Scored a sweet deal!

Been seeing an ad on Craigslist for a while now for a '93 Taurus SHO engine for $450 OBO. The ad has been on there for a long while now, and was going to expire in the next few days. On a whim, I sent the seller an email last night. Asked what their bottom dollar was on it. He replied saying he's tired of playing email tag with people who aren't serious about buying it, and if I was really serious about it just give him a call and we'd talk. Called him up, he said out of dozens of emails, I was the first person to ever actually call him. He said he's been trying to sell it for a while now, and is at the point where he just wants it out of his way. I asked him what he wants, he said make an offer. I just blurted out $250 without really even thinking about it, and to my surprise he said come get it!

Turns out it came out of a wrecked '93 SHO with only 89,000 miles on it, he said it ran good as new when he pulled it about 6 months ago. Complete engine with the harness and computer. He said he also has the steering column, gauges and fuel tank w/fuel pump that I will need to take with it as well.

So it looks like I now own a SHO engine. Already paid him for it, going 1 P.M. this Sunday to pick it up in Athens, GA. I've always loved these engines, really neat looking. Now, what to do with it?..

 

I vote maverick or you can do this

http://www.britishv8.org/MG/LeRoyBarton.htm
http://www.autoblog.com/2008/01/24/triumph-comes-to-the-sho-doing-a-heart-transplant-on-a-tr7/

I think that would be as cool as the 2.3 swap

 

Do I smell FWD Maverick??

 

Cool find! I've heard you can put that onto an Aerostar 5 speed - I don't know much about it though.

 

They are great engines, I have a 95 SHO.
Is the engine from a automatic or manual car?

 

Yeah. You gotta put that into the smallest, lightest car you can. If not a Maverick then something... I like the MG idea. You've already got your monster Fiat so you know what I mean. Stick that thing in a go-kart.

 

I just found this on another message board. I was wrong about the 5 speed part - just the bellhousing is what they're using.

 

if you look at the MG he used an Mazda "M5OD"

Actually there are a few more people that have done a RWD conversion with these motor look them up on google. Oh and they use the same bolt pattern as the ranger 3.0L

 

The engine is out of a 5 speed car. For all I know, it may still have the trans attached, I didn't think to ask.

Right now, I'm considering 3 options for it. My '74 Grabber when I get it back together, my '80 Capri RS, or my '83 EXP. The EXP is based on the early 80's Escorts, it's a very neat and light little car. I read one time where someone had swapped a SHO engine into a Mercury Topaz, which is the same chassis as the EXP, so I know it's doable.

 

At Carlisle a few years ago I saw an SHO motor in a Focus. Cool!!

 

I vote for the EXP! Already a front driver, so it might not be that hard.....

 

From what I understand, it requires some modification to the frame. Hell, for that matter maybe I'll drop it in my '92 Nissan Sentra! Now that would be a sleeper. I just put a low mile 1.6L in it, about 95 horsepower, and it scoots pretty damn good with just that. I could only imagine with 220 hp!

 

Went and got it today.

Man, the seller had some neat cars! He has an Austin Mini Cooper with a late model EFI Honda VTEC engine in it! He also had a '65 Mustang convertible, which he bought a wrecked Super Coupe Thunderbird and took the super charged 3.8 V6/5 speed, independent rear suspension, and front suspension off of and put on the '65 Mustang! He custom built the shock towers in order to use the struts and everything off the Thunderbird, the car even had working anti lock brakes!. He took a '67 Mustang tail panel and flipped it upside down and blended it into the rear of the '65, looked really cool. He painted the car light blue with orange stripes, like an old GT40. Unfortunately, he had the car completed for less then 5 months when someone pulled out in front of him and wiped out the front end on it. He's currently in the process of rebuilding it. He also had a '54 Desoto hearse with a Hemi in it, very cool.

As for the engine, I got basically the entire dash harness, engine harness w/ the computer, the steering column with SHO steering wheel and key still in the ignition, gauge cluster, fuel tank, MAF meter with the rubber intake tube and plastic air filter box, and the radiator with the Taurus fan that fits the Maverick radiator attached! The seller worked at a salvage yard, and the car it came out of had been sitting in the salvage yard for about 12 years. He pulled the engine out of the car before they crushed it, he was planning to put it in a '65 fastback Mustang, but ended up selling the Mustang.

The engine also appears to use the exact same mounting points as the 3.0 V6 that I had test fitted in my '73 last year. Here is a pic of one of the 200 I6 mounts bolted to the 3.0 Vulcan V6, the SHO engine has this exact same spot I could bolt a mount up at:



Unfortunately though, the oil pan is rear sump on the SHO engine. I'll have to pull the oil pan off and take a look at the oil pump and see if anything can be done about that. It almost looks like the engine would drop right in between the shock towers, or at least with a minor tower shave it might. Next weekend I'm going to get the EFI powered up and test run the engine sitting there on the ground, then I'll pull the manifolds off and test fit it in my '73.

Here are some crappy night time cell phone pics of the engine, it's a little dusty from sitting on his car port:

 

Sounds promising! I wonder what it took to get that Thunderbird IRS under the Mustang...

 

I don't know, but I looked under it and saw parts of it were welded to C channel and then that was bolted to the rear frame rails. It looked to fit extremely well, but the tires were sticking maybe 3/4 of an inch out of the wheel wells, that was the only thing I didn't really like about it.