Just bought a Black 96 SHO. Upgrades for it??

[martin96SHO]

Hello, i just bought my first 96 Taurus SHO and I love it. I was just wondering what are good performance parts for the SHO. I would like to maybe get around 300hp out of it or a little more. Would love any information for it. Thanks.

 

[1998v8sho]

Congratulations on the purchase. Before you start any performance mods, are your cams welded? This would be the FIRST thing I would do. Then go for the mods.
As far as mods are concerned, a tune would be a start, CAI, high flow mufflers, aux. tranny cooler, under drive pulleys...etc.
300 HP + can only be achieved with a turbo or supercharger setup. Get in touch with Doug at Ford Performance Specialists in Georgia.

 

[Mr Anonymous]

For such power gains, just put in a bottle and buy a tuner. Everything else is throwing money away.

 

[E1 v2]

Start your new tranny fund right away.

 

[JRA2000TL]

So you bought the black one in Loxley. I'm in Daphne. I wrote the guy about it but he never responded. Was he firm on that $2500 price? Without proof that the cams were welded, I was kind of leery. Cosmetically it looked nice in the pics. Has it ever had a tranny rebuild with it having 156k?

 

[stephen newberg]

Start your new tranny fund right away.

I remain unconvinced about that one. I drive mine pretty ******* the back roads and am well north of 190K on the clock with the original transmission still going just fine with zero hiccups. And I know I am not the only one that checks by here with very high numbers on the original. But regardless, I do think I will go find some wood to knock on now...

pax, smn

 

[SHOMEX]

Has it ever had a tranny rebuild with it having 156k?



Well mine has 207k and counting with the original tranny and I push it pretty hard many times without problems. (in my book its all about maintenance) Ooh and a cooler.

 

[stephen newberg]

Well mine has 207k and counting with the original tranny and I push it pretty hard many times without problems. (in my book its all about maintenance) Ooh and a cooler.

I agree, it is all about maintenance. Probably helps not to be a regular stop light warrior too. And yes, a cooler.

pax, smn

 

[E1 v2]

I remain unconvinced about that one. I drive mine pretty ******* the back roads and am well north of 190K on the clock with the original transmission still going just fine with zero hiccups. And I know I am not the only one that checks by here with very high numbers on the original. But regardless, I do think I will go find some wood to knock on now...

pax, smn

You're still relatively stock, yes?

OP asked for 300 HP or more. IMO, that will splatter his trans.

 

[stephen newberg]

You're still relatively stock, yes?

OP asked for 300 HP or more. IMO, that will splatter his trans.

Yes, mine is not hugely altered. I too would think that 300 HP would be too much for the trans, but short of going to a bottle, there is no 300 hp to be had, as I understand it. So most any mods short of that, the trans could easily hold up, or not. Its hard to really say.

pax, smn

 

[martin96SHO]

So you bought the black one in Loxley. I'm in Daphne. I wrote the guy about it but he never responded. Was he firm on that $2500 price? Without proof that the cams were welded, I was kind of leery. Cosmetically it looked nice in the pics. Has it ever had a tranny rebuild with it having 156k?

I actually talked him down to 2k, whic took me bout 15 minutes to do but he tookit after i showed him the hundred dollar bills. LOL. The paint has some clearcoat peeling but not bad. But right now i have a problem with the valve covers are leaking oil which sucks right now so i need to get that fixed.

 

[JRA2000TL]

I actually talked him down to 2k, whic took me bout 15 minutes to do but he tookit after i showed him the hundred dollar bills. LOL. The paint has some clearcoat peeling but not bad. But right now i have a problem with the valve covers are leaking oil which sucks right now so i need to get that fixed.

Might as well pop those valve covers off and check to see if the car has been welded; if not, get it all done at once.

I thought I saw that car the other day getting on I-10 westbound from the Malbis exit; if that was it, it looked clean. I must live pretty close by you.

 

[Brett]

if your gonna replace the valve cover gaskets you might as well check for cam welds and if they werent welded have them done. half the work is done when you have the covers off anyway.

 

[Ian Macoomb]

I remain unconvinced about that one. I drive mine pretty ******* the back roads and am well north of 190K on the clock with the original transmission still going just fine with zero hiccups. And I know I am not the only one that checks by here with very high numbers on the original.

I think you've just been lucky. It's a crappy design just waiting to fail just like an unwelded cam. I think there's a lot more cars that have had tranny failures than those that haven't.

Other than the pump drive shaft at the '02 convention I was pretty lucky until I had about 220k km on it. And beat the crap out of mine. On real tracks and everything.

 

[stephen newberg]

I think you are making my point actually, Ian. Its not about luck, its that these cars were not designed for quarter mile traps on real tracks. As mentioned before, they were not designed for being stop light warriors. If you work a machine in a way that is was not designed for, more often than not you will get premature failure. If you use it as it was designed, and do proper upkeep, you mainly will not. But that aside, 220k is a very good number to needing initial transmission work. Its a big pile of moving parts and eventually it will always need rebuilding. If you got to that high first, you did just great and I do not think you have anything to complain about. Particularly if you were using it hard at the track and the stop lights.

pax, smn