hows this for a price?

[Tahrey1043]

very quick, in hope that everyone hasnt gone to bed

need to fix the blowing exhaust on the polo, before going to college in notts wednesday

kwik fit round my way, closest place to work (drop it off at 8.30, pick it up at 5.30), have quoted £80.50 for the bog standard part plus fitting

sounds a bit pricey to me, sure i've had it for £45 to £50 before, but worth it for quietness, and if it'll be a quality unit, which for some reason i'm starting to suspect it will be. (their staff, at least, appear to live up to the adverts - even if they do use lucas brake parts)

other than that, i could drive up to nottingham with it blowing like a dragster (great fun past the school in Gotham i think!) and try to get it done during lunchtime at a cheaper place.....




edit hmmmm guess i missed the bus, i'll have to try the porka night owls
until tomorrow, here's a map showing the highly improbable place the road josh has supposedly been spotted on was named after

[metz]

£80 is a bit expensive, is it just the backbox? mine cost £43 from stealers and £10 to fit at local garage.
Funily enough i tried kwikfit and they said £80 for exhaust plus fitting and all they were doing was nipping to stealers for exhaust a mate who works there told me....hmmmm.

[david burton]

try national tyres, or plume - plume are very good - highly recommend the one in shirley!

[Tahrey1043]

if you've got an address for them i'll be there in a shot

shirley probably isnt too far from work at the moment... maybe??

*birmingham geography approaching legendary levels of crapness despite the fact i live and work there*
(like, seriously - i only found out last week that the bull ring was over the road from the station. thought it was miles away)

its just the pressure of time the thing with kwik fit is, i can drop it off, have the work done, and pick it up in the evening, pretty much guaranteed. if i was still working four nights a week and the occasional afternoon, getting an original pipe from a stealers and asking a general neighbourhood grease monkey to slap it on for a tenner in his spare time would be a whole lot easier. just wish i'd thought to call fairfields first thing in the morning, as i bet i could have swung a tuesday slot...

[david burton]

it's on the stratford road.... near shirley high street

[Tahrey1043]

yep, my local geography sure is crap - 5 and a half miles as the crow flies, 7 miles on the road



ah well!

In any case, KF did me right - £51.80 all in, somewhat better than the £81.50 quoted last night. Think the poor chap got his figures upside down. Comparing favourably with £40 + £10 + hassle

and i'm glad i rushed it in, considering how useless the local rail service was in getting me just one stop up from there to work and back (including skipping the damn stop on the way back and making me have to get a second train back from the terminus), i wouldnt have fancied getting up to college that way tomorrow - between b'ham and nottingham, it's run by the same company as local.

[carmadaaron]

not bad value at all..

[Tahrey1043]

well it was a pleasant surprise to be paying thirty quid less than budgeted for!

...that money will go towards whatever the local mr fixit charges for giving the front chassis bits a once-over on monday and (hopefully just) tightening up the spline bolts on the driveshaft to the correct torque --- or in the new-motor kitty if he quotes me something obscene for doing the suspension out.
cuz, the car is getting undrivable over 35mph, i actually stopped on the way home from notts to double check all the bolts were on right as it was not only wobbling, but starting to wander when over 60mph, and pull to the left / become harder to turn the wheel at any speed. wish the zorst would have blown just a month later..
not to mention it misbehaving a little when cold now, but i reckon its the same old hot-air pipe problem, so i've now got a mind to get out the duck tape and patch the original one up as good as possible. It looks repairable, just might need a bit of effort and ingenuity.