Sabre #16 gets an engine

John Ross · 08-15-05, 06:27 PM

This weekend I sat down with Keith Craft and ordered my engine. 351W stroked to 408, AFR heads, TWM stack injection, fast computer, ... We are targeting 500hp/500tq at the crank. I should get the motor in about 2 months. Looks like I have a big winter project now.

If anyone has any experiance with the TWM/Fast combo I would love to hear from you.

Bill Bayard · 08-15-05, 07:31 PM

John,

Sounds like you're gonna have some big fun with that setup!
I have a TWM 8-stack TBI/Motec on my 351W. I love it! Instant throttle response, tons of power, yet very driveable! It does like it's fuel but that could be my driving style. Nah! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

Has Sabre #16 got a gearbox yet?

PM me if you have any specific questions.

Bill

John Ross · 08-15-05, 11:28 PM

Thanks Bill,

I have a G50/50 sitting on the garage floor. Sent the flywheel and pressure plate back with Kieth to be balanced to the engine. Also have an adapter plate from kennedy and a set of half shafts. Billet adapters for the half shafts already installed on the transaxle.

I'm sure I will have some questions in 3 or 4 months when I try and get it all together. I pretty much have most of the big pieces now but almost none of the little pieces. I got a ways to go.

Bill Bayard · 08-16-05, 12:46 AM

John,

I have a G50/XX installation trick and a starter modification that will help you, when you get to that stage . Let me know when the time comes.
A G50/50 eh? You lucky dog! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] Where'd you find that???
Will you be using a stock clutch and PP, or aftermarket?

Bill

Chris Martino · 08-16-05, 11:16 AM

Bill - let me know as well if you don't mind. I need to get my G50 sorted also.

Cheers

Chris

Lynn · 08-16-05, 03:08 PM

Ross,

I just caught onto the fact that you have what was Jay's Sabre car. If you have any questions, I'd be happy to help. Of course, this assumes that I'll know the answer, which is a big assumption :-), but I'll certainly give it my best shot.

Good luck and keep us up to date!

Regards,
Lynn

Mike Dozier · 08-16-05, 06:19 PM

OK...I'll ask....
Does this mean Ross has the 16th Sabre made?
Anyone know how many in total John made?

MikeD

John Ross · 08-16-05, 08:17 PM

Thanks Lynn,
you are correct I have Jays old car. He is only about 45 minutes away from me so he is not off the hook yet.

Mike,
from what i know (which isnt much) is there were only 16 Sabres produced and I have the last one.

Lynn · 08-24-05, 11:05 AM

Ross,

Does that include the American GT cars that John built? I never got a hard number from John, but I didn't know and am a bit surprised that it was that many. I have heard from the last guy in the chain: paid for a car, but allegedly never received anything. There is another guy who is still looking for John because he wants to buy a GT3 (again allegedly.)

I'd be happy to share with you any discoveries I made or lessons I learned with respect to the Sabre. Just let me know when you're in the mood to talk and have some extra time ;^)

Regards,
Lynn

John Ross · 10-27-05, 05:45 PM

I just got a call from Keith Craft. They got my engine finished yesterday and had some dyno results for me. We were targeting 500hp/500tq and here is what I got.

Max HP 527 @ 5800
Max TQ 546 @ 4500

WOW!

Engine is being shipped out tomorrow. Pictures will follow soon.

Sandy · 10-28-05, 08:16 PM

Big numbers!

What size motor did you end up doing?

Sandy

lwasson · 11-03-05, 11:13 PM

Lynn

Do you know anything about the Sabre Luis Lopez is selling?

Many thanks,
louis

Russ Noble · 11-04-05, 01:01 PM

Ross,

I'd be interested to know what size AFR's and also the cam specs. Sounds like a great motor!

Regards

lwasson · 11-04-05, 10:13 PM

Ross

Can you tell me about the Sabre body? How stiff is it. Is it of good quality? Anything else about the kit that one needs to know before he might buy one? Its good and bad points.

Thanks for your time and help,
louis

John Ross · 11-06-05, 12:21 PM

Here are the specs of the motor from what I know so far.

351W production block stroked to 408
Eagle 4.00 crank
Scat h-beam 6.200 rods
SRP dish pistons
comp cams hyd roller 236-242, .555-.576, 110 ls.
Brodix track 1 heads cnc full port.
TWM Stack injection
FAST XFI control box

When Keith and I first talked he said he was going to use the afr 185 heads. dont know why he swithed them out as I have not had a chance to talk to him yet.

Keith tells me it idles at 800 rpm and is very smooth throught the entire rpm band. Should make a nice motor.

Here is a pic if I can get it to work.

John Ross · 11-06-05, 12:22 PM

Here is another pic of the TWM.

John Ross · 11-06-05, 12:53 PM

Hey Louis,

From what I can tell the Sabre body ranges from ok to good. Each piece by its self it good but will take a lot of work to get the fit and finish to match. It is not quite as good as the major cars on the market. The biggest draw back (imho, might just be me) is the glass is too thin/light. opening either the front or back from one side there is too much body flex. I am afraid that after paint this much flex will cause cracks. I plan to reinforce both pieces and lay up more glass around all the edges to add strength. The wheel wells and other support pieces are also to light but i am not as worried about these as I plan to spray truck bed liner in these areas, I did this on my Cobra and it adds a lot of protection.

It looks like luis has done quite a bit of body work already so he may have had some of the same concerns I had an addressed them already.

Hope this helps. Shoot me an email or pm if you want to talk and I will get you my contact info. Also if you are going to be in the Dallas area and want to take a look at mine you are more than welcome to come by.

lwasson · 11-06-05, 02:00 PM

Thanks Ross

This is a big help.

I will shoot you a PM and I would like to discuss a few things about the Sabre. I can't get time to travel to Florida to look at Luis' car and talking to you would give me more insights into finishing the car if I decide to buy it.

Many Thanks!
louis