Build thread - 1985 Mustang Saleen (clone?)

[dagenham]

But are you building for the love of the car and the hobby it represents or are you building for profit? I'm pretty sure I know the answer though.

[erratic50]

But are you building for the love of the car and the hobby it represents or are you building for profit? I'm pretty sure I know the answer though.

I’m building
- what I never really even dreamt I would be able to have
- what I hope very much to enjoy
- a tribute to the real car’s creator
- a tribute to the racing team that campaigned the cars like it.

As historically rare as the parts are going into it, it may be the last car to receive such a collection of pieces


I have not ever seen a 1E silver 85 wearing a collection of 1985 Saleen gear. I know there is a silver 84 clone done with blue stripes out there. That’s the closest I’ve come across.

What I’ve enjoyed the most is researching the early Saleen foxbody cars and learning their history and tracking down this impossible list of parts as the build has progressed.

The modifications we are doing are a batch of things I’ve always wanted to have on my own Four Eyed Fox mainly. Battle boxes, MM control arms, panhard, strut tower brace, 4 wheel discs, etc.

Some modification tricks like the spindles - afaik - had never been done before so there was a lot of research done to identify it. Some other forum members have since already done theirs .... it’s taken a while to get the build where it is.

I mentioned non-cooperative life lately. Well— so it continues. My daughter put her car in the ditch this morning on icy roads and came to a stop by hitting an oak tree. She wasn’t hurt and the tree kept the car from rolling over but it’s a mess in the strut tower and lower control arm and rack, etc. Bummer- her 02 Mercury Cougar in bright blue polished up nice and was a very cute car for a young lady to drive. It really turned heads before it was wrecked... not sure if I’ll fix it or replace it.

[erratic50]

Got the kids car in the shop getting the suspension repaired.

Have to replace basically everything on the passenger front corner.

Will probably PDR the dent and touch up paint where it is bare metal.

[erratic50]

Trey shared a picture of ARE rim polishing and prep for paint.

[saleen428]

Trey shared a picture of ARE rim polishing and prep for paint.

Oh there gonna be sweet! I have a set of 5 lugs; current car is staying 4 lug. Ugggggg

[erratic50]

Oh there gonna be sweet! I have a set of 5 lugs; current car is staying 4 lug. Ugggggg

If I had realized how much additional money it costs to correct Ackerman and get a decent set of brakes while staying 4 lug at the start of this build I would have tracked down a set of 16x8 mesh in 5 lug and been done with it.

Live and learn I guess.

[Killingcivics]

Trey shared a picture of ARE rim polishing and prep for paint.

That looks like some serious engineering!

[wraithracing]

That looks like some serious engineering!

Kids DON'T Try this at Home!

Ugly but functional. Needed some way to speed up all the hand sanding to polish the wheel lips.

[cougman67]

I like the polishing setup for the wheels.

[ZephyrEFI]

Mercury Cougar ... was a very cute car for a young lady to drive.

Hey! This young MAN drove one of those...

[erratic50]

I suppose one of these days I should order the Saleen stripe kit. I’ve been holding off because things like decals get damaged easily, but it’s going to be time soon.

[sowaxeman]

Kids DON'T Try this at Home!

Ugly but functional. Needed some way to speed up all the hand sanding to polish the wheel lips.

Looks smarter than trying to polish while on the rear axel spinning at 3k rmp

[erratic50]

Lol — I’d totally try that one when I was younger! Bad idea, you bet!

[erratic50]

Working out the details to try to buy
http://vb.foureyedpride.com/showthre...Shortblock-Kit

Not quite what I was looking for but it’s a great deal for what is there.

Not sure H beams and a 3.4” stroke mix with my RPM addiction but I’ll have to see how it shakes out.

My FTI cam will be slightly undersized for that many cubes but it should carry good vacuum at idle and run like a top past 6000.

[erratic50]

That motor is WAY too much for this build. Incredible stuff, but a lot more than I had planned for when buying parts

A good friend of mine who knows me well and knows what I want when I'm done pointed out all of the sunk costs I'd have and also that even my wheels and cooling system is wrong for that much power.

I wasn't building a 10.40 car...... I was building an 11.50 - 11.99 car that can also handle and brake like a champ. Something done in the spirit of what Saleen Mustangs were when new -- only more-so.

Damn - hate it when he's right.......

Every build has that moment were it becomes clear that you need to stop making changes, find the end to buying parts, and get the damn thing together.

For me I guess that moment has come.

I am back to looking at stuff more similar to
https://www.cnc-motorsports.com/sb-f...e-pistons.html

A stock block with balanced rotating assembly should hold up at less than 500 HP at less than 7000 RPM when limiting stroke to 3.25"

My build will have around 440 at the crank, and get limited to 6500. And even with these limits which will be more than enough for me -- the car will still be a real handful at that.

If I can get a stroker shortblock like the one from CNC in a reasonable timeframe I'll get it.

Otherswise I'll look to getting a Boss block machined so I can throw a stroker assembly at it and call it a day.

[wraithracing]

Teaser of the painted wheels.





A quick wipe down of the polished lips, mount some tires and they are ready to be installed.

Finished buffing and polishing a few areas of the body I felt needed some attention. Got the driver side body moldings installed. Unfortunately I ran out of 3M adhesion promoter wipes and couldn't finish the passenger side. I will pick those up today hopefully and get the other side done. Oh and I need the small clip for the rear body side molding to finish the install of that too! Yesterday was a ton of little things holding up major progress!



The engine bay is going together also. I received all my new split loom on Saturday, so I can make the necessary repairs and then wrap everything up to clean up the engine bay and correct all the butchering done by previous owners.

[erratic50]

Damn Trey - beautiful updates and great progress!

email me a link to the parts needed and I’ll get them ordered.

[erratic50]

Those wheels look like they are the charcoal trim color. While I’m surprised it’s going to look amazing and I can’t wait to see it on the car wrapped in rubber

[kfxmatt]

car looks great! what brand paint do you use trey?

[wraithracing]

Those wheels look like they are the charcoal trim color. While I’m surprised it’s going to look amazing and I can’t wait to see it on the car wrapped in rubber

Yes, it is the charcoal grey trim color. That is what we discussed. I sure hope you like them now, otherwise I just wasted a lot of time painting them that color.

[wraithracing]

car looks great! what brand paint do you use trey?

The 1E silver is Debeer's BC/CC, that was the best match/looking original silver.

The charcoal grey accent is PPG DBC BC/CC also using House of Kolor Clear with Flattening Agent to get the satin/matte finish.

[erratic50]

It looks amazing Trey! We had talked about targeting the color of the middle stripe on the Saleen stripes. Charcoal is another thing we discussed. I like the looks of what came out of the paint sprayer here. They look amazing.

[wraithracing]

It looks amazing Trey! We had talked about targeting the color of the middle stripe on the Saleen stripes. Charcoal is another thing we discussed. I like the looks of what came out of the paint sprayer here. They look amazing.

Hmm . . . . Maybe I am getting old! I remembered the charcoal, forgot about the middle color of the stripe.

Ok! But where exactly do the PINK Flames go?

[sowaxeman]

You shouldn't have asked...you should have just done some in Plasti-Dip and then posted here asking if the shade of pink looked correct

[erratic50]

That’s hillarious!

pink ghost flames

do it quick on a Four Eyed car in the bone yard and take a quick picture in bad lighting..... lol.

would cost a ton to make it believable— the paint on my 85 is out of this world Trey!