March 2008
Bart & Marty VanRy's
2001 #456
I was working in Florida, and she was back in Boise Idaho, taking care
of our kids. We needed another car and I wanted something I could have
fun with as well as take to local car shows.
I was first thinking about an 03 Cobra or an 03 Z06 Corvette.
During the decision process my wife had gone down to
the Ford dealer in Boise and was looking at a Cobra when the salesman
said he had a late delivery 2001 Saleen which he brought around for her
to see.
Now
you have to understand this was late November - early December 2002 in
Boise Idaho and it was starting to get cold, the beginning of winter.
The dealership was definitely in the mood to make a deal and so were we.
Besides that- who wants a Cobra when you can have a Saleen! So the deal
was done.
The car has been driven from Boise, Idaho to Baltimore, MD down the
coast to the tip of Florida, back to Californian, and then to Montana
were we presently live.
She
has about 45,000 miles on her from driving every where and enjoying
every minute of it.
My wife and I decided it would be nice to make the Saleen more personal
so we decided to do some modifications.
Modifications
During the last couple of years we have exchanged or added the
following:
· Kenne
Bell Polished intercooled Supercharger
·
Kenne Bell 90mm Mass Air Meter
· Kenne
Bell performance intake system
· Kenne
Bell 75mm Throttle body
· Kenne
Bell "Boost-A-Pump"
· 3.73
rear end gears
· Bassani
Mid length headers
· Bassani
performance exhaust with X-pipe
· Ford
Racing aluminum drive shaft
·
an assortment of UPR engine dress up accessories
· polished
aluminum valve covers
· Canton
polished expansion and power-steering tanks,
· and
a special tune from Dyno Jet in Las Vegas.
Future Plans
Our
intension is to ultimately make it look line an 02 "Extreme" so we have
thus far replaced the original hood for an "Extreme" hood, but still
need to do the rear wing and center exhaust.
We
have had the interior redone by Saleen and it now has the 03/04 leather
seats, front and back.
We
also added an assortment of pillar gauges, billetted interior pieces, as
well as, a color keyed instrument panel and center console in Laser Red
to match the exterior of the car.
As
I've stated our intention is to make her look like an
02 "Extreme" but a little snazzier!
The internals of the motor are next.
We
are about at the max now on HP and TQ without blowing the bottom end.
The HP has been increased from 365 stock to 495 and the TQ from 400 to
525.
I want to thank everyone involved in the transformation thus far,
especially Custom Shop in Las Vegas, "Dyno Dan" from Dyno Jet in
Las Vegas
and most of all my wife, who put up with it all.
However "Sweetie" it's not done yet!
