legacycentral bbs

I know that there is a high performance Yamaha V8 trim. (Yes a japanese engine on a big bad american car... Oh what will the neighbors think?) And some of the early 90's models really screamed if I remember correctly.

**By the way there is video somewhere floating arround of me versus a Taurus SHO with a Yamaha V8 at Beaver Springs Raceway. Phil or Will, either one of you have that posted anywhere?**

Most SHO's were V6's. The only V8 version is the Yamaha AFAIK.

That would have been against Romans Yamaha.

Good times. His pulled a faster time, i forget how much but it was a photo finish. I had a pretty good launch against him.

The SHO had a 10 year run.

From 1989 to 1995, the car was powered by a 3.0L DOHC V6. Yamaha built the entire engine, from the block to the crank to the heads. It made 220hp. 1992 dawned the first Gen-2 SHO. From 1992 to 1995, you could get an SHO with an automatic. It was powered by a 3.2L Yamaha built DOHC V6.

In 1996, the Gen3 "fish" body came out, and the engines were Ford built bottom ends, with Yamaha heads. They made 235hp IIRC. Mated to the AX4N 4-speed automatic. Heavy ass cars, about 3500 and some change. But kinda cool. REALLY comfortable. They were a 3.4L DOHC V8, redlining at 7,000 RPM. Outrageous.

No SHO was ever turbo or Supercharged. The Gen2 SHO actually outperformed the 5.0L Mustang, though Ford never officially admitted that.

The coolest thing about the SHO's is the intake manifold. They have secondary intake runners. I know on the V8's they open at about 3400RPM. The primary runners are long and skinny, for good bottom end. The Secondaries, are short and fat, great for top end. It feels like VTec, to be perfectly honest. The Gen2's are kinda piggish off the line, I think Roman's best time was like a 15.8 at BSD, but on the highway, they ROLL. The gears are LLLOOOONNNNGGGG. 1st on the V8 runs to about 40, 2nd to about 80, and 3rd to about 130. A Boosted SHO, would be incredible. Espically a turbo'd SHO.

A high school buddy got a early 900 turbo as a hand me down first car. The car was a huge pile but it was free and his parents wouldn't let him buy a different car while that one was running.....you can see where this is going. I wasn't a turbo knowledgeable back then but there was something wrong with the wastegate/bov, as in it never opened. It only took a few days of driving the piss out of the thing with no boost control before the clutch grenaded and something broke big in the engine. It was pretty fun, and fairly quick. I have one other quick Saab story. My buddy was giving me a ride in his 91 M5 when he first got it. We are hauling ass on I-25 and a white 9000 passes us like we are standing still. So my buddy gives chase and we both end up peeling off into the outskirts of Ft Collins. This Saab was seriously quick, we followed him around a bit and then parted ways with a respectful wave. The M5 dynoed at 290whp in CO, I'm guessing that Saab had near the same.

the saab I got for free was incredibly fast and comfortable.... when it was running...

I remember driving it in the winter with blizzaks and I was like "DAMN this is a nice ass car"

then I had to fix the exhaust and a bunch of other things, then the car got given to me and I realized how much I dislike it....


dad had one in the early 90's... ended up replacing more stuff in parts than he paid for the car.. then selling it for a financial loss, but stress reduction gain