Gen. II SHO I Beleive, Headgaskets?

well i was browsing the local dealership yesturday, (you know to drool over what i cant afford) when i looked to the back side lot and i noticed a big SHO windsheild bannor and it said for sale needs motor on the windsheild so i started looking at it, and one of the guys came out and said that he thinks that might be for sale now, and that the guy that owned it was a mechanic inside so i went in and started talking to him, and he said he got it in mt. vernon IA, and the guy that had it said it needed headgaskets replaced he thought well the mechanic has a sho so he has knowledge of them and bought it for 500 bucks the interior is almost mint condition the body isnt to bad, and it looks like its got new pipes on it, but he didnt know if he was ready to let it go but he said if he does he'll get back to me, so i dont really wanna replace a motor, so i was woundering if anybody on here knew how hard it is to change the headgaskets on the 3.0 yamaha's? i mean thats all it needs it would be awesome to take both fords special sports cars to a show, SC and a SHO owned by the same person lol but if anybody knows lemme know i like the looks of it, its an automatic by the way, i doubt that matters but i decided to tell ya.

thanks keith

What year is it? I think 94+ automatics arent 3.0L, they're 3.2L. Thats about the best thing about the automatics, as the actual AODX trans is pretty crappy if I remember correctly. For more detailed info on anything sho, including the HG's, go to:

www.shoforum.com its like the sccoa...but for SHO's. Great place. My bro has a 91 Sho Plus 5speed. Great cars if you ask me.

SHO Resources

I've got a Gen II SHO (3.2 ATX), and I don't recall ever hearing about blown headgaskets on the Yamaha engine. That doesn't mean it couldn't happen, but it is very uncommon. There are plenty of other things that need to be maintained with these cars though. Keeping a SHO in good running order is about the same as the SC. They both require dedication. The SHO is an interesting piece of equipment to work on. The SC and the SHO have several similar components. The ignition electronic are very similar. It does take a little getting used to having a sideways mounted engine. I do like having a car that will wind-out to around 6000RPM before it hits redline and it sounds great when the secondaries open up at around 4K.

Go here for some info on the SHO:

http://www.shoforum.com/

head gaskets? haha, you probably need a crank, connecting rods etc, i bet it spun a bearing or two, never heard of headgaskets going often

I've owned several SHOs and frequent the SHOforum quite often. I can tell you with about 99% certainty that it isnt head gaskets. You are probably look at a spun bearing. Once the mechanic finds out that it isnt a head gasket that blew, you'll probably be getting a call from him ready to sell. Parts are not too common for SHOs and when you do find them, they arent all that cheap. Good luck and if you need any help with the sho "when you get it" just ask here and i'll try to point you in the right direction. Oh, and the 2 previous posters were correct. The MTX"manual" shos got the 3.0L yamaha, while the ATX"autos" got the 3.2L.

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One of my friends in town buys sho's off people that think something major is wrong, so they sell it to him for very cheap and 90% of the time it has been something very very easy to fix. I know that out of the 15 sho's he has bought and resold only 1 needed a motor swap. None were ever the hg's and i also have never heard of them going out. also i think on the gen II's the bearings are not a very common thing either i Know on the newer v8's its a big problem but dont think that common in the gen 2's. anways hopefully like most his cars he has bought its something little thats easy to fix

mint91sc said:

One of my friends in town buys sho's off people that think something major is wrong, so they sell it to him for very cheap and 90% of the time it has been something very very easy to fix. I know that out of the 15 sho's he has bought and resold only 1 needed a motor swap. None were ever the hg's and i also have never heard of them going out. also i think on the gen II's the bearings are not a very common thing either i Know on the newer v8's its a big problem but dont think that common in the gen 2's. anways hopefully like most his cars he has bought its something little thats easy to fix

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Rod bearings are very common on Gen 1 and 2 SHO's. The cogs on the cams getting sliding off (I think this is what happens) is an issue on the Gen 3. You need to get the cams welded, or risk ~~~~ing some ~~~~ up seriously.