Your thoughts please...

[Snake_Lover]

I am thinking of buying a white '85 svo. This will be my first svo so any help will be appreciated. The car has 126,000 give or take a few hundred miles. But the reason I haven't already bought the car is the fact that it has a miss from 3,000 rpm to about 4,200 rpm then it smoothes out. The guy only wants $1700 for the car and I just want to know if it is worth it, and what it would take to fix the problem.

Thanks

[richsvo]

Snake_Lover,

Buying an SVO is never a bad investment, (in my opinion). There is so much you can do to them, for so little money. You get a lot of bang for the buck. They are also a very reliable car, and most problems are easily fixed.

I mean, there are always those that you should stay away from, but they are usually obvious. I would just check the obvious things, or have a good mechanic check it out, and drive the car.

You will know if there is something wrong. You can find out the status of the car, and then ask the right questions (even here on the board) and know where you stand with it, and whether or not it is worth it to YOU!

Hope this helped...

Rich

[Snake_Lover]

I drove the car and it pulls hard the rest of the time. I asked him about it and he said he thouht it needed new injectors, but I believe that it probably needs new plugs and new exaust manifold gasket or at least that's what it sounds like.

[SVOeric]

If the body and interior is in good shape, it is worth that.

Even if you have to do a complete rebuild on the engine.

Altho, normally, these problems end up being little things. I would highly recomend a good tune up, with FORD parts before you start chasing any ghosts..

You should only NEED to replace the manafold if it is cracked... altho the E-6 flows a bit better than the stock E-3, and tends to be less prone to cracking too...

[svobud]

Just curious Snake Lover....who selling the car? Jason Bivens?

None of my SVOs ever had an exhaust manifold gasket. Could be a cracked manifold or loose elbow to downpipe connection.

Missing 'halfway' through the rpms is more than likely an ignition/timing problem than an injector. If it was to cut out on the very top - then you can include looking at a faulty injector. But, is it showing signs of detonation or just a 'miss'?

[Snake_Lover]

I'm going to look at it again but yeah the interior is in pretty good shape, it needs a paint job but it has never been wrecked. Oh yeah thanks for all the help, if anyone has anything else to add that's ok too.

[Ralphcobra]

questions

The car is probably not in need of an exhaust gasket as these motors run without them. Ralph

[Snake_Lover]

No it isn't Bivens, I think he said his name was John. I don't remember his last name I was still a little unsure about the car. I didn't know they didn't have exaust manifold gaskets, oh well learn something new everyday. Svobud you may be right about the ignition/timing problem, forgot about that. I believe it would be an easy fix.

[SVOeric]

As long as the car has good compression, it should be easy to fix..

Ralph: there is a chance someone replaced a manafold, and put a exhaust gasket on it...My car had a exhaust gasket on it when I got it.

Snake: if you are hearing something that sounds like a leak when you are romping on it, the problem may be as simple as loose intercooler hoses may need to be tightned..
or.. the turbo to exhaust manafold bolts may be loose, they are famous for working themselves loose!

But until you get the car, and tear into it, we are just guessing
SO GO GET IT!!

[Snake_Lover]

Hey Bud didn't you have like a 347 in your Cobra. I know a guy that used to go to Delk Performance alot and he used to talk about your car alot.

[Snake_Lover]

Thank you guys for all the help. I'll probably get it this week and start into it right away.

[svobud]

Originally posted by Snake_Lover
Hey Bud didn't you have like a 347 in your Cobra. I know a guy that used to go to Delk Performance alot and he used to talk about your car alot.

Yup - that's me. I still have the Cobra too. Don't drive it very much though - draws too much attention with it's lack of traction problems it has when you mash the gas

I would say - come on down to the Boro when you get that SVO - but I'm about to move out of town....in less than 2 weeks...

If you know Jason....you should give him a yell, he's pretty good at sortin out a SVO.

[Snake_Lover]

That sucks that you're moving, I've heard alot about that car and you as well. Is Delk still open, I haven't seen any of their ads in magazines or wheels and deals lately.

Yeah I know who Jason is I used to work at Calsonic where he used to work. I don't know if he would remember me or not but I can try to give him a call.

[svobud]

Delks are still open. They built a new shop right next to the new Nashville Super Speedway in Wilson Co. They even have a dyno now.

We (me and the Delks) don't see eye to eye on things anymore.....and, to keep from bad mouthing them on the internet..I'll just leave it at that.