Random thoughts on my new V8 SHO...

[fitefanSHO]

All in all I really like it let me say that up front.

Random thoughts....

This thing drinks gas like your grandfather's Grand Marquis.
But at least it sounds boss when doing so...

Used car dealers can hide minor scuffs and scratches with amazing skill. After a couple car washes, I can now see clearly what was hiding under all that skill. Nothing too bad really but some light scuffs and scratches that were very well hidden by the dealer prep guys on the lot. Car still looks great, just not as great as when it was on the sale lot.

I have a very mild, yet noticeable high pitched rotational whine coming from the front of the car. Hopefully it's nothing serious and won't get too much worse before I can get it squared away but right now it's annoying. Any thoughts? Wheel bearing maybe?

Despite the cam welding service (which includes 8 new plugs and intake cleaning) at NESHO, I still have a mild miss at idle. Kirk said he tried to diagnoses it but could not figure out what it was or what to do about it. He basically said it will get worse, the car will throw a code, and then presumably I can figure out what to do about then, i.e replace whatever bad coil is causing it.

I have two different sets of tires on the car. There are Dunlops on the front and Mastercrafts (?) on the back. They all have decent tread and look OK, but at some point I want to replace them with new Yokohamas. Any tire recommendations?

My center console cupholder thingie sucks. The plastic cover piece is broken so it just sits there looking nice covering the folded in cup holders, the whole setup which I do not like at all, especially when they are out. Not much I can do about that, except keep it closed outta sight outta mind, and keep drinks between my legs.

3rd gear is a MONSTER in this car. :woo-hoo:

Not a huge fan of the wiper fluid nozzles being on the hood of the car. It causes fluid to get on the hood when you use them and make a mess. My wife told me to just imagine they are the word's smallest hood scoops, or air inductions ports, lol...

Guess that's all for now.

 

[stephen newberg]

I like your wife's sense of humor.

Gas consumption on these is something like 16-22 mpg depending on conditions and driving style in mixed driving. Pure highway can get you to the mid and even occasionally upper 20s. Pushing it hard all the time can take you below 15, but not hugely below. Its a 3500 lb car with only 235 hp, so when you muscle it, it will drink fuel. But overall, compared to new performance sedans, it is actually still in the ballpark. If you are getting a lot less than these values, you might need to look for some problem. If one or more plug coils are going, that could do it.

I am running Yoko Advan S4s, and though they are OK, I am not hugely impressed and will go back to some of the more serious Bridgestones as soon as I can. If you are serious about handling, I would not recommend the Yokos.

pax, smn

 

[fitefanSHO]

Ya, she used to be a stand-up comic. Seriously.

Anyway, about the tires, I was thinking about the Yokohama AVID TRZ's, I had these on my Gen 2 and liked em. I dunno, I'm open to suggestions and new options. As far as the coils, ya maybe I have one (or more than one, I dunno) going bad. Is there anything else that could cause a little miss at idle like that? How much are they new each?

I was told by the previous owner that coils #4 & #7 were replaced relatively recently, Kirk rotated these two to the back.

No CEL (yet)

 

[stephen newberg]

I have not tried the TRZs so cannot comment on them. I am disappointed with the Advan S.4s, though.

I suppose several other things might cause a miss at idle, but the most likely thing is a coil plug. If you buy them from Ford they are pretty expensive. I think you can get them marginally more cheaply from AutoZone and such. There are some knock offs from China on Ebay and if you look around you will find a few threads about them here. They are very cheap, in comparison, but also appear to have a high fail rate, and they have not been around long enough to know how they will hold up after a few of years, so they are a bit of an adventure.

pax, smn

 

[Liquid_force]

I had a miss when I bought mine. I took them all off and took 3 resistance measurements on each - contact to contact, then from each contact to the spark plug connection. I didn't know exactly what to look for, but 2 of them gave me an open. I made sure to replace those two. Put 4 new and 4 old back on -- no miss.
There's a big price difference between the chinese coils ($25 ish) and the oem coils (~70-100).
I put 4 chi's on mine. No problems yet, but only about 8k.

Tires - I'm not someone who spends a lot on tires, or drive the car very hard. I like something that's decent quality, a long tread life, and affordable.
I found a set of sumitomo htr as p/01's on tires-easy.com. They were <400 shipped plus 75 for installation.
I had some sumi htr t4's (I think?) on my old Turbo T-bird that seemed to work pretty well, and so far the new ones on the Sho seem to be working fine.

 

[fitefanSHO]

Oh, and I think I wanna get a tranny cooler.

 

[luigisho]

I would stay away from new Chinese coils in the rear bank. I've had bad luck with mine. Put fresh coils in the back and mess with the front bank to track down a bad coil. You will want winter tires and then get a good performer in the warmer months. My car with all season Envigor Yokos was terrible in the snow this year.

 

[Funmart6]

Maybe you could find out what the car lot detail guy used to hide scuffs and just do that from time to time, or just wax and buff those spots from time to time as well.

Ah yes, the "star wars" cup holder, weren't those a great feat of engineering. Mine still works although sometimes I have to really beat on it to open up. You could probably find one at a pull-a-part place and replace yours for cheap.

 

[tqmx1]

As for the cup holder get one for a 98/99. No moving parts and it's a bolt in.

 

[fitefanSHO]

Gas consumption on these is something like 16-22 mpg depending on conditions and driving style in mixed driving. Pure highway can get you to the mid and even occasionally upper 20s. Pushing it hard all the time can take you below 15, but not hugely below. Its a 3500 lb car with only 235 hp, so when you muscle it, it will drink fuel. But overall, compared to new performance sedans, it is actually still in the ballpark. If you are getting a lot less than these values, you might need to look for some problem. If one or more plug coils are going, that could do it.

By my math, I am getting approx 19-20 mpg.

 

[SuperHO]

yeah, that's about right. gotta love flat-footing the loud pedal on the highway and feelin that portly beast dig in and take off like a cat who's tail got caught under the rocking chair...

 

[newshofan]

i do agree about the 98 to 99 cup holder i have a 96 that when i bought it had the broken hidaway cup holder put my frosty in it before getting on the on ramp with for the first time and it went everywhere i said heck with this posted a wanted add on here had several offers got one of the newer style ones and love it. id ask around on here im sure someones got one. and yea third is awsome..lol.

 

[kvm101]

Congrats!!! you'll love the car and definitely the sound. The exhaust note is sweet. My 3 year old son now wants to no which cars have 2 pipes.
My gas mileage 14.9 in town with a descent amount of 1/2 to 3/4 throttle on take off. Hard to stay out of the throttle especially when you've welded your camssss!!!!
Your right 3rd gear (passing) gear is awesome for a sleeper.
My 97 SHO is down now (sigh) pulling trans out for torque converter leak. Will post pics of the rebuild!
Check my thread Finallly got my v8 SHO !

 

[fitefanSHO]

I definitely have a misfire condition going on.

Shouldn't I have a CEL if it's a bad or faulty coil?

I have seen a set of 8 coils for less than $150 on amazon and on 1A Auto.

Are these the ****** ones?

Can somebody link me to the best ones at the best price?

 

[SHOVNST]

I definitely have a misfire condition going on.

Shouldn't I have a CEL if it's a bad or faulty coil?

Should yes but not always.....

 

[SHOMEX]

Faulty coils wont throw codes unless they are totally dead, if they are misfiring it may not light up the CEL.

 

[Liquid_force]

I drove mine with a miss for 50 miles or so before the CEL lit, and when it did it only reported one of the cyl's misfiring, however, two coils appeared to be dead according to their resistance measurements.

 

[fitefanSHO]

Well since I know that at least 6 of the coils are stock and two were replaced at some point in the life of the car, maybe the best thing is to bite the bullet, replace all 8, and hope for that to remedy the misfire.

 

[newshofan]

i believe the borg warner coils at oriellys are about 65 a piece i checked the other day. i hope i heard him right cause i dint think that was a bad price

 

[NebraskaSHO]

I have used 2 Motorcraft and 3 Autozone coils. Those 5 have not given me problems.