I'm not well connected to the independent car community here, but a friend of a friend may be able to do it for less than the shops I've gotten quotes from.
I've got the clutch ordered from FCP and it should arrive in about a week.
What are some things I might need to be concerned about if I have a non-professional do the install?
I'm a non professional who just DIY'd my first one a few weeks back, along with the RMS. Labor quotes around here were all in the $1000+ range, or more with the RMS .
I'm also someone who doesn't trust other people's work most of the time, which is one of the reasons I always try and DIY (besides saving money) - but I did briefly consider paying someone this time because while not a technically difficult job, there's a lot of steps I didn't want to rush through on a weekend. But then I started working from home when the Zombies came so I was able to take my time.
So to your question, specific concerns...?
Do you mean things like not putting the clutch disc on backwards.. or?
You probably don't want a friend of a friend doing it, if he's just a DIY garage guy and not a moonlighting pro. Even then... what happens if there's a problem after it's done? Getting a legit shop to fix a mistake they may have made (should be) a lot easier than getting some rando to go back in. Also, mixing business and personal relationships can be bad news.
I let my exgf's dad who has a little ghetto "shop" work on my old car 5 years ago because we didn't have space to do it and I didn't have all the tools. He gave me the "hookup" deal - and ended up not fixing it twice in a row leaving me stranded and on the 3rd time I got it back with new problems. Luckily the car was an old pile I was close to junking anyway. If it had been a nice car I'd have been pretty pissed off.
