"First Post" LOTS OF PROBLEMS! Buts its cool!

[Call_Me_crazy]

I am new to SHOFORUM and new to the SHO however this is the 13th Taurus my faily
has owned since 1988.
I recently purchased a 1993 3.2 atx green with grey leather for $400.00 from a lady who went blind and hasn’t driven the car in over 4 years. The other reason the car has been sitting I was told because it was running hot and they parked it with the intension on getting it fixed and giving it to a child at a later date which never came.

I put in a new battery and starter, pulled the oil soaked plugs and she cranked right over, I then reinstalled the plugs after cleaning and re gapping and she fired right up, even on 4 year old gas! It smoked a little at first but not to much, no more than you would expect. The first thing I noticed was a slight knock, witch I first attributed to bad gas. Since then I have ran 2 tanks of premium thru and the knock has gotten less but it is evedent It’s mostly coming from the front head/valve cover area.
The car also got hot fairly quickly so I did a full flush and cleaned out as much of the system as I could. Install a few new hoses and a thermostat and refilled to no avail. Its still getting hot. I even changed the temp sensors and that did nothing. The pump appears to be working as I can see the water churning in the radiator(maybe that’s not a good way to tell) the fans kick on and that helps some what but the gauge still ends up in the red zone.
One other problem is the tranny when I come to a stop and then leave again it leaves fine. Once first is run up and I let off the throttle and cruise then get back on, it hesitates and then engages kind of harsh back into gear. Almost as if it were slipping! I have a feeling a good flush/filter and fluid change with help with this dramatically.

Other than these problems the car is almost perfect some very minor rust around the back “C” pillar and rough weathered paint. For $400.00 I don’t think I got a to bad a deal.

I want to rebuild the engine to get a little more performance out of it I would like to see if I could get at least 250 wheel out of it just by building up the motor, where do I start and what types of things can I do to get more power out of it? I am planning on tearing it down and having the block crank and heads all checked then having it balanced and if need be having the heads rebuilt.

 

[Rockledge]

Welcome! Lots of good questions.

Regarding the slight knock, something to look out for is a camshaft chain tensioner issue. The fact that the car sat for so long could have allowed the tensioners to get all gummed up and now they arent doing their job properly. You indicated it's an upper engine sound and the tensioners are often associated with that on the SHO.

As for the overheating issue, you might want to install a new temperature sending unit (single wire sensor near the T-stat) just to rule it out. If it still indicates the engine is running hot, then I'd suspect the water pump.

Others around here are more qualified than me to comment on your ATX issue and future rebuild. Good luck with your SHO.

 

[shoebilly]

When these engines sit for a time the coolant turns to jelly in the pump area & elsewear, You should add a good chemical flush but not before removing the thermosat which you need to replace after you flush.. Then flush it again. A rod knock can sound like a valve train problem, Jack it up safely and listen to the oil pan. 50 reliable hp will cost you about $3000+.

 

[Call_Me_crazy]

THANKS FOR THE REPLYS! I didnt think about that the new thermostat could be clogged with all the crap the flush loosened up(i did do a prestone chemical flush)
As far as the sending units go i replaced them both but still it shows hot! $3000.00
thats not to bad what would you do if you have the cash to do it? where would you start modifying, I am sure new rod and pistons bump up the compression, lots of head and intake work. give me some ideas as to what i need to do with my mone?

 

[laxmax327]

pistons and rods are fine. dont touch them for an na application. heads are fine also, the stock ones flow great, one of the reasons this engine already makes good power. first thing, get a ypipe. good for about 10 hp there. then i would say to cam it with the supporting mods necessary for that, sry but not sure exactly what else would be needed with it. i believe porting the intake and adding big bore butterflys and opening up the intake. just search for cams and read up on them. but of course, dont even think about doing any of that stuff until your car runs perfect.

 

[shoebilly]

After you gain 20 hp. you'll need better brakes.

 

[jedhead]

The heads flow more than any 5.0 heads short of full race versions. No need to port the heads. Intake manifold porting/extrude hone helps along with BBB. 80mm MAF and LPM helps the engine feel more responsive, but you will loose more power if you don't run premium gas. After you done those mods you can go with cams. Some has skip some or all the steps, but you won't get all the power you can with out the supporting mods. It is hard and expensive to improve on the 73hp per liter output of the stock engine. The new Mustang GT with a 20year newer engine design only outputs 65hp per liter. The new Z06 Corvette just misses 73hp per liter too.

Bob