My boy's SHO been kicked my *** once in a while... recently, i took off the line and beat him in the long run by a 2 car lengths... musta been like a 1/2 mile race cuz be passed like 2 traffik lights but each light is like a quarter mile apart... taking him off the line was what astonished me... we both took off at the same time (light turned green) i guess it musta been the weather or something... felt nice to race a car that didnt sound like a chainsaw for once (aka Civics, Integras, Preludes, etc.)

 

SHO's are fast. I think faster than a stock Maxima, but if you guys want to talk trash about not knowing FORD could make engines like this why don't you talk about a real ford V6. Thunderbird SC 1989-1995, Mercury Cougar XR7 1989-1990. 230hp, 315 ft. lbs. torque. Over 300 rwhp with $1,000 in mods. 95% of you guys beating up on the SHO can step to me in my 4,000 lb. luxory car, and get sent home with your 8 inch exhaust tip between your legs. And about that magazine statement, Road & Track tested a 2000 V6 Mustang and ran a 14.96 e/t. I'm sure you guys can beat that stock to stock too right? The Maxima is a daily driver, and anything less than a supercharger will not make these cars true street contenders in the real world, unless you consider beating up on 1.6 and 2.2 liter N/A Honda's with your 3.0 V6's racing. Save your money for the SC, and start talking about your races with Stangs, LT1's, Vettes, and the real import, 300ZX TT Just my .02

 

TexMaximum-

You talk as if a stock or modded 5 speed SHO is world's better than a stock or modded 5 VQ Max. This is far from the truth. The earlier 89-90 SHO 5 speeds were the quickest. You know why? They were the lightest and quickest and ran on 15" wheels. They weighed 3050lbs just like a 4th gen 5 speed Max. As the SHO grew up, it gained substainal weight due to crash reinforcements, heavier and larger wheels, more dampening material, ABS brakes and such. In the end during 94 (last available year for the 5 speed) the SHO weighed 3350lbs. The automatic SHO has always been substainally heavier than it's 5 speed version. The automatic SHOs weighed nearly 3600lbs during their final production of the V6. The automatic SHO has never been a truely quick car like it's 5 speed version. The automatic SHOs were tested to run 7.5-8.2 0-60s and higher 15s/lower 16s in the 1/4 mile which is right with a auto Max. The added weight, poor auto gearing, and lack of useable lowend torque made the SHO a rather weak performer for the "SHO" nameplate. The earlier 89-90 SHOs were tested to run anywhere from 15.0-15.3@92-94mph in 1/4 mile which is right on par with the 5 speed VQ Max. While the Maxima gave up 30hp to the SHO, the Maxima's superior low end torque, light weight, and excellent 5 speed made the Max more than enough competition for the SHO.

As for modifications, the SHO does have the upper hand when it comes to increasing displacement with special kits and blocks, cams, and heads. For the "do-it'yourselfer" mods, the SHO is much like the Maxima. Y-pipes, intakes, exhausts, and chips are typical mods and yield about the same performance. Both the SHO and Maxima tuners offer supercharger upgrades which can increase performance into the low 13 second range.

The SHO, like the Max, is severely limited by it's FWD setup. Both of these cars would be capable of easy 14 second performance if they weren't hampered by their lack of traction. My experience is that the SHO is a bit easier to launch since it's torque peak is about 1000 rpms higher than the Max. The Max is very torquey and proves very hard to launch. The Maxima accelerates in a very linear fashion compared to the SHO. The SHO drives nearly like a turbo or VTEC car. It's weak from idle to 4000 and then the butterflies open and the car accelerates fiercely. This give's the SHO a sensation of being "***** fast", but it's initial acceleration off sets the performance.

Like I said before, I've got friends with earlier model SHOs that I run with at the track. They've got nearly the same mods as me (intake, exhaust work) and we run 14.9-15.0s in the lower to mid 90mph range. 1st gear traction is our limiting factor. From a highway rollon race, the SHO does very well till the top of it's 3rd gear and then it's acceleration falls off because of a weakly geared 4th and 5th. This is where the Maxima out powers the SHO.

I don't think the Maxima is the almighty V6 sedan, nor do I think it can beat any other car. If I truely wanted a fast car, then I'd be driving something else. I've already had a really fast car, but I don't need that in my life anymore.

Dave

 

What is this mysterious "4,000 pound luxury car" of which you speak?

 

that would woop my a$$.I hope its not a Q45 that would be too funny.Maybe a M5 or AMG E55,or E430,otherwise theres not much else that would woop my A$$ in that catagory.

 

Give me a break okay? It took until 1999-2000 for Ford to make near 200hp for their V6. Nissan had a 3.0 V6 making 222 hp back in 1990 in the na 300z. Big whoopie for Ford!

SC V6 making 300hp w/ $1000 in mods?? Big freakin' whoopie. Nisan had the FJ2.0 turbo (2.0 liters) making near 300hp stock. This was before 1990.

Jeez, even FORD made better engines than the SC bird. Any one of the Cosworth powered turbo 4 or 6 clyinder Sierras RS or RS4 could hand the T-bird it's ***. And your right about the sho motor not being a real ford engine because Yamaha designed the intake and heads(the real source of it's power)

Have a real nice day now

 

Have you guys every heard of the SHOgun? Its a Ford Festiva body, with the 3.0 yamaha engine in the back, pretty crazy... Jay Leno has one.

http://www.fordfestiva.com/Performance/shogun.html

[Edited by dsimple1 on 12-07-2000 at 02:46 PM]

 

Yea are those factory or after market these SHOguns? Any how, the Nissan Maxima is a better car, no doubt.

 

nope, not factory. BUT the safe thing about the car is that they put the gas tank in the front, under the hood. great safety feature..... ugly car too.

I have a friend that has a 91 SHO and we raced right after I bought my maxima, it was a pretty close race I won by about 1/2 a car length. I have to give it to the SHO's though... my friend put some cheapo performance mufflers($30 for both, I think)and took out the silencer cone from his air box and his car sounds damn good, nice throaty sound. But yes, the maxima is definitely a better car.

 

It's 4800 pounds. I have a 90 Cougar XR7, 5-speed making 240+ rear wheel hp, and 330+ ft lbs. torque. I'm not discing the Max, I'm getting one as you can see by my screen name, but a lot of you guys think they are the fastest car in the world and their not. If any of you guys are in San Diego we can meet up, and you can try to prove me wrong, but if you don't have an SC you better bring your lunch. I am not trying to compare car companies either. I know that Nissan is far superior. Yoy guys are stuck on Civics and Accords though. Why don't you race something worthy of competition. I out run them in normal driving conditions. Come on!

 

Hmmm nothing personal but I seriusly dought your 90 Cougar XR7 whould pose any threat to my Max,lets break this down,
First off my NA Maxima is putting down about 235Hp and somewhere around 245 TQ and weighs in at 3000 LB's compared to your car same HP and about 85 less TQ,now you have 1800 LB's more then me and maybe a little better off the line traction,so my HP to LB ratio is 1 Hp per 12.76 and 1TQ per 12.25 LB's,and your is 1 HP per 20 LB's!! AND 1TQ per 14.55!! so as you can see my Max easily over power's you and has more aggresive gear ratios = 1:10,so how on earth is that over groan beast going to stand any chance against my Max in fact a stock 95 Max should beat it no problem.So please explain your reasoning Im dieing to hear this one,also have you ever run in a 1/4 before?Just for the record my Max whould run low 14's and if guted and equiped with slicks whould most likely run high 13's I'll find out in April.On a side note do not descredat NA maxima as they can be quite fast to you know in fact a fully modded NA Max like mine will be just about a quick as a SC max with no other mods.Also you say why don't I race something worthy of competition,how the hell whould you no what I race ? I have raced anything and everything I can get my hands on which includes plenty of cars with V8's like a Iroc C and Mustang 5.0 and many others with simalar performance and I have yet to lose a single race in my Max {I know it sounds concided but it is true} and I have raced tons of cars.So tell me you were just jocking about the Couger hahaha!!

 

EMAX95-

I completely agree that your Maxima or even my Maxima would most likely walk the XR7 fairly easily. His power to weight ratio completely sucks compared to ours.

With that said, I don't think it's a good idea to say you have 235hp and over 245 ft/lbs of torque (at the flywheel) and run low 14s. You haven't dynoed your car yet, so it is all speculation on what it can pull. Also you haven't run at the track either. Again, all speculation. In all honesty, your car is probably making about 190 fwhp and 200 ft/lbs at best. With those heavy chrome 17s, it might be very hard to break into the 14s. Jeff K (quickest NA Max to date) made 187 fwhp and 203 ft/lbs with the same mods as you and on lighter wheels. He was running 14.3@95mph on drag radials.

Dave

 

At this point it is just specalition,but I will tell you this I would not race or dyno on my 17's rather my stock 15's,also I am pretty sure jeff K does/did not have as many mods as me,I don't remember for sure but I don't recall him having a performance clutch/alloy flywheel amongst a few other things I have {correct me if I am wrong},also the UPRD ECU seems to show better power gains then his JWT chip.I will hopefully be dyno testing my car with in the next week or two and I am hopeing to see 200 at the wheels with my stock 15's on.Also If you look at Cheston's dyno chart he made something like 176 HP at the wheels on his 97,and I have quite a few more mods then him and 95's generally put down about 5-10 more HP then 97+ so point being I do not think it is to far fetched to say that my car produces the #'s I said previosly.I guess we will have to wait and see the my dyno,my luck it will make 199 HP and then I will have to buy the a damn UDP to push it over 200 hAHA.LATER

 

And his max only has has a JWT ECU, CAI,Y-Pipe ,Greddy Cat Back,so I have a Stillen Intake that Cheston dynoed and showed more HP on the top end then the CAI,I also have a UPRD Ecu,stillen Y-Pipe,RT Cat and Stillen Catback system,Alloy Flywheel which is good for another 6 HP approx.,Denso Plugs,and a Centerforce Stage 3 Clutch,so my mods should produce at least 10 More HP then Jeff's car did not to mention the Dyno that showes 187HP and 206 TQ was during 90 Degree weather,so I think my car should make 200 HP no problem.I will try to get it dyno'deal soon,Later

[Edited by emax95 on 12-08-2000 at 04:50 PM]

 

Um just a note:

Lightened flywheel benefits don't always show up on the dyno. Especially if it's run in 4th gear close to 1:1 gear ratio.

And stage whatever clutch does not add any horsepower. It definately won't show up on the dyno. If anything, it might show a loss if the Press. Plate is heavier than oem.

But good luck w/ the dyno and let us know how it goes. More power!

 

A little history on the SHO, if you guys didn't already know...

Ford was planning to build a 2 seat, rear wheel drive sports coupe to take on a beat the Corvette. They had Yamaha design and build an engine for it. For some reaosn the project was scrapped, and Ford decided to plop the Yammie motor ini the Taurus and make a sports sedan. Problem was, this engine made over 300HP, and this Taurus would be able to whip Ford's Flagship, the Mustang. So, they detuned the motor, and sold the car as the Taurus SHO. The motor in the SHO's redline isn't really 7200, but closer to 10,000 RPM. And I'm serious. They had to limit it to avoid the accesories blowing apart when the engine was revved. The bottom end of the motor can also handle about 700HP, bone stock. The Yamaha engine really is a work of art.

 

I agree with you that the Clutch definatly does not add HP,but it will show it's face at the track,Later

 

The horsepower to weight ratio does not work. With my SC I produce maximum horse and torque at about 3200 rpm, and hold it through about 5600 rpm. I doubt this is obtainable with the N/A 3.0. I can keep it in that range from jump to finish. I pulled in off the street and ran a 14.24 @ 98.76 mph with all kinds of tire spin on my street radials and a full operating temperature engine(these cars run much better cold). With slicks, dry ice in my IC tray, and more head work my car will easily run mid to low 13's. I'm not saying that this is the fastest car in the world either, and I respect you for racing "real" cars. This was aimed at the people that consider a Civic SI a serious kill, and claim that Ford has never made a V6 with power. There are SC's around the country knocking on the door of 11's, without gutting the car, and the ONLY thing holding them back is traction. I find this to be a great achievement for a 4800 pound luxory coupe. I love Nissan, and am the former owner of a 1987 300ZX-T, and future owner of a 95 Max. I just couldn't let Ford go out like that. I didn't mean to ruffle everyone's feathers.

 

A lot of people here by go by empty equations without all the facts and Magazine times. I’m not saying this is bad, but at best, these can only be used as estimates to pre-determine a win in the real world, unless of course a car has 100 plus HP advantage Also, torque is what accelerates a car off the line.

 

That statement is right on. The number I seem to remember is 300hp @ 8500RPM, which is supposed to be pretty easy to attain by swapping in re-ground cams, chopping off the exaust and replacing it with a true dual (no x-over or y-pipe), and freeing up the intake.

Has anyone ever investigated the fesability of dropping a SHO motor into a Maxima? That would really be the best of both worlds...

smokin96se

 

Sorry dude, but it's actually about 1000 pounds less than that.
http://reports.intellichoice.com/rep...y&MODEL=Cougar

I know it's fun to think of it pulling off those numbers at 4800 lbs, but that's just not the case...not that anybody cares. Last post was the 9th of december!!

 

Hey, I own 89' max (240 hp) I beat a 96 Sho He ran 15.5
I ran 13.2
So race him and get some loot for it!!!!!

 

I'm not too up on the mods for cars and HP vs HP to the wheels, vs tourque, blah , blah, blah, blah...
Tell me this, if racing a civic is so disgraceful, then how come a modded Civic up in Canada can hit high 11's and low 12's at a track? He was concidered the fastest "competing" 4 cylinder in Canada, and was the "king of the 1/4 mile" in the street racing comunity. I don't know any other details besides he wasn't using NOS! I saw it on some Dateline special or something about half a year ago. Anybody else seen or heard of this?

 

was Mike P., (just another thing I remembered)

 

I raced a stock auto 96 Max with my old MTX SHO and killed it, expected but I would say because the SHO is a '95 the Max would beat it, barely. Don't race any '89-'91 years they will problably spank you.

Mark

 

The only way I think that civic could have hit those numbers is with an engine swap with the engine being imported from japan and a huge a$$ turbo. My friend has an earlier civic with an imported V-tec(not sure what size exactly) from an integra type R or something. I raced him and I got the jump off the line but by 90 or so he was pulling ahead. It was neck and neck until he hit his governor at 110-115.

Anyways that is a fast civic and he put some money into that thing so if this Mike guy is running 11's I don't even want to know how much that costed.. If I wanted to drop $10k+ into my max I'm sure it would be fast as hell too.

 

I was doing some searching yesterday to find that article about Mike P, and I did, but he's been dethroaned. There is a guy that drives a 93 yellow civic that did the 1/4 mile in 10.73 @ 157mph (i think those are the numbers). Mike P alone put in like 20G in one year into the car. Loser lives with his parents, no girlfriend/boyfiend, and is like 24. Sweet cars though. Pretty sure they got integra engines though and definetely running turbo's. I think I saw an integra get a time in the 9's and a crx in the 7's. Damn fast 4 banger imports. Anyone know of fastest times for maxima's and/or 6 cylinders?