tom281

Well I brought my '06 GT home on September 9, 2005. A little over three years into ownership, this has been a great car. I've enjoyed driving, maintaining, modifying, showing, and racing the car and it has never disappointed me. Here are some pix of the car over the years, from day 1 to recent:

Day 1:


With CDC shaker, hood pins:


Added the stripes, chin spoiler, and window scoops:


Shaker with JLT intake.....

429 Boss Mustang

you turned that car in to a master piece dont get rid of it. get a 2011 and fix it up and have two of em

tom281

Shortly after the last photo, 4.10s, delete plates, pullies, etc. etc. etc. were added. Then the big upgrade to the "shaker" package:


Then trimmed the shaker and powder coated the cam covers:


Added wheels and tires, and rear lowering springs:



And eventually, upgraded the Vortech blower with a Paxton 'cooler:

429 Boss Mustang

how much power you pushing?

StangRalle

Hey, you got yourself a sweet ride! Nice color by the way. I bought mine in April 2005 in New York. Still driving and modifying it. I just love this car!!!

officespace56

How bout some pics of that Saleen blower BEAUTIFUL car, it has come a long way!

tom281

Just found this picture, it was one of my favorites with the factory foglight grille:


Anyway, from the Vortech/Paxton combo and to the current Saleen setup:


Swapped to another factory '07 GT hood, and added the Roush scoop and striped it:


Added rotors, pads, etc:


As we sit today:



And a shot taken by Tracy Stocker, see Prozakandtonic.com!

429 Boss Mustang

dam such a pretty car

tom281

Thanks!

Right on!

You got 'em now......


I've got hundreds of photos LOL.... exhaust videos, interior photos, audio system photos...... hope to get some updated 11.5 second strip videos in a few weeks!

StangRalle

Thank you Sir!

TonyN

Nice ride! Cool to see how far it has come. I don't even want to know how much $$$ has been spent...lol.

So, why the switch from centrifugal to roots?? I know each style has there pros and cons but what made YOU do the switch?

I am currently debating whether I want a centrifugal setup (cheaper) or roots style (more torque). My mind set is currently most potential for least amount of money. I also want potential for later on in life. Good HP, lower price (Paxton or Procharger). But I love torque (KB, Saleen, Whipple, but more $$$).

I need to drive a car with centri and a car with roots. That would help...lol

Anyways, love the car and good choice on color!

Robbieg

Look'n good Tom

tom281

I changed to the twinscrew blower because of the instant torque response. I have a soft spot in my heart for centris because of that top-end rush, but mad, crazy torque down low is awesome. Plus the Saleen twinscrew made more HP than the Vortech setup all the way to 6000rpm, so I really didn't "lose" much HP but I gained 100+ more tq. Do what you can to either drive both setups or atleast go for a ride in both setups, that will help you decide for sure.





Let's hear some stories of other S197 owners that have had great, trouble-free and enoyable ownership experiences over the last several years!

topbliss

very nice. So you like the saleen blower better??

buck

tom your car is simply gorgeous but I gotta ask is there really that big a diff between the paxton and the saleen?? I really love the look of the paxton SOOOO much more your engine bay looks incredible in those shots... Is the power performance in the low rpm's that different? I just wanted paxton always and have gone back and forth a million times but everyone seems to think twin screw is the way to go cuz of the torque and low range power....

In_A_Roush

WOW! love those center grill lights.

StangRalle

By the way, which grill do you use? Make?

buck

Also how high does the saleen s/c sit? Is it possible to do a strut tower brace still? I heard it was not for whipple but was for KB so was wondering for saleen. I'm thinking if I'm going this route instead of centri i'd want a saleen or KB anyway

ps-

one last question I heard that if I already had a steeda intake that it would be adaptable to fit the saleen s/c is this true??

tom281

Hi guys! To answer your question, both blowers are awesome..... but if I had to pick I would stay with the Saleen. It was a pretty big commitment on my part to lose the Vortech/Paxton blower, CDC shaker, etc. and swap to the Saleen. To give you an idea of the difference in performance of the two, here is the dyno chart:


The red curves are the Saleen HP and TQ. The blue is the Vortech blower with 3.33" pulley and Paxton intercooler. As you can see by the HP curve, the Saleen is making more HP all the way to around 6000rpm, then the Vortech/Paxton combo takes over. But look at the torque curve; at 3500rpm the Saleen is making ~75 more lb/ft of torque along with that additional HP, and you can tell by the way the Vortech torque curve is dropping while the Saleen is still very high (over 400 lb/ft at 3k rpm) that at ranges around 2000rpm-2500rpm the Saleen is 100+ more lb/ft of torque. This is what gets the car moving; this is what you feel as it pushes you back into the seat starting way down low almost immediately off idle.

Thanks, it is the Street Scenes grille.


There is a specific strut tower brace for use with the Saleen blower. Most braces won't work with it. The cold air kit you see in my pix is the Steeda cai. In fact to elaborate a little on the blower system, it is the Saleen blower with 3.2" pulley, Saleen extreme inlet pipe combined with the Steeda cai and filter, Saleen water pump pulley, and upgraded heat exchanger (about 2x the cooling capacity of the standard Saleen 'cooler).

wjones14

Congrats man, your car is awesome! Other cars must get out of the way when they see you coming up behind them on the highway...

I've already posted about how great mine's been over the past 3-1/2 years - have not had a single issue, and now with 34K miles, the car has still never been back to the dealer! I repeat - NOT ONE PROBLEM since the car was new.

I'm on the other end of the spectrum from you, where I have not done a single performance mod other than a Hurst shifter, but I couldn't be happier. I've taken the car to two HPDE events (Lime Rock and New Hampshire Motor Speedway), and it performed great - passed a bunch of cars including a Porsche 928S, BMW 3 series, Scion, Infiniti G35, etc. Never had so much fun in a car in my life. And while the yellow paint is sometimes a bit too much of an attention-getter on the street, at the track it is absolutely stunning and looks like it belongs. This last event at New Hampshire, mine was the only S197 Mustang, and a lot of guys came over to check out the car, pay compliments, and just say how great it looked. Yeah, I'm happy with it.