[Shotimes] enthusiasm...

[Jason Hartberger]

Well congratulations on your purchase. You're gonna have a heluva lot of 
fun with that car. I don't know where you heard that spinning the tires 
is bad, but a) they're probably old tires with little tread left, and b) 
if you're *not* spinning the tires, you're not doing something right ;). 
New tires definitely help out a lot with traction, and I think you'll 
find it's a lot harder to spin new tires. Otherwise, drive the heck out 
of it! The SHO was meant to be driven and driven hard. How experienced 
mechanically? The SHO is very prone to mechanical issues (it is a ford, 
after all) like fuel pumps, weak brakes, water pumps, valve adjustments, 
crankshaft position sensors, and a myriad of other small annoying 
problems. But, if you can fix it yourself (or are rich enough to have it 
fixed) you will have so much fun out of this car...

Also, I don't know how much you want to modify it, but if you do, there 
are a few options. Most people start out with removing the silencer cone 
in the fenderwell, and where you go from there is almost limitless. 
People have installed superchargers, turbochargers, nitrous, 
limited-slip differentials, and almost anything else you can think of in 
the SHO. You got an 89, which is the most performance-oriented year, so 
you're doin' good there.

Some other things I would make sure to take care of are: The fuel pump. 
Fuel pumps seem to last anywhere from 50-180(ish)K miles, but they all 
die eventually. Check your fuel pressure to see how yours is doing. 
Also, the water pumps, when they start failing, leak onto the crankshaft 
position sensor down at the bottom of the engine and prevent the engine 
from running or starting. Also, rod bearings are the (almost only) weak 
point of the SHO engine, and can/will destroy the engine if they fail. 
They're fairly easy to replace/inspect; a knocking sound will betray 
their imminent failiure. If you lug the engine (place a load on it below 
about 1500rpm), you'll run a good chance of spinning the rod bearings, 
as lack of oil circulation is what causes them to fail. Suspension 
bushings are another issue, as yours are almost certainly worn out at 
160k. A lot of people replace the stock struts/springs with tokicos and 
eibachs respectively. If you do this, MAKE SURE to replace all the 
bushings while you're down there.

That's about it, I guess. Some great websites to go to for lots and lots 
of great info are http://www.shotimes.com, and http://www.shoforum.com. 
I go to these sites a lot and they've helped me out tremendously. 
Nothing helps more than this list, though. There are a metric shit-ton 
of people on this list who have done many many things to their SHOs and 
know them like the back of their hands. If you have a question, the 
first thing you should do is come over here and ask; I guarantee 
somebody here will know the answer, and a lot of people are willing to 
go out of their way to ensure that your SHO runs as well as it possibly can.

Good luck with your SHO. I hope it gives you lots of great times... I 
know mine has.

-- 
Jason Hartberger, AT2(AW) USN
USS Theodore Roosevelt CVN-71
AIMD/IM-3 CASS


George ask me wrote:

>hey everybody,
> 
>I started asking about tires, and neglected to tell you all that I just picked up my first SHO!!!  I'm pretty happy.  It's an '89 with 160,000 miles, but still strong.  It's "titanium" colored.  At first, it looked pretty dirty, cuz it was sitting under the previous owner's tree.  But my friend and I cleaned it, and it's beautiful.
> 
>I'm learning to drive it, it's powerful  haha.  I am trying so hard not to spin the tires, cuz I heard that's the worst thing you can do.  Any suggestions for a rookie?  Thanks guys.
> 
>George
> Make Yahoo! your home page   
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-- 
Jason Hartberger, AT2(AW) USN
USS Theodore Roosevelt CVN-71
AIMD/IM-3 CASS