Went from uh-oh to dammit

[Osiris]

Yesterday while driving the SHO for once I noticed a faint jingling noise coming from the engine. My heart dropped as I thought this is the cam on it's way south.

I began having images of the car under a car cover for years, mounting repair bills, and overall pain and anguish....

Until I opened the hood.

I placed my ear as close to the valve cover as I could to be sure, as I did this I noticed something strange by the belt.

A flashlight confirmed the jingling noise for me, the tensioner pulley right next to the alternator pulley has a loose bolt and the washer is making the jingling noise.

Thank God! Cams aren't the cause, but now I need to figure out how to get that bolt tightened without killing myself trying to get to it.

Any suggestions?

 

[E1]

2 Suggestions.

first. find a way to get that bolt tightened.

Second and much more important, find somewhere to get your cams welded before a little loose bolt is just a fond memory of a car that just grenaded on you.

 

[Osiris]

Cams = money

Me = no money

Me = no cam welds

poor me.

Soon though, probably within the next few months, I've been pouring everything else into helping my wife star her own business.

I have two other cars, the SHO can wait...Well, it's gonna have to anyway.

 

[E1]

Hey purplesho-
How do you like that little SVT?
They caught my eye a little while back and I've been considering one. How does the handling compare to your tortise?

 

[Osiris]

The SVTF isn't as fast as the SHO off the line (amazing, isn't it?) but it will outhandle it with ease. The car will corner like it's on rails. The are 10 times the mods available, even with it being the SVT model, which differs in terms of alot of the performance parts available.

It's also alot cheaper to service, maintain, fill up, etc. I really love it to be honest, but it's certainly different from the SHO, and really not to be compared with it.

I have seen quite a few people manage V8 SHO-like et's with it, one even faster than my best with the SHO by two tenths. Overall, not bad for a 4 banger. If you buy one, buy for it's absolute thrill ride through corners, small, easy to navigate size and awesome brakes. Keep the SHO for high speed touring.

 

[Ian Macoomb]

PrplSHO:
Cams = money

Me = no money

Me = no cam welds

I really suggest you do anything you can to get the cams welded. Borrow money from a family memeber, max out your credit cards if you have to, panhandle on the street.

You'll be a lot poorer when your cams fail. There's 200+ people listed on the V8SHO website that wish they had welded their cams.

I got mine done last year and I couldn't really afford to. I still owe $30,000 between my car loan, student loan, line of credit and credit cards. If my cams fail I'll be taking the bus to work.

 

[Osiris]

I agree with you Ian, and I'm going to get them done as soon as possible, but I'm not that stressed about it because if you notice in my sig, I have two other cars, both with less miles and less worry. The SHO can become a garage queen for the time being.

The other investment is time, you see, mechanics in San Antonio look at me as if me asking them to work on my SHO is like me asking them if I could sleep with their wife right in front of them. NO one wants to TOUCH my car anywhere within 500 miles of me. This forces me to look towards Atlanta, and at least 4 days from work during my busy season, not to mention the grand or so in actual cost with the trip expense and other things I'll have them do since the car is ripped apart.

As you can see, I'm not as lucky as some of you boys are, running down the block and having it done as if I were buying eggs.