possible price?

[padidas]

right i've had darn near enough of this....

i'm too much of an adrenaline junkie...

think im gonna sell the car, have my eyes on an MR2 turbo, so after christmas, I might just be looking at selling the car..

its a 96 GR, tappets just changed, just serviced, pads getting done, and the tyres are pretty fresh still.

old spoiler gone and replaced by an original one.

sorry gentlemen, but i've already got a quote on a MUCH higher performance car insurance wise (MR2 turbo for 100euro less than the premium i'm paying now)

And to be honest.. my mates are the only reason i've had the car this long.. (helps to know a few serious mechanics)

well just seeing what you guys think is a good price...

its done about 185,000km its a manual GR, in not too bad condition, with the above mechanical work done to it..

thanks again,

pad

[CJ]

padidas, you never did update us on the tappets job - did you find a mechanic to do the work at the right price?

CJ

[Dean]

Steelroe is the man for it if you are close enough.

[padidas]

yep.

found a mechanic through another mechanic mate of mine, the guy has over 10 years experience with mitsubishi, so he know's his stuff...

maybe a little more qualified than paul nolan

he's doing it on saturday for me for 450euro.

[Kace]

yep.

found a mechanic through another mechanic mate of mine, the guy has over 10 years experience with mitsubishi, so he know's his stuff...

maybe a little more qualified than paul nolan

he's doing it on saturday for me for 450euro.

Paul has been doing my FTO for nearly that long so maybe not.

So is your guy doing the work as a Saturday nixer, or is this his regular 'garage' price ?

[padidas]

the garage he works in lets him use the failities, lifts etc.

he's doing it as a nixer on saturday in the shop.

I actually rang up a few mitsubishi dealers just for fun really...

and shock and awe, not one of them would get back to me with a price....

i still dont see where paul came up with that to change them is a "10 hour job", and his "best price" he could give was 600 euro.

to be honest. I asked numerous times on this site for anyone else who had them done by him for what they were charged and got no response.

pad

[CJ]

I asked numerous times on this site for anyone else who had them done by him for what they were charged and got no response.

I think you'll find that that Paul had never actually changed tappets on a members GR\GX, hence the lack of response on this point. He's certainly adjusted V6 MIVEC tappets on many occasions.

maybe a little more qualified than paul nolan

Pad, this comment has no basis and is unjustified. I've dealt with a lot of Dublin mechanics in my time, not one of them could touch Paul in terms of his ability, persistance, honesty and integrity. On more than one occasion, I've paid Paul less than he had originally quoted because he was honest enough to tell me that the job didn't take as long as he had anticipated.

Don't forget that Paul was working on FTOs 8 or 9 years ago when other garages and mechanics wouldn't touch them with a bargepole. Kace et al can confirm this point.

I've no hidden agenda in terms of bigging up PN but I think its important to tell both sides of the story.

The fact that your guy is doing the job as a nixer is key - 450 euro plus the VAT is 545 euro - not a massive drop on what you were originally quoted.

Best of luck with the tappet replacement and subsequent sale of your FTO...

CJ

[padidas]

didnt exactly go out to offend anyone. (and i dont appreciate the comments arguing with what I have said) It seemed (to me anyway) that everyone was full of advice and very helpful. BUT when it came down to prices and what everyone i had asked had paid for different things, everyone seemed to go silent, which put doubts into my mind about how much everyone has been paying for jobs done to their cars.

im not looking for an argument, but i'm only going on my own personal experience, and in my opinion, i LOVE these cars, AND i've recieved nothing but helpful advice from this site of the past few months, but i just cant stand being messed about by people who claim that its in some way "special" and "more complicated" of a car to work on.

Anyone who's been messed about or paid over the odds for ANYthing not just changing or adjusting tappets, should at least understand my anger towards things like this.

Many thanks to all again, honestly I really have gotten a LOT of help from this site and dont want to offend or piss off anyone over this.

pad

[CJ]

I feel the need to respond in case there any confusion:

didnt exactly go out to offend anyone.

I don't believe you've offended anyone....

(and i dont appreciate the comments arguing with what I have said)

Unless I've missed something, i don't see anything argumentative or questioning in this thread?

BUT when it came down to prices and what everyone i had asked had paid for different things, everyone seemed to go silent, which put doubts into my mind about how much everyone has been paying for jobs done to their cars.

I don't think its the case that folks purposely kept their mouths shut when asked about cost (if I'm understanding you correctly), as far as I remember, PN hasn't done a tappet swapout on a members cars before - hence the 'radio silence'.

but i just cant stand being messed about by people who claim that its in some way "special" and "more complicated" of a car to work on.

I totally agree. The FTO is no different from any other V6 engined import of its genre. I would have thought that PN would hold the same view, did he impress upon you otherwise?

Anyone who's been messed about or paid over the odds for ANYthing not just changing or adjusting tappets, should at least understand my anger towards things like this.

Yep, fully understand - been there, done that. Personally, I don't think that original quote was overly expensive, your nixer quote would infer the same. In your defense, quoting 10 hours to do the job is a bit over the top, you have my support on that one.

dont want to offend or piss off anyone over this.

Not the case, I can assure you. The main point I want to make is that PN has been an invaluable resource to Dublin based FTO owners well before this entity (the club) came into existance. On that note, I will continue to recommend him to anyone who asks. You're the first person I've come across that has had a negative experience dealing with him, and I find that unfortunate. Was Paul right to quote 10 hours labour? I'm no mechanic but it doesn't sound right to me. Was he right to quote you 600 euro to the job? Absolutely, he sets his own rates - its difficult to put a value on this sort of work, especially when the main dealers are not interested in quoting for the labour. If they did, my guess is that it would be a lot more....

CJ

[padidas]

10 hours is too much. Every mechanic i've talked to, (about 8 in total have all told me the same and have said how he seemed to be charging a little high)

Is paul a registered company? pretty much every mechanic I know, all do these type of jobs as a "nixer" and I don't argue with it being done every now and then, as it can work out better for everyone, customer and mechanic, in some circumstances especially when the customer is provding the necessary parts for the job.

like i said before.

NOT looking for an argument, I believe I have said nothing wrong, so taking every word I say and commenting on each line individually can take away from the point I am trying to make.

Over charging is the one thing that everyone i know disagree's with, and is the changing of the tappets really that rare of a job??

I couldnt find anyone who's had it done on this site at all? nearest person was steelroe who has changed them before for 350euro, even with tax still a good deal cheaper either way.

As paul quoted me on 10 hours of labour, 600 euro would work out WITHOUT tax, so im assuming he was doing as a nixer, as there was no mention of VAT, or any other charges but labour and a gasket.

pad

[Dragonheart]

Pad I just did a search for tappets there in the search function and it doesnt really look like anyone has had them replaced by a mechanic, people have had tappet problems but the majority of posts are people enquiring about tools to use for fixing them, and I think a lot of people mightnt even know what tappets are or what they sound like when they need adjusting so some people that might need them done dont know about it so havent gone away and got prices for the work, if you follow me.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that even though we have a lot of regular members, how many would you think need tappets adjusted, from this how many would know that the tappets need adjusting, on top of that there are a lot of members who would throw their hand at doing the work themselves, so take all those into account and I'm sure you'll find very little members have been required to get a mechanic to adjust their tappets for them. Bit confusing but its lgical I think.
I myself need mine adjusted and havent got quotes for it from anyone so I cant help you there I'm afraid from a price point of view. But if you look at dbuckley's guide on tappet adjustment and a few other posts that include a guide on how to do it, the time of work should be down on them so that could give you some indication of time scales for the work.

[JD]

Hi all, Don't know anything about tappets but, as an oldtimer here, I can only concur with what CJ, and many other club members, have said about Paul.

Paul has worked on five of my family cars, including the FTO, over the last six years and he has always done top class work at a great price. I have often paid less than he quoted because it took him less time to do than anticipated and he was honest enough to tell me. In my experience he's as honest as the day is long. On the only two occassions that I got quotes from local mechanics to do work for me he was miles more reasonable, half the price on one of the jobs (heater matrix replacement in my sons Brava!!!!! ).

Based on my personal experience I'd recommend him to anyone.

I wish you well with the sale Pad.

JD

[padidas]

This is not meant to be a "dig" at Paul...

I have never had work done by him, and i want to make it perfectly clear that i'm not in any way slating that he is a bad mechanic, my point was quite clear about the fact that i hate to see people getting overcharged (in general) and that some kind of idea even on prices for these jobs seem hard to find... whish is unusual and frustrating.

pad

[Kace]

I'm with you there. We all hate to see people being overcharged - I have been in the past from a rip-off main dealer. This is one of the main reasons that I go to Paul.

The final thing that I would say on this is that a comparison between a Saturday 'nixer' price and a regular Mon-Fri price is not really valid. CJ mentioned VAT charged, but the other thing that I tend to think of in relation to nixers is whether tax is being paid on that income. Not saying this isn't being declared of course, but if it wasn't then that's a nice extra margin that would allow additional savings to be passed on to a consumer.