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 bringing 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.
|
100% the sky is not falling.
Those prices are crazy high.
I wouldn't pin it on the seller and I definitely wouldn't judge anything off that PPI "estimate".
You need to find another air cooled owner, someone local, that gets their hands dirty on weekends and go through that estimate list.
I think getting a PPI after purchase is just dangerous, especially with the terrible "estimates" people get from shops taking advantage of people who may not be mechanical or have air cooled knowledge...
I mean, if you are driving the car and it's leaking oil on the garage, well....that is pretty typical.
I have spoken to many shops through the years, and it's been documented on the forums - some PPIs don't inspect for broken head studs, and maybe that's changed in the past few years, as it's a known issue now with these cars ageing, so sadly as many of us have found out, a lot of owners drive around for years with 1,2, or more broken head studs.
The 86 911 I just drove to get pet food in, I bought off eBay, sight unseen, flew in a drove it home across country. No PPI just a ton of photos and a bit of chatting with the seller...it was very well maintained, had a ton of records, leaked some oil and had well over 150,000 miles on it at the time. It had issues, for sure, but I am still driving to this day, 10 years later(car was in storage for a few years here and there) with 1 verified broken head stud (might be 2 at this point - afraid to check-ha?). A few years ago I fixed the triangle of death, engine in, on a Saturday watching college football for under $100 dollars. Had never done it before and really only used diagrams and the forums for guidance and advice. You can do a lot of this stuff yourself if you are somewhat mechanical AND it can be done over time.
These engines and cars are crazy durable.
As others have stated some engine work, top end as an example, is a shop project and I would say you could do most of the suspension work yourself but of course pressing in bushings, and things like alignments are also shop worthy tasks.
Get Bruce Andersons book, Waynes book and have a coffee, wine, beer, and sit down on a rainy day and address your line items from the PPI one at a time and do a Google search per part and repair - I think you will find that "huh, a lot of this isn't that bad".
I think the head stud issue (if true) should be addressed first, BUT you really need to read up, take some notes and find out what they are telling you is legit, or just a money grab.
Take a deep breath, embrace the advice given here in your thread, and figure out, hopefully with good advice, what your very first mechanical project should be, then over time, move on to the next project.
For context, I am building a spare 3.2 to a 3.4 with all the upgrades, new exhaust system and upgrading my suspension and my price is nowhere near your estimate. I have a shop that lets me bring in my research and search for sales and better prices on parts. I also have done some of the breakdown and work myself. These shops do exist you just have to find one. They text me photos of everything and I have gone down there and had coffee and met the staff for informal lunches. I hope you have the same luck.
The post I quoted is very on point.
One thing at a time and you will be fine.
Erik