The Yamaho 3/3.2 liter SHO engine is a classic engine - one of the best engines produced in the past 20 years. So good that once their host Taurus disintegrates from simple wear or cancerous salt, the engines tend to survive for another day. Their second lives are in usually other Ford products, ranging from swaps into a Ranger and Focus, as well into small sports cars such as a Miata. There there is the extreme: one SHO engine ended up in an off-road vehicle.
This latest swap is probably the furthest afield for a SHO engine. So far afield that it's builder was hounded off the SHO forums where he announced his project. This time the mighty Ford SHO engine gets swapped into a common Chevy Camaro. The builder gets an A for effort (although we have yet to see the car run) and an A for chutzpah. The builder is located in Cheektowaga, NY - outside Buffalo. The engine swap started in early 2009.
The good news is that, after checking on this owner, we've found that he is also an actual SHO Taurus owner. And he does know something about turning - his SHO is equipped with 13" rotors and PBR calipers. Apparently he has two, one with a turbo, a '90 and a '94.
Because we may never see the owner again on the SHO forum, we've saved the pictures for posterity here on DrivingEnthusiast.net.
The general plan is to build the car for drag racing, with a twin-turbo setup (not shown) and 3-speed automatic.
We're not sure what to say about the audacity of using Ford's best engine in a Chevy... but it probably makes more sense than a 4g63T!
View of the inside.
Because of the unique SHO intake manifold, the cowl had to be cut. You can see that the cowl and the associated windshield wiper mechanisms have all been removed.
Structural integrity is... lost.
Now the intake fits.
Side view. Looks like the windshield suffered the effects of the cutting.
It all fits... except for two downsides. You'll note the rear crossover had to be removed.
Furthermore, when you swap the SHO intake assembly for north-south use (instead of transverse), the linkage ends up rubbing against the cam sprokets.
Therefore additional grinding is needed. You can see the problem here. Ford designed the intake to point to the back of the engine, so that in a transverse installaiton in the FWD taurus the intake would point to the air cleaner assembly located over the transmission.
Further changes are needed for the fit. Presumably, too, emissions compliance is no longer a requirement.
That's the end of the available pictures. It would be interesting to know if the SHO Camaro is up and running.
Just to show the builder does indeed know how to turn corners and is not purely a straightliner, here is his SHO Taurus at the Dunnville track for the first time. No power steering and severla last-minute mods made for a slow run, but at least it's proven he can rise above pure drag racing.
dunville+track+day+9-28-08+1990+taurus+SHO
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