Roush Mach vs. Saleen...

ragu1585

Member
Jul 22, 2004
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Spring, TX
Just curious what every1 here thinks about the mach 1's.. I had an 04 auto before i got my saleen.. well its still in the family just not mine.. the best i got outta the mach on about 4 runs was a 13.10. last night i raced the mach in my saleen and beat it by around 2 cars, WEAK @$$ shifts and all .. ive only had the saleen for a month now and am VERY new to 5 speeds ..
 
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I always thought the Mach 1's were sharp looking cars...however I wasnt too big on the wheel which is part of the whole retro thing, of course.

Forgive my ignorance, but does a Mach 1 have a 32v v8, like the Cobra?
If so, is it an identical engine to the cobra?

And I think it's in the ball park of 300hp stock, right? :shrug:

The Mach's got some cool color schemes....
 
giddy-up said:
A Mach won't touch a S281SC.. If you are getting beat by a Mach in your Saleen SC, lift your skirt up and get r done... come on..


What he said. The Mach 1 is rated at 310 hp vs a supercharged Saleen 375 hp. The torque ratings are about a hundred more for the Saleen as well. Its a 32V Aluminum motor vs the 03 cobra is an iron block. If your old Mach 1 was running 13.10 and your Saleen beat it by 2 car lenghts, both the Saleen and Mach 1 have some modifications done to them. In the Northwest, Mach 1's very seldom reach the 13.9 time slip in stock trim and no powershifting usually due to weight of the car. I have yet to see a stock Supercharged S281 Saleen run a 12 second pass without it being an Extreme model.
 
I agree with Saleenster, the stock S281SC won't touch the 12's without mods. If you are comparing a stock Mach 1 to a S281sc the Saleen will take it hands down... assuming equal driving. It's all driver and traction no matter what you are racing, but anyway. Stock for stock all things being equal a Saleen will win every time.
 
mines an 03' hmm yeah the mach i raced was my old car, it was an auto, dynoed 269hp and 298ft lbs (258 and 271 stock).. that was before i took the cats off the x pipe, and changed catback from slp to bassani. the mach has 4.10s, exhaust and pred. on it. NOT DYNO TUNED...never ran slower then a 13.3 the saleen i have is ALL STOCK, other then saleen factory mods, sorry to disapoint you guys. it had 2000 miles when i baught it, and i havnt touched a thing!.. about the mach motor.. it is similar to the 03/04 cobra motor, lighter bein its all alum. the machs are rated at 305, but ive seen a buddys 5 speed with just gears and exhaust run a 12.8 on a bad night! i see alot of 5 speed machs that dyno 290 to 300 with very basic mods...
 
The Mach has the aluminum 32V motor same as the 2001 Cobra. There is some speculation that the Mach got the refinements that were planned for the '03 cobra motor before they changed to the SC motor as most dyno out at around 320hp. My saleen isn't a SC car, but it's a '98 cobra. I can tell you the '98 Saleen cobra can't handle the Mach1. I just got gears put in the Saleen, so we'll have to see how it does now. :)
 
giddy-up said:
A Mach won't touch a S281SC.. If you are getting beat by a Mach in your Saleen SC, lift your skirt up and get r done... come on..
I wasn't speaking from experience.I read an article comparing the 03 cobra and the mach and they said on the street it was real close.And I have heard of stock machs running 12s.I know a stock s281sc doesn't without atleast gears.
 
saleen556 said:
I wasn't speaking from experience.I read an article comparing the 03 cobra and the mach and they said on the street it was real close.And I have heard of stock machs running 12s.I know a stock s281sc doesn't without atleast gears.


Yeah I read that too in 5.0 mag a couple yrs back if I remember right. I was in San Antionio for the Turbo Mustangs shoot out a couple Feburary's ago, and it was loaded with Mach 1's. Most Mach's were running mid to low 13's with mods. There were a couple running N20 which did hit a 11.8 pass on a 150 shoot but it was modified pretty good. At our local drag strip, almost all Mach 1's run low 14's with a trap speed close to 100 mph. 13 sec capibility for sure, but low 13's, I have yet to see a "stock" one run that time.
 
saleen556 said:
I wasn't speaking from experience.I read an article comparing the 03 cobra and the mach and they said on the street it was real close.And I have heard of stock machs running 12s.I know a stock s281sc doesn't without atleast gears.

Doesnt the 03 Cobra have the blower and 390hp? Compared to 310hp....

Is the Mach 1 a super light car...how can they be so close?
 
ExtremeSaleen said:
I remember reading that the auto Mach1's don't use a forged crank, where the 5spd do.

That is what I have been told as well. Also whether a auto or stick no forged internals at all and as mentioned before the mach has an aluminum block.


no way a stock mach is running in the 12's in the 1/4 even w/a great driver. From what I have seen and read stock cobra's are running high 12's to low 13's w/around 360-370 rwhp.
 
yeah only the 5 speed machs have the forged crack.. and about the stock SC s281's not being in the 12's.. i dont see why or how they couldn't be.. 325hp and 340ft lbs.. should be there pretty easy if you ask me.. about the cobra vs. mach's.. i can see them being pretty close in most cases.. to my understanding you cant go out and launch a cobra anywhere close to perfect the first 20 times.. and the mach is pretty nice to launch.. my buddy was runnin 12.8's all day long in his mach.. now he's running 13 and 13.1's tryin to launch his newly aquired cobra