Anyone familiar with the Saleen XP6 & XP8

[JoshT]

It's not a Ranger or BII, but it is a rare RBV.

If you aren't familair with the XP6 or XP8, back in the late '90s and early '00s Saleen produced a limited run of performance Explorers. Not a lot of the XPs built, the best repository of information I've found is the ExplorerTalk forum which is nearly dead. Explorer-Forum also has some information, but it's not nearly as active or as helpful as the members here are.

From my understanding most were 5.0L AWD or A4WD, some of which were supercharged, these were the XP8. There were also a few 4.0L V6s, which may have been a mistake, that were built into the XP6. They all got lowered, with larger swaybars, and various cosmetic dress up bits.

Just wondering if we've got any members here that are intimately familiar with them, or might have or have had access to a few.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I think @snoranger has a spoiler or something for one of them IIRC.

Saleen XP8 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

This 1998 Saleen Ford Explorer XP8 has a Supercharged V-8

This 1998 Ford Explorer Saleen XP8 Supercharged is making the rounds on Bringatrailer.com. with only 23,000 miles on the clock.

www.motortrend.com

 

[Snoranger]

I think @snoranger has a spoiler or something for one of them IIRC.

Saleen XP8 - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

This 1998 Saleen Ford Explorer XP8 has a Supercharged V-8

This 1998 Ford Explorer Saleen XP8 Supercharged is making the rounds on Bringatrailer.com. with only 23,000 miles on the clock.

www.motortrend.com

He may still have it.

 

[JoshT]

Yeah I'm familiar with what the articles say. Unfortunately I'm not really interested in the cosmetics.

I've got questions about the mechanical aspects of what Saleen did. Namely what spring and torsion bars they selected, what size the torsion bars were (may have seen that need to look again), what all they did to engines, how they mounted the Recaros.

I'm planning to borrow some of what they did to the XP8 for my Ranger.

 

[Ranger850]

Until you mentioned them in another thread, I bet most of these guys haven't. This is more of an "Eddie Bauer 4x4" crowd. It's hard for them to NOT give advice on "lift" an "transfer cases". You're probably just going to have to read up as much as you can and try to figure it out.
Seems Saleen used the 4R70W 4speed, so they probably just used the normal torsion bars and cranked a few time to lower the front. Explorer leaf springs are on the bottom, so that makes it easier to lower the rear. He built Mustangs for years, so he probably pulled from that parts bin, too. Since that's what he was familiar with. It sounds like he got the Explorers from ford already built and he just did a suspension tune and motor swap the FORD built motor with His own.

 

[JoshT]

I know this isn't where the guys that own them are likely to hang out. As I tried to say, I've been to the forums they would be more likely to frequent, and those sites aren't nearly as useful or active as this one. So I posted hoping that I might get lucky.

No offense against the guys around here, but I know they aren't into the whole lower a 4x4 thing. That's why I don't really ask many questions about it here. That's why I plan to just do it and document my experiences for others that might be interested.

I think you're pretty much right. Mostly stock Explorers sent to him by Ford. Allegedly that's why the XP6s were built, Ford accidentally sent him V6 Explorers and he just built them instead of sending them back.

Most likely stock sway bars and springs, but I'm wondering what spring rates he would have selected. I'm sure he would have selected certain spring rates to get desired handling. Torsion twist in front, custom low profile bumpstops, and lowering blocks in rear. Larger sway bars in both ends than what Ford offered. Larger wheels and lower profile tires.

I am also curious about the engine. I know some had superchargers, but we're the base engines built or just better tuning than what Ford put in them. I intend to do my own thing there, probably a mildly built stroker, but I'm still curious as to what he did.

Cosmetically I'm curious about the interior. I know that there were different color gauge faces, a silver/gray, and some carbon fiber accents. I know that Mazda B-series had the faux carbon radio bezel and some explorers had a silver gauge face and climate controls, so wondering if those were parts bin specials. Apparently some had a carbon fiber steering wheel as an option, I know that was Saleen special and not parts bin. I'd be happier with a good shape leather wheel. All that was on the gray interior, tan interiors had wood grain instead of carbon fiber.

An area I'm really curious about is the seats. I'm curious if Saleen did anything beyond recovering the standard seats. Did he reshape them, improve bolstering, or anything of the sort? I know that Recaros we're also an option, and I'm wondering how they were mounted. With adapters to factory Ford rails, or 3rd party rails and mounts, or completely custom? I want to improve the seating in my truck so this is one area I'm really curious about. I might even have a line on the same Recaros used in the XP8.

 

[Ranger850]

Yes, NO OFFENSE to these guys. Most of them have been more helpful than the manual, lol. I DID read somewhere that the sway bars were "beefier". I learned about the XPs when I started doing my research. I think we have similar visions for our trucks. I have a SC 2001 Ranger Edge and an AWD V8 explorer for a donor. I want to keep it AWD and have a nice sleeper street truck with a mostly stock appearance.

 

[JoshT]

Yep, pretty much the same idea. SC '99 XLT 4x4. Currently on stock 16" wheels and 30" tires with lots of life left. I intend to drop it as low as possible over these tires until they wear out. At that time I might drop down another inch or two if the suspension will allow. Bigger sway bars to help handling.

Basically I want it to end up looking like someone put oversized wheels and tires on a stock 2wd, and no real signs of what's underneath. I've got a picture in a thread here somewhere of a truck that 95offroadx used to own that was done about the same. It's more of the inspiration behind the build than the XP8 is.

For now I'll be sticking with the 4.0L but when/if I find the right deal on an AWD 5.0L Explorer I'll be stashing it for later. I've actually got a 2wd 5.pL drivetrain, but I'm missing a lot of the parts that would make it an easy swap into the Ranger. While I might use it as a core to build the engine, I'd be better off finding another donor for the swap.

 

[JoshT]

@Ranger850 this is the truck I was referring to in my last post:




He's running about a 30 inch tire in those pictures and was talking about going smaller and lower. IIRC he ended up lifting and eventually selling the truck. It was a 4x4 and also a 4.0L SOHC IIRC.

I kind of want something between that and the XP8.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Yeah I'm familiar with what the articles say. Unfortunately I'm not really interested in the cosmetics.

I figured you were, I didn't know they were ever supercharged so I went to googling and threw up a couple articles for everybody else.