[mapleleafs]

I was thinking of going out to look for probably a 98 or so SHO pretty soon.. They seem like they have everything I would want out of a car. I've also heard about the problems with V8 SHOs as well.. is it really a big problem? Are there thousands of other SHOs out there just waiting for the engine to blow up?

They seem like nice cars too.. ah well. I'll probably go out and see if I can find one here in town anyway. I've only seen pictures so far

 

[Guest]

Gen3 SHO's are ok....not the fastest car in the world. But it's cool to say you have a v8 in a taurus

As for the problem v8sho.com has a lot of information. Check it out. AFAIK, all gen3 sho's will suffer from this. Just have the cams pinned or welded right after you get it so you don't have to worry about the problem.

 

[sixfofalcon]

I love my Gen 3 SHO. As far as the "problems" go, the major problem is the cam sprocket slipping on the camshaft. The rate of failure is very small, but given the obsolete and rare nature of the engine, you really can't afford to ignore the problem. In addition, the majority of these cars are just now getting up over 50-60K in miles, so I think the failure rate of un-welded and un-pinned cars will accelerate in the near future. Figure on $500-800 to fix this problem. If you take the car to one of the V8SHO gurus who has done the cam-welding procedure many times, they usually include a spark plug change, intake runner/secondary butterfly cleanup*, injector cleanup, wiring harness insulation*, oil/filter change, and some other stuff in that price. The items marked (*) are other known issues on the 3.4L V8.

As with any FWD Ford, you should budget a tranny replacement in somewhere between 50-100K. It's not guaranteed to fail, but I would say it's probable.

Read up on V8SHO.com before you make the purchase. And shop around quite a bit if you can--I've seen nice ones with low miles go for under $5K, and not-so-nice ones go for over $11K.

 

[afi292]

I was considering a used SHO, but i figured it might not be worth it since it could had the crap beat out of it and i wouldnt know...and it would leave me with repair bills... I wish they still made them new though

 

[mapleleafs]

Hm.. There isn't anyone recommended in Alaska that can do that sort of thing on V8SHO.. so I'm not so sure about being able to get something like that done. I don't know.. I'm not sure if I'll be able to find one up here though, I haven't seen one before.

 

[1fast97]

Originally posted by mapleleafs@Dec 18 2003, 05:37 PM
Hm.. There isn't anyone recommended in Alaska that can do that sort of thing on V8SHO.. so I'm not so sure about being able to get something like that done. I don't know.. I'm not sure if I'll be able to find one up here though, I haven't seen one before.

I think you're best bet for a V8 SHO is to go down to Mass and buy one from Kirk Doucette pre-welded and drive it back. He's always fixing up an SHO or two. If you get Kirk to weld it and change the coils and plugs, subframe bushings and a few other things that he might recommend, then you'll be trouble free for a long time.

I absolutely beat the s*** out of my V8 and I haven't had any major problems. I've had it for the last 55k miles and it's at about 103k miles now.

 

[mapleleafs]

Heh.. I can't do that. What a way to ruin what seems to me like a perfect upgrade from my 99 SE with a Vulcan. I was looking around on shoshop.com and read what they have about pinning the cams for $499. Has anyone used this option before? They really don't explain much on their page.. but it apparently involves taking parts out of the car and shipping the parts to them.

I'm hoping to get around to some car lots tomorrow to see if I can find a SHO..

 

[Twilight]

Driving to California is going to be just as hard as driving to Massachusetts so either way you're not getting it done easy.

The gen 3 SHO is a fun car...it's everything I feel my Duratec is lacking...good low end torque and revs all the way up to redline easily. And it's a V8, you can drive around with V8 badges and not be rice.

And no matter what kind of muffler you put on the end of this thing, it's going to sound great. And all SHO's are very well equipped, most of them with leather, cd changer, and all the good stuff.

 

[sixfofalcon]

Originally posted by mapleleafs@Dec 19 2003, 09:20 PM
Heh.. I can't do that. What a way to ruin what seems to me like a perfect upgrade from my 99 SE with a Vulcan. I was looking around on shoshop.com and read what they have about pinning the cams for $499. Has anyone used this option before? They really don't explain much on their page.. but it apparently involves taking parts out of the car and shipping the parts to them.

I won't recommend against it, but I won't recommend it either. FWIW, SHOshop is on the way out of the SHO business. They don't have a very good reputation among the V8SHO.com regulars. They did VERY good things in the beginning of the Gen 3 SHO performance movement, but since then, there have been many bad experiences.

The pinning process is more expensive than the welding process. Why do I say that? The actual pinning or welding is only about 20% of the job... the hard part is exposing the cams (especially the back bank.) Count on several hours for that part, and several more to put the engine back together. So now you are talking $500 for parts and at least 8 hours labor (probably more if you don't have much experience.) In addition, at least a few people have reported that when the cams come back from SHOshop, there is a hairline crack extending from the pinned hole to the edge of the cam sprocket. I don't know if that's enough to allow a failure, but to me it doesn't seem like the best craftsmanship. Top it off with the fact that most cam-welders will throw in all those other extras I mentioned before.

I would seriously consider talking to Kirk Doucette. Even if you have to pay to have the car shipped to you, or at least near you, it could be worth it. Kirk will either be able to help you out personally, or he'll know someone else who can help you. It took me a few tries to get in contact with him, but once I did, he was extremely helpful. And for what it's worth he has welded cams a s***load of Gen 3 SHOs.

 

[mapleleafs]

Yeah.. I'm not so sure about buying one anyway after hearing about these problems. But there is also a part of me that finds it hard to believe that there are 20,000 SHOs out there with bad engines..

 

[sixfofalcon]

Well, all the problems would be solved with the cam weld procedure. I'm not trying to convince you to buy a car you don't really want, though. Just add $1000 to the price of any non-welded Gen 3 SHO, maybe more since you might need it delivered. And as far as the tranny goes, the V8s are no more proned to ATX failure than any other Taurus. In my opinion, every Taurus owner should be prepared to replace the tranny if they plan to keep the car for a long time. I personally have never had an ATX problem *knocks wood* but it would be naive of me not to be prepared for it to happen.

 

[mikehawk]

Hey, my friend's parents are putting their gen 3 SHO on the market pretty soon. If you're going to be in South Florida, let me know. I think it's only got about 50k miles on it.

But I think they're a little optimistic about what price they're going to get for it...

 

[silvapain]

Does anyone make aftermarket cams for the SHO? If they did, wouldn't it just be better to replace them, since you'd have to take them out to weld them anyways. I don't own a SHO, I was just curious. Also, the AX4N transmission is reliable, it's only the AX4S that's prone to failure. I beat the crap out of my GL, and just had the transmission flushed. No metal in the fluid at all, and it shifts perfectly at 82,000 miles with the AX4N.

 

[sixfofalcon]

Originally posted by silvapain@Dec 21 2003, 09:07 PM
Does anyone make aftermarket cams for the SHO?  If they did, wouldn't it just be better to replace them, since you'd have to take them out to weld them anyways.  I don't own a SHO, I was just curious.  Also, the AX4N transmission is reliable, it's only the AX4S that's prone to failure.  I beat the crap out of my GL, and just had the transmission flushed.  No metal in the fluid at all, and it shifts perfectly at 82,000 miles with the AX4N.

No one makes aftermarket cams for the V8SHO yet. Even the new cams Ford is making for us are the same faulty design (as far as anyone can tell.)

The AX4N is prone to failure. It is definitely much stronger than the AX4S, but it is still crap as far as ATXs go.

 

[Mcgilles]

shift kits (or chips) and tranny coolers go a long way to keeping the AX4N around longer. plus, even though the cam failure issue must be addressed, after its done, the engine is pretty bulletproof. get it fixed, and it will last a long time, remember that SHO on ebay a few months ago, 270,000 miles. plus, you can still chance it with the cams, and not take the huge risk. luckily, the cams let you know before they go, the warning tick of death usually arises up to 1000 miles before the cams actually fail. its a loud and very distinct sound, you can listen to vids of it on v8sho.com if you leave them unwelded, you can just listen for the problem, but if you do hear it, you will need to stop driving right away, and get it fixed, such a pain, but I still haven't had both the time and money at the same time to get mine done, I just listen very carfully for any indication of trouble.