Sad day - had to trade in my hot rod...

[jamesqf]

Well, there's the ruptured radiator too, so that's what, another couple of hundred?

[Bullockracing]

I'm out of town, no garage, so I have to pay labor, including some head milling... Plus a cracked intake (sorry plastic junk), so that was everything fixed out the door. They had me by the proverbial you know the rest...

Radiator $345
Intake $300
Head work $1400 or new ones $1500
Plus coolant and recycling charges $175
Plus labor = $3100 - $3400 give or take..

If it happened in my driveway it would be very different...

[Frank Lee]

Ah yes, it stinks to have trouble out on the road.

[jamesqf]

Cost of shipping/trailer rental?

[ATaylorRacing]

[QUOTE=jamesqf;88738]"...but at 107K miles, the maintenance was getting too much."

Says something about Detroit, doesn't it? QUOTE]

Depends on the driver, car, and conditions. My 84 drag raced Horizon has over 268,000 H A R D miles on it and if it was not drag raced should be on its original drivetrain. I traded a 212,000 mile base motored and drag raced 12 second Neon in on my 05 SRT4 Neon. My SRT4 has over 50,000 miles while some of my friends have over 300,000 on theirs. My son parted out a 87 Chrysler mini van with over 400,000 miles when the tranny finally broke the differential. And...my American made (thanks local 92 in Canada!) Geo 1 ltr had over 152,000 miles on it when I bought it last July and now has an extra 10,000 on it after not being driven fromj Nov until Feb due to conditions. The Geo needed only a radiator, plug wires, cap and rotor. Thursday it will go on a nearly 800 mile round trip to deliver 2 sets of Mustang rims that have tires mounted on them...an extra 400 lbs one way!

[ATaylorRacing]

Originally Posted by Bullockracing

Yep - head gasket developed a leak between the combustion chamber and the cooling jackets --> exhaust gas pressurized cooling system and ruptured radiator. Probably due to the heat expansion difference between the aluminum heads and iron block, but may be related to being drag raced and autocrossed occasionally... I have been religious about recurring maintenance, so I think it was an anomaly.
...

If you took out the thermostat and drilled a couple of holes in it there isn't that shock from the rapid temp differences when it opens up. Mitsus had a thermostat like this in the 90s. I have always done this on my race cars and only my Mitsu powered 3.0 Sundance had the same problem (I should have drilled another hole in it) you had. I also use an electric water pump to cool down the coolant temps after runs. When you shut off a motor is when the coolant temp gets way too high.

[getnpsi]

bummer to see a stang go away with such low miles, but im not going to question any judgement. You have a teenage son, you're not a 'kid' yourself.

im the kind of guy who would brag on the mustang forums about scoring a 107k miles mustang that just needs headwork and some stock takeoff pieces to get it going again. im sure that car will be back on the road making someone happy.

[malibuguy]

pfft, its a ford, your lucky you got that far

[Frank Lee]

I have a Ford with 270,000m on it. Good car.

[getnpsi]

my father had a tempo and we sold it running with over 220k on it...gutless wonder, good car.