Engine swap: SHO-powered Mercury Topaz
Reincarnation: a religious concept that the soul or spirit, at biological death, moves on to a new life in a new body that may be human, animal or spiritual depending on the moral quality of the previous life’s actions. If that quality has been good, upon reincarnation, you move to a higher form.
SHO engines, when their Taurus “host” rusts or otherwise expires, are usually reincarnated in their next life to a higher form. Be it Mustang, 240Z, Esprit, or better.
Except this time, where the SHO engine takes a major step down into a Mercury Topaz. What did it do in its first life to deserve this cruel fate?
SHO swap into 1936 Ford Tudor
As we’ve said many times in our engine swap posts, old SHO engines never die – they do go on to live a second life. In this case, a 1989 SHO engine is swapped into a 1936 Ford Tudor, in a labor of love. And the result shows an extremely high level of creativity and professionalism.
Andy Barcheck of East Bremerton Washington, a retired mechanical engineer, built the Tudor over a period of 14 years.
1936 Ford Tudor at home in East Bremerton, Kitsap County, Washington State. An area we know personally. It’d be great to drive this car there!
The SHO engine is a great choice for this beautiful car. Look at how artfully it’s been blended into the engine compartment.
Look familiar? That’s the original SHO gauge unit.
Engine swap: SHO DOHC V-6 into ’93 Mustang
As we’ve said many times in past postings, old SHO engines never die – they go on to a second life after a transplant into something else. That something else ranges from 240Z, MBG, Austin-Healey, TR-7, sand buggy, Camaro, and a Lotus Esprit. And of course other Ford products, including a rear-wheel drive Focus and even back into a Taurus SHO converted to rear-wheel drive. Sometimes the swap is a POS hack job destined to be blown up, but more often it’s been done professionally where the person doing the swap can be proud of their work. That’s what we like to see, and that’s what this great engine deserves.
Here’s an example where a SHO engine has been swapped into a Fox-body ’93 Mustang convertible, a very natural home for the SHO engine.
Unfortunately we haven’t found the build-up story of this swap, only the 11 pages of pictures here (with video of it running). We’d like to know more about this 3.2 liter SHO and Aerostar automatic transmission swap. We did learn from what little has been written that the forward engine mounts on the SHO engine interfere with the stock swap bar mounts in the Mustang. One more bit of news to save in case you or we ever do this swap ourselves.
Read more of our engine swap stories here.
Check Your Six: new Ford cop cars are on the prowl
Kick the tires and light the fires: it’s springtime and that means it’s time get out and drive! But when a bogey up ahead paints you, smart drivers with the reassurance of a Valentine One won’t have to jink their ride. Even smarter drivers would have ECM that self-deploys.
The game for our “blue team” is all about technology: having it, knowing how to use it, ensuring that you do at any and all times. Getting splashed for 1 over on a downtown hop makes for a Charlie Foxtrot kind of day.
On the side of the “red team”, it’s more about tactics, techniques, and procedures and less about technology. Patrol patterns, places to hide, dirty tricks, and having to follow established procedure including the required training and calibrations. The basic radar technology hasn’t changed in years, not counting unmanned radar (inevitably found unconstitutional when taken to the highest courts).
But prowl car technology has. Given the retirement of ye olde Crown ‘Vic, Ford has a new generation of police vehicles. That, thanks to Ford, saves taxpayers significant funds by using up to 35% less fuel. And they accelerate faster after pulling a bat-turn. Fortunately for the blue team though, the eyeball profiles of both vehicles are even larger than ever – making it even easier to check your six (and your twelve) when the red team is hiding in traffic, behind billboards, or even here.
Introducing the 2013 Ford (Taurus and Explorer) Police Interceptors. Two Ford Press Releases follow:
New Ford Police Interceptors Deliver up to 35 Percent Better Fuel Economy When Idling
- EPA fuel economy ratings confirm new Ford Police Interceptors are the most fuel-efficient police vehicles in Ford’s history
- Fuel economy at idle improves 35 percent on the Police Interceptor sedan and 32 percent on the Police Interceptor utility vehicle
- Law enforcement agencies stand to benefit from significant fuel efficiency
DEARBORN, Mich., March 16, 2012 – With experts predicting fuel prices are headed for record highs this year, the fuel efficiency of the new Ford Police Interceptors has the potential to help America’s cash-strapped cities reduce their fuel bills.
- The base 3.5-liter V6 in the Police Interceptor sedan delivers 288 horsepower and EPA-certified fuel economy of 18 mpg city, 26 mpg highway. Compared to the Crown Victoria – America’s top-selling law enforcement vehicle for the past 15 years – the Police Interceptor sedan offers an improvement of 4 mpg city and 5 mpg highway, and 38 more horsepower
- The optional EcoBoost® 3.5-liter V6 in the all-wheel-drive Police Interceptor sedan is rated at 365 horsepower and is EPA-certified at 16 mpg city, 23 mpg highway. In recent Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department testing, the EcoBoost Police Interceptor beat all competitive police cars from General Motors and Chrysler in 0-60 mph acceleration tests
- The Police Interceptor utility is built with a 3.7-liter V6 rated at 304 horsepower. The EPA rating of 16 mpg city, 22 mpg highway is best in class, topping the Chevrolet Tahoe PPV. The Police Interceptor utility easily out-accelerated the V8-powered Tahoe in the LASD tests, reaching 60 mph in 8.4 seconds compared with 9.5 seconds for the Tahoe
Ford Police Interceptor Vehicles Best Competition in Annual L.A. County Sheriff’s Department Police Vehicle Tests
- Ford’s next-generation Police Interceptor® vehicles eclipsed the competition in acceleration, braking, high-speed pursuit and city pursuit testing by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
- The all-new Ford Police Interceptor vehicles benchmark the industry standard, Crown Victoria Police Interceptor, while delivering better performance, handling and fuel economy
- Now police departments and other law enforcement agencies can purchase an all-new, American-made vehicle with the proven durability and price range of the popular Crown Victoria. Police agencies can currently place orders through dealerships
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SHO engine swap into Triumph TR7
As we’ve said in numerous engine swap posts, old SHO engines never die. They go from a dead Taurus into something that died a well-deserved death of its own, something that in almost every case needed a much better engine than the one it originally came with. That’s the strength of Ford’s Yamaha designed and built V-6 engine – it’s worth keeping.
Today’s example is a swap into a 1979 Triumph TR7.
The TR7 was Triumph’s last attempt to modernize the classic British sportscar. But despite the thoroughly modern and aerodynamic ”doorstop” styling, the fatal mistake was in continuing to use a British engine and transmission along with “classic” (aka inherently and hopelessly flawed) British electronics. And to have it bolted together by a radical left-wing British Labor union that all but killed car production in Britain. It was therefore doomed from the start of its production in late 1974 to the demise of the brand itself in 1981.
And what an ending, given the late addition of a V-8 engine to produce the TR8. The 3.5 liter Rover-sourced V-8 engine (formerly a mid-60s GM unit) was a step in the right direction, but many problems remained – especially cooling. Nonetheless, the V-8 version is the one to look for: only 2500 were built. Early versions were carbureted, and should be avoided like the plague. Later editions were fuel injected, and worked better despite the rest of the car. Look for a different hood on the fuel injected version, with a mildly raised section to clear the intake.
TR7s and TR8s immediately went into competition across North America, with successes in everything from autocrossing to SCCA Pro racing and even as an entry into Pro Rally. This author was lucky enough to see John Buffum in his pre-Audi days at a couple of Susquehanna Pro Rallies in Pennsylvania as he was on his way to winning the championship for 4 years straight in his TR8. We fondly remember his TR8 impatiently idling at the start of the stage we managed, every bit the V-8 burble, then showering us with rocks as he took off and disappeared into the night. Yes, fondly – every encounter with Buffum in those days was a great one to remember.
This brings us to our example below. You can read the full story here: http://www.team.net/TR8/Conversions/SHO.html. What to do with an old TR7 and an SHO engine sitting at a nearby engine recycler? The result is below. And how about that spare turbocharger? Throw it into the mix!
That’s how the mind of the swap enthusiast works and this TR7 is certainly a great example.
Cars and Coffee Austin: 1990 SHO
You never know what you’re going to see at Cars and Coffee events. While the event started in Los Angeles, even here in Austin we have an incredibly wide variety of entrants. We’ve seen all sorts of classics from the 1910s and up, exotics like Lotus Esprits are common, and at least1 Lamborghini Gallardo with twin turbos is commonplace. But there are also a wide variety of American cars, ranging from classic Olds Cutlasses to Mustangs.
See the full gallery of the show here: http://www.drivingenthusiast.net/sec-blog/?page_id=10701
Speaking of Fords, what has been missing to date are examples of the eighties and early nineties performance cars: the Taurus SHO, Thunderbird SC, and Mustang SVO. To date (and we haven’t missed a show yet), we’ve had exactly 1 Thunderbird SC and 1 Mustang SVO (both in beautiful condition, we wanted to buy them both). And not a single SHO!
That changed today. This is a white 1990 model, with a transplanted 1989 engine. The original engine is undergoing mods to bring it up to, as the owner says, “the same HP level of the new (Gen-IV) SHOs”. It was great to see this car, it brought back lots of memories of our own 1989 SHO, and we’ll look forward to seeing it with it’s new engine someday. She also lamented the fact that the new Gen-IV SHO is an overweight pig, a sad fact we wholeheartedly agree with.
Meanwhile, Central Texans, get your Gen 1 and 2 SHOs to the show, along with your Mustang SVOs and Thunderbird SCs.
Polito Ford Lincoln dealer: Ford Focus with rear-engine SHO V-6 SWAP
What do you do with a spare SHO engine that is just sitting around? Put it in a Focus. But that’s been done before… so how putting it into the back and going one-up on the famous SHOGUN?
That’s exactly what Politi Ford Lincoln of Lindsay, Ontario Canada did to their 2002 Ford Focus ZX3:
Features include:
- Front and back fenders, bumpers, and rocker panel moldings – custom made of carbon fiber
- Steel hood
- SVT heated remote control outside rear view mirrors
- Upper mounted WRC Focus air spoiler
- Rear APC tail lamps
- 5” Hella front driving lights
- Focus RS headlamps
- Front upper and lower grill assemblies are Imported from England
- Sean Hyland Billit radio antenna
- Factory installed moon roof
- Front mounted ATL Super Cell 100 – 22 gallon NASCAR fuel cell
- Optima yellow top 12 volt battery
- Fluidyne high flow radiator
- Polished stainless steel dual mufflers
- High flow Magna Flow high performance dual exhaust
- Rear engine cover is made of ¾ inch plexiglass
- Multimatic custom adjustable coil over front and rear suspension and sway bars
- Mustang SVT Cobra 40th anniversary front red brake calipers and 13” rotors
- Lincoln LS rotors and T-Bird Coupe calipers on the rear
- Cobra Daytona colour matched light weight sport front seats
- Momo steering wheel
- Autometer carbon fiber Ulta-lite gauges
- Custom Bullit dash insert
- SVT clutch, brake and gas pedals
- Power Windows and door locks
- Kenwood Excelon DVD, GPS in dash 1000 watt 8 speaker sound system
- Air Conditioning
- Aluminum framed interior and custom made Mulitmatic roll bar assembly
- Custom made ROH 3-piece polished alloy wheels
- 18” x 8” Yokohama sport front tires
- 18″ x 10″ Yokohama sport rear tires
This is a smart dealer – they’ve built a nice “stable” of performance and classic cars that they show, race, and use to draw customers into their showroom.
Polito Ford Lincoln dealer: Ford Taurus SHO race car
Polito Ford Lincoln of Lindsay, Ontario Canada (~75km form Toronto) is our kind of automobile dealer. First, a Ford dealer. Second, a dealer with it’s own collection of high-performance cars. The 1995 Taurus SHO racecar below is one example from their stable. A balanced and blueprinted SHO V-6 powers this machine, featuring an OMP race seat and a Multimatic adjustable coilover suspension. This is also a reminder of the days when Multimatic raced SHOs, before their switchedto Mustangs in the late nineties. Multimatic was very successful with their SHO racecars and very few examples of this important chapter of SHO history remain today.
Kudos to Polito Ford – and remember to support the kind of dealer driving enthusiasts want to see with your new car purchases.
New project: SHO intake manifold display
As we’ve said in many posts before, old Taurus SHO engines never die – they get transplanted into something else and start their second life. Our engine swap catagory is full of such examples.
But eventually they do finally die… and what then? Here is one such example. The owner put the most unique part of the engine – the intake manifold, on eBay, and from there it wound it’s way to our workshop for only 50 bucks. It was too good to pass up - and since we were an original owner of a Generation 1 Taurus SHO many years ago, we could hardly miss out on getting a surviving example of what is probably the wildest production manifold in existance into our hands again.
We envision making some sort of hanging wall display out of it… as only a true Ford nutcase would. And before you ask, when it’s complete it won’t be going into our living room or our den… it will go into the garage. We do have to maintain some level of standards around here…
The seller provided all the parts, so it’s a matter of cleanup, assembly, and mounting. His attempt at polishing the manifold didn’t work out… but we had planned on cleaning it all up and repainting it anyway. So our first step will be to find the best way to clean aluminum, then we need to find the correct and original color paint.
And if any readers have any suggestions to help, we’d appreciate it.
Ford’s first attempt at an Australian Taurus
You may have seen the news this week (http://smh.drive.com.au/motor-news/ford-falcon-to-ditch-rearwheeldrive-20110111-19lel.html) where Alan Mulally and J Mays were “jumped” at the 2011 Detroit Show by some “relentless” Australian journos who were determined to get the lowdown on future product plans for their beloved Australian Falcon. The jounos have concluded that it will be based on a Ford Taurus. Needless to say, the Australians are not happy.
What we didn’t know is that Ford tried once before to sell the Taurus in Australia. It only survived a few years. Here it is below: Ford’s first attempt at a Taurus that would appeal to Australians. Yes, that’s a right-hand drive Taurus, with Sable headlamps and a new front cap. This was introduced in 1996, at the same time as the 3rd-gen Taurus in North America. There was a base and a Ghia model, powered by the Ford 3 liter DOHC V-6. The rest of the car was exactly the same as in America, right down to the oval rear window and tail lamps.
The “export Taurus” was built in the ’states, and was also sold in Japan. Ford planners must have been very confident back then.
As they appear to be confident now. Only this time the Taurus will replace the Falcon, instead of being sold next to it. According to the interview, the final decision on this plan won’t be made for another 6 months, but given the language used by the Ford execs in the article, it would appear that moving the Falcon to a Taurus chassis is already a done deal.
The Australians have a strong emotional attachment to their Falcon: it’s been built in Australia for 50 years (starting as carbon copy of an early 60s North American Falcon), it provides jobs at the assembly plant in Australia, and the design is all-Australian. It is going to be tough to convince them to replace their home-grown product with what they will feel is an imposter. But Dearborn is equally detemined to use a “world car” approach where a single worldwide chassis is used for any and all markets workwide.
Here’s one way to solve the problem: send Crocodile Dundee over to Dearborn to show them how Australians like their stuff:
We think that Ford Corporate should task the Australians with the creation of an all-new state of the art lightweight aluminum-intensive rear wheel drive platform… and that costs should be shared with future Mustang and Lincoln products. We like the way the Australians think, it’s a great place to visit, nice people, and Ford of Australia has accomplished a great deal with very very little in the way of financial resources. They are the ones to pull it off. They’ll have what they want, and we’ll have a state of the art Mustang platform.