The car's tubular front end retains the Saleen emphasis on handling with coilover springs and chrome-moly upper and lower control arms with urethane bushings. Trent had an antiroll kit installed in the rear suspension.
With all the various new boost gauges, rev-limiter readouts, and whatnot, Trent had Total Performance fabricate custom instrument mountings, generating a few double takes from spectators in the process.
In the short term, Trent plans to attend various Ford events and car shows with the Saleen, along with assorted cruising. For other '94-'95 owners thinking about making the jump to a turbo, Cartech's turbo kits are still produced on a built-to-order basis, so customers can expect to receive the parts six to eight weeks after ordering. Installation time at the company's new shop (see New Digs sidebar) is about 15 hours of labor (three days in real time) or roughly $900-$1,000, depending on whether you pull up in a stock GT or over-the-top project car. The base price for the '94-'95 turbo kit is $3,780.
New Digs
At a time when the economy is grinding to a halt, and talk of war leads the average enthusiast to keep a flinty two-handed grip on his wallet, it's encouraging that at least some performance businesses are expanding. Cartech [(830) 438-2890; www.cartech .net] recently branched out from one aging location in north San Antonio, Texas, to two new facilities on the outskirts of the Alamo city.
These moves now allow Cartech to offer installation services for its turbo kits, along with a full range of other performance services. In the past, Cartech manufactured turbo kits and performance parts aimed almost exclusively at the mail-order do-it-yourselfer. But ever-increasing numbers of customers who wanted someone else to turn the wrenches persuaded the company that too much business was going elsewhere, says Mike Montgomery, Cartech's marketing and promotions director. Thus, the new installation facility in Universal City [(210) 945-0352].
Cartech will continue to build and ship turbo kits to industrious souls across the globe, but the company can now also bolt on the good stuff per "factory" specifications. Mike Neace, formerly with Texas Jam Racing, is the main technician at the new shop, with Alan Strack fabricating the custom wiring and helping with sales. Cartech's line of products will be engineered and produced at a new facility in the Kestrel Airpark in Spring Branch, north of San Antonio.
When we visited Cartech's tidy, new installation shop in Universal City in October, one week after the facility opened, everything was so new and unlived-in that a Dell computer box was the major furnishing in the customer area. That probably won't last. Cartech's Mike Montgomery says they hope to run about five cars a week through the facility.