Introduction and what I’m working on

[kryptto]

TNX for sharing

 

[14TR]

I also wanted to get some opinions from you guys. I’m freshening up this 3.0 now of course, but I also have the 3.2 in running order from the parts car I bought. Likely, I will run the 3.0 at a few races, see how it does. Then swap in the 3.2. Back to back comparisons at the same track (especially in the drags) should give me a good idea of actual performance differences. I may even swap In the 3.0 intake cam on the 3.2 after I firmly establish the baseline for the stock 3.2. I know there is debate as to whether that swap is worth it or not, but I’m in something of a unique position since we run these trucks basically all out and in 4wd low range, so these racers live all top end for the most part.

Other than the stock manifolds, the exhaust should be very free flowing. It’ll be custom pipes exiting out of the rockers just behind the doors, no mufflers. My understanding is the stock manifolds flow decent, it’s the remainder of the system that’s the cork in the Taurus setup. Also won’t be running AC compressor and will see about options for tuning to move rev limiter.

Any guesstimates on HP for the otherwise stock 3.0, stock 3.2, and 3.2 with 3.0 intake cams? Not this year, but maybe for 2026 (if the ranger proves to be competitive) are the performance cams worth it? What am I likely to see power wise with the performance cams in the 3.0 and 3.2 with the aforementioned open exhaust and rev limiter removal? I’m cool with mild port work on the intake side of the heads too, just can’t go crazy without having to claim additional points.

Any other performance mods that are worth the bang for the buck?

 

[14TR]

Quick update as I haven’t made much progress lately. I got up to my nephews house where the parts SHO is (the 3.2 auto I referred to earlier in the thread). I was able to get it to fire up by removing the fuel lines at the engine and swapping in a temporary portable fuel setup I put together. I checked the oil first of course, but other than that, the engine fired right up! Revved nicely, and as far as I can tell over a loud exhaust leak (the entire under car is rotted, so that includes the exhaust)no odd noises etc coming from the engine!

This is good news as it means while the half torn apart 3.0 that sits in the ranger now is great for mocking up the mounts etc, I can then drop in the 3.2 with barely any modifications at all and have the ranger running and moving under its own power! A small update, but progress just the same!

 

[14TR]

Well I thought it was worth looking at the con rod bearings while I had it apart, and I’m glad I did!
So now I’m really looking forward to the con rod bearing thread update! Lol. In the interim, I do plan on dropping the running 3.2 still, but before I make any progress on this 3.0, I’ll need to know for sure what bearings I’m gonna run

 

[kryptto]

good luck - yeah she needs an overhaul

 

[14TR]

A little tease on some progress

 

[14TR]

So another update. I ended up picking up some of the Clevite 1437p bearings. I was able to modify them fairly easily and found the fit to be quite good! I still have plastigage to verify but I’m confident it’ll spec out fine.

Now the other issue, I ordered rings from SHO Source (as well as a bunch of other stuff such as gaskets etc for the rebuild). Despite the bores looking fairly healthy, I honed the block with medium grits stones to get a nice fresh cross hatch in there. When you are going this far into an engine it doesn’t make sense to not go all the way. Well I mic’d out the bores and checked for concentricity and it checked out. Pulled the old rings and thoroughly cleaned the pistons and ring lands. Pushed the fresh rings down the bore and checked end gap, filed as needed. Fitted the new rings to the piston and sent it in the bore. EXTREMELY tight! Like, have to hit with a mallet to move the piston up or down, forget trying the bolt the con rod to the crank. Reached out to Mike from SHO source and he verified the rings he sent are stock replacement 3.0 rings, not overbore etc. markings on the rings specify they are 89mm. I’m at a loss.

This is admittedly the first time I’ve been this deep inside an SHO motor, but I’ve fully rebuilt literally dozens of engines over the last two decades and never had a similar issue. I ran out of time to check some other things in the garage yesterday, but one thing I did find curious was the old top ring mic’d out at 3.2mm wide (not tall, wide. As in cylinder wall surface to interior ring lands surface) and the new rings measured 3.6mm wide. I wouldn’t think this is an issue as I would imagine the original rings were worn down some, and I suspect the ring grooves are deep enough to accommodate the 3.6mm, but I wasn’t able to verify that yet. The other thing I want to do when I get out there again is take another random cylinder and piston and slap new rings on it and see if the issue persists with that one as well.

 

[kryptto]

nice work

 

[zoomlater]

So another update. I ended up picking up some of the Clevite 1437p bearings. I was able to modify them fairly easily and found the fit to be quite good! I still have plastigage to verify but I’m confident it’ll spec out fine.

Now the other issue, I ordered rings from SHO Source (as well as a bunch of other stuff such as gaskets etc for the rebuild). Despite the bores looking fairly healthy, I honed the block with medium grits stones to get a nice fresh cross hatch in there. When you are going this far into an engine it doesn’t make sense to not go all the way. Well I mic’d out the bores and checked for concentricity and it checked out. Pulled the old rings and thoroughly cleaned the pistons and ring lands. Pushed the fresh rings down the bore and checked end gap, filed as needed. Fitted the new rings to the piston and sent it in the bore. EXTREMELY tight! Like, have to hit with a mallet to move the piston up or down, forget trying the bolt the con rod to the crank. Reached out to Mike from SHO source and he verified the rings he sent are stock replacement 3.0 rings, not overbore etc. markings on the rings specify they are 89mm. I’m at a loss.

This is admittedly the first time I’ve been this deep inside an SHO motor, but I’ve fully rebuilt literally dozens of engines over the last two decades and never had a similar issue. I ran out of time to check some other things in the garage yesterday, but one thing I did find curious was the old top ring mic’d out at 3.2mm wide (not tall, wide. As in cylinder wall surface to interior ring lands surface) and the new rings measured 3.6mm wide. I wouldn’t think this is an issue as I would imagine the original rings were worn down some, and I suspect the ring grooves are deep enough to accommodate the 3.6mm, but I wasn’t able to verify that yet. The other thing I want to do when I get out there again is take another random cylinder and piston and slap new rings on it and see if the issue persists with that one as well.

If you were curious what a set of 3.0 NOS rings measured, I picked up set of these from a guy down in CA who collected a bunch of NOS stuff for his SHO. You can see what the measurements were of the smallest to largest rings were. Hopefully you can see the measurements as my batteries in the scale were dead.

I was reading a comment posted by someone on BAT on the 92MTX for sale now (link under Shofinds section) that I found interesting if this was true or not. But they posted this fun fact:

JoeMommia This author's likes: 489

Worked for Ford back in the day. Had to put a clutch in the first SHO the dealer got as it was test driven to death.
At a SHO engine Ford training center class on these cars (in Pleasanton) the instructor told tales of Ford having to drain the oil out of the engine just to get it to fail. 12k (? wonky memory) wouldn’t do it, the alternator would granade first. These Yamaha built top ends were sooo smooth. Like rolling a Kawasaki out on a high rpm pull. Beautiful to look at too.
Fun Fact: Ford engine warranty wouldn’t let tech.’s work on the short block as each piston was custom fit to each hole. Ford would send out a new short block.

 

[14TR]

Pulled the running 3.2 out of the junk 94. I found the ECU had some markings on it. In my experience usually this is aftermarket tuning. Can anyone make sense of this?

 

[14TR]

Also, I’m junking the 94. It was ROTTED. Like even the engine cradle was half gone, plus inner fenders, floor, rockers etc. rodents had been through the interior etc. I’m keeping the engine, harness, and ECU. The auto trans I know worked and shifted, but I only “drove” the car a few hundred yards on the property. If anyone is in need of an auto trans let me know. I’m in northeast PA. Any other parts etc let me know. I’ll probably wanna junk this thing in the next two weeks.

 

[luigisho]

Pulled the running 3.2 out of the junk 94. I found the ECU had some markings on it. In my experience usually this is aftermarket tuning. Can anyone make sense of this?

Looks like a salvage unit.

 

[14TR]

So I’m 8 days away from the race and have a truck with no engine, trans or transfer case in it lol. I do have the 3.2 on a stand and running, so I know it’s good. For those wondering, I had to slightly route out the holes for the SHO flex plate to accept the Ranger torque converter (the SHO converter has a completely different style input shaft so using that one was a no go). The engine mounts I had fabricated previously will work where they place the engine low and back, but I’m trying to get the trans and transfer case to sit in the stock location to not have to mess with driveshaft length etc, so I’m going to mount those items first, then mount the engine to the trans, and make another set of engine mounts that let it lay wherever that turns out to be. That MIGHT change the clearance of my exhaust manifolds, but we will see. One thing I do need help with is finding an oil boss insert (that threads in the block) that would allow me to remove the stock cooler. I have a remote filter setup from my 5.0 days that I can use.

In addition to the aforementioned issues, I will still need to mount the fuel cell, mount the battery relocation, wire everything, drive shaft safety loops, fire extinguisher, everything coolant related, fabricate a “dog house” type cover for the cut firewall, etc. I’m giving myself a 20% chance of making this race lol

 

[chadhouck]

So I’m 8 days away from the race and have a truck with no engine, trans or transfer case in it lol. I do have the 3.2 on a stand and running, so I know it’s good. For those wondering, I had to slightly route out the holes for the SHO flex plate to accept the Ranger torque converter (the SHO converter has a completely different style input shaft so using that one was a no go). The engine mounts I had fabricated previously will work where they place the engine low and back, but I’m trying to get the trans and transfer case to sit in the stock location to not have to mess with driveshaft length etc, so I’m going to mount those items first, then mount the engine to the trans, and make another set of engine mounts that let it lay wherever that turns out to be. That MIGHT change the clearance of my exhaust manifolds, but we will see. One thing I do need help with is finding an oil boss insert (that threads in the block) that would allow me to remove the stock cooler. I have a remote filter setup from my 5.0 days that I can use.

In addition to the aforementioned issues, I will still need to mount the fuel cell, mount the battery relocation, wire everything, drive shaft safety loops, fire extinguisher, everything coolant related, fabricate a “dog house” type cover for the cut firewall, etc. I’m giving myself a 20% chance of making this race lol

checking for updates...? did you make it?

 

[14TR]

checking for updates...? did you make it?

I went to the race….to spectate lol. The list was just too long to get done unfortunately. I have two more races to shoot for, one the last weekend of August, and one in the middle of September. Still plugging away

 

[14TR]

Didn’t make the race at last weekend, but did attend just to spectate. I have two more races to aim for. The last weekend in August, and the middle of September. With any luck these should be doable. Here’s a little update

 

[14TR]

I had to order a Chiltons manual on EBay hoping it contained the actual wiring schematics for the right year(s) SHO and shockingly, it actually had them! So harness is in the midst of a wire diet. I also decided to raise the engine and push it forward slightly. I liked the lower center of gravity, but this location allows me to not have to modify driveshaft length front or rear and reuse the stock trans mount without modification. It also means my design for engine mounts have to be reconfigured, but it’ll be worth it. Hoping the engine front to rear tilt comes out ok, as a slight backward tilt will be necessary.

 

[Toolman]

Cool build!

 

[14TR]

Got the passenger mount mocked up and the driver mount in cad but ran out of time to get it cut out. Anyway, here’s some pics of the passenger side mount going together

 

[kryptto]

nice fabrication