RichardJensen Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 I believe the truth is that fully dressed engines were flown from Japan to the US. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomServo92 Posted December 31, 2008 Author Share Posted December 31, 2008 I believe the truth is that fully dressed engines were flown from Japan to the US. Same here. I do know that the engines were hand-built by Yamaha in Japan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regfootball Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 my 89 sho was the most fun car i've had. unfortunately the clutches were a problem. the engine itself was bulletproof. my 99 v8 sho made 75k miles with no problem. my brother in law had close to 150k on his 96 v8 sho when he gave it to his nephew, his cams never went. i wonder how much the cam issue was overblown. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
armadamaster Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 (edited) My beef with the Marauder was that it shouldn't have been a niche vehicle, rather, the engine should have been phased into all panthers, specially Town Cars. The 210-220Hp seemed embarrassing next to a Cadillac Northstar. +1 That was how ya knew Ford wasn't serious about offering the Marauder, since that engine didn't trickle into the Town Cars and/or as a CVPI option. In comparison, GM offered the LT1 in not only the 94-96 Impala SS, but in the Roadmasters and Fleetwoods as well. Mercury first used the Marauder nameplate back in 1963, just before the official start of the muscle car age, and later graduated the name to NASCAR duty in the late '60s when it re-emerged as a "personal luxury" model for the 1969 and 1970 seasons. Back then, Ford dropped its 390 and 429 cubic-inch V8s under the Marauder's long, flat hood, so when the nameplate was again revived in 2003, the motoring world was expecting great things from the blacked-out full-sizer. Unfortunately, the actual product was a bit of a letdown, but it wasn't the fault of the powerplant, a fully modern DOHC design that wound out 302 horses from its relatively meager 4.6-liters of displacement. The Marauder was big, heavy and ponderous, having inherited the aging Ford Panther platform from its Crown Victoria stablemate. The four-speed automatic transmission - the only option available - only compounded the high-revving powerplant's low-end torque deficiency, making the new-age Marauder rather slow off the line for a modern muscle car and leaving us to wonder what might have been possible with an equally modern chassis. Bunk. It wasn't the HEAVILY REVISED 2003 Panther platform that failed, it was Ford's Panther Marketing program or lack thereof. Edited December 31, 2008 by Armada Master Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wildosvt Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 This guy was doing a Probe SHO DIY project. Not sure how it turned out. It looks like he stopped working on it. Which is a shame. click me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pioneer Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 Same here. I do know that the engines were hand-built by Yamaha in Japan. And then they were shipped to Atlanta. Atlanta assembly built all Taurus SHO's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomServo92 Posted December 31, 2008 Author Share Posted December 31, 2008 And then they were shipped to Atlanta. Atlanta assembly built all Taurus SHO's. Yep. One year they had the annual SHO owners convention in Atlanta and they arranged to tour the plant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SVT_MAN Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 Curious how there isn't a single Japanese car in that article. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickF1011 Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 Bunk. It wasn't the HEAVILY REVISED 2003 Panther platform that failed, it was Ford's Panther Marketing program or lack thereof. I dunno. The Marauder had a pretty robust marketing campaign with print, internet, and television ads. It still failed rather quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Versa-Tech Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 Curious how there isn't a single Japanese car in that article. Name one Japanese engine that outclasses the car it's in... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomServo92 Posted December 31, 2008 Author Share Posted December 31, 2008 I dunno. The Marauder had a pretty robust marketing campaign with print, internet, and television ads. It still failed rather quickly. If I recall, they did a 30 minute "Test Drive" show on Speed Channel about the Marauder. I also remember seeing quite a few TV commercials. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomServo92 Posted December 31, 2008 Author Share Posted December 31, 2008 (edited) Name one Japanese engine that outclasses the car it's in... 5.7L in the Tundra. Edited December 31, 2008 by TomServo92 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the_spaniard Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 Name one Japanese engine that outclasses the car it's in... 3.5L in the 350z. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mustang_sallad Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 Curious how there isn't a single Japanese car in that article. If you're accusing these guys of being anti-american car, you're way off the mark. These guys give the fairest opinions of any rags out there. In fact, some of the most frequent bloggers are self-proclaimed ford fan boys. The head guy Neff is obsessive with SHOs, he loves them. They're not saying these cars were bad, they're basically just saying these cars are sleepers. And yeah, not too many Japanese sleepers out there if you ask me. The SHOgun is awesome, I'm pretty sure Leno has one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
old_fairmont_wagon Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 I may have misread the article, but, I believe the reference to the flying SHO tuari was that a few of the Completed Tauri without powerplants were flown to Japan for the development work on the engine for fitment purposes. I did not read it that EVERY SHO EVER MADE was flown over there. ITs entirely believable that a one time air shipment of a few taurus sedans would have been made to make sure that the engine was properly packaged. As for the Marauder, exactly which engine does everyone want Ford to have put into it? The 4.6L DOHC was compact enough to fit without requiring major work on hood clearance issues. The tall deck 5.4L SOHC was too tall, as was the DOHC 5.4L from the Cobra R. Yes, there is a crew out there that has managed to fit a 6.8L V-10 into a Panther, but, if you look at the work they did, you can see that its an extremely tight fit. I feel that the Marauder would have been perfect with the powerplant from the 93-94 Cobra Terminator. The S/C 4.6L DOHC V8 combo would have provided the right combination of torque and horsepower without adding too much weight to the front of the vehicle. If I were to acquire a Marauder, that's what I would aim to make its powerplant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterstern Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 (edited) To me, the 2.0L 2V SEFI CVH 4cyl engine in the original North American Ford Focus didn't deserve to be in the car it was in. A little while ago, my sister was looking for a cheap used small car. The Focus was either the most pleasant without the CVH engine or least pleasant with it. So yeah, the Focus didn't deserve to be *brought down* by the CVH engine... Yeah I know the angle of the article is that the engine was 'too good' for the car, but that's not the only reason why an engine is unworthy of a given car in my view. Edited January 2, 2009 by peterstern Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
630land Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 RJ list: Autoblog Jalopnik Motor Trend Car & Driver Business Week AutoWeek Fortune Money Edmunds New York Times TTAC (assuming they even get invites to Ford press events) LA Times Automobile I'd remove AutoWeek, since they are fair and up to date with most info. Is TTAC still around? Also, Automobile isnt too bad either. MT is copying C/D now and borrrrring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pioneer Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 To me, the 2.0L 2V SEFI CVH 4cyl engine in the original North American Ford Focus didn't deserve to be in the car it was in. I have that car, with that engine, and there is no problem with it. Yeah, it's a little underpowered at 110 HP, but as long as your not driving it like a race car, it's reliable and fuel efficient. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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