The '91 Taurus SHO Project (Page 2)
Photos and writeup by Trevor Freeman.
August 27, 2008
The Taurus did not come with a steering column cover when we bought it, so we yanked the one from the Sable and painted it flat black.
September 7, 2008
While it's not a perfect match, the replacement steering column cover looks much better than nothing.
September 13, 2008
The Taurus came with an oil pressure and a voltage gauge in the glove box when we bought it. We picked up a universal triple gauge pod and started running wires for the dimmer switch.
September 27, 2008
We installed the plastic A-pillar covers from the Sable and painted them flat black. The gauges were wired into a switched 12-volt source in the fuse panel below the dash. We also installed a fog light switch that was purchased on eBay. We suspect the fuel pump is dead. Painted parts of engine bay gloss white.
October 12, 2008
Scored a set of hood struts from the local junkyard.
October 18, 2008
Started mocking up ideas for a center console out of scrap wood.
October 19, 2008
Cut out a custom switch panel from a sheet of aluminum with a jigsaw and a metal cutting blade.
October 26, 2008
Reinforced the center console with some additional pieces of wood. Wrapped the whole thing in automotive carpet using 3M spray adhesive and a staple gun.
December 7, 2008
Went to the trouble of dropping the gas tank and replacing the fuel pump, only to find out the pump was working fine all along. Another hard lesson learned (and $88 spent).
December 20, 2008
Decided to install the new fuel pump anyway. Also shown is the completed center console with the $20 leather shift boot I bought on eBay.
Conclusion
Although the Taurus SHO has a devoted fanbase, owning one is an exercise in tough love. A common joke is that you'll spend more time working on your SHO than you will driving it. In fact, it's surprisingly common to find die-hard enthusiast owners who have a second vehicle to pull parts from.
The first-generation Taurus SHO has a reputation for being unreliable, as we have come to learn. Over the past few months we have experienced dead batteries, complaints from the neighbors, and countless electrical problems.
The car stopped running one day and we never could get it going again. It wasn't getting fuel and refused to turn over even after replacing the fuel pump, checking the fuses, the inertia switch, and everything else we could think of.
We sold the Taurus for $500 bucks on January 10th, 2009. The $425 I sunk into it was my own money and does not include the $400 the other guys put into the car when we purchased it in June. We certainly learned a lot in our short time with the car and hope to focus our time and energy on another project later this year.
-Trevor Freeman
Created: 11 October 2008
Revised: 15 January 2009, 21 February 2010