To 60K or not to 60K(long)

[morpho18]

Well heres the deal. I'm in a situation where I may be falling into a bit of money soon, and was wondering what to do with it. the SHO needs (vast understatment) full 60K maintenance (I don't think its been done once and it has 102K on it.). Problem is, I have two loans out and a credit debt that I'm currently paying off.

SO, thats why I came here. Do you all think that doing the maintenance now, while I have the dough will be better than paying off a large chunk of one of my debts? My girlfriend and I are also trying to save up money to put on a downpayment for some real estate...decisions decisions. She wants me to save the money, but I'm swinging to getting the SHO completely overhauled so that I can stop worrying about whats the next thing to go wrong.

I'm needing for sure the full 60K, and the tranny definitely could use an over haul. The suspension also needs some attention. How much of this could I do with $1500??

Sorry for the long post!

 

[Alex Perry]

you're in the same boat as me

i've got two credit cards i'm paying off from my wedding, and a car loan. i'm planning on getting the valve shim adjustment kit and rod bearings from shonut in the next few weeks. i'll live with my plugs and wires since they seem to work fine, timing belt looked good when i took the top cover off, no codes for front sensors, although the rear cam seal leaking a smidgen. from what i've read, the the intake gaskets you'll have a good chance at reusing. if the paint chips off, strip it all off and get some gasket paint. i'm also going to reuse the valve cover gaskets, assuming they dont break. clean them up, and use rtv where needed.

i'll probably get yelled at by most people, but sdpatt posted a while ago (i saw it while searching) that he was able to reuse the gaskets more than once, and his car is up in the mileage.

 

[Chris Benvie]

If you can do the 60k yourself, pay off some of your debt and do what you can do of that 60k!

 

[morpho18]

I'm not doubting that I could some the work myself, but I know that somebody who is mechanically inclined might be better off doing the work. Taking the intake off by myself was enough trouble for my feeble mechanic skills . I don't want to start tearing into major components of the SHO and not be able to put them back together properly. Luckily, I live 20 miles from one of the mechanics listed on shotimes hall of fame .

If I had another vehicle to drive, I'd be more inclined to do the work myself too, but since the SHO is my only ride for now, I have to have it serviced and back in my hands in the matter of a weekend (plus my girlfriend hates having to drive me around because of the S H O....she says that I should marry the S H O, but I told her that she was less problems than the car, so I'll stick with her, lol).

 

[Mr Anonymous]

On an ATX, the 60K service isn't actually due (with the exception of spark plugs) until 100K anyway, so honestly unless there are issues immediately effecting the safe and reliable operation of the car, leave it. The car is barely "overdue", and I wouldn't hesitate to leave it for another few months or few thousand miles.

When I bought the '92 with 178K on it, it had never had a 60K service. The plugs were replaced at one point, and the timing belt and CPS were done also, but everything else on the car was 100% original and the car still ran pretty well. When I did the 60K, only 4 out of the 24 valves required changing, and honestly they were still at the high end of the spec.

 

[morpho18]

well the plug wells have quite a bit of oil in them, so i at least should replace my gaskets...the intake could use a new set of gaskets too. I just don't want to have the car crap out on me 3-4000 miles down the road when it could have been avoided now. I dunno...I'm beginning to think that selling the SHO and buying a new car with a warranty isn't too bad of an idea....

 

[morpho18]

I'm not entirely sure on the status of my tranny at the moment. The only indications that something is up is that when I very first start driving it, it has a hard 1 - 2 shift, and then at WOT it puts my head back in first, then when it shifts to second it kind of pauses and kicks in hard, putting my head back again.

Another thing that I have noticed...when I run the car at about 80 on the hwy for a decent stretch, i begin to smell burning oil. is that the oil in the plug wells heating up?

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Ok, your tranny feel is caused by a sheared or broken aluminum forward clutch piston. This will eventually require a tranny rebuild. Mine has been like that for over 3000 miles, and it's starting to get worse which is why I just got a rebuilt ATX to put in the car.

The oil smell is probably not from the oil in the plug wells (which BTW is easy to clean out by using the nozzle and siphon from a Windex bottle), but is more likely a leaking cam seal, probably on the rear exhaust cam behind the CID sensor leaking on to the catalytic converter.

Honestly if $1500 is your budget, you might want to seriously consider other options. A tranny rebuild is going to be $2K easy, and an upper 60K including cam seals can be done for under $300 if you do it yourself, more like $600 if you pay someone else to do it. That still doesn't address the front of the engine (timing belt, water pump and CPS -- only the timing belt is a scheduled maint. item, the water pump and CPS are usually done at the same time because it's easiest to get to them at the same time), which can be another $200 yourself, or $400 to pay someone else.

 

[TimboSHO]

I think it might be best to put money towards those credit card debts first. If the SHO is running very well and not throwing any codes, then i'd leave it. The tranny might need a little bit of attention, and if you are planning on doing anything to the car i would take care of that first. I just did the 60K on my car at about 140K and it was fine before i did the 60K as well. I guess it's just up to how much you trust your car, and maybe how hard you beat on it. Credit card debts can build up even faster than SHO repairs though....

 

[morpho18]

I think I've come to a decision. Based on what you all have said, I think I am going to swap out all the old gaskets for new ones (plug well, valve cover, cam seals, intake runner gaskets, a new timing belt. I know a great local tranny shop that has serviced 2 of my previous vehicles, and I'll take it to them to check out. They've got a good deal running with me....if they find something wrong with the tranny, and I agree to have them work on it, inspection and the first hour of work are free.