High Mileage Mustang
 

I've got a 97' Mustang GT Convertible with almost 61,000 miles on it. Would it be worth my while to rebuild the engine and tranny, or is seeking 5 more years out of it unrealistic?

61000 miles is NOT high mileage. In fact, that's low mileage for that car (15000 miles per year being avg). There's absolutely no reason at all to have to rebuild the engine or transmission unless the previous owner was hard on the car and tore it up. If the tranny is giving you problems it would probably need a rebuild. But the engine should be just fine. What problems are you having with the car?

A hard run 4.6 may blow a little oil smoke at around 110,000 miles. At around 125,000 miles the pistons sometimes give up, mainly #7 or #8. Just my experience with the 4.6.

I'd say "if it ain't broke don't fix it"...unless you want to do the headswap thingy...

I wouldn't even think about a rebuild till the 100,000 marker. That is what I am looking at and I have 73k on my 96 and it run like it is almost new.

I'll say a well taken care of 4.6 with the all the routine maintainance taken care of should run to 200,000 miles without mjor overhauls of major components. No joke. Newer cars run forever. Hell, even my friend's '89 4-cylinder LX 'vert has 220,000 on the clock and runs good so I would expect a better designed engine like the 4.6 to surpass my friends 4-banger 'Stang.