Early A-Body Interior Rear-View Mirror Repair
$700 on tune-up parts? Yikes, are you having them made from scratch?
Well, yeah. Stuff got a lot more expensive than it was 30 or 40 years ago.
Points, condenser, cap, rotor, wires (all good stuff, not crap), vacuum advance diaphragm (original is holed), VC gasket, belts, hoses, heater core (they're not $20 anymore), air cleaner, carb rebuild kit, choke pull-off (again, holed), fuel filter with vapor return line, gas tank seal and ring (gotta have a look inside), fuel pickup sock, dual master cylinder, brake hoses, brake spring kits, wheel cylinder kits, a brake cylinder hone (don't know where mine went, $10 is cheaper than trying to find it), wheel bearing seals, trans filter and gasket, plus... a few pieces of sales literature (gotta feed the mind, ya know?).
Sheet adds up. Even from RockAuto (and there are a few things they didn't have).
And that's not counting a set of 14" SBP rims and tires. (Happen to know of anyone with some Duster rims they need drug out from behind their barn?)
But, yes, I was "taken aback" myself when I looked at the totals from RA, eBay, Van's, etc.
The M/C was $75, at RA. Last one I bought, in the early 2000s, was about $15.
Brake hoses are almost $20
each.
Heater core (Four Seasons,
maybe US-made) was $81 including shipping and tax. They used to be $20
So, don't get me going on the cost of parts, which aren't as good as they used to be.
Oh crap. You did!
– Eric