Hey guys,

First off thanks to all for providing me with excellent input, I have learned alot since joining. I am still in the process of gathering info/exhausting all options here....I AM trying to hang on to her, but only if it's not a completely loosing proposition.

More on her condition:
Buttercup is essentially "original owner" since she was my Dad's. She was in excellent care (garaged, good shops) for at least 3/4 of her life here on the Los Angels. My brother had her for a few years and while he sunk alot of $ (almost 10k) into her he was very careless, he never had a top on her and was mostly at the beach. He also didn't establish much of a rapport w/ the shop and in my opinion got ripped off alot.
I have owned her since 2001-don't have a garage, or tons of cash or mechanical knowledge, but I don't drive her that much, (although she is my ONLY car)I check the oil, and I use a car cover. I have put a fewk into her mech maintenance. She needs a facelift cosmetically for sure but I take care in keeping the dash up and maintaining what is ok the best I can with my own two hands. (see earlier posts for other detail on cond,)


Labor: Looks like I have been naive in the labor dept- as this job is very labor intensive, and I now know the $92 and hr my west side guy is asking is way up there....so I am onto to 2nd opinions and labor quotes closer to $65/hr...this makes the job alot more feasible as an option. Also I have learned that I could have prevented this fiasco had I had the timing chain rail guides replaced at the reccomended interval of 60/90k miles? Anyway I had no idea on this "premium" mainteneance issue....maybe if I had a better mechanic this wouldn't have happened? I have been in touch w/ some of the reccomended shops on here...

All this said I have also looked into dropping a new engine but two negatives there are: #1 Where to find a used one I can trust
#2 No one seems to be willing to give me a warranty on the labor of installing a mystery enginee
A new is one $4500 so that's getting into a whole other ball of wax (I guess?)
So if anything I am leaning toward repair mode...at best shop I can find/best price....in the meantime I have upgraded my AAA to premium so I can get her towed around w/in 100 mi for free..

Thanks again for those of you giving me feedback, it's been a tremendous help, I'll keep you "posted " (:

Best,

'81 380sl Roadster
still on the lift