Quote:
Originally Posted by wcarson
Here's my take, after owning multiple air cooled car cars over the years:
-The sky in not falling!
-Those quoted prices are RIDICULOUS. Example- Shift coupler bushings for $585, brake hoses for over $1K, etc, etc ...!!!!!?????
-All of these cars need stuff. Your list of things to do are all very easy and DIY, except for the engine stuff. It's pure conjecture the engine needs a rebuild. Do a compression test and leak down on it. It could indeed have a broken head stud or 2. But that's not a huge deal to fix in the big scheme of things.
-If the car is rust fee, clean and straight with respect to paint and body- you likely bought the car pretty well at $51K. Definitely take it to anther shop, or better yet, spend some time learning how to do some of this stuff and enjoy brining the car up to snuff.
-The biggest thing is the engine. Have someone do a compression test, etc, and get a good feel for what's actually wrong.
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Agreed. I pulled out and put back in my shift coupling on teh sam 815 transmission you have last weekend. Took me less than an hour. the Stromski coupler (one of the best to get) is about $200 list price. If your car NEEDS a new shift coupling you cannot drive it boucle you cannot find a gear.
Also remember the old adage for air cooler ANYTHING (Airplanes, Porsche's, VW's) "if it's not leaking, it's out of oil." Most will drip a little. Clean up the case and engine bay well and see how bad it is. Also remember a little oil makes a big mess. I ache a really bad passenger valve cover gasket on a 964 motors, leaves 3-5 drips on the gage floor over night. That said the case is covered as a result, and every time I park it the car smells of burnt oil (it drops on the header).
I just did new brakes. Rebuilt calipers form PMB (the best at it) was $500, rotors, stainless lines, and you're stil under $1k (plus labor).
For the gauges, reach out to John Bell here. He built me customer gauges, does gauge rebuilds, is very reliable and reasonably priced.
If you car NEEDED all that work it would be underivable and you would be trailering it everywhere.