I'd help if you were closer than a six hour drive (that'* tough to do in an evening)

Well, I called about 15 shops in the Duluth area, and I got quotes almost all in the 3-400 range, except for a few in West Duluth (the... well... 'other side of town') for 200 and even 175

kinda sketchy on them, but we'll see...

oh yeah MN RULES!

I'd be leary of the "other side" places as well.

BTW..if you lived in CT..it'd already be done

true, but, 200 bucks is well, 200 bucks. it'* the difference between getting a season pass at Spirit Mt. or not.
i might be willing to accept a bit of risk for that. one of the shops sounded like an old guy, so he might be just an honest, standup, oldschool kinda guy. who knows...

For a 30 pack of beer and some laughs..you can probably get some help from the MN guys.

UPDATE:
I ended up driving down to that shop that quoted me $175. Looked like a Ma & Pa shop, UHAUL rental location, oldschool gas pumps... Had LOTS of trouble finding the place due to road construction in the area, I wouldn't have found it but for dumb luck of stumbling upon it while searching. I'm willing to bet they're hurtin for business a bit with the construction.

Seemed like standup folks. Guy came out, looked under the hood, saw what'* goin on, and still said it would end up in the near viscinity of the estimate. The guy assured me it'd be right around the estimate. Even if it'* $100 more, at $275, it'* still way cheaper than all the other quotes I got... Forked over the keys and my trust, we'll see how it goes...




Oh yeah, and Bill, they don't sell Grain Belt Premium in 30 packs, only 24

Double Update:
I picked up my car today from that Ma & Pa shop, a day before they said they'd even be able to get to it. (Bonus!) Paid the $161.42, which was LESS than the over-the-phone estimate. (Bonus!) Guy used a brand new pump, and I poked around under the hood and found.....

a weld?

ran back in to "WTF, welding?" the guy, and he explained that "There'* a really long stud holding the motor mount to the block, and the best way I've found to do these is to tack a weld on the nut for that stud and back the stud out of the block."

Upon further inspection, it would appear he was honest about it. Have any of you heard of this before? Did he screw something up and lie about it? Is that a legitmate method?

Anyway, I paid, drove the car till it was warm, double checked the air-bleed, and it was good. Other than that weld on the stud, everything seems perfect. (well, as perfect as it ever was... still runs hotter than i'd like) I really don't care about it unless it could cause trouble in the future, but everything seems fine.
End Result: $161.42 parts & labor, for a new water pump installed with 1 yr. labor warranty, finished early. Fair enough, I say.
Any thoughts?