an extra 5000 PLUS the mods. I see where you guys were going. anything besides the S/C i would be missing by going with a non S/C?

I hate myself, there is something just cool to me about a GT mustang with a whipple on it from the factory...maybe i should just get a non s/c and buy the IV blower.

i believe you will need bigger injectors with the non s/c car, my s/c'ed comes with 30lbers i dont believe the non s/c cars do...

marcus95 · Oct 20, 2006

Ok.

Here you go. This is what you are going to do.

Go find a really clean non supercharged 99-02 car the color and options you want.

Then go purchase the New Kenne Bell 2.6 blower kit. It comes with everything...injectors and so on. It even comes with a hand held tuner with a few tunes in it. Yes, it's that simple.

The only other purchase you will have to make is a Saleen Extreme heat extractor ( personally my favorite hood design of all time ) or a Cobra R hood to clear the blower and iac.

Enjoy the car, save the stock parts and when your motor pops you can forge the bottom end.

You are going to spend way too much money on a perfect S/C car and be disappointed with the power and spend too much money trying to get that blower to perform.

FYI, been there done that. Good luck and drive in good health.

Rotzs99 · Oct 20, 2006

marcus95 said:
Ok.

Here you go. This is what you are going to do.

Go find a really clean non supercharged 99-02 car the color and options you want.

Then go purchase the New Kenne Bell 2.6 blower kit. It comes with everything...injectors and so on. It even comes with a hand held tuner with a few tunes in it. Yes, it's that simple.

The only other purchase you will have to make is a Saleen Extreme heat extractor ( personally my favorite hood design of all time ) or a Cobra R hood to clear the blower and iac.

Enjoy the car, save the stock parts and when your motor pops you can forge the bottom end.

You are going to spend way too much money on a perfect S/C car and be disappointed with the power and spend too much money trying to get that blower to perform.

FYI, been there done that. Good luck and drive in good health.

funny you say ill be disappointed with the power when the beat i have now is putting out around 275. Isnt that huge KB only for cobras?

marcus95 · Oct 20, 2006

http://www.kennebell.net/superchargers/ford/gt96-03_2v/gt99-04_26L.htm

saleen556 · Oct 20, 2006

marcus95 said:
Ok.

Here you go. This is what you are going to do.

Go find a really clean non supercharged 99-02 car the color and options you want.

Then go purchase the New Kenne Bell 2.6 blower kit. It comes with everything...injectors and so on. It even comes with a hand held tuner with a few tunes in it. Yes, it's that simple.

The only other purchase you will have to make is a Saleen Extreme heat extractor ( personally my favorite hood design of all time ) or a Cobra R hood to clear the blower and iac.

Enjoy the car, save the stock parts and when your motor pops you can forge the bottom end.

You are going to spend way too much money on a perfect S/C car and be disappointed with the power and spend too much money trying to get that blower to perform.

FYI, been there done that. Good luck and drive in good health.

This is the right idea except I think the 2.6 even with the largest pulley may me too much for the stock internals.

HazeGray · Oct 20, 2006

Rotzs99 said:
I like your mods haze and i think im a crazy person like you, how much would heads and a good cam get you? and you ever run it at the track?

so basically. can i get 450-550 hp and run 11s from Haze's mods plus heads and cam?

Not sure what some head work and cams would do...couldn't hurt. Nope, haven't run my combo yet.

I doubt you'll get 450 (I'm assuming you mean rwhp). At best, I'd guess in the neighborhood of 420...and that would be pushing it.

Saleen87-65 · Oct 20, 2006

im making 400rwhp on a ported series2, i bet GOOD heads/cams would get you there

Rotzs99 · Oct 20, 2006

Saleen01-677 said:
im making 400rwhp on a ported series2, i bet GOOD heads/cams would get you there

So is a ported/pullied series 2 better than or make more power than a pullied series IV? Im going to email whipple or eaton and see how difficult it would be to swap to a bigger blower.

Rotzs99 · Oct 22, 2006

Saleen01-677 said:
im making 400rwhp on a ported series2, i bet GOOD heads/cams would get you there

do you have a mod list?

Roush Curious to the potential of S281 S/C

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