Loved and lost, hope to love again

[Mikey]

Rough idea of how many nuts and bolts are involved in cleaning the butterflies

 

[My_Silver_SHO]

Some days I miss having a SHO. You got one heck of a deal IMHO.

 

[Mikey]

I think about my 93 mtx every time I drive any vehicle to 4000rpm. Thanks for that compliment!

Welding it up and putting her back together this weekend hopefully. Got a nice aluminium atf cooler too.

I didn't realize how low the production numbers were on the gen 3, really wanna preserve this one.

 

[stephen newberg]

Considering how many were likely lost to the cam problem, every save is a great on on this car. There just are not a lot of them left. You are doing a Good Thing.

pax, smn

 

[RMJosh]

^Agreed. There are roughly 27 Rose Mists left that we know for sure are on the road, and about 38 others that we don't know for sure, compared to 86 total produced, if you apply that ratio to the 20k total V8 SHOs, that leaves about 1/3 of them still on the road based on RM numbers. Yikes!

 

[Mikey]

Keep that rose mist alive, hopefully we will all be shocked at how much our sho's are worth @ Barrett Jackson in 10-20years. I'm optimistic.

Today's bit of education for me. Got into cleaning the surge tank. Didn't realize there are horns inside there. Well I sanded each horn back to clean and shiny inside and out. If I can suggest a tip to anyone cleaning any part of the intake from TB to heads. Use sandpaper the carbon build up over 100k is really difficult to remove.

Didn't weld her today, but I did practice on a pinion gear to set the welder. I'm getting there I swear!

 

[stephen newberg]

Just remember that the cam itself is not solid, so you have to exercise care not to blow through it in your welds.

And yes, I too suspect these cars are going to end up worth a bundle at auctions like Barrett Jackson down the road another decade or two.

pax, smn

 

[Mikey]

Got my surge tank clean, took my injectors out of my seafoam, then blaster soak. Got the rail back on. Gonna reinstall the butterfly assembly and reatach the fuel lines today. That way when I weld my cams less chance of sparking some fuel up. Then weld her up, reinstall intake, inspect, insure, and then finally I can stop bouncing around in my ram 2500 as a daily. My kidneys thank u all for your help.

 

[stephen newberg]

Now if you had an F-250 for your truck, your kidneys would be just fine...

pax, smn

 

[SHOdded]

Ya, you might need to sell the kidneys for future repairs!!! Or maybe not ... seeing as how you are pretty handy

 

[NebraskaSHO]

Great looking car. I miss my Silver Frost 99. It was a great car.

Also suggest a full transmission flush and filter change. I switched to M1 the second summer I had the car and got 50k out of it before I sold it.

 

[Mikey]

Ah agreed the Ford rides smoother, but man I've loaded that dodges 8ft bed with shagbark hickory, freshly fell very wet, and I swear to you the helper spring didn't even kick in. Now stopping that load with 3 on the tree and drums on the rear is terrifying. Look out everyone I need a 1/4 mile to stop from 35mph.

Shodded, thank you, but the only reason I can even afford an sho is because of this site. I read everything on this site...and v8sho.Com. It allows an average guy to own and insure a way above average ride.

Thanks nebraska sho! The atf is as red as a stop sign. But I am going to drop the pan, change the filter, add an in line filter and an aluminum cooler. It was sitting so....

 

[Mikey]

Ok so serious post and looking for any information. Ive read every post and watched the YouTube video of the guy welding his cams.

This weekend I'm gonna do it! Using an 85 amp mig with argon gas. Planned on using two 90lb pull magnets to catch and reduce mig slag spray. (Harbor freight. Then pour some oil over the cams and immediately change the oil. Apply an oil filter magnet and a magnetic drain plug.

Please, anyone reading this be advised it is an outstanding value to have one of the forum members weld your cams.(just do a search) Just the labor is worth the price let alone the learned skills welding many 3.4Ls cams. I am doing this myself because available funds are limited (wife) and also I just like to do things myself. There is risk involved, but I believe strongly the risk is worth the reward. Pics will come with progress.

Go SHO's! Thanks everybody!

 

[RMJosh]

I had a friend who owns a Turbo Gen 1 come and weld mine for free because we're buddies, but he did a good job for using a portable mig, and I can feel comfortable taking the car on road trips now! LOL

(pic is 1 of 4 cams welded, 2 welds per cam)

 

[Mikey]

That looks like a strong weld. I would trust my baby to anyone who built a turbo SHO.

How did you guys prevent slag from dropping in the engine?

When u say 2 welds per cam, are the welds 180 degrees apart? Or is that two separate weld instances in the same area?
Thanks rmjosh!

 

[RMJosh]

foil and wet cloths around the cam. Other than that we determined that any slag that got thrown around was too small to make a difference. I changed the oil and filter really soon after that so none of the slag was floating in the system, but everything is a-okay as of right now with around 1500 miles on the welds lol.

Yes, the welds are 180 degrees apart to keep them somewhat balanced. There is another weld on the back side which you can't see.

 

[Mikey]

Ladies and gentlemen, please allow me to introduce the newest member of the gen 3 welded community......my 99 silver frost.

Wow talk about nervous, once I got going it was smooth sailing. My biggest concern rapidly changed from warping the cam or not getting a good weld to preventing metal from dropping in the engine. The arrow shaped magnet worked excellent as the shape allows you to have the magnet very close to the weld. Caught a lot of slag, most likely because I'm not a professional welder. Been welding since I was 14 though.

My welder is an 85 amp mig. I used the highest heat setting and blasted it for roughly 5 Mississippi's. Started on the sprocket and dragged the weld onto the cam. Used an argon and carbon monoxide gas.

What you guys think?

Wacked all welds really hard, basically tried to knock them off. Seem very strong, I got great penitration.

 

[stephen newberg]

Congrats on getting it done.

pax, smn

 

[RMJosh]

Congrats! Did you counter balance those welds visible in the pics with welds 180 deg. opposite of them?

 

[Mikey]

Yes, I did. Honestly I was tempted to say good enough after doing one side. But this morning with a clear head I rolled over the engine by hand checked clearance and welded 180 degrees out. I had one ugly weld on the front most cam, it is strong, but not pretty. I also took a photo with my drivers license for proof of the weld if ever sell, probly won't.

By the last weld it was perfectly smooth and minimal slag and spray. Wish they all looked like that. Will post the back side weld pics, I'm much less embarrassed by those haha. But man does it feel good to have that welded up!

Hoping to fire it up tomorrow, fingers crossed.

Thanks for the help and input everyone.