[Guest]

I know , I know ... It's a vintage mustang site. But I figured blood runs Fomoco Blue here. Anyway , SWMBO's Toyota is not faring to well after loaning the car to her sister for two weeks ( I told her not to do it). Now I have to put a clutch in it and replace one of the tires and a rim . Screw that. I'm going to take her to see a 94 SHO. The car has 50,000 miles on it a is supposed to be real clean and they are asking 4500.00. I was wondering what are the problem areas with these cars , what should I pay close attention to ? My brother owns one and he said check for broken motor mounts , and see if the timing belt has been replaced. I'm hoping that with only 50,000 mile I wont need to change the timing belt anyway. Anyone have any advice on this car , if it's as clean as they say is this a good deal ?

Thanks
Marc

70 SCJ R-CODE MACH 1
88 GT

 

[autoxsteve]

Sounds like a good deal if the car is in good shape. I suspect that 50k for a timing belt is reasonable. I am sure if it breaks, lots of things will break as a result of the belt breaking, so it's cheap insurance, although I suspect it will be a [email protected]$ to change.

Good luck and stay off the board unless it's a Mustang (just kidding).


Steve Leslie, 65 coupe in restoration. 302, toploader, A/C, disc brakes, bench seat

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1571478&a=12409371&p=45514468.jpg

 

[johnpro]

The biggest problem wth them was the clutch/tranny. My boss had one, and while it was pretty quick, it was like most later model fords ... it liked to make regular trips to the dealer.

If you always do what you've always done,
You'll always get what you've always got
http://www.classic-mustang.net/johnpro
http://www.classic-mustang.net/john66/mustang/pics/66fsides2.jpg

 

[Guest]

I had a 90 model (this was six years ago). I loved the car. The clutch was very, very light. And first gear felt fragile. However, it reminded me of my old FZR1000 the way that yamaha V6 would really grab hold of you around 6500 rpms!

Now....what I didn't like about mine. Front wheel drive, light clutch, NO room to work on the engine, timing belt replacement every 60 thousand (forget doing it yourself) and possible valve adjustment, cv joints/boots, thin leather on seats, premium fuel required.

I know in the mid 90s, Ford quit producing MT SHOs. I don't know if was '95 or not. I do know they changed the body style around '93. So, to me, the '94 you're considering is still a pretty hot looking machine.

The bottom line. $4500 for a 50K mile SHO is a deal. However, chances are, you're not going to be able to work on it - the ultimate reason I sold mine. Good luck!

70 Mach 1 (351C 4V 4-speed) I've been restoring since '96. 95% complete. Also have a '68 HT (289 2-speed) that I restored between '97-98 and is FOR SALE! The VMF has proven to be an invaluable resource for information, humor and excellent advice.

 

[mustangmatt]

My buddy has one. Nice car, but it appears to me that they build the car around the engine. Going to be a pain to work on anything to do with the engine. My friend still talks about how long it took him to change the spark plugs.

Matt
66 289 coupe
98 GT coupe

 

[Guest]

Hmmm..... My thinking here is I would rather have another Ford in the stable , and I don't know if you guys have priced used cars lately , but you can't get anything decent with any balls and room for four people these days. I know its a pain to work on , but could it be worse than a Cobra Jet ? Since the car will be driven year round , I'm thinking front wheel drive would be a plus for New England winters. At some point they started putting V8's in these things , and I'm told that they are even harder to work on than the 6's. Bottom line is , if you wanna play , you gotta pay. So I'll take the maintenance headache over a boring car , like a camry or something.

70 SCJ R-CODE MACH 1
88 GT

 

[tschmidt]

We used to have a '94 SHO with automatic. It was a nice sleeper car, a car with performance
that you did not expect from a 4-door.

The timing belt does need changed at about 60K, and the it may need adjustments
at that time as well. We had the 60K service done on ours for about $400 and then sold
the car a few months ago to a coworker.

Check out my Links to Mustang Sites web site at
http://links.vintage-mustang.com/
'66 Mustang convertible 289-2V
'68 Shelby GT-500KR fastback 428CJ

 

[Mike_B]

They also make hot rod parts for those things

http://216.71.48.244/archive/mikecar.jpg



65 Fastback 289 4spd in storage :-(
91 CRX Si... A.K.A. my go-kart with AC!

 

[390fastback]

There is a place called the SHO SHOP which (obviously) specialize in these things. They COOK like you wouldn't believe, the cars I mean. I was always impressed with the multi-port intake setup, COOOOOL!

68 fastback, 390 4V premium fuel
80 5.0 hatch, just finished
91 5.0 coupe, daily driver
84 RamCharger 4x4 extreme mudsliger and winter junker
http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=1570462&a=11937310&p=44317415.jpg

 

[DPM]

It is not a SHO but I have a '95 Taurus (3.8 Liter) that I bought new. I had rented them several times on business trips and liked the way they handled. Owning one has been an entirely different matter.

I call it my "dog doo Taurus". It has been well cared for and maintained. As another poster mentioned, motor mounts have to be changed with every other oil change. At least it seems that way, I have probably had 4 sets of motor mounts in that car and they need replacing again. The transmission failed at 37K miles. It was a bad design decision by Ford in that they substituted a steel internal load bearing member with a cheaper aluminum part. Fatigue failure was the result. The AC system has failed. The speedometer failed. The engine had to be replaced at about 50K miles because of head gasket failure. Ford has a major problem with the 3.8L engine head gasket failure, and it is costing them big bucks so they are reluctant to cover it unless pressed. I pressed hard and got my engine replaced for free.

If interested in specific issues of concern, go to the NHTSA site that I posted yesterday. In addition to the recall info, you can get a listing of all of the service bulletins issued. These are the info sent to the dealerships that address items with a high incidence of failure, but not enough to force a recall.

David
Mountain Dew & Donuts, because breakfast is the most important meal of the day!
'66 Coupe 289 2V done for son
'70 Coupe 351W 4V (She Bear), doing for me!