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kallend

$300 to change spark plugs!

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Well, I did a complete rebuild of my MG from engine to rear axle, but at least I could see the engine when I opened the hood on that.




we have tree huggers and the left for that, and now the global warming cap and tax people. Oh wait I can't say that is this forum, can I? I'll loan you the tools and maybe even help you if you get down to Florida. :P If you need advice drop me a pm.

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He will probably strap some model rocket engines to it eventually.:D



Dateline NBC tried that once, when they wanted to set the gas tank on fire on a GM pickup truck to show how dangerous the truck was.
...

The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one.

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But $600 is nuts! Hell $300 is nuts!



Bolts are $900.



And a toilet seat is $5000



Hammer - $15000
I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

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And that's just labor, the plugs are extra.




Holy cow! I just did my Ford truck about a month ago. Plugs ran $6 each and wires ran $68. Labor cost me a couple busted knuckles from the last guy who gooned the old plugs in. To bad I can't kick my own ass.

How many hours labor did they charge you for?
If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck!

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And that's just labor, the plugs are extra.




Holy cow! I just did my Ford truck about a month ago. Plugs ran $6 each and wires ran $68. Labor cost me a couple busted knuckles from the last guy who gooned the old plugs in. To bad I can't kick my own ass.

How many hours labor did they charge you for?



Gooned?
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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John and Kallend
Having also restored a vehicle built in the halcyon days of the British motor industry (MGA Twincam) I bow my head to you, for you two also know why the British motor industry is no more and that there are more painful and pointless things to do than banging your head into a brick wall.:ph34r::ph34r::ph34r:

That said, they sure are pretty cars:)
Billy....MGA
Old, check
Carburettors, check
Space.......ummmmm nope!



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Gooned?




Crancked down hard! Over torqued is another term.


Oh yeah, I hate when the lug nuts on my truck get gooned after I had the tires rotated. Ends up stripping the threads and/or snapping the bolt off when I tried to get the tire off. :S
"Mediocre people don't like high achievers, and high achievers don't like mediocre people." - SIX TIME National Champion coach Nick Saban

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Yeah.. Being little and having good dexterity is great.. Every time a man made snide comments about women being too weak to be good mechanics, I would remind them of the million times I managed to find the screw/screwdriver/torquewrench/lockwire, etc they dropped down the hell hole.. (Confined space where the cargo hook lives in helicopters.)

But big hands doesn't mean you can't do the work.. It just means you might need to move stuff out of the way to gain access.



I love a girl who likes to screw:)



Sorry to good to pass up after your other thread - especially since the first time that I heard that said, was when the office manager grabbed a screwdriver to fix a loose doorknob. Said by the lecherous old CAD guy in a room full of engineers:o. I did feel really embarrassed for her though as there were at least 15 men in the room at the time.
Experienced jumper - someone who has made mistakes more often than I have and lived.

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No, that is NOT just the Labor.. It is the Labor (Payroll, Health Insurance, FICA, Unemployment Insurance, 401K program), The Overhead (The Building, The Utilities, The Shop Supplies, Uniforms, Service Writer, Service Manager, Liability Insurance, Advertising Costs, Tools) the Taxes and HOPEFULLY/Possibly a little profit for the business owner after all the above is paid.



I do not have the knowledge to know if kallend is being over-charged or not, but I would tend to agree with your assessment.

Unfortunately, auto tune & repair shops are notorious for taking advantage of customers. I admit, it is worth my weight in gold having a close friend in the car industry. His guys have always taken care of my cars for free and I know they are doing an amazing job.

My hunny is a contractor and I often hear him on the phone going over estimates with skeptical prospects. I always play devil's advocate when he gets frustrated, because while I know he is charging them fairly for exceptional work, even my jaw drops when he describes to me what the customer wants and his price.

I am very happy not to be in his shoes dealing with all he deals with as a business owner with a product that everyone wants to pay someone to do rather than learn about/do themselves but no-one wants to pay more than their own unknowing/unwilling estimate pulled from thin air.
Paint me in a corner, but my color comes back.

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I used to help out in a small car shop in the afternoons for a couple years and it is hard because I see both sides...
I could never pay someone $70-$90 an hour to do mechanic work because I know it isn't that hard. But on the other hand I'm not working on your (if your not my friend) car for less than $50 (at my house) because my tools are expensive and I've spent a lot of my personal time learning about cars.

Same thing with computers and networks. Yeah %99 percent of your computer problems are very easy to fix. You know why? Because I have spent endless amounts of my personal time researching, tinkering, hacking, and fixing things.


My short answers are free, plenty of information to get you on the right track to fixing your own problems. My tools are freely lent out, and I give my time away to anyone I consider a friend (but you damn better be willing to put in your time too i.e. car work>:()

I apply this to skydiving coaching too... unfortunately for me I consider all jumpers my friend... so I've never asked any student to even cover my slot. [:/]

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Yeah.. Being little and having good dexterity is great.. Every time a man made snide comments about women being too weak to be good mechanics, I would remind them of the million times I managed to find the screw/screwdriver/torquewrench/lockwire, etc they dropped down the hell hole.. (Confined space where the cargo hook lives in helicopters.)

But big hands doesn't mean you can't do the work.. It just means you might need to move stuff out of the way to gain access.



I love a girl who likes to screw:)


The ironic thing is that when I worked as a mechanic, I really *loved* the banter.. I mean.. *Everything* mechanical can be described with sexual innuendo!!! It's somehow different in an office, though.. Just seems out of place.. I do think there is a time and place for everything - especially over-torquing the nuts off of massive bolts!!! :D:D
"There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse."
- Chris Hadfield
« Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. »
- my boss

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No, that is NOT just the Labor.. It is the Labor (Payroll, Health Insurance, FICA, Unemployment Insurance, 401K program), The Overhead (The Building, The Utilities, The Shop Supplies, Uniforms, Service Writer, Service Manager, Liability Insurance, Advertising Costs, Tools) the Taxes and HOPEFULLY/Possibly a little profit for the business owner after all the above is paid.



I do not have the knowledge to know if kallend is being over-charged or not, but I would tend to agree with your assessment.

Unfortunately, auto tune & repair shops are notorious for taking advantage of customers. I admit, it is worth my weight in gold having a close friend in the car industry. His guys have always taken care of my cars for free and I know they are doing an amazing job.

My hunny is a contractor and I often hear him on the phone going over estimates with skeptical prospects. I always play devil's advocate when he gets frustrated, because while I know he is charging them fairly for exceptional work, even my jaw drops when he describes to me what the customer wants and his price.

I am very happy not to be in his shoes dealing with all he deals with as a business owner with a product that everyone wants to pay someone to do rather than learn about/do themselves but no-one wants to pay more than their own unknowing/unwilling estimate pulled from thin air.



Yep. Service business get a bad rap sometimes because people do not understand what it is they are paying for.

Yes, Joe Smoe with a socket set and a shade tree could usually do the job MUCH cheaper.. If they do not have the overhead of being a REAL business to deal with. People forget rather quickly about all the other costs that must be paid for that business to exist beyond the Hourly wage paid to the person doing the work.

No one likes to work for free. Even things like Janitorial staff, Accountants, Receptionists must be paid. If you are running a service type business, All these costs must be rolled into the Hourly rate you charge. Just because there is one guy out there turning wrenches does NOT mean that is the only person that must be paid.

As for Book Hours vs Actual Hours, I like the Book Hours concept MUCH better. Yes, Most technicians can beat the book hours by quite a bit. This means the Better technicians can make more money and as a customer I don't have to pay more for a less competent technician that would take longer to do the same job. Also I know the costs up front.

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Yeah the book hrs can easily be beaten in some instances and don't come close on some others... In those cases we would over quote to compensate. We never charged more than the original quote, but we often charged less.

(We also happened to be the only shop open on Sundays in Utah :P )

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I sold a guy a set of plugs last week for just over $2,000. Just the plugs in a box.



Obviously not for a Toyota Tacoma like my vehicle. What were they for?
My grammar sometimes resembles that of magnetic refrigerator poetry... Ghetto

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Well, it's many factors. The quest for lower hood lines for aerodynamics. The advanced pollution control plumbing. The addition of air boxes and remote airfilters, all the plumbing for fuel injection, everything has air conditioning and power steering. Most I think it's the shrinking of the engine compartment for streamlining and weight savings to blame. [:/]

So, the extra work is due to making cars more efficient, and "reducing the carbon footprint." That being the case, any environmentalist willing to put his wallet where his mouth is should be more than happy to pay twice the price! It's all for the earth after all!!!
Experience is what you get when you thought you were going to get something else.

AC DZ

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I sold a guy a set of plugs last week for just over $2,000. Just the plugs in a box.



Obviously not for a Toyota Tacoma like my vehicle. What were they for?



At 2K per box . . . sounds like a set of Fine Wire Iridium Plugs.

Probably for a Twin engine - With 6 cyl each and tw plugs per cyl.
I'm not usually into the whole 3-way thing, but you got me a little excited with that. - Skymama
BTR #1 / OTB^5 Official #2 / Hellfish #408 / VSCR #108/Tortuga/Orfun

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