They are not serious about the estimate. They don’t want to do the work and the ‘estimate’ is their way of telling you to go someplace else. I suggest you do exactly that.

 

Based on the pictures not everything was in critical condition to be fixed either. yes the swaybar bushing are worn but they don't need fixing right away. same with the carb and the transmission. it didn't look like any fluids were pouring out of them and needed to be fixed immediately. I do like your accelerator pump linkage with the little clip that holds it to the lever. that style makes it so much easier to take the airhorn off when working on the carb. i'm with everyone else find someone else to work on your car.

 

You have a valve cover gasket leak diagnosed as a head gasket leak. They are either inept or dishonest. I would go back to them and call them on a number of items.

 

Thank you for posting the estimate. Many would not as they erroneously think it somehow reflects poorly on them. You have done a great service and may help others avoid this kind of gouging. Thank you.

 

I called them today. Their labor rate is $117.47 per hour.

So, they're charging 2 hours to change out the floor dimmer switch for my headlights. When I asked the guy who wrote up my estimate about that his response was, "I'll have to check with the tech on that."

I asked about why similar parts aren't grouped together in order to save on labor, he said, "We don't know how you'd want them grouped so we price them separately until you tell us how you want things done." Sorry, but you're the "experts" here. You should make the initial suggestions and let me adjust.

I asked about the front A arms...
1. Why did you price replacements rather than rebuilding?
a. Most of our customers want them replaced.

2. How come your price is $1400 over what I can buy them for directly from Van Steel.
b. We pay what you pay on the website, I have to make a little profit on the parts.

This is where I said "K, thanks, bye"
Don't try to tell me Van Steel sells parts to shops at full retail, and even if they did. a 66% markup is not "a little profit"

So yeah, my quest for a good shop continues.

 

Bz!!!

 

Good for you, and I echo what Factoid said about you posting that estimate. Hopefully you can find a good shop.

Bill

 

So based on the estimate, and the pictures, and my description of handling what do you guys think needs to be done?
If any of you are local-ish I’m happy to drive it to you for a first hand look and a test drive.

At lower speeds, when I give it steering input, I have to counter it two to three times to keep it from wandering. That’s only when going straight, like to change lanes or avoid road debris. When I’m actually turning, or on a curved area of road it feels fine. Also, as speeds approach 45 to 50 it gets better.

Finally, what things that need doing can I take to any good local mechanic to have done without paying vette tax?

 

It's way beyond "gouged".

 

Not to stereotype here but it honestly sounds like they really are used to doing work for the decent amount of folks with these types of cars that have more money than time or concern to care what they are being charged.. Its not just shops that do this.. I found while researching coil over shocks that anything advertised for "corvette" was at least a 3rd more in price than the exact same generic/universal stuff or sytems being sold for other vehicles.
I've literally purchased everything to do this work myself and learn how vs paying what many places want to do this. This is a lesson I first learned when pricing out body and paint for my car before tackling it myself.

Off topic,
In many industries a 100% or more markup is the norm. I'm a field engineer by trade and ive seen some crazy things done with markups and rebranding... A particular thing that comes to mind was years ago when working for another employer. And a part for a "xerox" wide format scanner that was really another manufacturers scanner but rebranded (as are 99% of xerox products now)... The stepper motor through Xerox cost us as a dealer $2261.00 (keep in mind the recommended retail price to the customer was normally 200% of our cost!). We actually inquired .. So we checked with the manufacturer of the scanner and ordered them for $400 each, (we actually inquired about this price discrepency with xerox and were told it was thier "stocking fee") We bought them from the scanner manufacturer until this manufacturer was bought out by a competitor and would no longer sell to us direct.... This resulted in us buying the motors directly from anehiem motors.... for $40 (yes $40) and spending the 10 minutes to wire the connector on ourselves.
Its worse when you own a business and are being forced to hire contractors because your not permitted to do the work yourself but are familiar with how to do it and how much it should really cost...

 

I thought Apple was bad. We mark up our prices for Apple parts on a sliding scale from x1.7 to x1.2 based on how much the parts cost us.
I don't feel so bad now.

But I still don't believe Van Steel doesn't have dealer pricing.

 

The steering box on these cars is of the recirculating ball design (first used by Cadillac in 1940) and, like most things mechanical, does wear.

Sit in the car with the engine off. Turn the key to on to release the steering column lock. How much steering wheel movement (“play”) is there before you encounter resistance - i.e. before you actually are turning the wheels? There should be virtually none. If there is, then you should get a friend, open the hood, and observe if the pitman arm (at the bottom of the steering box) moves when you turn the wheel BEFORE you encounter resistance. If the pitman arm doesn’t move during this range of steering column input, you can make an adjustment via a screw on the top of the steering box. You simply loosen the locknut, then carefully turn the screw clockwise until you hit resistance, then back off a quarter turn. Holding the screw, tighten the locknut. Take the car out for a drive and see if your wandering improves.

Do you have power steering or manual?

 

Thanks, I'll take a look at that.

It's power steering.

 

Here's a short clip. I don't feel any play at all.
The wheel moves but it's resistant right away and snaps back to center pretty well.

 

Ok, that’s a good start. I’m trying to guide you through some basic checks you can do to help target the most likely reason for the “wandering”.

Look at the “rag joint”, where the steering column and the steering box are interconnected. Any sign of the rubber deteriorating? Again, have a friend watch the motion of the rag joint while you turn the column left and right (this time well past the point of resistance). There should be no relative radial motion between the column shaft and the input shaft to the steering box.

Have you had the alignment checked? These cars don’t have a lot of camber because more camber means more steering effort but more camber also helps to address the “wandering”. Power steering allows for more camber to be set but GM didn’t design in a lot of adjustability for camber on these cars. Any shop with an alignment rack can check your car and give you the specifics - Caster, Camber, Toe - on the front and Camber and Toe on the rear for a reasonable charge. The actual adjustment on the front is basic (add/remove shims on the upper control arms and adjusting the tie rod adjusters) but where the price goes up is tie rod adjusters are often rusted to the tie rods. Fortunately, the tie rod ends and the adjusters are inexpensive and readily available.

The rear alignment is much more problematic as the shims for the toe adjustment are usually reduced to a Chernobyl reactor 4 lump of metal and can be a huge PITA to remove and can be an open checkbook for labor costs. Similarly, the camber adjusters are often rusted and may not be salvageable. If I recall your video in your other post, the underside of your car looks pretty clean so you may be lucky in these areas. My point here is that you can get an alignment or you can get your alignment checked. The latter should be budget friendly and help to narrow the focus of your problem.

While the alignment technician has the car up on the alignment rack, they can check for loose tie rods and loose idler arm. Find a reputable alignment shop. Tell them you just want it checked and to provide you with numbers. I just did some searches and a Brad’s Auto Repair 2520 Palm Bay Road, Melbourne has a ton of good reviews.

Looking forward, assuming the alignment is good, then I’d focus on the steering valve.

 

This might be a fantastic idea to solve your needs -- inexpensive, easy swap for most shops, new ball joints (and maybe tie-rod ends) in the process and you'd be good to go: https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/upper-control-arms-and-shafts.html

Then sell yours to someone wanting to rebuild a pair.

 

Definitely roll your own. All the parts to rebuild my front suspension, including two Bilstein HD shocks cost $458 dollars from RockAuto. It cost another $180 to blast and powder coat the stock a-arms. Toughest part is removing and installing the control arm bushings. While I did the bushings in my Corvette arms myself, I had a shop remove and install the bushings for a '72 Firebird and they charged me $40. Also a big fan of Delrin bushings. Used them in the Firebird and have five years on them with no issues. They are the best long term solution. If I were in the situation to do the project again, I would go with the RideTech Delrin bushings.

 

tknospdr, I think 69L88 is going down the right path for you to evaluate your own car to determine what should get priority. Part of the ownership of old cars is gaining the knowledge of what's normal behavior, what's regular wear, and what's cause for immediate concern. When you have this knowledge you are better able to discuss options with a mechanic.

One thing that would get my immediate attention, since your car seems to run and drive OK, is the leaking fuel at the tank and the broken strap. That requires more investigation but probably under a different thread.

I wish you were my neighbor - or a whole host of other Forum members' neighbor - together you could get the car's issues sorted out fairly easily by the looks of it!

 

What's 3500 miles between friends, right?

 

Went to a new guy today. He said, "Buy your parts and bring them here. We'll install everything right for you. And we won't suggest anything for your car that it doesn't need."
He drove it with me in the passenger seat. Said it's really not that bad. The wander is from the trailing arms, the front A arms are worth rebuilding but not really that bad at all.
Said he'll reseal/rebuild the diff while he's got the rear end apart anyway. I should probably have the (leaking) fuel cell and broken strap replaced while they're back there as well shouldn't I?

So my question now is should I get regular trailing arms from Van Steel or offsets?
And is it worth upgrading to these, or just rebuilding the original ones?
http://www.vansteel.com/index.cfm?fu...up=104&ID=3238