How Many Hours Labor Is This Job?

[acoddo]

My Ford mechanic seems like a good guy. He's got my parts and my mustang this weekend, this is what he's doing:

Gt40 aluminum heads
F cam (spare me the f cam complaints)
1993 Cobra intake (sandblast and powdercoated)
24# injectors
24# Maf
Edelbrock water pump
High output fuel pump
Harmonic balancer
Fuel pressure regulator
MSD 6AL install and mount
BBK Long tube headers

He's got me dialed in $850 for remaining misc parts (gaskets, rockers, pushrods, etc)

22 hours of labor @$60 per hr.
No tax =$1320

Total $2170
How does that sound?

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Sounds like you should save the 2170, and do it yourself.

 

[acoddo]

Sounds like you should save the 2170, and do it yourself.

If I didn't have a time consuming job and I had the knowledge I would definitely do it myself. I'm not in the business of taking apart engines. Id make more problems and wind up paying more to fix it

 

[Dan02gt]

22 hours and $1320 in labor sounds pretty good to me. A H/C/I swap with long tubes is very labor intensive.

 

[a91what]

Neither are we, Mike sells cars. I wire controls and do instrumentation. We both turn our own wrenches. He is probably quoting you from some kind of manual for labor hours.

 

[acoddo]

Neither are we, Mike sells cars. I wire controls and do instrumentation. We both turn our own wrenches. He is probably quoting you from some kind of manual for labor hours.

So no constructive idea if that matches the real work based on your "vast experience"

 

[acoddo]

22 hours and $1320 in labor sounds pretty good to me. A H/C/I swap with long tubes is very labor intensive.

Thanks!

 

[a91what]

So no constructive idea if that matches the real work based on your "vast experience"

Oh. But I did, he is using a standard for the number of hours to charge you for the job. You will need to do the legwork as far as how much the average shop charges per labor hour in your area. You could also call the parts store and price the gasket set for a top end rebuild, call summit for prices concerning the pushrod and rocker arms.

I am not a mechanic by trade, I do however build and tune aftermarket efi systems. I even build my own supercharger systems from scratch using parts never in production for a sbf.
If you ever have an in depth technical question concerning the efi system my vast experience in that area can help.

 

[acoddo]

Oh. But I did, he is using a standard for the number of hours to charge you for the job. You will need to do the legwork as far as how much the average shop charges per labor hour in your area. You could also call the parts store and price the gasket set for a top end rebuild, call summit for prices concerning the pushrod and rocker arms.

I am not a mechanic by trade, I do however build and tune aftermarket efi systems. I even build my own supercharger systems from scratch using parts never in production for a sbf.
If you ever have an in depth technical question concerning the efi system my vast experience in that area can help.

Simply put, my knowledge with most mechanical stuff is very minimal. I've only swapped distributors, air intakes, spark plugs, basic stuff. My main question here is 22 hours reasonable for all that work
My gut is that it probably takes longer than that. He told me he went off Chilton.

 

[a91what]

If that's how he did it that sounds reasonable, next thing to do is call a few local shops and ask about there labor rate. This way you can be sure you are not getting hosed.

 

[Black1987]

If I didn't have a time consuming job and I had the knowledge I would definitely do it myself. I'm not in the business of taking apart engines. Id make more problems and wind up paying more to fix it

Some where in there is an engineering joke....

Ask around like mentioned above. If he's your buddy and he is doing it on the side. Ask to help or at least watch, if its on a weekend you're not working. That way, the second time around you can take that 2 grand and put it to better use ( have to start somewhere).

I mean my wife thought the same thing until one day she ventured out of the kitchen and slapped together my motor while I provided the sammiches/beer.

Seems steep to me for the buddy price.

 

[90sickfox]

Very fair price. I'm a master mechanic and do a lot of work for folks. That price is pretty reazonablr ...provided the quality if work is up to par.

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

If I didn't have a time consuming job and I had the knowledge I would definitely do it myself. I'm not in the business of taking apart engines. Id make more problems and wind up paying more to fix it

See,..therein lies the "catch".

Nobody here is in the business of taking apart engines,...Yet 80+ percent can and do. Everybody has a reason for why they don't/won't/can't work on their own hobby car. Whether it's time, (or lack there of) or lack of practical expertise,...One thing's for sure...

You'll never know anymore about it if you don't try.

Guys that decide that their time is too valuable to work on a project, or hobby car discount mine. I work a full time job, and it's not as a mechanic/bodyman/electrician/upholsterer/welder/or a chassis fab tech. I have never worked in any of those industries. But I manage to work on my own stuff nonetheless and the end result isn't a hacked up cobbled up mess that looks like a child did it. I do it because the challenge of being "able" to do it lies in front. (Kinda like why stupid people jump out of planes or climb mountains..both of which I've done...and by my own words, that must make me just as stupid)

I chose to get into the hobby to learn, and to do. I'd say that unless you are in some way physically incapacitated, an able person with tools, the internet, a good shop manual, the willingness to try and of course the time,...and a head and cam swap, headers, fuel and water pump swap outs and an electrical ignition box upgrade would be three week-ends of time for a novice.
Or...a few hours over twice as long, and 100% less than what the mechanic will take to do the job, and charge you for it in the end.

I get it though,..It takes tools and time, in addition to the willingness to just wade into a project that you know nothing about. None of which you evidently have in surplus.

The mechanic sound like he's in line,..the shop rate seems there too...hopefully you'll have better luck w/ this guy than you did w/ LMR.

 

[Bullitt347]

Just be glad you are not paying the going rate around here. You could almost double the labor quote....and forget about the dealer, some are at $195 per hr.

 

[revhead347]

It's more than fair. Aftermarket parts always have complications. I would pay him the money and thank him for his effort. Always kill with kindness. I always get farther by boosting someone's ego than complaining about the results. Doing an HCI swap with aftermarket parts is honestly hard work, and it should be represented in the compensation.

Also, doing it yourself is it's own reward. I do as much as I can on my own out of pride. At some point, you have to put a value on your time though. Delta values my time at $119/block hr, so I have had to make some tough decisions on my time.

Kurt

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

False, and presumptuous. You clearly have not been in my shoes, and I do NOT think I am the exception. Your blanket statement applies to me, because I am a guy who considers my time too valuable to work on my project. Yet, I do not discount the value of your time. Who has said or implied a thing about the value of your time, anyways? It seems you're reading more into guys like me than vice-versa.

You could always just dump the whole car and be absolutely stress free. When building on, working on, or having to maintain or modify a car purchased to be a diversion/hobby/ or for recreation would add to the "stress in your life", maybe you'd be better off joining a book club, and just read about it then?

 

[Bullitt347]

I am fortunate in that I work on cars for a living, so I have the tools and I enjoy the work...for the most part. My big weakness is thinking about how to improve the drag car while working on a customer car and kind of losing focus on what I am doing. Some things I can't do, like tig weld, so I farm it out. I would rather pay to have it done right than try it myself and have it look like a cobbled together sh*t pile, even if the performance is the same. Working with a professional to get something done that I can not do has always increased my knowledge base. I appreciate the skills it takes to fab stuff, no doubt, and I do as much as possible, but I will be damned if I waste 20 hrs of my time if someone else can do it better in 5 hrs.

 

[Bullitt347]

 

[CarMichael Angelo]

Well, ok. Go to hell, Mike. I'll figure out what to do with my money and time. Meanwhile, you can blabber about what you think guys like me are thinking about yours.

And thanks for that. You go right ahead and tout the benefits of spending your money so you can save your time.
All the while starting thread edits where you go from shop to shop that stick you in your eye, and never do what you want them to do. How long before the added stress of dicking with those shops that take your money and never finish your project end up not being worth it?

 

[acoddo]

Why do you care, Mike? You clearly think so little of guys like me.

Once you are in a career where you spend 7 out of 10 years overseas and less than 1/3 of your time sleeping in your own bed, and you still figure out how to do it all yourself, I'll have a little more respect for your opinion. I've moved across the country 4 times in the last 20 months, and 22 times in my 35 year life, and even though I'm damned efficient, it still takes 2 months just to get the basics set up before you settle into any kind of routine. Then you have to catch up on everything you fell behind on while you prioritized the needs of your career. Your relationships with family, close friends, and love interests suffer. It's tough to maintain your health and high level of physical fitness, which btw is a job requirement.

Now, I guess you're absolutely right. It's more logical to throw away anything not absolutely necessary, including impractical hobbies. This is the only interest I have that I spend anything on. I'm actually a damned frugal guy. I'm just doing what I have to in order to stay connected with something I really love, but yeah... go ahead and look down at me. You're so much better than me because you do it all yourself. Tell me what a piece of I am, because I can't go lay under my car for 2-3 hours a week, even though I still want something special. Or, just keep your condescension to yourself.

Being in the military isn't easy. The days when I think I have free time often get interrupted because one only my soldiers decides to get locked up or try and kill himself. Luckily for my, the car this is a very new hobby. Of course i have many other hobbies it's just that now is not the time for me to get into the dirt on taking apart engines just yet. I'm 27 years old and will have plenty of time later down the road when I have something better than my first "little 302" to play with.