I almost forgot how much I love SHOs...

[LJRuddy]

Well its been about 7 weeks since my SHO had a crank cancer relapse and was parked in the parking lot... Since then, I have driven my 300hp Mustang GT, a 97 Land Rover 4.0 v8, a 98 Benz e320 and a 97 e430....


...And I can honestly say that none of those cars put a smile on my face as much as my SHO did after accelerating onto the highway using 2/3 throttle and hitting 5,000 rpms. Call me ********, stupid, nerdy, or whatever but I really did laugh out loud with a grin ear to ear during my shake down cruise an hour ago. In addition, this car sat in a parking lot for 7 weeks straight without even opening the door. Turned the key on and cranked it over. She started on the 3rd rotation of the engine. Battery was fully charged, smooth running engine... Even the bolsters were still fully inflated.

Sadly, I had the option to drive either Mercedes E class for as long as I wanted to but I actually took time off of work just to put my SHO back together. And I happily gave the Benz's keys back to the owner.

I'm soooo ****** in the head. Does Dr. Phil handle "acute SHO ownership pride syndrome"??????

Seeing that she was parked with 177,982 on the ODO, I think I'll go tip it over 180k tonight... The old gas needs to be burnt up before it goes bad anyway.

 

[zblackbeast]

lol. congrats.. What all did you have to do again?

 

[LJRuddy]

purchase another crank pulley and woodruff key. I will be sure to take pictures of the old crank pulley tomorrow. You would not believe what 30 seconds of sub 2,000rpm crank rotation will do to a loose crank pulley. Lets just say it looks as if the inside diameter of the pulley was "rock polished" and all 90 degree edges were ground into perfect circular curves.

 

[NEp8ntballer]

lol. congrats.. What all did you have to do again?

I'm guessing a new crank pulley and woodruff key. Maybe and assload of epoxy or loc-tite as well. probably more torque than recommended for good measure too.

 

[LJRuddy]

I'm guessing a new crank pulley and woodruff key. Maybe and assload of epoxy or loc-tite as well. probably more torque than recommended for good measure too.

1 inch impact and a 50 gal compressor maxed out. She ain't movin' and I pitty 'da fool who decides to take the crank pulley off in the future.

 

[NEp8ntballer]

1 inch impact and a 50 gal compressor maxed out. She ain't movin' and I pitty 'da fool who decides to take the crank pulley off in the future.

did you round off the bolt?

damn I need to find the remote... letterman sucks

 

[LJRuddy]

did you round off the bolt?

damn I need to find the remote... letterman sucks

No, its not like I stood on the trigger. I impacted it until the bolt stopped rotating plus 2ish seconds. I may be dumb, but I aint stoopid... Err stupid. :angelnot:

Torque wrench clicked at 150lbs. That should hold.

 

[jthod]

ready for another 177k!!!

Conan O'Brian FTW.

 

[LJRuddy]

ready for another 177k!!!

Conan O'Brian FTW.

...I wish my car had a wasp nest. And I am a fan of [Arnold voice] CHOWDAAH! [/Arnold voice]

 

[1993MTXSHO]

I completely agree; I take out my 400 hp mustang that would stomp a lot of sho's out there in any race, it's fun don't get me wrong, but there is something about a sho that so far nothing I have driven can give quite the same feeling.

 

[LJRuddy]

I completely agree; I take out my 400 hp mustang that would stomp a lot of sho's out there in any race, it's fun don't get me wrong, but there is something about a sho that so far nothing I have driven can give quite the same feeling.

Werd... For me it went like this:

Land Rover-
Pros- tough as **** and wont break. I've towed a 16' tandem trailer behind it with well over 10,000 lbs of concrete/brick driving the backroads across the metro. It was slow as **** and even slower to slow down but that sumbitch begged for more. The last time I did this, the engine temp was pegged on the red for about 24 out of the 30 minute drive. And to accelerate, it was nothing but WOT.

Cons- bad shock mounts causing a hollow metallic thump when going over any bump no matter how small. Bad mpgs... I was lucky to get 15mpg driving it easily.

98 GT Stang-
Pros- Quick as **** and fun to drive. Handles extremely well and 150mph feels like 70 in any other car I have driven. Total babe magnet too!

Cons- Shorty headers, zero cats and 2 fiberglass resonators with the fiberglass blown out of them equals an insanely loud ride. Conversation at anything above idle is next to impossible. Worn u-joints make deceleration and coasting at highway speeds very uncomfortable. Also creates twice the interior noise. This car is just plain LOUDDDD! MPGs suck too but thats only because the gas pedal is a light switch... On or Off.

Mercedes e320/430-
Pros- Extremely quiet and decently quick. At 90mph, the interior noise is similar to my SHO at 35mph coasting with the engine at idle. No matter how hard I pushed the engine, I could not get below 20mpg. Turn radius is unbeatable. I was flipping U-turns using only HALF of an intersection or "T."

Cons- Seats are flat, hard and unsupportive. Trips taking longer than 25 minutes caused my ass to get sore especially if my wallet was still in the back pocket. I also would have expected the transmissions to be more firm and responsive. Shifts were sloppy and kick downs were nearly impossible unless I used the manumatic feature. Also, top end (read: above 60mph) was surprisingly slow. Even more so with the 3.2 I-6 in the e320. My SHO put 4 car lengths on the e320 from 80-140 back in Jan. Brakes are OVERLY small for a 4500lb car. Hard braking from 70-0 caused massive brake fade that rendered the following conservative deceleration boarder line hazardous. Oh... One more thing... WHY DON'T MID/LATE 90'S MERCEDES' HAVE CUP HOLDERS!?!?!?!? WHAT THE ****??!?!?! I would expect any vehicle, ESPECIALLY one with an MSRP above 40k to have at least one cup holder.

One last thing... Another major problem with the E class cars that I drove (IMHO) is that they are so quiet and so refined that they practically drive themselves. It is at this point, that I realized that I was no longer driving a car. I was driving a lounge chair that was placed on the deck of a cruise liner. Personally, I think they handle too well. No matter how hard I pushed the car, it would NOT get sideways or squirrley; I would not expect this with a RWD and traction control off. There is zero feedback from the steering wheel... Zero feedback from the car in general. I could have been running from the police, doing 200mph and throwing grenades out the window in this car and I would have probably feel asleep. These were probably the most boring vehicles I have ever driven. I cannot believe I just said that but I had more fun driving my dad's 01 Blazer than these luxury sport sedans. *flame suit on*

SHO- Its everything good about the Mercedes' above and then some. It is also NONE of the bad that is mentioned above. My friend (who loaned me his 2 E class cars) could not believe that I was so happy to be driving my SHO again. Some people will never understand. Its a Jeep thing... You wouldn't understand.

 

[jthod]

Time for Liberty Ruddy's test drive of a 2004 Pontiac Grand ***** GTP...

 

[LJRuddy]

Time for Liberty Ruddy's test drive of a 2004 Pontiac Grand ***** GTP...

I'd probably give it a higher mark than the aforementioned cars above.

...Wow I just re-read my last post. I guess I really do have an issue with MB... Im sad now. I've always wanted to own a MB and now that I have driven 2 of them, I probably killed off that dream. Guess its time to find a nice 90's M5 or a newer S80-R or maybe an Audi TT.

 

[roland]

Guess its time to find a nice 90's M5 or a newer S80-R or maybe an Audi TT.

they didn't make an s80 R, but if they did I would drop crash my SHO into an M5 or C63 and destroy both if it meant I could get my hands on one. I'd still happily trade my SHO off to buy an S60 R though!