New build thread; time to build one from scratch!

[falconvan]

I've seen a few of these hooked up as RWD. I've read a lot of good things about these motors; they were made for Ford by Yamaha and was apparantly a fairly high-tech piece. Here's an article I saved:

In 1984, executives of the Yamaha Motor Corporation signed a contract with the Ford Motor Company to develop, produce, and supply a compact 60° DOHC V6 engine for Transverse engine application. This engine was intended to power a mid-engine sports car, but that project (known internally as GN34) was cancelled. Instead, Ford decided to place the engine, dubbed the Super High Output (or SHO) into the Front wheel drive Ford Taurus sedan.

The SHO engines share a common Bell housing pattern with the following Ford engines: the 2.3/2.5 L FWD HSC I4, the 3.0L FWD/RWD Vulcan V6, and the 3.8 FWD Canadian Essex V6.

Due to the engine's unusual and aesthetically pleasing appearance, as well as its compatibility with common Ford RWD transmissions, such as the Ford A4ld, 4r44e, 5r55e and Mazda M5OD as used in Ranger, it is sometimes transplanted into other vehicles. Its distinctive Intake manifold is bilaterally symmetrical, so it can be rotated 180 degrees (making it face "backwards" on the engine, relative to its original installation orientation) to ease the engine's transition from transverse to Longitudinal engine mounting.


The SHO V6 was a high-tech and revolutionary design when it debuted in 1989. Displacing 3.0L (2986 cc/182 cu in), it was an iron block, aluminum head 24-valve DOHC engine with an innovative Variable length intake manifold. Its Oversquare and symmetrical design, which sported an 89 mm (3.5 in) bore and 80 mm (3.1 in) stroke, gave the high-revving engine an output of 220 bhp (164 kW) @ 6200 rpm and 200 ft·lbf (270 N·m) of torque (271 Nm) @ 4800 rpm at the flywheel, and the added luxury of being able to be used in rear-drive applications. Redline was marked on the Tachometer at 7000 rpm, and fuel cut-off occurred at 7300 rpm. The engine's true redline was over 8500 rpm, but it was set to 7000 rpm due to accessories in the prototypes malfunctioning at approximately 8000 rpm. This engine was only available with the Ford MTX-IV transmission.

From 1993 to 1995, the SHO engine was sold in two displacements: the 3.0L was sold mated to the MTX-IV manual transmission, and a new 3.2L engine (3191 cc/195 cu in) was sold mated to the Ford AX4S Automatic transmission. The new 3.2L engine, while retaining the same 80 mm (3.1 in) stroke of its 3.0L brother, sported a larger 92 mm (3.6 in) bore that helped raise torque output to 215 ft·lb (291 Nm) @ 4000 rpm at the flywheel. Horsepower output was still 220 bhp (164 kW), but now at 6000 rpm: This was due to a milder cam setup compared to the more aggressive intake camshaft in the 3.0L version.


A popular modification to the 5-speed 3.0L SHO is to swap the 3.2L engine in, as well as swapping the 3.0L cams into the new engine. These more aggressive cams, along with a higher torque output have been known to allow the manual SHO to run into the low 14's on the quarter mile on this one modification alone.

[34_40]

Thanks for the info falconvan. I remembered Yamahas participation in the motor development but didn't pay much attention to the motor until your project.

Like so many others here, I'll be watching to see what you come up with!!

[falconvan]

The only part im really wondering about now is weight balance. Id like to use an XJ6 Jag IFS but are there any issues with that suspension being designed to have the weight of a drivetrain sitting on it? I dont want steering issues like the car being pushed in a straight line even when the wheels are turned from the front being too light. Thoughts?

All the scrap was hauled off today and did a little clean up in the shop. Now i've got some room to work; this will make a good starting point.