Next project, getting my stupid SHO in paint.

[MusPuppis]

Still body working the poor thing. Rags saw it a while back and it looks a *little* better now. We can all thank a hit and run in Wal-Mart parking lot for this..

 

I dont get alot of time to work on it, nor do I have the money when I have the time, but I'm making a push to get it done, or as done as I can manage by the end of this month.

 

We (by we I mean three guys at school who are actually worth a damn and myself.) finished the body work up today, less the spoiler from hell and the front bumper from somewhere beneath hell. Monday when I get to school I'l turn the body over to Bryan, Jordan and Bob who will put the final primer coat on everything you see in the pics that isnt black while I sort out the front bumper and spoiler.. If they go well I'll have them in primer by the end of the day.. Next day is wetsanding, then sealing.

 

Now, annoyingly enough, sealing will be the last thing i do for quite a while. Its just to even the color out and protect the primer and body work. Also make the car look more 'complete' since its actually going up for sale as soon as its in sealer.. 1500$ unpainted but ready, 2000$ once I get color down. When it comes time to paint all I'll have to do is scuff up the sealer and lay another coat before paint.

 

Interestingly enough, I was in school for over 13 hours yesterday.. On my way to school one of the motor mounts finally gave out. They've been dieing for a while and basicly surviving by the limiters.. One of the limiters failed.. So, after I got some space in the shop and finished what I had to do on a couple little minor things in the shop I pulled it in and we pulled the mounts out, I re-welded the limiters and put some pretty tough and large bolts through the mounts to sandwich them back together. Its not perfect but its about as good as stock would have been, slightly better really. New mounts for this car are extremely expensive, so.. they got repaired instead of replaced. It took from noon-ish to 8pm to accomplish it. Those mounts are JAMMED in there, jeebus.

 

Oh.. ha, color? Dunno. Maybe black pearl like on the Z, maybe that kinda off-black on some Mercedes I see or maybe just plain old friggen black, ha. Ya know, one of these cars done in (I beleive this is the correct name) Parchment White Pearl would be dope. If you've seen that white on some new caddies and escalades that almost has a pink hue to it in good light? Thats the color.. Would look great on a SHO but my car was already black, so I dont want to go through a whole color change just to sell the damn car.

 

I'm hoping the spoiler works out. It was shattered. Not cracked.. shattered.. So i ground out the back of the spoiler, building channels along the cracks that i filled with fiberglass resin and laid over with mat, then on the other side I ground down channels along the cracks and filled them with semi ridged bumper repair gook, sanded them flush and coated with filler. I tried just coating with filler but the cracks on the outside re-appeared immediatly, so i chose to go with something that would adhere to the plastic and hopefully keep the cracks from re-appearing. Very similar repair planned for the bumper, except I'll be using the bumper repair gook all around, no fiberglass (bumper is ultra flexible).

 

[b__sosick]

coooooooool!

lol "my stupid SHO"

what kind of power plant does it have? I'm completely clueless about SHOs

[MusPuppis]

Engine is the only thing worth half a shyte with these cars. Well, thats not completely true.. They have a version of suspension run on cop cars.. little stock body kit, etc etc.

 

The motor is a 220hp/200trq 3.0 V6. Rev limit is something to the tune of 7800rpm. Yamaha built, top to bottom. Nothing Ford about it, cept the accessory junk, which ironicly is what keeps the motor from using the rev range it was designed for, which is in excess of 9k RPM's. They run about 15.2 stock with a competent driver. The motors themselves last forever.. Literally. Ive seen pics of 200k+ motors torn down for one reason or another and the cylinders still have the crosshatching visible, its pretty slick. The motor design is based on Yamaha indy car power plants and supposably in its original tune (this is simply what Ive 'heard') they made around 300hp and revved to just under 10k RPM. They sound pretty damn amazing to. 25/30-32 mpg if I'm careful. If you dip into the throttle though.. It drop to something like 12 or 13 feet per gallon.. Once the secondaries pop at 4200rpm you can practicly watch the gas gauge drop. They respond pretty well to the basic mods as well. Good amount of hidden potential in there.

 

Sadly, Ford took a fantastic motor, crammed it into a less than fantastic body, then stuck on a lack-luster tranny and the IDIOTIC EECIV system.. Tossed on some accessories that required the motor being choked a little.. *sigh*.

 

Ya know, they really are a fun car.. Its pretty stout, has black leather, 5 speed, good a/c, premium sound, seats 5 poeple easily, is comfy as hell. Really, if you want a car that does a little bit of everything, its stellar. Honestly I would kinda like to keep it, but I really want something 2 door and smaller I can really goof off with.

 

Couple pics.. What it looked like before it got hit and one shot of the engine bay when it was clean (aka before i started the body work, ha). They really dont look bad.

 

[BQR280Z]

Are you by any chance looking for some extra Slicer wheels for your SHO. My son had 3 SHO's and I have 3 slicer's laying around. I think we still have a piece of body kit for one of the back doors. Let me know if you are interested, they will be a deal - like free - pay th shipping.

Bill

[MusPuppis]

Ernie,

 

The 3.0's are a tad faster. The hp is the same but the 3.2's make 15 or 20 more trq, cant remember which. The auto transmissions just arent worth a damn. Its a pretty popular 'swap' if you have to replace the motor in a manual to just go ahead and get a 3.2 from the auto. takes a little tinkering, but not much to get it in.

 

They do sing.. I'd like to get a sound sample but my camera's recorder doesnt do it justice. They just scream, its awsome, lol.

 

My intake, MAF, Valve Covers, Coil Cover and assorted other odds and ends are actually painted with a rim paint they sell at autozone and the like. About 8k miles deep and the paint is perfect. Of course, powder coating would be vastly preferred, but for the cost, its tough to beat that kinda finish and look or 15$ and a day of work, lol. I have to be cautious of solvents and chemicals in the engine bay but I havent had a problem out of it yet! My plenum is a tad scuffed in a few places though due to the motor movement. Thats why the heat blanket thing (what the hell is the correct term? ha) isnt on the hood any more.. The engine moved so much it was rubbing it in a couple places and scuffing my finish. Need to get another one now that my engine is less mobile.

 

BRQ,

 

Thank you for the offer! I dont need any of them though. You could try out SHOForum.com and put them up for sale. I'm sure you'd find a buyer quickly.

 

Edit,

 

I always thought the SHO motor would be a fantastic plant for a Z. I have visions of a twin turbo 3.2 sitting way back.. Man it would be a baaaadddd ass.

[Cruez]

Can't wait to see it painted... My '91 SHO is Black/Black also. Its been sitting in the driveway for about a year now, It needs a good coat of paint too.

 

If the engine wasn't so heavy I wouldn't mind putting one of them in a Z or the 510 wagon

 

I love driving the car, it actually handles better than it looks like it should. And running it through the gears makes it that much better. I just can't bring myself to sell it....yet

[MusPuppis]

haha, nice.

 

It'll be black for sure. I really would like it plainted that parchment color, but I'm not going through the trouble of a complete color change and the hell of trying to get that engine bay one color when all I intend to do is sell the car.. oooohhh no. It was black before and by god its gonna be black again, haha. They do look sharp in black to.

 

I need to take a trip to a Mercedes dealer, or track down my aunt. She has a sharp Benz thats an off-black that I really like. Its pretty much solid but has a very very light tint of grey to it, I'd like to get the color code and give it some thought.

[MusPuppis]

More shots of the SHO now that its 'done'. Its 100% finished up and if I had paint, it would be in it now, lol. I'm gonna seal it Monday, just so its all one color, but its not exactly required, ha.

 

Its also now officially up for sale.. 1500$..(1700$ with cd player and my TR mids, ha) Any takers? It'll be in sealer before the buyer pics it up. Im gonna make a proper post here and a few other places soon, but I need to get the interior and engine bay cleaned and detailed before-hand so I can get a whole assortment of pics.

 

The one shot of the front of the car is a bit unfair, ha. The hood was still wet so it was shiny, its overly flattering, lol. The actual color is the same black you see on the doors. Urethane primer thats been wet-sanded, so its a flat color. I know you all dig my super-duper two tone eh? CUSTOM! Ha.

 

Spoiler isnt on in the pics but its finished as well and installed now.

 

[rags]

Car looks great man! Are you getting sick of hearing me say that yet? Maybe another payment for painting the black pearl would get you the paint for the SHO? Black huh? If I get the GN down there your gonna be sick of painting cars black!

 

See ya in a couple of weeks, Mus.

 

Joe

[MusPuppis]

Ha, lots of black these days it seems. I hope to get my hands on that GN. Be sure to like.. pull the motor though. If you bring it down whole theres a good chance that motor may fall out of the GN and into my Z.. Purely by accident of course. *cough*

 

I'd love to get the car in paint but finding the money is just impossible I think. Paint and clear would be close to 500$. School lets out the 6th of this month until January anyway, no way Id have the money in time. *sigh* lol. I need a paying gig, haha.

[bschiltz]

Nice car man! Thats crazy how many RPMs and how much power you can crank out of that motor. A TT and AWD set-up would be sick...

[MusPuppis]

Update if anyone cares!

 

Well, the SHO is in color and clear finally and it doesnt look half bad honestly. Doesnt look half good either..

 

Now, this was a rushed, smash and grab kinda deal.. Gary gave me two days and my budget was essentially nill. I had to make do with extra's, left overs and what little I could afford (one quart) t get the car done. Why am I rushed? Money. I found a buyer for the car, but it had to be in color and it had to be done ASAP. I'm getting evicted here in a couple days and money is just non-existent. I work 40 hours a week and go to school 40 hours a week but my bills got so far behind cause of family BS these last two months.. well, Im toast, so the SHO has to GO, like yesterday.

 

Honestly though, I gave it my all, quick job or not. The color is a black I tinkered around with and mixed that I like, its about equal parts black pearl (Like on the Z! I bought a pint. haha), standard black and weak black. The result is a 'wet' lighter looking black with a littl silver pearl in the base, just a tiny bit, not enough to milk the finish like it sort of does on the Black Pearl 280's (unless their in great light) but it does liven it up.. Then I sprayed 3 coats of good old Omni clear! In the first coat though I mixed a butt-load of Copper Pearl, as i sprayed the first clear coat containting the pearl I went over the car evenly, then angled and gun and spayed along the upper body lines, fender tops, etc, all the way around the car, the result is that the pearl is thicker here, but fades down the side of the car, its a subtle effect, but I know its there and I like it. The copper pearl looks sharp over the black.

 

The paint is WAY WAY WAY away from good though. I had so little material to spray the whole car with the bottoms of the front and rear bumper are crazy thin and honestly, the spoiler needed more work before it was painted. Two runs in the clear thanks to having to stretch it out (very little material again) and lightly reduce it. I sanded them out, but as the clear shrunk over the next few days they popped back up a little, gonna hit them again this week I think.

 

All in all, I give myself a D, but given the circumstances, budget and time frame, I think a B- sounds fair, LOL.

 

Oh, in a little turn of irony.. The guy is bringing me atleast half the money this weekend as a non-refundable deposit on the car, possibly all of it, hes working out finances, and I drive to school this morning and smell anti-freeze.. Pop the hood and see smoke.. do some poking around, WATER PUMP (smoke was from the anti-freeze dripping on a cat converter)! YAY! practically on the eve of it being sold to.. Funny huh? If it aint one thing right now its another.. I stop leaked the little son of a bitch and it should hold till he gives me half the money, then Ill get a new water pump with that and put it on for him. Honestly, I thin its just an odd little leak though.. No shaft play in the pump and the bearing isnt 'acting' like it has a problem. Of course I know that doesnt count for much, but.. well, I dunno! Still replacing it either way, but I think its safe for me to drive for the time being.

 

Ill get some pics as soon as I get a sunny day and have a camera.. Turns out my brand new digi cam got busted some how.. Someone dropped it, set something on it, dunno, but I loaded it up over the weekend to get some pics and.. well, shes toast.

[alexideways]

Good luck with everything... hope it all settles down for you.