Great story and well documented. My 2006 GT Premium has 168,300 miles currently. When I purchased it from a dealer in November 2013 it had 147,500 miles so I'm only averaging 4,100 miles a year.
I too have the corrosion problem under the hood but have installed a Mustang Bug Guard from AM which not only hides the corrosion but serves a useful purpose. The car looked great from 30 feet but the paint was faded and the hood had a number of scratches. The interior however was in very good condition but in need of some TLC.
After I bought the car I detailed it myself using Griot's Garage products and their 6" Orbital Polisher. After washing the car I clay barred the car to get rid of all of the embedded surface dirt, polished the paint with Machine Polish #2 and #3 and then sealed the paint with Griot's Paint Sealant all done with the Orbital Polisher. The following spring I cleaned the very dirty engine and engine bay with Griot's Engine Degreaser and protected it with Griot's Engine Dressing. I cleaned the interior with Griot's Interior Cleaner and treated the leather seats with Griot's Leather Restorer.
Mechanically the throttle body was caked with black carbon causing a horrible hesitation. We cleaned the throttle body with carb cleaner and installed a new serpentine belt. The hesitation problem was immediately fixed!
Over the years I have done a lot of preventive and necessary maintenance on the car including a full tune-up with new sparks plugs, spark plug wires, 8 new MSD Coil Paks (after 2 of the originals had gone bad), new tie rods, new ceramic brakes and rotors and a BG Brake System Flush. A BG Fuel Injector treatment was done to clean up the induction system and I add a BG Fuel System Cleaner with my oil changes. At every other gas fillup I add 8oz. of Lucas Fuel Injection Cleaner which lubricates the valves and gives the engine smoother performance. I replaced the shocks and struts with heavy duty Monroe shocks and struts. Of course one of the first things I did was to replace all four of the half worn out tires with 4 new 19" Goodyear Eagle RSA all season tires. The dealer had switched the original 17" wheels for 19" wheels off of a 2010 Mustang GT. This makes the car appear much newer than a typical 2006 Mustang. I did switch out the original mufflers for a set of Bullitt Mufflers from a 2009 Mustang Bullet. It gives the car a more throaty exhaust sound!
I've had a number of BG Services done to the cooling system, automatic transmission, AC, brakes, power steering system and had a new 130 AMP Alternator installed to replace the original. A new, high output Interstate Battery was installed 2 years ago. I replaced the peeling black perforated door panels with red suede padded inserts done by an upholstery professional. It changes the whole look of the interior and makes it look amazingly upscale!
I've kept the car stock except for some engine dress up items from AM. I bought a custom fitted car cover from a friend of mine to keep the car protected, mostly in the spring when we have a lot of seed buds falling from the trees.
I've won numerous awards at a number of competitive car shows and people simply do not believe the condition of this car especially when they hear that it has more than 168,000 miles!
One funny note. In April 2014 my Mustang Club had it's monthly meeting at a restaurant not too far from the dealership that I bought the car. I stopped there earlier before our meeting and they didn't recognize the car! Their mechanic swore that I had replaced the engine as it looked brand new!
I too have the corrosion problem under the hood but have installed a Mustang Bug Guard from AM which not only hides the corrosion but serves a useful purpose. The car looked great from 30 feet but the paint was faded and the hood had a number of scratches. The interior however was in very good condition but in need of some TLC.
After I bought the car I detailed it myself using Griot's Garage products and their 6" Orbital Polisher. After washing the car I clay barred the car to get rid of all of the embedded surface dirt, polished the paint with Machine Polish #2 and #3 and then sealed the paint with Griot's Paint Sealant all done with the Orbital Polisher. The following spring I cleaned the very dirty engine and engine bay with Griot's Engine Degreaser and protected it with Griot's Engine Dressing. I cleaned the interior with Griot's Interior Cleaner and treated the leather seats with Griot's Leather Restorer.
Mechanically the throttle body was caked with black carbon causing a horrible hesitation. We cleaned the throttle body with carb cleaner and installed a new serpentine belt. The hesitation problem was immediately fixed!
Over the years I have done a lot of preventive and necessary maintenance on the car including a full tune-up with new sparks plugs, spark plug wires, 8 new MSD Coil Paks (after 2 of the originals had gone bad), new tie rods, new ceramic brakes and rotors and a BG Brake System Flush. A BG Fuel Injector treatment was done to clean up the induction system and I add a BG Fuel System Cleaner with my oil changes. At every other gas fillup I add 8oz. of Lucas Fuel Injection Cleaner which lubricates the valves and gives the engine smoother performance. I replaced the shocks and struts with heavy duty Monroe shocks and struts. Of course one of the first things I did was to replace all four of the half worn out tires with 4 new 19" Goodyear Eagle RSA all season tires. The dealer had switched the original 17" wheels for 19" wheels off of a 2010 Mustang GT. This makes the car appear much newer than a typical 2006 Mustang. I did switch out the original mufflers for a set of Bullitt Mufflers from a 2009 Mustang Bullet. It gives the car a more throaty exhaust sound!
I've had a number of BG Services done to the cooling system, automatic transmission, AC, brakes, power steering system and had a new 130 AMP Alternator installed to replace the original. A new, high output Interstate Battery was installed 2 years ago. I replaced the peeling black perforated door panels with red suede padded inserts done by an upholstery professional. It changes the whole look of the interior and makes it look amazingly upscale!
I've kept the car stock except for some engine dress up items from AM. I bought a custom fitted car cover from a friend of mine to keep the car protected, mostly in the spring when we have a lot of seed buds falling from the trees.
I've won numerous awards at a number of competitive car shows and people simply do not believe the condition of this car especially when they hear that it has more than 168,000 miles!
One funny note. In April 2014 my Mustang Club had it's monthly meeting at a restaurant not too far from the dealership that I bought the car. I stopped there earlier before our meeting and they didn't recognize the car! Their mechanic swore that I had replaced the engine as it looked brand new!
