The Ford Taurus SHO’s 60-degree V8 was brilliant and utterly bizarre – Jalopnik

In the pantheon of strange, problem-ridden V8s, the Ford Taurus SHO 60-degree V8 stands tall. It may not reach the same clumsy heights as the Triumph Stag (and almost Saab 99) V8, but the SHO V8 did combine stellar engineering, a terrible design choice and an unacceptably high failure rate. Before we get into the nitty gritty, though, a little Super High Output history (that’s what SHO stands for, by the way): In 1989, the first generation SHO wowed buyers with a Yamaha-designed 3.0-liter V6 that produced 220 horsepower and 200 lb-ft of torque. That was enough to send the SHO to 60 in 6.7 seconds, just 0.4 seconds behind the E28 BMW M5.

Through 1991, SHOs were manual transmission only, because Ford rightly believed that if you wanted a performance car, you had to learn to drive your own gears. In 1993, the second generation Tauri received an optional automatic transmission for SHO models. If you opted for that gearbox, first of all, shame on you, and second, you get a 3.2-liter version of the Yamaha V6 with 215 lb-ft to make up for the parasitic greed of the slushbox. For 1996, the third generation of the Taurus SHO, Ford wanted something special: a SHO V8.

Ford and Yamaha decided to base this new V8 on the Contour’s 2.5-liter Duratec V6, which was useful as a cost-saving measure as many parts and designs could be shared. In addition, Ford and Yamaha used an aluminum block and structural aluminum oil pan, making the V8 lighter than the old iron-block SHO V6. The heads were equipped with counter-current cooling, the ignition system with ignition coil on the spark plug did not require a distributor and the exhaust manifolds were made of molybdenum with a high silicon content. All this said, the 60-degree V-angle adopted from the Contour’s V6 made everything far more complex than it needed to be.

To keep this unholy 60-degree V8 running as smoothly as physics would allow, Ford and Yamaha gave it split crankpins to put the pistons in the right location for even firing intervals. It’s the same technology Lamborghini used in its 90-degree 5-liter V10. While this takes care of the primary vibrations, Ford and Yamaha still had to add a balance shaft to eliminate secondary vibrations, kind of like an inline-four. It apparently worked, as road tests at the time commented on the engine’s smoothness. As a bonus, Taurus V8 engines can sound pretty good too.

If any development time was saved by copying the design of the Duratec 2.5-liter, it was likely undone not only by the 60-degree angle, but also by production complications. The engine was designed by Cosworth and produced by Ford’s Canadian Windsor engine factory. But instead of actually assembling the engines there, Ford shipped the engines to Yamaha in Japan. After Yamaha assembled the engines, they were shipped to Atlanta, Georgia, for installation in Taurus SHOs.

After all the effort it took to produce a narrow-angle V8, and the resulting problems, what did Ford get? The third-generation Taurus’ 3.4-liter 60-degree V8 made 235 hp and 230 lb-ft. That’s an increase of just 15 for both metrics over the previous generation’s 3.2-liter V6. Furthermore, perhaps the biggest tragedy in this story, the third-generation Ford Taurus SHO was only available with a four-speed automatic transmission. Motorweek recorded a ho-hum 7.3 second 0-60 a ’97 SHO:

By 1999, the Ford Taurus SHO V8 was dead. The SHO finally returned in 2010, with an EcoBoost twin-turbo V6 and all-wheel drive. Perhaps even more surprising was that the 60-degree V8 managed its own resurrection. In 2005, Volvo, then owned by Ford, turned to Yamaha to manufacture a 60-degree V8 for the Volvo XC90 and S80. That engine also ended up in Noble M600s, where it was turbocharged up to 650 hp. Despite the similarities with the SHO V8, such as bore spacing, stroke and that 60 degree V-angle, they are completely different engines. Since 60-degree V8 engines seem to hate their own existence, Volvo’s V8 naturally suffers from reported balance shaft failures.