Yeah wanna start. I'll drop out skool.

WOW this thread is making me feel so much better about my self I am doing the same job and upgrading pretty much every bolt on you can possibly imagine besides the intake manifold I will be adding a maf, a piggy back, wasted spark, and a wideband amoung other things that are not considered bolt ons.

 

So the labor was $4300 to install a new clutch and flywheel, all rollers, WP, and all drive belts, rebuild the front ball joints and a 4 wheel alignment, replace hood shocks, replace blinker stalk, replace hatch pins, change all fluids, Oil, coolant, tranny and steering, replace differential seals and replace all half shaft bolts with Loctite blue. He also replaced the windshield washer pump, all the lines and all 3 wiper blades. He adjusted the emergency brake cable and shoes and fixed the odometer gear.

The labor alone on the clutch and WP was $2600 of that. Personally I don't think it was all that high. I don't have access to a lift to do the work myself.

 

To do that amount of work on a 951 takes time and you would lose money if you didn't charge that much.

Clutch, and belts and seals on a turbo take time bolts are always rusty etc.. etc.. I don't give a damn what the book says the time is because that time just isn't realistic if you want to do that job right.

 

Ouchhh! That's puts the total cost of your repairs almost pushing 6K.
That was indeed a lot of labor, but that's why I always say that if you are going to own own one of these cars, you'd better learn to work on it yourself.

In any case, you can enjoy your car now.

 

This post says 5k in labor and 7 items.


Now the labor is $4300 instead of $5000 and the list of stuff got alot longer. (19 items)

Moral of the story. All those "little things" add up and take time.

Doing a clutch and waterpump should not be 5k. Add in 10 other things and it could be $4300 in labor.

 

Wow, $5k. Congrats on having a sound machine. I hope it gives you many years of joy and service.

I'm glad I can do my own wrenching, because there is no way I could afford a repair bill like that.

 

Joe- When I originally posted, I didn't list everything done cause I had just picked up the car and didn't have time to study the invoice, but there were a lot of little things done to the car to make it near perfect. Needless to say, the only thing I need to fix is the A/C, which I'll do in the spring.

 

How much did you pay for the car if you dont mind me asking?

 

$5800.00

 

This thread should be retitled "Why learn to work on your own car?"

 

Mike- It's not the learning part, it's the space necessary part. Living in a condo doesn't give me the space to operate. I could have driven the car the way it was and eventually ruined the engine and there would have been another 951 down the drain, but I decided to spend a little bit of money and make the car the best it can be. I'm not here to comment about the people who work on their own cars, so please don't make comments like yours about the guys who support independant mechanics but having work done by them.

 

You paid what you should have paid. Clutchs on 951s are a royal PITA! Add on waterpump, belts, front end reseal and a bunch of other stuff I'd say that was a fair price. Of coarse it's nice to diy, but some people don't have the space, time, knowledge, etc... Hell, for under 15,000 you have a great performing car and peace of mind. If you are at or over 100k on the odometer the only other thing I would worry about is changing the rod bearings. Have fun driving!

 

Hi Robert- I'm at 97k and have heard different things on when/if to change the rod bearings. The general consensus is that if the car isn't a track car, which it isn't then it's not manditory unless there is knocking. When I add the Vitesse stage 3, I'll have the rod and mains done, but that won't be for a while.

 

The car sounds like its very nice, how about pics of both of your cars ? How do you like the 335i compared to the 951?

 

I've seen two cars with bad rod bearings with little to no knock. One was bad enough that it took out the crank.