Exhausted exhaust seeker

[iggi]

Hoping someone can bear with the ignorance of a first-timer and give me some advice to keep my much loved campervan on the road... my silencer has packed in and my local exhaust-chain has quoted me £1000 for replacing the exhaust system (before labour&VAT!)
I contacted a local garage that does a lot of VW work about an estimate but they aren't even returning my calls! I know exhausts are available on the internet but it seems incredibly likely I will buy the wrong thing - any idea about how straightforward that would be? Or is over a grand a fair price for an exhaust?
I have a 1985 (B-reg) 1915CC, water-cooled, petrol van.
Advice, or even commiseration, appreciated!

[Louey]

You could try here

or

here

for stockists

[Cate]

Could be the garage doesn't want the job, and when you are talking about old vans and rusted bolts its not a job I would look for. When I got an exhaust put on mine 2 years ago it cost me about 300 for the garage to do the job, I supplied the exhaust.
GSF I've found are helpful about getting the right part, as long as your van isn't modified and faffed about with then the parts could be a whole range of anything.

[iggi]

Thank you both very much - am following up both links and at the least will be armed with knowledge when I go to my (third) garage!
Cheers

[iggi]

Have had a development - another garage can't see anything wrong with exhaust, says vehicle is misfiring and running too fast (I'm just nodding wisely by this point as I don't know what he means).
Has anyone had experience of this, and what a repair might involve?
Going to a third (hopefully final!) garage on Monday, so would be great to go in armed with some knowledge...

Cheers

[kevtherev]

Our vans are noisier than modern vans..unless you're a complete perfectionist, then dg's can have acceptable noise levels
Tickover speed is around 950 rpm
and a misfire will make the engine shake a lot! the occasional misfire will make the engine rock slightly... but so would a mixture problem.
May I suggest you have a plugs, oil and filter change, air filter. a basic service...(you can do this yourself with some confidence and the Wiki), then have a tune up from any tuner upper...before you start puchasing expensive parts

[syncroand101]

Whereabouts in Scotland are you?

Quite a few people travel a distance to get work done here. One of very few garages and T25 specialists I'd actually trust with my vehicle.

[iggi]

Even better. I'll try out the service option first.
In Edinburgh but Shotts is reachable if the need arises.
Knowing where/who to trust is definitely a big deal. Also fed up with garages tutting when I tell them how old it is ("Yes, I did say the reg was B, not P or V"!)
Thanks again

[blurb55]

Cate's was a good call, they were great with my Caulifornian Westy - full exhaust £270 and local garage for local people, fitting for around the same. So a grand seems mightily expensive - but then I'm a tight Yorkshireman