Got the SHO bug again...

[ScottyDsntKno]

Ever since I sold my 95 ATX back in 2009 I've always missed having one and now I've officially got the bug again, this time for a Gen III. I've got a Contour SVT for the 5 speed and the handling but would LOOOOVE the big V8 cruiser Gen III. I'm not currently in the market for one... either getting out of the Air Force and getting a civilian job or re-enlisting so I have to wait for that all to get worked out first. However, I do want to get one of these as a long distance cruiser and also as a backup car for my wife as she cannot drive stick and both of my cars are SVTs and sticks lol.

Anyway, not to sound noob but I had a few questions:

1 - Shims on my 95 were a bit of a pain, I hear the Gen IIIs have ones with holes in them and they're even harder to find. How worried should I be about this?

2 - Is the front/top end as easy to do as the V6? I had my 95 apart and back together over a weekend doing the shims, all the seals/gaskets/plugs etc...

3 - Obviously I know about the cams and would either get them welded or buy a blown motor/rebuild it and get a set of welded ones in there. This leads me to my question about headgaskets. Did cometic ever make an aftermarket set or did the supply of like 30 pairs at $400+ each from Ford get exhausted or what?

4 - Any other "gotchas" or anything else I'd need to know about these cars? Obviously they are getting old and will have old car issues and I can live with that. I just think that a black or white Gen III SHO all polished/waxed looks really sexy and the V8 sound in a Taurus is worth it alone lol.

Thanks in advance. Like I said, not looking for one now and when I am, probably going to be a fixer with little/no rust issues that I can tear into at my leisure.

 

[luigisho]

I wouldn't mess with a blown motor because you don't know what the extent of the damage is.. unless you were going to pull and replace with a known good one.

 

[ScottyDsntKno]

I'm talking about busting it down to the block, honing, new rings/bearings/seals etc... Probably too many issues finding all the aformentioned parts though. A guy at my local Advance actually owns a black 97 and he says that he has a **** of a time finding the right parts in their database and he works there lol.

 

[luigisho]

Parts are hard to come by. You would probably need to contact the sho vendors like nesho, FPS and shosource to find scarce oem (and some aftermarket) parts like new head gaskets and the like. Alot of people have been installing used ones that are in good shape. Not an optimal situation but stuff is hard to get.

 

[ScottyDsntKno]

Jeez used headgaskets? Blank that... You'd think that the V8 owners could get a group buy going from a gasket maker some such.

 

[venom]

Jeez used headgaskets? Blank that... You'd think that the V8 owners could get a group buy going from a gasket maker some such.

There arent' that many of these motors out there - even if every one of the 20K or so built would need head gaskets over the next 3 years that market just doesn't pay off. The V8 suffers from Unicorn disease..... I've got two of them, one of which is a total white elephant with my MTX mod and many custom parts.

 

[SHOZ123]

You can get head gaskets on ebay.

 

[Phoenix]

The shims are all swapable GEN 1-2-3 , plus you can get brand new shims at a yamaha dealer (about 7$ each).. 29mm is the right size.

Plus theres some on ebay and shosource.

 

[ScottyDsntKno]

You can get head gaskets on ebay.

New ones? I saw some used ones there. Honestly I can see while some ppl use old ones, I've never seen used HGs that look that good lol. Still would be very scared to do it but I guess if its either that or no motor you try your luck... I wonder what NESHO uses?

 

[luigisho]

There are a handful of new old stock out there. They are priced accordingly. Good looking used hgs are affordable. It depends on your tolerance for risk. People are also reusing their head bolts which are TTY. GenIII stuff is scarce.

 

[ThatShoGuy]

im one of the guys running

NOS ebay short block

NOS used gaskets (these were installed on a used short block for 4kmiles and the motor blew)

NOS used head bolts (same deal as gaskets)

my motor is omost on 19k miles still holding up. no coolant loss...

 

[ScottyDsntKno]

So there is no ARP stuff for us to use? Has anybody called them up with the thread pitch/length and cross referenced it against head bolts for other models? I'm sure they have. I know this is a one off motor but wow. The V6 has enough performance stuff for it and they only made it for a few more years.

 

[E1 v2]

So there is no ARP stuff for us to use? Has anybody called them up with the thread pitch/length and cross referenced it against head bolts for other models? I'm sure they have. I know this is a one off motor but wow. The V6 has enough performance stuff for it and they only made it for a few more years.

You can use the Duratec bolts and cut them down.

Been covered -
http://www.taurusclub.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=55275