How can I handicap the motor?

[Dan Werling]

I hope this is in the correct topic but here goes. I plan on taking the SHO to the body shop in a few weeks to get some paint touched up. I am a tech at the local ford dealer and we do business with a small body shop that does really good work. They worked on my mothers car when somebody hit her car and I got to talking with the owner when I was there picking up her car. The owner is in his late 20s and we got to talking, he used to have a SHO that had some kind of very extended warranty, like up to 90k or something, and he told me that he had a chip on it, this and that, basically that he loved the car, and he REALLY loves SHOs, but he basically beat the snot out of the car he had. He will give me a better price on the work because of the common sho thing, and also that I work at the ford dealer that sends them a lot of work. I trust the guys at the shop, but can't help but wonder if the guy would like to take the car for a "test drive" (beat on it a little). How could I slightly handicap the motor so that it runs, but runs really crappy. Basically so they can just move it around the shop but not road test it. I can clear any codes that this may cause, it would just be temporary while they had the car.

Thanks for any advice, im sure some of you have considered this before...

 

[GreatHumungous]

Can't you just pull the spout? I've heard this takes away alot of power, but never did it myself.

 

[nkb93]

Maybe... unplug one fuel injector (probably be TOO crappy)?
or put a restrictor plate in the intake box.. I'm envisioning a piece of thick cardboard with a small hole cutout sitting against the "dirty" side of the filter.

just some ideas...

 

[TYSHO]

Pull the SPOUT connector, there's a sticky about this in one of these sections around here.

And if you have a heavy foot and stacks of tickets, do the same and tell your wife to hide it from you!

 

[mlatten]

I love it. I had this exact problem with a good friend. Loved the SHO, and always wanted to drive it. Unfortunately for me, I had to go on a business trip with his father, who lived near the airport we were flying out of. So the deal was that I could leave my SHO at his house (where my friend lives), and he would put it in the garage after we left.

I unplugged the IAC. Tried it beforehand that morning, and the thing BARELY idled, which gave an unexperienced driver the impression that it was really having trouble. When we drove back to the house in his father's car, my pal met me as I got out and said "I didn't do anything."

But for someone who will actually give it gas in anticipation, this may not fool him. haha.

Oh well,
Matt

 

[sho_me92]

i would pull the IAC i did that to pass emmions and noticed a big power loss

 

[yamahaSHO]

If you've got a TwEECer, you can do like I do and give it a rev limiter of 2,000 RPM. Another option we took with my dad's car is limit the amount of throttle body traval.

 

[shonufftaurus]

I've got the same problem - but with a teenage driver that got his first ticket in the SHO. I was thinking I would just unplug the secondaries, but I don't want to mess up anything else in the process. What's the best thing to do, unplug a vacuum line or the electrical plug for the secondaries ? Which plug is it exactly ?

 

[SHO#7]

I've got the same problem - but with a teenage driver that got his first ticket in the SHO. I was thinking I would just unplug the secondaries, but I don't want to mess up anything else in the process. What's the best thing to do, unplug a vacuum line or the electrical plug for the secondaries ? Which plug is it exactly ?

That will not work. As the vaccum keeps them closed until 3900. Then it would be a screamer again.

Edit: Meaning they would be stuck open.


Mike

 

[MelectroK]

Put a piece of wood beween the end of the throttle cable and the throttle body, making it so the throttle lever can only move say 3/4 inch is all, then zip tie it in place. I would think worst thing could happen would be a broken throttle cable. But if that happens you know he was really trying to step on it. And in the end a throttle cable wouldnt be to hard to replace worse case. It would be noticable if you looked at it, but if you have that throttle body cover it would hide this.

 

[gmorrell]

Completely remove the IMRC solenoid valve and its little vacuum reservoir, then plug the secondary runner vacuum line directly into the vacuum port on the rear surge tank, that will keep the secondaries closed for the most part. Pull the SPOUT shorting bar, and pull the timing retard shorting bar which is down by the driver's side radiator end tank. With no secondaries, no timing advance, and the whole timing table backed off by 3 degrees, it will be about as interesting to drive as a John Deere tractor.

 

[Electricat]

Some of those ideas would work pretty well....but I would be afraid that the guy would realize something is wrong and try to "fix" her for you. After all, he knows all about SHO's . And I'd be REAL afraid of what his repairs would involve....

IMO, if you are this concerned, take your car elsewhere....it isn't worth saving a few bucks to have your car molested by an idiot.