Has any one in here ever heard of a Ford taurus SHO? they are damn fast and cheap. I have bought 22 of them and would like to here whqat other people think about them.
Dan

 

Not only have I heard of the SHO, I own one.



You have owned 22 SHOs? That has to be a record. How many have you parted out? Do you own any right now?

 

i had a '91, it was fast but i had a few problems with it. in 80,000 miles: 4 clutches ($1000 per), ac compressor($550.00), water pump($420.00), electronic climate control head unit($450.00). a buddy of mine used to say it was like driving in a 140 mph living room

 

The early models were great (Rockledge's is one of the nicest I've seen), but the later V8s were nightmares. Stay away from them at all costs.

 

I have the white version of Rockledge's

 

Thanks Jeff!

Yes, unfortunately what the Gen III SHO ('96-'99) has going against it is an engine with a bad timing sprocket design which has lead to the sprocket failing in a lot of cases (essentially it starts spinning freely of the camshaft). Since the V8 SHO is an "interference" engine, when a timing sprocket fails, it's bye bye engine. Replacement engines are very difficult to locate, too, and if you do find one, look out ($$$$). Most informed Gen III SHO owners choose to have the cam sprockets welded to the camshaft before they fail (not cheap either, $500-$600 I believe) which has proven to be an effective pre-emptive measure.

FWIW, the earlier V6 SHO engines like mine are "non-interference". In fact, the timing belt on my SHO stripped about a year ago (it apparantly was the original belt) and nothing happened to the engine except it died in its tracks. A new belt and everything was fine.

 

HERE is my baby

 

Real nice!

I hope you decide to keep the slicers white, I think they look good with the white paint.

 

I've driven one of the 1st gen versions, and I'm a big fan. I'd never heard of a V8 version until last year. I was walking on the canal path near Broad Ripple in Indy, and I see a taurus with a V8 badge. I freaked out! I'd never heard of a V8 taurus before..

 

The only thing that has changed on her since this pic is where the SHO in the cutters I painted the bottom section blue. so it is the red white and blue effect


~ps=she is for sale if anyone interested

 

One of the late-night talk show hosts has an early SHO- isn't it Conan O'Brien?

 

Hahaha yes, it's sooo dirty. Conan has one

 

I had a 92. It was the best and worst car I ever had. I had it for 5 years nad it was broke for 2 of them. When it ran, it was a lot of fun, but water pump, timing belt, 2 clutches, coil pack, and the final straw was when the differential grenaded and shot a chunk of metal through the diff. into the tranny and destroyed everything in there. i sold it for $2000 2 years ago and it was the best day. I would never recommend a sho to anyone making less than $80k/year. The costs are outrageous for parts and it's not exactly the easiest car to work on. having said that, it was a great highway car and was fun to beat up on mustangs and camaro's with a 4-door.

 

Conan likes to bring up the fact that he drives a Taurus when he's having fun with somebody - making fun of one of his guest's 150K sports cars, for example, or even just poking fun at himself. On several occasions he has mentioned that he drives a SHO, and every time he does it’s a big deal on the SHO forums. Most SHO owners get a kick out of his little SHO act, myself included.

77fg, I can't really disagree with what you said, the SHO is certainly not for everyone, people have to be willing to do much of the work themselves or otherwise they are going to take it hard on repairs. Most legit shops and dealerships are full of capable Techs, but 99% of them have never seen a SHO engine, let alone work on one. So you end up paying a premium for what? It’s not really that bad, though, over the past several years a lot of people have developed some very fine resources (websites with tutorials and pictorials, for example) to assist the SHO owner with virtually any repair he or she may choose to tackle.

As for parts, fellow SHO owners are the best source for them, there are even several websites dedicated to selling only SHO parts, and several aftermarket companies (Fel-Pro is a great example) have also stepped up to fill gaps left by Ford's less-than-enthusiastic approach to stocking parts related to the SHO, the engine in particular. I’ve never had any problems acquiring a part that I’ve needed.

 

SHO

Super High Operating costs.

Car and Driver picke the SHO over several others in a test early on.

I'd like to see a retest at this date and mileage.....

Want a hot 4 door? Maxima.