S281SC#08 said:
Well, a couple of things.
The '78 Fairmont chassis that our Saleens are built on lack torsional rigidity. When the power is applied to the car, it first twists the chassis, and then when it is done doing that, then the force is applied in a straight line. Besides doing your car a favor over the years in keeping it relatively straight, the less time your car spends twisting, the more time it will spend putting the power forward in a straight line. Will you be able to tell how much faster you are in a straight line on the street, probably not. Would you notice anything at the track, minimal at best. After several years of beating on your car will you notice that it is not quite straight if you did not have good sub frames, yes you will. Will you notice an improved ride, yes, right away IMHO.
The Saleen (Hurst) shifter is their low end shifter. It is lacking in several areas. Does your car make more power with a Pro5.0 shifter, clearly not. Can you drive it faster, yes. The amount of time between gear shifts is huge when measured at the track when comparing a slow shifting car vs. one that can shift quickly. Sure, the car feels about as fast while the pedal is to the floor regardless of what the shifter is in the car, but if it takes .25 seconds extra per shift, that does not seem like eternity when driving to the corner store, but could be the difference between running a 12.9 vs. a 13.6 at the track (needing to shift into 4th gear). That seems quite a bit noticeable to me. Besides the faster shift time, rpms will not drop as far during the shift, and your boost level will also not drop as far also resulting in a “faster” car. Then there is the discussion regarding not having stops on the OE shifter vs. a good aftermarket one. Bang a gear and bend a fork and you will be wishing you spent less than $200 on a good shifter vs. what your repair bill will be.
I wasn’t thinking of the shifter at first because my ’00 is an auto. Both my ’85 & my old ’89 have Pro5.0 shifters in them. It was one of the first things done to the cars.