Roush need more power in my 281SC, what to do?...

Blue Blurr

New Member
Apr 1, 2004
279
0
0
California
ok so ive had my 2001 Saleen S281 SC for about 2 years now and ive gotten used to the power. so what do i do to get more power? i know i can get a differnt intake and pully but that wont add that much will it? any other ideas of what i can do and not spend over 5k on it? thanks in advance
 
  • Sponsors (?)


Well not sure what you are dynoing right now, but I have a 99 s/c which uses a somewhat inferior eaton M90, where as you have the M112. These are my numbers. I have 308rwhp and basically 380rwtq. I have the pulley upgrade which did not net me as much Hp as i was expecting, something like 10. But I do not have a cold air intake or a tune or mass air upgrade. I do have a 70mm Throttle body, and a catted Bassani x-pipe. With your blower you may see around 320-330 with the same mods and a tune. If you add the mid length or even long tube headers u may see another 20rwhp. Though if you are interested in more power like I have been. I seriosuly doubt the t-45 will hold up to that sorta torque if the car is driven hard. Mine was barely ever ragged on and my t-45 gave out on me in the middle of nowhere on the highway. If I do not sell mine, I will either be adding some mid length headers, chicane intake, MAF, and the SHM cams/valve train kit. With all that and a tune i should be at my satisfied level of performance. Remeber though for collectors value, all this will depreciate the car in the eyes of most. If I knew what i knew about this car I would not have gotten it, the newer ones are better but for the money I coulda been in a supra or a vette. So, I hope I gave you some direction.
 
If you want to see that kind of horsepower ( 450 )then you will need to go with a better blower. Look into the Kenne Bell. That with a decent tune, some intake and exhaust you could make some power up in the area of 420 at the rear wheels. You would be suprised at the hp that blower will make with a minimal amount of boost (7-8 lbs). Drive it till you break it, then build the bottom end. Just don't hack up you car though (what yellow99 said) about re-sale.
 
Blue Blurr said:
umm ok any online sites that sell those blowers?? i dont know my mustang stuff, im a wrx guy. lol

http://www.blueovalperformance.net/cart.php

we are open 6 days a wk. Give us a call. We just tuned a KB 03 cobra 2 wkends ago and make 607 rwhp and 588 ft lbs of torque. this was on race gas and 20 lbs of boost, but just 5-6 lbs you will easily see 50 rwhp over your current combination.

Cory
 
ok cool ill check out your site. lol no i cant sell it i love it too much, haha i think what i am going to do is get a new SC pulley, a CAI, lond tube headers, and a catless X pipe. what do you guys think about those mods?
 
I was in the same situation as you, got used to my power after 2+ years and didn't want to sell the car. All the mods you mention are a waste of money, you won't get much more from the saleen blower. Its efficiency is bad and intake too restrictive. Go for a KB, it's more expensive but cheaper than buying a 03 cobra and it's your only way to get a 500HP car... You'll make 100Hp more than the stock 03 cobra :)
It's day and night compared with the eaton M90...
 
He's right. (00s281sc368) Look at his rear wheel #'s. That is the ballpark you want to be in right? He is running a KB blower with only 9 lbs. of boost. He could make more hp if he wanted simply by increasing boost but it would be at a price. After you took a hit and sold your car and bent over for a new Cobra you still would'nt have that Kenne Bell blower. With that blower alone on your car with a conservative tune you could be making more "safe" hp than a stock Cobra. You still have your car and your old blower.
Going a pulley down, CAI long tubes, and catless x back sounds like it's the miracle combo and it will help you out some ( but don't forget to re-tune) but you will spend a bit of money on all of that.
Decisions, decisions. Why cant we have Powerball in California?
 
ok i dont know if i can afford a SC right now. if i cant what mods do i do? should i just leave it stock till i can afford the KB supercharger? thanks for the info so far.
one more thing, how accurate are the stock saleen gauges? Boost and Intercooler temp? you think it would be a good idea to get new more accurate gauges?

oh yea and Chicane Sport Tuning makes a SC pulley and they said that it will give 30 hp and there cold air intake will make another 15 or so. is this true? becasue if it is i can always get those things to get more hp and when i can afford it get the KB.
 
Steeda makes underdrive pulleys as well as alot of other pulley accessories, i dont know if they fit in the s281 but you might want to check them out.buy the KB supercharger and aftercooler if they sell them, and then sell the saleen supercharger and parts that you took out.pro 5.0 shifters make it easier to shift which is nice,especially with lots of tourqe at your command.
 
ok new idea, i think im going down to Chicane Sport tuning and have them install there Supercharger pully, CAI, long tube headers, and a X pipe. do these sound like good mods? what kind of power can i expect? cant afford a KB supercharger right now too much money.
 
Blue Blurr said:
ok new idea, i think im going down to Chicane Sport tuning and have them install there Supercharger pully, CAI, long tube headers, and a X pipe. do these sound like good mods? what kind of power can i expect? cant afford a KB supercharger right now too much money.


another option is sell your Eaton and take that $$ to purchase a KB or Saleen series V blower. Long tubes will add torque but not much in the way of horsepower..we've seen 3-5 rwhp but around 20 ft lbs to the rear wheels.
 
Blue blurr,
The best thing you could do is head over to Chicane and see Joe. He will have the best suggestions regarding your budget and how much more power you want to make. Joe will also be able to estimate what you will gain regarding pulley, headers, CAI, and X pipe. You can't do underdrives with your blower. I bet you have 3.27 gears. If you do, go to some 3.73's. That will make a big difference if you have not changed them out yet. You might as well if you do the pulley and other mods since Joe will have to send your cpu to be re-flased at Saleen anyway.
 
Blue burr, I agree with marcus as Chicane offers a ton of upgrades for the 2V engine in your S281 for upgrades. I think that with the upgrades at Chicane that you will maybe pickup 50+ hp at least. I have to hit Yellow99 with this one....why didn't you get your car retuned after the pulley installed. I've seen people with the smaller pulley(66mm) on the M90 Eaton making 350+ rwhp consistently with a custom tune. I'm running the larger pulley and making 320rwhp/330 rwtq with a 80 MAF and 70mmTB with a K&N on the ugly stock air intake tube. I think Yellow99 could pick up at least 25-30 hp with a tune. I'm more than likely upgrading to a 90 LMAF and #42 injectors with Chicane 255 returnless fuel pump with the 66mm pulley. I'm hoping after a custom tune and a better catback exhaust that I'll be pushing 375+ at 10 lbs of boost.
 
ok this is what joe said...
He can add out intercooler and some mid length headers too. That with the power pipe, fuel pump and pulley should get him around 400 with a good tune. He won't be able to use the factory tune with all of these aftermarket parts.
His total for all of this would be $1962.00

Joe.
what i said was get the pulley, X pipe, long tube headers, and X pipe and that is what he said to do. sound about right? let me know what you think