Was rooting around in the "donated 1974 2.0 and found a bill in the center console from 12/99.

The guy spent $2000 on clutch, tranny R&R with new seals, shifter bushings, etc. at one of the local P-car shops. One known for charging a lot.

When I swap motors I guess I will swap trannys too. Actually, it will make it easier to leave the tranny on the motor.

dr

i spent $2500 on my tranny rebuild ...

Little reality check ??

It costs money to own a nice 914.

I can show reciepts for 30K plus in a 1973 2.0 restoration.

I know a lot of shops "known" to be high.. you know what ?? They have to make money and keep the doors open. They do great work... and there is a reason why they have been around for 28 years with a clientele of over 500 regular customers.


B

My transaxle redo was also 2.5k

The parts that seem extreme to me (because I remember when) are mostly trim items, lenses.. dash being most obvious, and some of the suspension parts.

Obviously, there are alot more 'pretending to be nice' 914s than great ones out there.


M

I have a hard time explaining to people that Porsche sets the prices on the parts (unless they are after market crap parts). When Porsche raises their prices on parts... the retailer has to raise his. Right now the dollar is SUCKING ASS against the Euro... guess what... higher Porsche parts prices for us.


B

The receipts on the ebay 914/6 motor totalled over 10K......this guy got bent over and done hard....

Give us the exact break down and lets go over the bill.

No matter what I do.. a 3.0 rebuild will cost 10k to build properly (NO F_ING LABOR)... just parts/machine work/cams/


B

Is it a nice motor? "Bent over" is a relative term. Yeah, you know..



M

My point was that the guy gave this car away, literally.

I know what it costs to maintain a p-car, maybe he didn't.

dr

Sorry.. I knew what you meant. It wasnt an attack. I just want people reading this thread to understand what some of this costs. You probably have 15k or so in your silver car right now (if not more).


B

You never, ever get back out of them what you put into them - no matter how much you spend, no one is going to pay you for what you put into a car.

And hey - if the guy gave his car away, that's his problem, right?

unless there are more receipts than you showed me, there was $2500 is parts and $2500 in labor for the motor. (although it looks like he spent $1400 twice on top-end work - once to get it done, again to get it done right ... so you can bump that to $3900 labor if you want ...)

there was another ~$3000 in non-engine parts and labor.

Rich....post it....the receipts are at my office and I won't be there for awhile.....

BTW,,,,this tub is amazingly clean except where they did the welding and left it to rot......

Yeah, it's a nice motor....it's now overwhelming the clutch. Sounds like it's a trans pull and a stage III Kevlar Mikey proof Kennedy clutch and pressure plate time.....

Reality check!!!
Have a dealer put a new clutch and seals in your GMC and see how much it will cost!
You'l be lucky to walk away with under 2K.
A teener is no different. Quality work/parts will cost money.

It's possible that these cars might be worth something if people start fixing them right. The biggest VW trait the 914 has in my mind is the cheap owners who do it for 50 cents with duct tape and hose clamps. If people would start doing things the right way and get some nice cars out there then it might bring up the perception of these cars which would drive up the asking prices for nice cars.

Imagine a concours event where there are 4 or 5 or even 10 really nice 914s in real competition for best of show.

Perception comes before value.

So Brad, I should hang onto the tranny you (Eric says) rebuilt for Eric Geer? Since he broke the case at the starter, it sounds like it would be worth having the guts transferred to another case.

Yuppers, I agree. Just had a rebuilt tranny put in one of our fleet Dodge Caravans = 2K (done at the dealership). At least doing it there will give me a good warranty.

...........b

As a shop owner I have to get 100% behind the Bradhole on this one. Unless you do the labour yourself it is going to cost ya!

I get guys in all the time that want the job done cheaper or extras thrown in. The classic is the guy who starts quoting prices out of the magazines. There is a bit of cheap crap in the teens, but with the bugs 75%+ of it is cheap garbage and this is the stuff buddy is quoting out of said mags.

That shop cost money, that lift costs, those tools cost, compressor, welders, employees, benifits, puters, phone bills, accounting, stock, taxes, permits, disposal, heat, electric, leasehold improvments, signage, insurance, theft, mistakes, etc. etc. it all costs money!
Also the owner would like to feed his family as well.

Just this week I tossed a customer (and his $1000 in labour job) out of my shop, I couldn't stand his whinning about every nickle and dime. In my younger days I may have caved because I needed the job, nows it's like if you don't like the price there's the door. Don't let it hit your ass on the way out.

Another customer said he could get the parts for 5% cheaper (on $400, do the math) from "vendor B". I said fine but anything wrong like junk or wrong parts, returns or shortages etc. was his problem and if if I had to spend time correcting his mistakes that I would charge him by the hour.
He told me to order the parts.

Now if they did a crap job that's different.

End of rant

I just picked my car up from Brad Mayuer's shop today. I
spent ~$850 on misc small things and brake work. I
don't have a problem paying for quality work & parts.
As I get to know these cars better I will do more of my
own wrench work. But for anything I know is over my head
I like to go to the ones that know what they are doing.
I have learned that going cheap on a repair is ok, but
don't expect it to last and don't get upset when it fails
agian. To me the hard part is finding the right people that
know what they are doing and give a crap about their work.

I know I will never get out the $$ I put in to this car, but
this is true for any car you own.

- Garold

Mark,

Keep that box and put the guts into another box. I'm pretty sure we used all new parts for first gear. I dont recall for sure (it has been awhile)


B

Thanks, Brad. I'll hang on to it and trasfer it to the 70 case. I'm glad to know it has been done properly.

The problem is: you need to have somebody check the R+P depth $$ if you decide to run it in a different case.


B

John L. says to send it to a buddy of his that does these a lot. I'll take his word on it. I'm a dummy when it comes to internals. Is there a simpler way than changing cases?

Not really. I'm semi surprised Larson doesnt do the tranny's himself

B

For a complete teardown, I don't think he has the time. He does some trans work, but the shop is buried with work these days. I still haven't bench tested the 2.0 out of the yellow submarine. No time/space to do it.

I have a question about Shop labor. On my teener, its got a 1.7 motor, thats been done by a local shop. Do you think he kept records on what he did? I have the the invoice in my "big book of teener stuff"

Its clear to me he did atleast new barrels, as I have those. And I think that is when it got converted to Carbs. I'd like to know the specs on what he did. Would he still have that inforation? it ws done in 2000.

I don't take work to a shop unless I can't do it. If I can't do it, I take it the shop and I stand out of the professional's way. I've "tested" a couple local shops on stupid questions, going in before hand and getting there details on simple shit like a Starter change, while playing the yokel. If they pass, I figure they ain't going to bend me on the other stuff.

He will have the info.. you may have to twist his arm to dig it up (unless you see several computers around the shop.. then he probably has it in a database somewhere) Most of the "old school" shops dont have everything in a easily accessible computer database.


B

I'll sweet talk him then. I'm good at sweet talking people.




(just kidding)