From: david.bonds@cutting.hou.tx.us (David Bonds) 
Newsgroups: rec.autos
Subject: Re: $758 for an oil chang
Date: 19 Aug 92 23:24:00 GMT
Distribution: world
Organization: The Cutting Edge - Houston, TX - 713-466-1525
Reply-To: david.bonds@cutting.hou.tx.us (David Bonds) 

  >If you ask few other SHO owners, most of them will tell you NOT to let a
  >mechanic touch your car unless absolutely necessary.

Unless you have one that knows the car.  I've been blessed, and have one
that lives less than 10 minutes away from me.  He ONLY works on Sports/Exotic
cars, and has an '89 SHO himself, so he knows the car.  STILL, the best bet
is to do all the work you can yourself.  No matter how good he is, or how
much he knows, he still charges $45/hour for labor, which can get QUITE
expensive....

  >The spark plugs are dual platinum and those are good until 60K.  However, he
  >advises me to change them at 30K because by 60K they might get stuck in the
  >aluminium head (does he have a valid concern?).  He assures me that he can
  >replace the rear 3 plugs without removing the intake manifold and according to
  >him, even removing the intake manifold is no big deal.

I got my '89 SHO used with 65k miles on the clock.  I got the timing belt
(as well as all the other belts) replaced the day after I bought it.  Having
a timing belt break will USUALLY bend most of the valves, or at least mess
up SOMETHING, and I didn't want it to happen.  The other belts were frayed,
so I wanted them replaced in any case.

I replaced the plugs on mine yesterday, and after 66k miles, they looked mighty
good.  There was minimal crud on the tip, and just a little caked in grit 
above the threads.  Total time for plug replacement for me, a mechanically
untrained 21 year old (helps to be young, as you have to contort a bit
to get those back 3 plugs ;-)) was 1.75 hours, and 30 minutes of that was
spent fishing out a washer I dropped behind the engine.  You have to remove
the bracket that holds whatever sensor/thingee (told you I had to training!)
is directly in the back of the engine, and other than that, and a little 
messing with the wires to be able to pull the plastic plugs, it's just a 
matter of time and sweat.  Be sure to gap the new ones correctly before 
installation, and make sure nothing falls into the cylinders (dirt, rings,
bugs, etc) while the plugs are out.

One item of curiousity.  I installed plugs AGSP32PP from Ford (9 bucks a 
plug, OUCH!), but the ones I pulled were all AGSP32C - I assume the PP 
means Platinum, but what does the C mean?  Anybody?  These were OEM in
the '89 SHO, as I was first to replace the plugs in this one.

  >SHO registery has quoted $600-1200 for 60K service in their sampling of various
  >US dealership.  One of the tip they gave was that all the gaskets are reusable
  >and one could save substantial amount by carefully removing and reinstalling.

The valve job looks like a bit more than I'm willing to get into at this point.
I'm gonna let it slide for awhile, and get it done when I have the ~$300 to
let the mechanic do it.

  >K-Mart now sells Ford Motorcraft oil filters for under $3.00.  I have tried
  >Purolator and Fram air filters but they don't fit well in the air cleanr box.

I noticed this when I checked to see what kind of air filter was in there 
already - FRAM.  Putting that thing back in and bolting it back down was
one of my worst mechanical experiences with that car to date....  

  >So rather than paying dealer price for a Motorcraft air filter, I would rather
  >spring for K&N or a similar high performance filter.

I'm going for the K&N from Hypertech sometime soon.  Saw the $47 price in 
the Registry, and a friend said he thought they had them for $28 or so at 
Hypertech.  The extra 6 HP or so you get out of it is worth the extra price,
IMHO.

  >I know someone who had almost 80K on his 89 SHO without doing anything to the
  >engine i.e. no vlave adjustment or timing belt service.

There is a guy (John Umberger) in the Spring 92 Registry who has 166k miles
on his SHO - didn't have the timing belt replaced til 131,609 miles, and
STILL has not had the valve adjustment done.   Says the "only sign of age is
a little grey smoke from the exhaust if I rev above 6,000 RPM."

I love my SHO.

- Dave Bonds 
- Internet : David.Bonds@cutting.hou.tx.us
---
 . KingQWK 2.00 .6 # 145 . "I'll be Bach." - Johann Sebastian Schwarzenegger
                                                                              
Newsgroups: rec.autos