V8 SHO, compression on front four, rear four doubtful.

[MG McAnick]

I tried a search, but did not find this exact situation.

I have been offered a pretty nice '97 V8 SHO at an attractive price. The car runs, but very poorly. I did a compression check on the front four cylinders. They were all in the 155 to 165 range. Of course the rear four are difficult to get to, and I only had a short amount of time to check it out. It seemed to me as though the engine only had compression on whichever cylinder had the tester screwed into it. You know, seven whirrs and one good punch. It also seemed to backfire through the intake when it ran.

I suspect what I have is a spun camshaft sproket on one of the rear cams. Would someone here agree? Is there any way to test for that without removing the intake, using timing marks or whatever?

If I buy it, this would be my 10th SHO and sixth V8. I LIKE these cars. I own some extra V8 heads with cam sprokets than need to be welded, but I'm not sure whether I want to tackle this project. Should I expect the valves to have hit the pistons so that the bottom end would need work too?
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[luigisho]

There is no way to really know without pulling the valve covers and getting a good look. It is likely that some valves get damaged when the camshaft fails. If it runs like crap then forget the car or discount it accordingly.

 

[Inkertinker]

What color is it if you don't mind me asking. If you are going to pass on it.

 

[MG McAnick]

The color is sort of a dark grayish green. I don't think I ever sawx another V8 SHO this color.

I made a deal on it today. I have a possibility of another engine, but I hate screw up the car it is in as it is quite fixable. Maybe I can find a worse wreck to scrap out, although they are few and far between.

If I remove the rear camshaft cover, what am I looking for to determine if a sproket has indeed spun?

 

[St Louis SHO]

You'll see it right away. Cant miss it, if it is spun.

 

[luigisho]

There are cam failure pictures on v8sho.com website. Maybe it's something else.