I was very suprised at this race. I was heading down to Centerville on I-75N and a Taurus came up to me with 3 buddies in his car. I laughed at first because my old Camry could beat most Taurus's but then i saw his dual exhaust and the SHO. I expected to lose. But he honked 3 times and we took off but it didnt take long for my governer thing to kick in because i havent got my speedo gears put in after getting 3.42s. I had the lead on him by a half a car legnth with a moderate pull. Then he followed me off the highway and we raced from a dig. This is where i killed him. Out of first gear i had a car legnth on him and pulling but i had to slow down because of cars in front of me.

Did the 3 people in his Taurus make a difference? yes, probably about a half a second slower for him. But i was still suprised to beat and pull on him like i did.
Thought it was an interesting kill.

 

What year did it appear to be? The 1996+ V8s in the newer body style aren't too quick. LO3 mostly stock wouldn't have too great of a chance against a 89-96 style 5-speed though.

As any car though, the extra weight would bring him down some.

 

Ummm V8 SHO?

 

yea they made a v8 with an auto too, but it was a lot slower then there v6 with the 5 speed one.

Justin

 

w3rd.

And the V8 SHO -

 

id put my money on it being the v8 i raced the v6 5 speed older version with him having 3 passengers and he raped my little 305

 

yea it was a v8 auto. What do they run?

 

I think in the high 15 - low 16 range stock. Then add the passengers and what not...

If you want to find an exact time you'd probably have to check around in a V8 SHO specific forum or website.

 

yea i dont really konw what a v8 SHO runs but i do know that my budddies 92 SHO v6/5-speed ran a 14.9 perfectly stock. So they can move pretty good.

Justin

 

the v8 and the auto v6s are about a second slower than the 3.0 mtx SHOs. some kid i knew his ran mid-high 14's stock and with a y pipe ran mid 14s

 

I have a very similar story. I raced an early/mid 90's V6 SHO in my mostly stock LO3 and I beat him from a dig pretty easily. However, the SHO I raced was pretty rough and looked like it was pretty ragged out and probably wasn't in very good running order.

 

they're a car you want to run from a roll, my buddies didnt start to move till about 4k rpms.

Justin

 

Mitch, what gears did you have before the 3.42s? Think they made a nice difference?
I want to trade the 2.73s for 3.42s.

 

Actually, the 3.2 auto SHOs are usually about .2 to .3 behind the 3.0 5speed SHOs. My old 3.2 auto ran 14.93 bone stock. With a chip and bolt-ons, it was running 14.35. The biggest drawback to all of them is that if you get traction you need a new transmission. I went through a tranny every 5000 miles, roughly. The 5speed blows clutches on a regular basis, and the auto shells the planetaries. One nitrous pass is worth $2000 for a transmission, in my experience. The v8 version, while having a better transmission and more power, is a lot heavier. They were a breeze to walk. I still wish I'd have kept the old 93. It was so much fun. The butterflies open the secondary intake runners at 3800 rpm. That's where you start making power. With a decent computer and the rev limiter raised to 8000 (call the SHO Shop for that one) you'll go through A/C compressor clutches and alternators a bit faster, but with under-drive pulleys it isn't too bad. All in all, a fun family car...

 

The first car I had was a 5 speed sho, it ran low 14s. I never brought it to the track, but I ran cars that were running the same times, and beat them. I have a tremendous ammount of respect for the yamaha built 3.0s, I beat the living **** out of mine and it took it. I'd have to say that its complete bull**** saying the 5 speeds blow clutches on a regualr basis, but the automatics are crap. I reapeat again I never beat anything as bad as I did my SHO and I did it for probably 30k miles, and I never had a problem with the stock clutch. They do however have problems with the differentials grenading, as mine did, but that was from doing a burnout without the wheels straight, the pin that holds the spiders ejected and tore a hole in the trans case and broke in half. Believe it or not I still drove it for another 100 miles, and than I did probably 20 rev limiter burnouts in front of my house, before I blew the motor up on purpose just to see how much it could take. My cousin who was a master tech at the time couldn't believe it was still driveable. This was all with no trans fluid. I revved the living **** out of it, then i'd let it cool off a bit then do it again, I know you will ask why, but I didn't have very much money into it, and I didn't have money for a trans. I was also only 17, and I didn't want the junkyard making money off a running motor. Those motors are very impressive and i'd buy another in a heartbeat, but proper maintenance is a bitch. Try adjusting the valves on one of them. But it's all worth it after 4 grand, they sound awesome, especially with forced induction.

 

those V8 SHOs are turds, they run high 15s most of the time. I wouldn't believe for a second your L03 was even hanging with the exhaust fumes from an older V6 SHO.

 

The yamaha heads are designed for topend. that's why its nice to have a stick in those cars. they are pretty quick, but they really can't be improved on that much since the cyl heads are about as good as its gonna get on a ford 3.0.

 

I think the accurate statement would be, they can be improved, but do you really want to spend that much on an old, ugly taurus

 

I guess I had bad luck with the 5 speed version. My first sho was a 91 5speed. I got rid of it due to frying clutches every 8 to 10 thousand miles. That was with getting pretty good traction on Comp T/A tires. My best time out of it was a 15.10, but I'm not as good with a standard. At least, not in a car...
I've had 3 now, and the 93 was the best of the bunch. To date, 91 5speed, 93 auto, 94 auto. The 93 was the only one that I did much modifying to, but I really liked driving it.

 

Wow it sounds like a piece of ****..

 

Better designed motor, and will last longer than any stock sbc, but your right it's a peice of ****. Yamaha knows how to design motors. I guarantee under the same conditions in a lab, it would definitely outlast a sbc, but I couldn't care less. It's too bad parts are expensive for them, and that the car is pretty ugly.

 

I have a 91 Lumina Z34. It was Chevys answer to the SHO...3.4L DOHC, they were always within 2 tenths of each other with the same tranny (both auto or both stick) the damn thing is still my winter beater, and Ive beat many LO3s including my own until the engine swap...from a roll of course

 

I really doubt it could keep up with it, but you might be right. I used to be really into the SHO, but I never heard anything about a Lumina being anywhere near it, i'd have to see it to believe it. Don't believe everything you hear.

 

Me vs a V6 5 speed SHO
http://www.transamws6.com/video/Zepher_vs_SHO.mpg

 

You probably didn't know that the Chevy 3.4L DOHC was put in a FWD 3rd gen camaro test mule...It made 281 HP, I believe this was late 89. Think back to the late 80's, how many newer cars came with over 250 HP? L98 Vettes had 250 and turbo supras had like 245. Thats like insane power compared to other new cars of the time. I believe the new 350 Z has around 285 HP from a DOHC V6. That is still considered fast for today. There was a huge problem in the camaro test vehicle, it kept on blowing trannys. Chevy told hydromatic that they needed a FWD tranny that would handle that kind of tourque. They had almost 2 years to get it right. But at production time they only had a little beefier version of the automatic used in the V6 cavalier. The getrag 5 speed could handle a little more but not much. Chevy was pissed, they spent all this time and development on this state of the art engine, but had to detune it last minute. Rumor has it that since all the mechanical engine parts were already produced, they detuned it by taming the fuel and spark curve. Which is set in the computer. I have a plan to put an aftermarket computer in my Z34 to see what power I can unlock, (my buddy builds them and solders the chips and transisters to the board of the megasquirt system so I can get one for like $150) Anyway there is very little info on the origins of the chevy 3.4L DOHC. Most of it was covered up. AKA leaks about a new camaro 2 years ago. Then statement withdrawals 2 days later.

 

That's interesting, I didn't know anything about that. I would like to know more about computers, but I need to learn. I was never really into chevy until I started working for someone that built impressive street motors. I would've liked to drive it.

 

let me know the results of the computer that sounds real interesting.

 

I currently own both a 95 5 speed SHO and an 88 L98 GTA.On take off it would be the GTA all of the way but i think at a certain speed the higher revving SHO would start gaining.I love both cars and comparing the two is like comparing apples and oranges.They are both awesome cars for many different reasons.

 

I don't know why I tryed comparing the two, you can't. I liked my taurus but a full 60k service, was the hardest job i've done.