HELP!

hi,

Im not sure if im posting in the right place as i have never done it before.
Sorry if i am.ops:

i recently bought a mk1 84 cab and put it in for a service in my local vw arnold clark garage just to check up on it and got a bit of a shock when the bill came in for the parts that i needed.
She is an 84 Gti cab A reg with a possible 72000 miles on the clock( i say possible as i am a bit dubious now as the guy i got her off of managed to pass her MOT without noticing all the problems below. What a guy.:?
 
This is what she looks like ( I named her Dolly)



I have been told that i need:-

O/S CV boot ?117.91
N/S/F shock absorber ?180.83
O/S/F shock absorber ?180.83
N/S/F flexi pipe ?84.07
Rear brake shoes & 2 wheel cylinders ?204.92
Possible timing belt as it is unknown whether this has been changed ?194.34
Fuel pipes ?160.79

All of the prices include labour but i was just wondering if this sounds reasonable or not or even if i am able to do some of them myself. I dont really know a lot about car maintenance at all l but im quite eager to get stuck in.

Thanks

Pollock

if you dont really know what your doing mechanically with a car then i strongly advise you to not do anything by yourself! maybe get a friend in the know to help you do it/do it together or whatever.
the prices seem a bit high considering the cost prices of all the parts noted, but the labour is alot to think about as none of those are really 5 min jobs.

nice looking cabby there though  

Hi and welcome aboard. A problem shared is a problem solved  :wink:
I've just moved the thread into the running gear section.

Glancing through these prices you've been quoted it would appear your garage are trying to have your eyes out. If you were to check GSF car parts or Euro Car Parts then you'd see how reasonably priced the component parts are. I guess they are looking to charge you maybe ?60 per hour for labour. If I was you I would seek out recommendations for a local privateer garage and get a quote from them. They are likely to charge around the ?30/hr mark.

?60 per hour seems quite right for arnold clarke though. theiving buggers.
As dubpartz said, it'd be a good idea to get prices from other garages and maybe think about supplying the parts yourself from gsf. euro are good too but from experience gsf are the best

And main dealers wonder why people only ever use them when their cars are under warranty and they have to!

All the stuff listed is pretty basic bolt off/bolt back on. Any reasonably competent garage should be able to do that work for @half or even a third of what they want.

Thanks everyone for replying so fast.
I was gonna buy a haynes manual and give it a go myself. Famous last words!

Does that sound like a good idea and do you think i cud do it in my drive, which is flat and concrete.

cheers

pollock

tell them to show you. or go get another opinion from a decent garage that doesn't employ morons who only know how to plug a computer into a car to find out whats wrong.
where are you from. someone on here may be able to recommend a garage.

can anyone recommend a garage im located in glasgow
cheers
p

Also be aware that when working with older cars with unknown historys extra costs can creep in. For example I'd replace the front top mounts and bump stops along with the shocks, still less than ?50 per side for parts. Some brake pipes might be seized solid and break when replacing the rear cylinders and front flexi, also worth bleeding the entire system whilst it's being worked on.

Still it looks a bonny car and worth a bit of investment.

i reckom i could do it for about 400+vat but am 700miles away

After losing a great VW garage in Garnethill after they closed down I had a bad couple of years trying to get a garage in Glasgow area who actually knew what they were doing .. let alone the price they charged.

This included Arnold (Vinicombe St off Byres Road - granted they tried but it was lack of real knowledge or any great desire to do a good job to an older car !). Tried many other places and same story.

End result - found the Cross Garage, East High St, Kirkintilloch. Not cheap … that's the first thing, but, they are genuine engineers / mechanics with a genuine interest in both VW and particlarly older, classic cars.

If nothing else you will get an opinion you can trust but ….. do expect to pay for the luxury - e.g. they will only use genuine parts etc.

After the hassle I had with people trying to convince me i NEEDED A NEW ENGINE Cross garage identified over the phone (even before they had seen the car) that i needed a weber carb conversion which on confirming once they saw the car, they fitted and it has never run better. Been going ever since.

Hope it helps !

wpa

That's some heavy duty prices there - there's a lot of local decent garages around that will do a good job with-out main dealer prices. PM me and I'll give you a contact number for one depending on where you stay, I'm presuming South side of Glasgow?