Land Rover Repair: 1999 LR Disco Series 1 (engine re-seal) HELP!, land rover discovery, wheel bearings

Question
We have a 1999 Land Rover Discovery Series 1 (SD) and the car currently has 71,000 miles.  For the most part the car has been a good car (new brakes/rotors 1 time) couple of sets of tires etc.,  The things that have gone bad previously were a power steering pump (twice) and a coil pack--that one I think was a defect and LR in fact did discount the service by like $500 (from $1600).  First, we still have about $7500 left to pay off on the car.  My wife drives this car primarily, we do take it to the mountains during the winter several times a year and is certainly a vehicle well suited to our needs/use.  

Recently we noticed that it smelled like "burning oil" so we took the car to the independent mechanic that has been working on it since it came out of warranty.  He indicated that the engine needed to be "re-sealed" which as I understand it means taking the heads and other ancillaries off it and putting new gaskets etc., back on.  At the end of the day he suggested probably about $3600 to do that work.  The oil is currently dripping on the catalytic converter which I am sure is a safety hazard as well.  Additionally the wheel bearings need re-packing as well as a few other odds and ends so probably to get these things right so to speak I am looking at $4500 - $5000.  What the heck do I do with this car--I couldn't (wouldn't) consider selling as it is to a private party now given the condition.  A dealer wouldn't probably give me much for it.  Doesn't seem like too many options here.  If I were to sink the money in it is there other things assoiciated with this model lurking waiting to bite me (valve job maybe-or transmission).  This really concerns me because the cars are prohibitively expensive to repair and typically cars get progressively worse with age.

Answer
I would get an list of all work bieng done with prices.A valve job which would include all the top half of the engine bieng resealed all at the same time would only be around $2500.00 so unless he has to pull out the trans to replace rear main crank seal,still cost of only around $900.00 and after that the only thing to seal on the engine is a oil pan,around $150.00.so if they do all that maybe a few oil hoses can it be that much.wheel bearings should be repacked when doing the rotors due to the amount of time and money,so need to talk to the 1 who did rotors and ask if it was done if not.check for a new service center.www.bushducks.com