new 1/8/03, updated 2/18/03, 4/03/03, 5/2/03, 12/24/2003,1/6/2004,1/8/2004,1/11/2004
Tim-
I just got back from my cam weld at Rickety in Canfield, OH. Eric started at 8:30 am today and finished a little before 3:00 pm. He runs a small shop and they specialize in SHOs (mostly V6). He is a welder and fabricator by trade and I was impressed with his knowledge of the top end of the V8 motor. He has done about a dozen cam welds and is quite proficient at them. He does two beads per sprocket, 180 degrees apart and approximately 3/4" long. He uses a MIG. He charges $450 for the weld labor. Add $120 for valve cover gaskets and plug well seals (if you need/want to change them) plus actual cost of oil and filter (or bring your own like I chose to do). If you change the gaskets and bring your own oil and filter, the bill will come to just over $600 with tax. While he welded, he let me use his parts washer to clean off the intake runners and any other parts that were removed for the weld job. I highly recommend Eric and Rickety Engineering for anyone in Ohio and surrounding states. I took some digital pictures of the welds and will send them to anybody who wants to see them.
Erik Stumph
97 SF
92,000 miles and WELDED as of 1.5 hrs ago
4/01/03
I just had my cams welded by Rickety Enterprise Eric did a fine job and I would like to thank you for having him on your list of specialists. My name is Frank Zingales. I own a 1997 SHO vin#1FALP54N5VA279657 AND I JUST SPENT 930.00 WITH AN EXTENDED WARRANTY!!! Let me know if I can help.
Well I have enough info to enroll you in the class action law suit. I assume that was your intention?
& I will add something to FAQ about your experience.
Many thanks,
Timothy
Yes that is my intention, thank you! I did not put my vehicle history down I personally have owned the car for a year & 1/2 and all together have put $3000 into it includes tires, egr stuff, brakes, ect. I bought the car for $10,000 w/48,000 mi. I now have 78,000 mi. I DO drive a lot and enjoy what the SHO offers me AND I would like to keep it that way.
Thanks, Frank
New 5/2/03
I just got my SHO back today. I had the cams welded by Eric at Rickety Enterprises. The engine always made a ticking noise. On the previous Saturday it got really loud. I called Eric and he told me if possible to have the car towed. I had the car towed on Monday. He told me that he already had a SHO in his garage and that he might not be able to get to it until next week. I told him it was kind of urgent because I really did not have another car to drive. He had it done for me today. I thanked him for getting it back to me so soon. When I arrived at his garage he had two 89 Shos outside. I went in and he had a 93' up on his rack. I was amazed. I guess I don't get out much because I've never seen that many SHOs at one time. I fired the car up and there was no ticking anymore. What a relief. I highly recommend Eric. He has a small shop in Canfield, OH near Youngstown. The car runs great and I am no longer paranoid.
Mike Murphy
99' Black
Amy- (and to whomever is in this boat).
see Question About Cam Welding
I must say that YES- being from Cleveland (Twinsburg), I picked Eric from Rickety because he was a mere 45 minutes down the road in Canfield, OH (near Youngstown). Yes, he does a GREAT job! Mine's been welded for almost 3 weeks now and it runs like new!!! He looks at EVERYTHING underneath your hood- and does NOT cut corners. Yes, he'll put back the REAL Fud (Motorcraft) parts- and you can even choose from an assortment of GOOD oils (dino or synth). He'll even give you the choice of synth. ATX fluid or the Ford original ATX fluid... He loves the SHO, is very experienced, and is a SHOCLUB member and is very knowledgeable about the car. That's ALL he works on.
So, good choice picking him. Remember, you do get what you pay for- and if you want to KEEP your lovely SHO, $620 is NOTHING compared to $13,000 for a nearly-impossible-to-find new engine!
I believe we have already had a 'welding engineer' look at the cams and give proper suggestions about how to weld properly. John Hamilton is a welder at a power plant where the certification and skill required is 2nd to none. He put the cams through several test and came up with suggestions. I believe most of the reputable V8 SHO welders (I can't believe I am calling Kirk reputable, I think I need a shower ;-)) use that information to weld.
If you want to keep re-inventing the wheel, go right ahead but as soon as I get a Gen 3 SHO, the 1st stop will be at a welding shop.
Paul L Fisher
8/25/03
Hello! I had my cams welded over the weekend by Eric at Rickety! Car sounds great, Eric did some other work for me as well. Great guy! He also made suggestions of some other parts that I may want to replace soon and even showed my husband where they were and that he could probably do it himself.
I live in Bucyrus, Ohio which is about 2 1/2 hours from Canfield and approx. 140 + miles. I drove the car home and then back to work again this morning which is about 70 miles one way from my home. The trip to Canfield for Eric's experience and knowledge was well worth the drive, even though it was my 7th wedding anniversary, I spent over 6 hours traveling yesterday alone. I am really pleased with the work that Eric at Rickety and would suggest that others in the same situation go to him for your CAM welding and other repairs.
My total cost was $751, which is a small price to pay when compared to the cost if the cams would have come completely loose.
Amy Myers 1996 Taurus SHO cams welded
Just To let everyone know, I just had alot of serious work done to my 96 ES at Rickety's in Canfield Ohio. This was one of the best mechanical experiences I have come across yet. In addition to replacing my engine, Eric welded my cams and changed my sub-frame bushings and ball joints which were completely shot. I have my car back now and with the new engine and the cam welds runs stronger than I have ever seen it. I have no fear about driving it like I stole it. I can honestly say I was a fool to not have my cams welded
in the first place.
If anyone in the Ohio area needs serious work done with their SHO I would Highly recommend taking it to Rickety's.
Justin Brown
96 ES
OK I have to jump in on this one. As I am sure most of you know, I just had engine work done at
Rickety. Cams welded, new used engine installed, and so on and so forth.
This is very odd. I believe it was Paul who wrote in reply to this about the 96's getting old and seeing more unsuspected problems
soon; However, My used Engine is a 98 with 115 thousand miles. Not two days after having it from the shop, it brings up a SES light. I call Rickety, they say, NO PROBLEM, drive the car, it is a sensor fouling out. I think, well the guy just put the engine, he knows what he is talking about. Day after that a blinking SES light, I call again, he says I told you
yesterday, its a sensor, keep driving it. Third day, the car dies on the side of the road. Ripped FPR. I Change that, call rickety to verify
everything was cool, started the car, and, clackclackclackclack, well you get the idea.
Very odd to me how I have a new/used engine put in and three days later I am no better off than the day I took my car to
Rickety's with the exact same clacking noise and he advised me to get a replacement engine.
Now is it just me, or does this seem very odd? I have talked to Rickety, he will look at it, but I will still be charged labor and whatnot for the repair. For what I have put into this car, I could have bought two or three
SHO's LOL.
Also, sorry for the novel, My local mechanic took a stethoscope to it and said he is sure it is a valve train noise. He says it is too light to be a rod-knock, however, when I get under the car I can feel a knock through the cat with the same speed of the clack. I don't know. I give up.
Justin Brown
It should be noted that as far as I know, Justin purchased a used engine. As such there are normally no warranties given in such circumstances. Rickety has been recognized as doing excellent work and I'm sure that they will find a way to resolve this situation to both parties satisfaction.
U.L.
Rickety Cam Weld Experience
I had my '98 SHO's cams welded at about 52,000 miles by Rickety in May '03. There was a tornado outbreak that weekend, plus Jezebel (so named for her CarFax) threw some IAC (or is it IAS?) fits that caused Eric a couple days of aggravation double-checking everything related to the engine. He cleaned the IAC and Jezebel runs better than ever. Eric did excellent work and was very thorough, pleasant, and professional in spite of the weather and the additional demands on his time.
For people who don't want to deal with urban traffic or crime, Eric's location is in a suburb of Austintown or Canfield, there's no traffic problem, and you can conveniently rent a car at Enterprise in Austintown if you need one.
Amy Sheetz
'98 black
I am pretty new to the list and I wasn't sure if this qualified as a cam failure to add to the official count. If it is, let me know if you need any other information.
I bought my SHO about a month ago and I just got my cams welded. At this time it was discovered that one of my cam shafts had been replaced. This was done prior to me buying the car. I got my cams welded at Rickety and he said that one of his mechanics also works at a local ford dealer and that he had seen the car that I had bought a few months prior. I guess the old owner brought it in with running problems (I don't know further details) and they took the engine apart and gave the owner an estimate. I guess the owner decided not to fix anything and had them put the engine back together. I purchased the car from a dealer who had purchased the car wholesale from a ford dealer. The only history that the dealer I purchased from knew about the car is that it was a trade-in. I would assume that the ford dealer replaced the cam shaft.
I am very happy to now have the cams welded so that I don't have to worry about the cams breaking.
Lisa
To add to my previous email regarding my experience with Eric at Ricketys he also looked over the whole car for me and fixed some other problems that he found. I not owned the car for long before I took it to him and didn't know its maintenance history. Since I left the car there while I went out of town, he kept all the old parts that he had replaced, so that I could see that they were in need of replacement. He also put the car on the lift and went over everything that he had repaired. He also pointed out things that don't need to be fixed right now, but that I should keep an eye on. Overall, it was a very pleasant experience.
I did originally subscribe to the V8 list with a separate screen name. Gotta love the multiple names that you can get with AOL! :-)
Thanks for the welcome!
Lisa
update 6/23/05
-----Original Message-----
From: BBIFFG@aol.com
To: Larry@v8sho.com Sent:
Thu, 23 Jun 2005 00:15:39 EDT
Subject: cam weld
Please post this info or let me know how to do it/ Eric in Canfield Ohio did my cam weld last week and it was tremendous/ he is priced right and does work like it was his car/ I could not recommend him at any higher level/ if you need it done this is your man/ his # is 330 717 4090 or 330 270 0460/
respectfully
Bob Galasso
---Dayton Ohio