price quote question

[O'Brien]

Here's the deal (or maybe not a deal).

Took my rover in to a SUPER well respected shop here in southern california. they are renowned for their service and knowledge of series rovers. I wanted to have my brakes looked at, as I want professionals to deal with this important aspect of driving a rover in and around Los Angeles. Plus i just don't trust myself to do it completely perfect haha!

i'm going down to walk through it with them this afternoon, but here's my question: it doesn't look like the brakes have been touched in ten or fifteen years. There's rust flaking off of the otuside of the drums. they are reccomending replacing everything related to the brakes all around, new drums, lines, etc. over the phone they quoted me a ballpark of $2700.

is this about right including labor? I have no idea, and I want to make sure i'm not being taken for a rube. thoughts from learned rover men and women are greatly appreciated! thanks

[Bostonian1976]

that sounds very very high to me....in fact you could convert to front disc brakes for 1500 in parts alone.....

are they talking master cylinder, lines, drums...everything?

[O'Brien]

well from what i could tell from our short conversation on the phone this morning, they're talking about wanting to replace the whole system, though he didn't mention the master cylinder. i thought it was all four drums and interiors, maybe not lines, but im not sure. even factoring labor does this still sound insane?

I don't want to disparage these guys at all. they have a great reputation, and have been very nice to me. but i can't just shake the feeling that it's a little high. am i getting taken for a ride here?

[scott]

are they restoration or repair types guys? difference being the cost of making 'em work or making work and look new. my drums were sporting an rusty outer. i just replaces the shoes and springs all 4 for about $60. did feel any groves so i didn't even bother with turning the drums. my bro drives a '75 dodge power wagon, disc forward drums rear. in 30+ years he's never turn the drums or disc. if you change pads and shoes before the rivets dig in there's no need to turn which will make 'em thinner and thinner and eventually worthless

[leafsprung]

Huntington Mobile or Peters Marina Motors? Service costs a lot in LA. Rust on the outside of the drum is harmless. The odds that ALL of your drums need replacing, is probably small. But you can measure them yourself, the diameter and max wear are normally cast into the drum. Even if you were to replace everything brake related, I think you could save yourself a couple grand by doing it yourself over the price they quoted you. There isnt anything too difficult in the brakes, if a 7th grade dropout at a national brake/tire/muffler chain can do it all day, so can you.

[Giddyuprover]

Yeah, what he said!

If you have the $$$ to throw around like that, get the Green Bible, and all the brake hardware yourself. Once you start diving into it you will be amazed at how simple it is to work on. Remeber that the trucks were designed to be user friendly/maintained. You will save a fortune and will know exactly how your truck works and how to fix it if something does go wrong.
My 2 cents.

[O'Brien]

i appreciate all the good advice friends. I spent about an hour tonight talking to the guys over at Huntington Service Center. i've been dealing with pete and john, both of whom are super friendly, and honest to a fault. they love series rigs as much, if not more than most folks you would meet in the rovering community from what i can gather.

$2700 is for brand new everything at each wheel, drums, internals, seals etc. plus labor. master cylinder is fine, so that doesn't need work. however, they pretty much talked me out of fixing it though, so i'm not too worried about the quote anymore. he's going to try and get me a little bit more pedal by adjusting everything, but i'm leaning more towards doing it myself in little while.

they said to have the truck close to where i eventually want it to be, i will probably spend $80-100k. i think that's a little high, but i probably could stand to start out with a truck that hasn't been neglected as much as mine has been in the past.

anybody know a place where you can get the green bible for less than $100?

chime in with any do-it-yourself affirmations as well. I could use the encouragement!

[LaneRover]

My brothers Rover had sat unused in Maine for close to a year because of a leaking rear wheel cylinder. One of the guys on the forum graciously donated a used rear wheel cylinder that he had laying around. When I was home over the 4th I talked my brother through changing the cylinder and bleeding the brakes. When he was done he said, "Wow, that was easy!"

One of the best things to do is to take digital photos as you take stuff apart, it makes it much easier to put the stuff back together! Questions like, does this spring go in front of or behind the shoes? are easy to answer with a photo.

Brent

[daveb]

80 to 100k? one or both of you are being unrealistic. remember this is a british farm truck. not a bently. it is made to do work, not sit around and be polished. and even a $2700 brake job is only as good as the part it uses. it will still need adjusting, and replacing, and be subject to all the ills it suffers from now. don't think that you can solve all the LR's inherent problems just by paying someone $$$$$$$ to bolt new parts on. run, don't walk to the exit of that shop and learn to fix it yourself. you will be all the richer for it.

i appreciate all the good advice friends. I spent about an hour tonight talking to the guys over at Huntington Service Center. i've been dealing with pete and john, both of whom are super friendly, and honest to a fault. they love series rigs as much, if not more than most folks you would meet in the rovering community from what i can gather.

$2700 is for brand new everything at each wheel, drums, internals, seals etc. plus labor. master cylinder is fine, so that doesn't need work. however, they pretty much talked me out of fixing it though, so i'm not too worried about the quote anymore. he's going to try and get me a little bit more pedal by adjusting everything, but i'm leaning more towards doing it myself in little while.

they said to have the truck close to where i eventually want it to be, i will probably spend $80-100k. i think that's a little high, but i probably could stand to start out with a truck that hasn't been neglected as much as mine has been in the past.

anybody know a place where you can get the green bible for less than $100?

chime in with any do-it-yourself affirmations as well. I could use the encouragement!

[LWB109]

price quote question

they said to have the truck close to where i eventually want it to be, i will probably spend $80-100k. i think that's a little high, but i probably could stand to start out with a truck that hasn't been neglected as much as mine has been in the past.

By my calculations there shouldn't be anything remaining of your original truck after spending 100k.

[O'Brien]

yeah, i think they must have been confused when i said that i wanted to be able to have it as a daily driver! i'm actually quite excited about working on it myself. that number really threw me for a loop too. i guess if i had cash like that i could buy the dalai lama's rover!

i just really wanted to get these brakes dialed in by someone who had a lot of experience, and could do it for me while i was at work. I guess as i get older im getting lazy. time to get some nice jacks and jackstands i guess. also, any leads on finding a nicely priced green bible anyone?

thanks!

[BackInA88]

both of whom are super friendly, and honest to a fault.

I hope they were going to kiss you first!!

At $2700 for the brake job they better be replacing all the lines, every piece including the backing plates and replacing all the wheel bearings. Than taking me out to dinner.

You can get the Green Bible on CD.
Than just print out the pages you need at the time and you don't worry about getting them greasy!

Doing it yourself is half the fun of owning a rig like this is getting your hands dirty.
Impress your friends with your automotive repair skills.
When they come by and see the parts spread all over the garage floor!
Then they see you driving it later.
But be careful they will be calling you everytime their cars make a new noises.

I have friends I swap tires over for in the fall and spring.
It amazes me how helpless some are when it comes to picking up a tool and unwilling to even try.
The friend that was over the other day would rather put 4 dirty tires in the back seat of his Mustang and drive them over to my house to change than just do it in his own garage?

[greenmeanie]

Well taking a very rough quick parts pick you can very easily get yourself up over $2200 buying parts from our hosts. This is, of course, assuming you have a 2.6L and not the 2.25 L which is alot cheaper on the brakes. It also assumes you are replacing everything from the backing plate to the drums on all four corners. If they are the type of place that thinks the only way to fix a truck is to put all new parts on everything and that is the path you want to take then their quotes are not stupid. Unfortunately they are telling you to build an entirely new truck which rather defeats the purpose of buying a 30yr old Landy.

For your purposes its amazing how well a part will R&R with a can on PB Blaster, a wire wheel to clean of any old rust and paint and a quick coat of POR15, Rustoleum or whatever paint is you passion.

When I first got my 101 over here I took it to a 'respected' british car garage in Tucson to get it tuned for emissions. They were also super nice but ended up telling me I had a missing problem which needed new heads, manifold and swap to SU carbs all for a tidy 5K+ so that is was 'done right'. I took it to Ernie's MG garage and for the princely sum of $135 he tuned the truck and overhauled one of the carbs. He pointed out that the other garage had thrown the carbs waaay out of balance which is why it was missing on a couple of cylinders etc. He was even happy to show me some of his tricks to help set her up.

Just saying that a good mechanic doesn't have to be expensive. Find the right guy and he will understand any problems and fix them in the most economic fashion. Experience goes a long way in understanding what a garage is offering. The 'throw bright and shiny new parts at it to fix any problem' method gets very expensive very quickly.

One of the fun things about these trucks is learning to fix and maintain them yourself. It can be invaluable to understand the systems on the truck so that you know what is making that particular noise or, more importantly, what has suddenly stopped making that noise.


Boy do I go on.

Cheers
Gregor

[O'Brien]

well friends, i'm very thankful for the DIY encouragement. i don't have any people i can talk to in person about rovers, so you are all a valuable resource for me!

greenmeanie in fact i do have the 6cyl brake set-up up front, and the regular drums in the back. i haven't had the time to dig too deeply into the history of my 109, but i'm fairly certain that it's a '67, titled in California as a '66. Also fairly certain that it was originally fitted with the rover 6cyl, but was converted to a chevy six, probably really soon after the original owner took ownership. the chevy motor is a '66, and the title history shows it's 'always' had that motor in it. I'm excited to learn more about it once i get it back from the shop. i'll check the plate and see what i can find based on the numbers there.

i was looking at the offerings from our hosts, and noticed the series IIa CD rom. I also noticed that it was 'only' compatible with windows XP and acrobat 7.0 or earlier. anyone have this CD and run it on a MAC? I don't see why it wouldn't work, but just want to throw that question out there.

i should have the rover back either tonight or tomorrow, i'll post some pictures and maybe you guys and gals can throw out some ideas.

any other suggestions for genius and cheap mechanics in the greater Los Angeles area? would be nice to learn about someone else incase i come up against something i don't know how to repair yet.

btw, you are all awesome!

[leafsprung]

Mechanics

Finding a quality inexpensive mechanic in LA is tough. Peter at marina motors on Lincoln Blvd is a decent fellow with lots of rover expierience. Not inexpensive but maybe less than Huntington Mobile. http://www.englishcars.com I have some used manuals if you want one:

http://www.pangolin4x4.com/pangolin4x4/products/usedparts/usedparts/books/books.htm

Most of the manuals are online as PDFs as well.