Land Rover Repair: Knocking noise in engine, buying a new car, rocker shafts

Question
I have the knocking noise when accelerating and took it to my mechanic who does my maintenance work.  He says " it's coming from the lifters and you will either need to replace the engine ($3500) or just buy a new car because yours has 80,000 miles.  I took it to another shop for a second opinion and he tells me he's found cracks in the manifolds and that he will replace both.  One costs approx. $220 and the other $170 and will take about 6 hrs. labor.  Sounds much better than putting in a new engine or buying a new car.  Does this sound right to you?  I'm a total idiot when it comes to what a car even has in it.  Please help!

Answer
I don't think you'll need a new car over this.

Noisy lifters are very common on older Land Rovers. New rocker shafts are available to fix the problem; istallation takes 4-6 hours.

Cracked exhaust manifolds are also common.  Befor ebuying new manifolds I suggest checking with your local dealer because there were recalls on some models that covered the manifolds.

You could have either or both problems.  Neither are fatal.