Hello,

I'm new here and could use some info regarding the purchase of the title mustang. I'm thinking of buying this horse, but it has 92,000 on the clock. It has a 5 spd and appears to be tight in all respects. Are there any issues I should be aware of regarding this model and year? 4.6 L 2-valve 5-spd rag-top with 92,000 miles.

Thanks in advance for your help

Charlie

Welcome! If that 4.6L has had reasonable care, 92,000 miles is not a lot. They are tried & true engines. While no slouch by any means, just don`t expect tons of power from them in their stock form. My advice is, if its a nice clean car, & the price is right, buy it & enjoy.

Be sure to post pics if you get it.

Thanks for the reply. My wife and I used to cruise around on our Harley Road Glide but health issues are taking a toll on me. Both of us enjoy the open air and decided that a convertible would be a good option.

As mentioned, these are overall very durable cars and assuming good care for those first 92K miles you can expect it to be problem free for many more.

Probably the only inherint or not uncommon issue these engines are prone to is timing chain guide wear or tensioner failure. The onset of symptoms is detectable by a rattling sound that lasts 1-2 seconds on a cold startup. These engines are "interference" style engines, meaning that if those components fail then pistons will make contact with valves and destroy the engine. In my experience though - and I've "known" more than a few of these 4.6's over the years via family member owned cars, good maintenance (regular oil changes being the cornerstone of that) and not overly abused it will never be an issue. Have personally seen these engines at 250K+ running smooth as butter and no timing chain related issues.

Don't know if you plan on modifying the car or keep it stock, but regardless of that one thing I recommend you look into is a short throw shifter even if that will be the only aftermarket part you ever install. There are many out there but Steeda or MGW would be my recommendations on that.

Thanks for the info about the timing chain tensioner. I've owned several mustangs. My first was a 1966 coupe I purchased from a co-worker back in 1968.
It was a 2 barrel 289 w/3spd on the floor. IT also had something I have not seen in another mustang. It had a bucket style bench seat. It also had the worse brakes ever installed in a mustang. I had a 1990 Fox Body Gt that I liked a lot but had to sell it due to difficult times but replaced it with an 1992 LX coupe 4-cyl. Good fuel milage is all that can be said there. Then, while my wife was working at Courtesy Ford, a chance to buy a new/used 1996 black GT with manual transmission came up. It was faster and tighter than my 1990 and I loved it, but it had to leave when we had another late life child. Kids,...

My guides and tensioners were shot at 150k...but when I first bought my car at 137k it had no noise. I would imagine anywhere between 125k-150k is where they tend to fail. Keep the oil changes regular.

The only other issues you may have are going to be interior wear, bushings needing replacement, and just normal used car stuff.

the 2004 has a lot of updates Ford made to the platform so you should be good there.

Brakes on your '66 couldn't have been any worse than the ones on my '67... Non power assist drums at all 4 corners. It will stop, but you have to really want it to lol. The bench seat was a very rare option, hard to come by those ones. Neighbor across the street when I was a kid had a '66 with that seat too, other than pictures in magazines or on the internet I think that's the only one I ever saw as well.

I had a 94 explorer for a couple of years. Way under powered. And then also two 97 F150's with 4.6L's. Good trucks but need a little more low end grunt for towing my boat.