To buy?

[LeJohn23]

Hello all,

I found this SHO on craigslist close to my place. Went to check it out last Saturday. Owner says he just wants something new. The car itself has 190,*** miles on it but the transmission was rebuilt and "new" engine was installed with welded cam about 70,000 miles ago, which was from the previous owner. The thing that really bothers me is the receipt for the engine doesn't say where it was done, just says "new engine, welded cams $1800." That is what worries me. Did the previous owner just write up the receipt?

I am having a friend that is a mechanic inspect it over on Saturday. I know it has a slight exhaust leak, seemed minor from what I could tell. Also has an oil leak that looks to be coming from the valve cover gaskets. I was told by a family friend that has a gen. 3 SHO that the gaskets do tend to leak, so hopefully that is all. Also going to have the sub frame, suspension, brakes, ect. looked at.

His counter offer is at $2200, from my $2000 which includes the stock wheels, the 17" wheels in the pics and an SCT tuner pending the inspection.

Thoughts?

 

[luigisho]

Do you know who the previous owner was? If the replaced motor is in good shape and the tranny is also in good shape then that's not a bad price. The SCT tuner is worth a few hundred by itself. Motor and tranny are the real concern. Any way to find out who welded the cams? I think Kirk at NESHO keeps track of cam weld cars that he's done. You might be able to reach him via email and see if he has a VIN that matches the car or recognizes the car from the photo.

Craigslist, ebay, etc. ads and links are not permitted on the forum to protect classified ad fees and such here. You might be in good stead to post the photo from the ad in your post-- as the link (or this entire post) may be deleted.

I wonder what problem he was chasing with the recent replacement parts recently and why the urgency to sell so fast?

 

[frosho]

I think Kirk at NESHO keeps track of cam weld cars that he's done. You might be able to reach him via email and see if he has a VIN that matches the car or recognizes the car from the photo.

Phone is probably the best bet for reaching Kirk. FYI

 

[LeJohn23]

Do you know who the previous owner was? If the replaced motor is in good shape and the tranny is also in good shape then that's not a bad price. The SCT tuner is worth a few hundred by itself. Motor and tranny are the real concern. Any way to find out who welded the cams? I think Kirk at NESHO keeps track of cam weld cars that he's done. You might be able to reach him via email and see if he has a VIN that matches the car or recognizes the car from the photo.

Craigslist, ebay, etc. ads and links are not permitted on the forum to protect classified ad fees and such here. You might be in good stead to post the photo from the ad in your post-- as the link (or this entire post) may be deleted.

I wonder what problem he was chasing with the recent replacement parts recently and why the urgency to sell so fast?

Sorry about the Craigslist link. I took care of that and attached photos. I guess I should have read over the rules a little better.

No idea who the previous owner is. The SHO was the kids first car and he told me he just wanted something new to play with. He just told me that it was 2 owners before him that installed everything. He said they wondered the same about the engine but couldn't figure it out.

He replaced those parts because it wasn't running properly. The owner's parents did not want anyone else driving it because it only has liability on it, so he drove us around the block. Roads were kinda nasty because of snow but seemed to shift smoothly and sounded nice.

My fingers are crossed that there is nothing wrong with the car and that the engine and transmission are what he says because I really want this car.

 

[luigisho]

Make sure it is thoroughly checked out and driven correctly. If you can't, then a garage that has it's own insurance coverage for vehicles in their care should test it, preferably with you along.

 

[SHOVNST]

The owner's parents did not want anyone else driving it because it only has liability on it, so he drove us around the block.

This does not makes sense and sound fishy.....

 

[LeJohn23]

This does not makes sense and sound fishy.....

I agree. The inspection is taking place on Saturday, which I can not attend because of work, but it is being done by someone I know. If it passes, I will definitely take take it for a good road test before any money is changed hands.

 

[LeJohn23]

I think Kirk at NESHO keeps track of cam weld cars that he's done. You might be able to reach him via email and see if he has a VIN that matches the car or recognizes the car from the photo.

According to the owner, the engine swap and cam weld was done at SHOFast Performance. After doing a little digging, I found that Kirk of NESHO was one of the 3 founders of SHOFast. I will try to get a hold of Kirk tomorrow to see if he can confirm this.

 

[St Louis SHO]

Kirk has a database, but it is not organized, so you wont get any info outta him.

 

[luigisho]

You sure he was with SHOFast? That company was based out of Cincy OH last I remember.

 

[LeJohn23]

According to this post from back in 2002 Kirk was their "Research and design specialist" and the engine was swapped and cams welded in January of 2004.

 

[SHOZ123]

SHOFast was toxic.

 

[SHO U UP]

SHOFast was toxic.

^aint that the truth!! He was a crook and scammed a lot of folks. I really doubt Kirk even wants to be associated with his name nowadays.

 

[LeJohn23]

The engine that was put in had 66K on it when cams were welded and installed. An additional 60K has been put on it since. So I am guessing the engine was done well. Are you guys advising against against the work that was done by SHOFast?

 

[SHOZ123]

Not if it is still running. It wasn't so much the work the did. It's the work they didn't do that earned them the bad rep.

 

[LeJohn23]

Alright, thanks for the info.

 

[LeJohn23]

Looks like I don't get to join the SHO community yet. There was large sections completely rusted away underneath, oil dripping the entire time it was on the lift, jimmy rigged exhaust, rusted brakes, wires taped to the under body. Seemed like a big head ache. Thanks for the input anyways.