Water pump problems

[SethX]

Hey guys, i am a new proud owner of a 1995 1.4 clio oasis, and have been cruising around pretty much with it around germany.

Last week i was retuning from the hills, when the motor started overheating, and i couldnt drive a single mile without the motor reaching red temp.

I immediatley brought it to a mechanic [first car i own, dont have much experience with mechanics] and they said the water pump is broken, and that it will cost ~400 eur. to replace, because they have to redo ?distrubution? .
Is that true, or am i getting ripped off badly?
What price should i expect for water pump replacement?

Thanks!

SethX
Prowd brand new owner of a Clio

 

[Lunner]

Its pretty expensive, IIRC on the energy lump the cambelt has to come off too, so thats th cost of a new cambelt and fitting, mine cost me £125, and then the cost of the water pump and fitting too, not sure what teh exchange rate is, €400 = £300?

I wuld say anything up to about 200-250 is about right, depends on what the labour rate is over there.

They wanted to charge me £300 fitting for mine on the RSi, but it is a b**ch to get to, took me a day to do it

 

[MATT BLACK]

water pump part number - 7700736091 £49.90 - takes about 1hr to fit. Non genuine pumps are about £25. If they are charging you £400 they are taking the piss

 

[SethX]

i just changed mechanic, and the lowest price i could get was eur 350, or 235 GBP, so i got a fair price.

Only thing that pisses me off is that the car only has 70k KM on it, so its "fairly new", and having to replace the water pump is a bit of a bummer.
Oh well.

Once i get all the mechanical problems sorted out i wanted to start modding this car a bit, ATM i have 70 HP on it, and its [as said] a 1.4 cc 1995 clio oasis.
Anyone could give me an idea what power i could reach with a ~500 pound budget, and what i could replace?
Id love to search the forum for info, but fate wants that i cant search the content, so if this question was previously answered elsewhere just point me to a link.

Is reaching > 100 HP possible with this car?
Could anyone please point me to some body kits for my car also?

Kind regards to all, and thanks again for the help.