iam looking at a 97

[shane97]

hey guy

well iam was looking at a 97 sho with 100,020 miles on it. they want 4,950 for it. i think i will talk them down but anyways i wanted to know about the cams and tranny problems people are having. they say that the cams will go out at 60-80k so if its past that they will not go out or what???and about the tranny problems if i put a bigger tranny cooler on it will it be ok or no???


thanks
shane

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Cam failure has little to do with mileage. Look at the failures at http://www.v8sho.com If you buy the car, your next step should be to get the cams welded. It's a ticking timebomb.

A tranny cooler will definitely help prolong the life of the transmission.

 

[lndshark]

Three things.

1. I would venture a guess that the car is worth around 4K to the knowladgable sho community. I wouldnt pay more than that.

2. I guess the general consensus is that most cam failures will occure between 50-80K, that doesnt mean they all will, just that MOST of them will. You may be lucky and have a car that goes 150K without a failure, or you may be unlucky and have a cam fail at 40K. Either way the problem is a design flaw that stems from the way the sprockets were bonded to the camshafts. Just because it hasnt failed yet, doesnt mean it wont. It just means youve been lucky. Its the general belief that all cams will eventually fail.

If you buy this car the you should have 6-7 hundered set aside for the cam weld service and maintence. Theres some scheduled maintence around 100-105K, such as checking valve shims etc. that can be easily performed while getting the cams welded.

Check www.v8sho.com to find a competent cam welder in your area.

3. The trannies are also notorious in these cars. Some fail early, while some go along ways. It just depends on your luck and maintence performed. Hope the guy before you didnt abuse it.

When i was looking at gen IIIs someone on the board gave me some great advice to check out the tranny. Pull the dipsick and look at the fluid. Dark red is good, black, thick discolored, its bad. Look for any bits and peices that may be stuck to the dipstick. This is also a bad sign.

Smell the fluid. If it smells burnt, bad sign.


As Chris said, a tranny cooler will definately help prolong the life.


Good luck, the gen IIIs are awesome cars, you wont be disapointed,

take care

brian

 

[shane97]

How many sho have dead from cams going out????

 

[luigisho]

Alot. If you get the car, get a known good cam welder to do the job properly. The cost of fixing/replacing an engine with failed cams by a shop will exceed the value of the car. That sales price is too high in my opinion.

 

[Mr Anonymous]

How many sho have dead from cams going out????

Nearing 600 reported failures on V8SHO. Actual number is unknown, but I would suspect it's probably 4 to 5 times that number at least.