1995 sho 3.2 headgasket ????

[Vince7]

Hello, yeah after having great luck with my 91sho and lovin every day i drive it, i saw a good chance to grab a gen 2 for $700, 1995sho atx 3.2 120k, in dire need of plugs wires and the ole oil in the wells, that is certain, i was told it might have a blown headgasket due to an overheat,it was taken to a ford dealer and they quoted the owner $3000 to fix.it looses antifreeze, not sure how much and not on the ground or in the heater box,or in the oil. after running for a few minutes it starts to blow white smoke, my main question is there anthing other that can cause this and i'm probly better off doing both head gaskets as well as the wp,crank sensor and timming belt,as far as manuals i have mitchell ondemand 5 , but hear great things about HELMS manuals, any thoughts would be great.....v7

 

[SHOtimer]

The only available source for the 3.2 HG's as of now is ..

http://home.earthlink.net/~rcm_automotive/id2.html

They can also get you the proper service manual (I think, you'd have to email him). It sounds like a blown HG to me. However, the SHO heads cannot be planed very much at all, so if your heads are sigificantly warped...which is a high possibility you will need to find a set of 3.2 replacement heads.

Yes, you should perform all the 60k stuff while you have it apart.

Doug

 

[Ishodu]

There is a sticky at the top the a few forums. IIRC Napa is now carrying the 3.2 head gasket.

 

[Vince7]

Thanks for the reply, i have a friend at the local Mclaughlins and he carries fel-pro ,so i'll run those part numbers from the sticky(thanks) and i'll get a hold of a straight edge as far as warpage and cross my fingers, i figure even if i dump 1,000 in parts into it it's worth it considering what i paid for it and the overall condition, labor is cheap when self done, and this will be my first SHO headgasket,imagine 20yrs of automotive and diesel work and never came across a SHO.i'll be starting in 2 weeks, thanks for the help. will keep you informed....v7

 

[SHO green like$]

Rebuild it, make it stonger faster better

Considering what a low aquisition cost you had, you might just consider a complete rebuild.
Depending on how bad it was overheated, if you were'nt there it will be hard to speculate, but assume the worst, I would say. Losing antifreeze could be the gaskets alright, but usually a cracked head.
You could do all the work you mentioned, and later find out that the rings, pistons, main brearings...ect... have taken a beating in the over heat.
I'm not wanting to be the devils advocate but I've had to deal with an engine that someone over heated, and replaced the heads, head gaskets and tons of other gaskets, water pump, fixed this and that, to later have to tear down the whole thing and do a complete re-build, including cylinder bore, pistons, rings, lifters, bearings, crank polishing and yet another set of gaskets ... All the time wishing I had just listened to my little voice telling me to just re-build the whole thing instead of doing all that twice.
Like you said, "labor is cheap when you do it yourself". And when you've finished you know exactly what you have, and what it's like on the inside of the motor, giving peace of mind when driving around.

 

[Vince7]

Thanks for the thoughts, just like anything you have to look at the big picture of what might be, i'll probly have a better idea once i have the heads off, but as of right now it runs great other than the smoke "white" and at high revs 3 to 4000 rpm no knocks or odd noises, and those new fel-pro numbers are good and in stock at the warehouse HS26228PT FULL $290.00 and the headgasket only 26228pt $45.00 each, these are Rhode Island prices,wish me well, thanks for the help....v7