Don’t stiff your mechanic. Your duty next time is to get an estimate in writing and advise your mechanic what your spending cap is, and any repairs beyond that are with your approval only.
Your mechanic has to eat, too. It’s not in his job description to alleviate your financial woes.
I’m a coaster, always have been. I get well over 100,000 km on a set of front brakes, and on my Toyota Matrix, ran the original rear drums to over 450,000 km.
You will make your parts supplier very happy. They make money selling parts to guys like you who love to talk to your buddies at the bar about your ‘upgrades’. You’ll notice no difference. And I guarantee the condition of your factory intake is entirely intact and in original shape unless you’re intentionally beating on it with a hammer and chainsaw. They don’t wear out.
You asked for a recommendation. Slam the hood shut and stop fantasizing about horsepower the engineers at GM forgot.
Without you telling us, we can surmise you were towed because a wheel fell off. Those are snapped lug studs. Someone went Schwarzenegger while tightening them, or you ran them for a couple hours while they were loose.
Don’t sweat what you don’t understand. It’s 2000, not 2. My Sierra revs about 1500 at 60 mph. I have an overdrive. Maybe you have a TH400. No overdrive. That would put you around 2000 at 60 mph depending on your rear axle gear ratio.
A torn boot means your joint is contaminated. I never replace boots. A torn boot on cars I service is an automatic CV axle replacement. They’re inexpensive to purchase and easy to install. The best time for a complete swap was 45 minutes, 07 Yaris, either side. The worst was 3 hours, passenger side of a V6 RAV4.