The Mustang has been in the shop since around 5/12/2008 and I just got it back on 6/20/2008. I got an alignment done ($69.99) while I only had her out for two days to attend the Summit Point event. Needless to say, I missed her a lot.
So you must be curious about why we were separated for so long. Well, there are a few things wrong with Natalie. The original reason I took her to see the doctor was she burst a radiator line after some spirited driving. Also her serpentine belt was split in two, the headlights didn’t work, after the Summit Point drift event her speedometer was not working, she needed a locked differential or spool, and her parking brake was broken. There was nothing majorly wrong except the radiator hose. The first mechanic kept her for about 1 week and only replaced the radiator line; the second mechanic had her for the next 4, almost 5 weeks and only replaced the turn signal indicator because of a bad relay that was causing the headlights not to come on. Neither one of the mechanics charged us any money. As soon as Heather picked her up she went and got a new serpentine belt ($31.47) and had Dobbin Auto Service install it ($39.06). DAS rocks, it’s run by a bunch of Koreans and they do some damn good work and they are so polite and don’t cost an arm and a leg. I think they will be my new mechanics if they do performance upgrades.
After almost 6 weeks of neglect it was time for Natalie to get some attention. Saturday I tore into her with a vengeance trying to make up for all those weeks she sat underneath another car being dripped on with many oily substances. She had already had a bath on Friday to remove all the filth from the mechanic’s shop so she was ready to be cleaned on the inside. I decided it was time to remove the interior. Heather started off the afternoon helping me but she grew tired of it after about 30 minutes and retired for the evening. I worked on her until late in the evening getting every last piece of carpet, paneling, plastic, and screw that was not necessary to drive the car. LOL. It was fun. My hands are all cut up from the plastic and the sharp edges of the metal behind the plastic and I am so sore from all the strange positions I was in. I’m a big guy in a little car; it’s not easy finding a good angle to work on a bolt or screw. I stripped out a total of 104.4 pounds! Here are before and after pictures.
BEFORE
That button where your left knee goes is the horn. LOL. I hit it every time I rolled the window up or down.
DURING
YOU CAN SEE HOW ANGRY MY MECHANIC GOT AFTER SEEING HOW OTHER MECHANICS DO BUSINESS (KEEPING SOMEONE’S BABY FOR WEEKS ON END). DON’T PISS HIM OFF!
AFTER
The broken parking brake.
TOTAL SPENT: $3,826.31 + $104.52 = $3,966.83
TOTAL SPENT OVER COST OF VEHICLE ($2,600.00): $1,366.83
TOTAL WEIGHT: 2,745 POUNDS – 104 POUNDS = 2,641 POUNDS
TOTAL WEIGHT DIFFERENCE FROM STOCK (2,827 POUNDS): -186
Edward L Thompson's Blog 