$12,586 to replace the suspension pan? Did I pay to much?

[Newbie911]

Howdy all,

I brought my car down to a shop that specializes in air cooled german cars. I sent him pictures of the car before I brought it down and we talked about what needed to be done.

He gave me a price to do the metal work I was looking to have done. He told me it would be around $25,000. Besides the front end I needed the windshield frame replaced, rear fender flares added and the rear torsion tube swapped out.

The front end looked like it had taken a little hit at some point, if you looked real close. It was rusted out but it wasn't smashed by any means.

So the shop replaced the suspension pan, front latch support panel, gas tank support panel, battery tray, front inner fender corner, and a portion of the support bracket that's part of the battery tray.

I also sent him the car disassembled and had it acid dipped and e-coated. The spot welds were super easy to see.

I was charged $12,586 for those repairs.

Does that seem right? From what I've been told it a super common and relatively easy area to repair.

Thanks for reading my post and I look forward to your advice.

[mepstein]

Is the acid dip and e-coat included in the $12k.

[PTRL HD]

That's a lot of work to have done. $12k sounds very reasonable

[47silver]

Parts= 4k?
Leaves 85 labor at 100 per hour. Seems reasonable.

[Ryan_Cunningham]

I think that's reasonable. Most shops around here are charging $150/hr now.

[Newbie911]

The work looks good I'm just wondering if that looks like it took 106hr to complete. It's $120 a shop hour.

[Veeveessees]

$12k sounds very reasonable considering the work done.

[Newbie911]

No I supplied the sheet metal. They just did the labor.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

The work looks truly professional but this is not a that big of a job. I would say given the quality of the work, be happy with it, the most expensive work done is low quality. Any additional work, get a detailed explanation of what will be done and how long it will take.

Pre-bubble, this was a $4K job for labor alone if memory serves, but that was a long time ago now.

[Jeff Higgins]

What would you do if everyone here told you that was "too much"? Not that it was, we all seem to agree that it was a reasonable amount for that kind of work, but what exactly would you do?

[Newbie911]

To answer Jeff I'm just seeing if this was a good price. I just don't want to over pay. I agree the work looks professional.

[shoooo32]

A few years ago I would have said $12k was insane. Now...

Anyone pick up welding gas lately? I almost choked.

[Zeke]

I have done all of that and more doing a rustoration on a '71 911 S. My billable hours totalled 88. Going over the list, I see flares at 8 hours welded, not metal finished to paint ready. That's the painter's job. Windshield surround another 8 hours, give or take, probably take. All front end work 16 to 20 hours. Torque tube with all supports 8 to 12 hours depending on fixtures available.

So, grand total of max hours: 48, with some allowance. There must be more to the job than you say. Or they bill every hour, not just my billable hours. If I'm fussing with the welder, unboxing parts, or lifting the car I'm not on the clock. There is a difference. I have to have my hands ON THE CAR to charge time.

If the car was not straight or had previous work done, you could reasonably doubled the time for those areas. So there you are.

I agree that the work looks very nice. I'd like to see the rest of the work. Installing a new torque tube can involve a lot of parts and many of those are normally pretty rusty. I think more work was done than described.

BTW, I'm retired.

[mb911]

Looks like it was well done. If that’s the going rate I guess it’s time for me to start doing these jobs. It finally makes sense for me to throw my hat in the ring. I just did a set of GT flares on a 914 this past week. Fully TIG welded not metal finished 20 hours all in.

[Aurel]

Let us put it this way: what you paid for your suspension pan repair is more than what I paid for my complete running rust free 911SC targa in 2001 .

[3rd_gear_Ted]

My race car back to the street entailed fitting my large oil cooler behind a new IROC front end.
No oil line clearance and air flow was the issue.
So, I just had the front oil cooler sheet metal mod provided by Elephant racing installed in the same area of the tub as you had reworked.
I paid $500 for a body shop to do the work. Layout, cut & riveted installation

Resto work vs a modification is the difference. YMMV

https://www.elephantracing.com/porsche/911/oil-cooling-for-911/oil-cooler-ducting/