few questions on 1991 sho

[sholover719]

well i found a white 1991 taurus sho for 200 bucks the owner says it has a blown head gasket im almost 100% sure its not a blown head gasket sence i know how hard it is to blow a head gasket with our cars, so im thinking of catchen this at a good price considering that me and a friend of mine will go 50 50 on it more then likely if i get a response back from the guy.

i really dont want to part to part out an sho but this is what was posted about the car --- its been sold as a parts car the motor has a blown head gasket, it has a fiberglass hood, aluminum sub-frame bushing, and rod-shifter --- so my question is if its not a blown head gasket , would anybody have an idea what could possibly be wrong with it having such little detail?

ill post up more information when i get a email back from the owner about mileage and the condition of the body and everything

 

[firebat45]

I'm not sure what's wrong with the car, need more information about why he thinks it's the head gasket before you can make a better guess. If you need to split a $200 car 50/50 with a friend I think you probably shouldn't be buying it at all...

 

[sholover719]

the only reason we were going to go 50/50 on it is because we can both drive the car he has a 1992 taurus sho, plus me and him will both fix it up as long as its not a blown head gasket.

i emailed him asking him why he thought it was a blown head gasket, about the condition of the body stuff like that so i dont have much information yet.

 

[NEp8ntballer]

if you're getting it for 200 bucks you can have it on the road for under a grand. there may be a lot of other things wrong with it but if that motor has anything making it seem like it blew a gasket it would be cheaper and faster to just drop in a new motor.

 

[sholover719]

well i have more information on the car, he says it doesnt run, has a blown headgasket which causes it to overheat and then shutdown.. im thinking that i can do a few test and hope it might not be blown head gasket cuz there is an underlineing cause as to why its over heating, i think it should make a good project car.

 

[Devin]

If the car was overheating because of a blown head gasket there would be coolant leaks, probably oil leaks, coolant in the oil, oil in the coolant, etc. That would be pretty straightfoward to check. Worst case, take the heads off (there is some info in the How to... section) and see if he's right.

My opinion is likely the heads are warped, as I hear they do that when it is overheated enough.

 

[SHObill]

oil in coolant or vice/versa &/or blows LOTS of white smoke while running is the best way to diagnose.

 

[SHOspazz92]

Damnit! Is that car in Raleigh?! I was going to go and try to pick that up next week....

-Sam

 

[sholover719]

i plan on getting the car this week, or he plans on taking it to the crusher on the 14th if i dont get it, i really dont want that to happen so more then likely ill have a new toy by the end of the week.

would the motor shut it self down if it gets to hot to cause it not to blow a head gasket? he said he put some bar leak in it and drove it from maryland to where its at now with no problems and then his daughter drove it the way it was for a while untill the motor shut down, so idk if it really is a head gasket or if somethen might be wrong else where cuz he said the fan also quit worken on his way down causing to overheat once he got it home.

btw sry sam, this catch is mine, besides if i can get this car up and running ill have somethen to drive when my tob goes through my pressure plate which will probably happen within the next 1000 to 2000 miles i doubt my car will make it to 160,000 before it needs a clutch

 

[AREA 91]

There are lots of 3.0's out there. Just swap the engine.

 

[sholover719]

imma see what i can do with the motor thats in it first, and then ill go from there i dont want to do a motor swap but if it comes down to it, ill do it to save an sho from the junk yard.

 

[Rubix]

I'd spend the money and fix your clutch instead. You were pretty worried about it a few weeks ago, why put it off? I mean I know the $200 gen 1 is a **** of a deal but I'm willing to bet you're getting into more than you expect both with the car and splitting it 50/50.

Paul did Sam's clutch for $200. He did it in record time and didn't even pull the trans - money well spent.

 

[pjtoledo]

how's the body, is it rusty or clean??? rust free SHOs are getting hard to find up here in the north country

 

[sholover719]

he told me the body it self is pretty much rustfree how true that is i dont really know from the pics ive looked at it looks pretty good.

jamie i know about my clutch problem i am worried about it but if this car isnt much to fix i could drive that one around for a little while until i get the money for my clutch. cuz when i do the clutch i want to go ahead and get a lighter flywheel so theres not as much stress on the rod bearings.

 

[SHOspazz92]

he told me the body it self is pretty much rustfree how true that is i dont really know from the pics ive looked at it looks pretty good.

jamie i know about my clutch problem i am worried about it but if this car isnt much to fix i could drive that one around for a little while until i get the money for my clutch. cuz when i do the clutch i want to go ahead and get a lighter flywheel so theres not as much stress on the rod bearings.

Good luck with that. Instead of Fixing your own car your just adding twice the problems in to the equation.

Let me know if you DON'T get the car please as we've been eyeballing it for a few weeks. Also, How do you plan to get it all the way back there?

-Sam

 

[sholover719]

i plan on renting a uhaul trailer and towing it back here with a 1985 k-5 full size blazer.

i know im adding more problems to my equation but i cant help it its such a good deal i cant wait to have another sho.

 

[NEp8ntballer]

with bar leak in there I'd also put in a new rad when you replace the motor. a lot of stop leak products are going to clog the rad and coolant passages over time.

 

[Rubix]

I'm sorry man but I still don't understand your logic with this one. You will spend at least $400 buying the car, getting the car (gas & trailer), registering the car, and insuring the car. Then comes fixing whatever problem it has, which is unknown let's face it - you won't truly know what you're in for until you actually dig in, you never know with these cars. Throw in a front AND upper 60k (which you should just go ahead and do everything at once while you have the engine torn down for the head gasket) and you're looking at a more hundreds.
Moving on to the 50/50 thing. I've seen what can happen here, been there done that. Someone has to pay insurance, someone has to pay registrations and inspections. Don't yall both have tickets? Insurance ain't cheap and I know you already have at least two cars, not sure what Chris has. If yall both fix the car up you're both going to want to drive it. Chris is down for letting you drive yall's '91 around for a few months while yours sits awaiting a new clutch? I know he's cool guy but if I had half ownership of a car I sure as **** would want to be driving it and wouldn't want it being daily driven by the other owner. The kind of cars people go halfsies on are track cars they take turns driving and racing, not daily drivers. I don't know, yall do seem like great friends so maybe yall can work this out, I'm just sayin I've seen shit go bad before and it wasn't pretty and wasn't worth it. We are young and have plenty of time in our lives to get good deals on SHOs and other cars, be patient. Sorry for the speech but I'm just trying to look out for yall, I say work on what you got don't double your problems.

 

[llamaking122]

also you may wanna think if its got upgrades then someone knew bout the sho and why didnt the fix it

 

[SHO_91]

$200 sho

$200 for a mostly rust-free SHO w/ the fiberglass hood? Rod shifter? For me, that'd be a no-brainer, these alone are worth $200. I'd buy it for parts, though, unless, of course, it's nice enough to justify an engine swap. What about the MTX? These are getting increasingly rare, so a good one is priceless. To add to what NeP8ntballer said: NEVER use any of that Bar-S stop leak stuff in your rad, unless you flush it out very soon with some rather aggressive radiator flush. This stuff will plug your radiator for good. I've done that twice, once I blew a side tank on the rad, the 2nd time it developed a hole in the core and got the engine close to overheating. In both cases, a new rad was needed.