Sometimes I don't know why we do it (long)

have had 4 mustangs in my life. My dad gave me his 66 6-cly 3-speed coupe for my first car in 1978. Since then I have owned an 84 GT Turbo, 94 GT coupe, and my latest,...94 green vert. I bought it for my 40th birthday. It had 135k on it, but I wasn't concerned with the mileage cause I knew I would replace things over the years until it was finished. It was dark green, the right year, and a vert. I couldn't pass it up. $5000 later it was mine March of 2003.
Right off I start modifying, and during my modifying I had to replace wear and tear parts too.
Mobil 1 oil change, full tune-up, radiator flush, injector flush, trans oil, diff oil, Accel Cap, wires, and rotor. Then some more serious stuff.

BBK offroad X-Pipe, flowmasters and equal length headers, then Cobra intake, 70mm TB, 76mm MAF and homemade CAI with K&N. the equal length headers burned the wire boots and burned through my clutch cable. I replaced both and wrapped the headers with header wrap. Next I put 355's, shocks, struts, lowering springs, upper and lower controll arms, caster camber plates, and welded kenny brown subframes. Then I had to replace the radiator, the alternator, fix a leaking AC line and the battery. Next came the 24lb injectors, FPR, 190lph fuel pump, and steeda tri-ax. Clutch went out and I got a King Cobra installed. My guy tells me he had to turn my flywheel 5 times to smooth it out. So I need one of those later. I had to buy a bra to cover the front bumper, which is peeling very badly. I didn't put the bonnet on the hood, just the cover for the bumper. I have had numerous exhaust leaks from the header bolts backing out on me. I painted the rear tail-lights black and got the black MUSTANG GT inserts for the rear bumper. I also painted the mirrors black too. I have rubbed steel wool on the front headlights to brighten them up and had to replace a reflector on the back right rear of my bumper.

Next came Crane ignition, and coil. After that I got some 2000 GT rims and put 255 front and 275 rear tires on them. I have washed, waxed and detailed with every different kind of product. I have at least 45 different bottles of stuff in my garage just for that car. I bought a tweecer for the idle problems I was having and because I thought I needed it for the Head, Cam swap I wanted to do later, but it's so confusing to me that I just copied someone else's program and upped the idle to 950 after 3 weeks of reading and searching for help with the damn tweecer.

Next I got some ported and polished GT 40 heads with hi-performance springs on them. Also, got some 1.7 RR, timing chain, and Steeda 19. Was going to get them installed all at once, but fate nailed me again. Transmission went out on the interstate. Had to get towed 127 miles and wait 8 days for Brother's to ship me a new TKO 500. While the car was waiting at the shop, they did the Head, Cam change, that new flywheel and BBK adjustable clutch cable with quadrant. I bought Stage 8 locking bolts to fix the exhaust leaks and my guy pulled the engine to work on everything, since he had a week to do it. Got it all done and installed, found out I can't use my Steeda Tri-ax, but it comes with a shifter, so I use the steeda handle and just mark down something else I need to buy and drove it home and next morning drove it to a job I was working about 150 miles from home. It strands me again. Apparantly, Brothers (who only deals with Mustangs) sent me a kit for the trans change (yoke and stuff), but didn't tell me I needed a new clutch fork from a 87-93 for it to work. I got it back to the shop by forcing it into 4th gear and riding it all the way. Ordered the clutch fork on Friday (locally), got it on Monday. They had to drop the trans again to install the new fork. While there I found out they had dropped my Mobil 1 oil change which was about 500 miles old so they could use the camshaft break-in oil for 100 miles, so I needed drain that gunk and get another Mobil 1 oil change.
I get all of it done and it's running great, like a bat out of hell........until......
one of the stage 8 locking bolts was to far from the header tube and can't lock. It's the passenger side rear bolt. So, the first time I jump on it the bolt which had worked out let loose and the new gasket blew. My guy has an extra and he puts it in with lock tite on it, but it doesn't seal and now my car sounds like the Stanford and Son truck going down the road. I have a header bolt with lock tite and need to replace the gasket on that side, but don't know what I can use to prevent the same thing happening again
I just know that the starter is about to go out and probably the water pump too. I haven't done any exterior stuff. I want a SVO hood, saleen front bumper, and a paint job. I also want the interior redone in leather. By the way, I had to replace the Clarion player I installed after I bought the car with a JVC and installed 4 Polk 5X9 speakers too. I guess I am just at the end of my rope with my car. I have sweated and cussed and spent so much cash, that I can't believe it now. I feel like selling it and using the money as a down payment on a 05 GT. Maybe it's a phase, but I just needed to vent and you guys are the best place for understanding what I've been through.

Thanks
 
Why are they using camshaft break in oil on a roller cam? All you use is regular oil, start her up and go. You do NOT do break in's for roller cams. A car like yours with some mileage on it is gonna start needing normal things like a water pump, a radiator or a starter. Those are normal wear items. Everyone has been there before where they wanna give up and buy a new faster car. I was dead set on an 03 cobra and taking out a loan. I called my ins company for a quote and they were like $6600. I'm 24 so I didnt think it was gonna be quite so high LOL no fuggin way!! I realized I dont wanna work just to support a car and thats exactly what i'd have to do. Sometimes what you gotta do is take some time away from the car. Thats what I did and the love sparked back up one day. I wouldnt mind a new mach 1 or an 03 cobra, but of course im gonna mod it and at $25k+ for the car, $6600 for insurance NOT including insurance for my beater + mods is just out right too much money! What im doing now is buying parts and saving money at the same time. I just bought a tremec tko tranny, blow proof bell housing, mcleod clutch and ALL the other stuff to do it right. That was about $2k in parts.
 
I spent 1800 on the tranny, 1500 in labor for the tranny, heads, cam, RR's and timing chain install. I just don't like the fact that at anytime my car can give me a 2 to 3 grand repair bill. It's frustrating. At least with the note, you know it's dependable. I've spent more than a note in the last year.
 
I have about $4500-5K in mine just on stuff I've replaced, and I haven't even gone into the motor yet. When it's all said and done though, I'll have a car built exactly to my liking, and I'll have confidence in it knowing I didn't try and take the cheap way out of anything. And it'll still have less money in it than an 03' Cobra, and possibly a Mach would cost. Everything except the longblock in my car's been replaced with brand new items. It's all part of the fun. Also, with my Folks owning a repair shop, I see it happen to everyone, even in brand new cars, monster repair bills on some of them for whatever reason. Can happen to any car at any time. All part of driving a car.
 
a list like that is kinda disheartening. but i also see all that stuff as time i get to work on my car and like somebody said above it'll be to my liking.

grn92lx i don't understand that at all. ur ins would be 6k for a secondary car? have you gotten a lot of tickets and/or accidents because that's just insane. I'm 18 and my ins would be at max 2k if i wasn't on a different car :D

btw, on my cardomain site i'm trying to keep an accurate list on every single part i by for the car, whether it be performance or wear and tear... hmm that gives me an idea to change the list into those two categories.
 
I figure I have dumped around 7-8k into mine...I bought it in 98 with 34k, it just turned 69k...knock on wood, mine has never broke or left me stranded...not once...i swapped about everything on the car...why?? because i can.... :D These things are just money pits....i think I finally have mine done...I actually have to look for things to waste money on....Truly a sickness...The thing runs, looks, drives sweet...yet i'm still looking for stuff to swap...W.T.F....

94greenvert..so you see, your not alone...although you have had your fair share on greif.... :bang:
i personally would buy anything but a Winter bomb with 135k on it...thats just asking for lots of replacement parts and stuff breaking, over and above normally modding you know your gonna do...

I pd 13k in 1998...dumped 7-8k on parts that have come and gone....but mine just got appraised at 30.5k....makes me feel somewhat better...even the wife asked if i'm finally done...I said no...I got some gears out in the garage to install.... :D
 
donjohn said:
grn92lx i don't understand that at all. ur ins would be 6k for a secondary car? have you gotten a lot of tickets and/or accidents because that's just insane. I'm 18 and my ins would be at max 2k if i wasn't on a different car :D

No, insurance for JUST an 03 cobra woulda been $6600 a year. Thats full coverage and with a $1000 deductable. You need full coverage on a car you take a loan out on. Dont forget, this is NY, EVERYTHINGS expensive here. Right now I pay about $3800 a year for 2 cars, my saturn and my mustang. I have a few tickets, only 1 or 2 that effect insurance though.
 
Look at it this way, average new car price for something descent is gonna run you 20k in my opinion. Thats 400 bucks a month, or 4800 a year. With 1.5 years of payments, you have enough money to put a brand new engine and tranny in your car. Another 1.5 you could add a blower and all the bolt ons. Your still cheaper than the brand new car, with something youre gonna enjoy driving a lot more. And right when you get done making your 5 years of payments, expect stuff to start breaking, as many components will be coming due to be fixed. Hell, with the 3 yr 36k warranty, people have normally burned that up in 2 years, so expect to pay for car repairs while youre still paying for your car.