Anyone in Kansas City area - recommend shop?

Have an 86 Accord DX. Been in the family for some time, wanna get it fixed up. Runs poorly right now, so that's order number one. After I get it mechanically sound, found a place that will straighten the body (neighbor's vandalism and sibling got rear-ended) for about a grand. Besides getting it to stop dying at stoplights and randomly on the highway, new alternator would be preventative maint, new clutch, replace 5th gear, new heater core.

Took it to Jay Wolfe Honda to have them estimate getting everything fixed. Apparently it wasn't up their alley, cause all they told me was "No, it's not worth fixing" - without offering price estimate because of engine problem (there's a related thread for that). So maybe... dealerships don't like working on 24 y/o cars? Btw, I think my car's delivery date anniversary is this next week... anyway...

So good shop to take it to? I took it to Imports Only on Southwest Boulevard, but they said they couldn't replicate my running problem and after a hassle, I left there with a wheel having been stolen.

Otto's on Blue Ridge sounded like they would just want to replace the vacuum hoses and rebuild top of carb before investigating anything else on it. Maybe not a bad idea...

Ideas?

I had the same problem with one of my friend's who owns a tire store. I asked him if he would replace my shocks and he told me the car was not worth the effort. I understand that most folks don't share our enthusiasm for these great 21 year old + cars. He will sell me tires though.

So, I did it myself- was not that difficult except in compressing the springs. It is easiest to do it yourself. It'sdave has a good carburetor for sale in the trading post.... buy it, put it on and see if it makes the car run better. Check your vacuum lines for leaks, have a compression test done on the engine to see if it's worth the effort... just a few bucks at a repair shop.

Change the Cap and rotor, Spark plug wires, Spark plugs, check to see if any lines are cracked and leaking air? maybe try some injector cleaner(dont know if its carbed?) in the gas to maybe free up some trapped crud, its rather simple to do car maintenance on these 3geez..

most of that stuff is really easy to do if you come to this site. we can help you with anything. I would use the money to buy honda OEM parts and install them your self instead of paying someone