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I was able to buy all the parts I need, including the transmission, from a guy who was parting out his car. It cost me $700. The transmission was good, but since it was out, and my shop does quality rebuilds, I had them rebuild it any way. There was little extra labor, just parts (fifth gear and synchros, I believe), so why not? All told, my bill came to around $3000, and that's everything, not the bill from my shop (which was about $1800). I could have had the automatic rebuilt for about $1600, but that is only because this same shop had rebuilt it for the previous owner 70k miles before, and were going to cut me a break and only charge labor. Normal cost to rebuild the automatic I believe is about $2500. So, figure an extra $500, and I think it's money well spent, assuming you don't have a million things go wrong like gavin did. :( Of course, spending $3000 on any car is a LOT, when you consider what car you could get. However, buying a car for $3000 is just going to get you another used car, whose tranny/engine/whatever could go out next month. So, you stick with the car you have, the devil you know, or maybe save a few bucks short term, to go with the devil you don't know. Thing is, back when I had my transmission rebuilt 7 years ago, I could not have purchased another 9000 in the kind of condition mine was, for the same amount of money. On the other hand, some areas of the USA and Europe are no doubt overflowing with them at rock-bottom prices. Not so in the Pacific Northwest.
It's definitely a tough decision to spend that kind of money on any car, but sometimes other factors come into play. Maybe you've spent countless hours installing a killer stereo system, or performance upgrades, or custom interior/exterior work, who knows? There's a lot to be said for not simply throwing something away and starting all over again, just because one piece is broken. :)
The way I look at it, though I have spent a huge amount of money on my car, altogether even counting a bunch of upgrades, I still have spent considerably less than a new 9000 would have cost me. And, I got to make all these friends at the repair shop, with the parts suppliers, and tow truck operators! :)
Oh and to the real point of my post.... My shop also did not need to replace the radiator, EDU, or the intercooler-to-throttle body pipe. They did disable the automatic gear readout on the EDU though, and thankfully did not connect the upshift light switch.
Cheers,
Aaron Gilbert
posted by 64.40.5...
, Thu, 29 Jul 2004 06:30:59
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