I'm stuck with what to do for S-trim install

500$ to install LT's WTF!!

I paid my mechanic to do my MAC LTs $100 flat to do it. He said they were a pain in the butt, but that's what he charged me. I just did the Vortech install myself, and the most engine intensive thing I had done prior were plugs, wires, oil, just basic maintenance stuff. I paid $425 for my PCM burn, 2.5 hours on the dyno at $150 an hour. I bought a $200 mechanics tool kit from Sears and spent somewhere around another $100 on the misc. special tools the install requires. Unless you are willing to ditch some of the time with the girl you probably don't have a choice but to have it installed for you, or lose some serious sleep. As for tuning this yourself, I've been told that starting your tuning on a S/C car is a bit rougher than learning on NA, it may also take a good amount of time to get running well. IMHO, if you want the g/f to be happy and don't have the time pay, if you want to save the extra $ and can make the time do it yourself. You really don't need an air compressor and air tools, I didn't use anything out of the ordinary except a dremel with a cutting disc.

Joe...I here you on the "do it yourself" I "feared" it, so I went to a shop...Joe did too, but then realized how "simple" it was, especially if you assemble the whole thing OUTSIDE the car, then bolt it in.

If TIME is the issue, work a couple hours of overtime and pay to have it done, so long as you have faith in the shop. I would however try to get them to come down on the header price, especially if the same shop is doing it...Keep us posted. CONGRATS on 1,000 posts!!

RC

Joe 5.0 said:

HG I have followed your progress, and its part of the reason i am still contemplating doing it myself. No way I can find anyone to do the LT's for less than $300. I'm tellin you, no way i'm getting those bolts out without an air powered impact wrench.

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let me tell you, if you cant get the bolts loose with a breaker bar, the impact wrench wont do it either. i ended up shearing off most of those bolts because of rust but that is fine because you arent reusing any of them. everything was rusted but the header to head bolts. those came loose with a little effort. as far as tools go, a set of hand tools is plenty. i did my entire auto to manual swap with a basic set of hand tools. even $1100 is way too much for that. it should include the dyno tune and clutch install too if they are even dreaming of charging you that much.

it sucks you live so far away. we could easily knock that all out in a day if we started early. i feel you on the work schedule too. i work 60-80 hours a week and most days its from 11am-1am. i barely have much time to sleep much less work on the car. tell you what.....buy me my plane ticket and a case of heineken and im there.....

that would still be much less than $1100

Go for it man...

buy a cutoff wheel or an angle grinder and cut those bolts out of there... for the cost of the install you could also put some serious $$ into the car...

Also for the cost of the install take a few days out of work to do it... then you also get to say you did it yourself....

Green 94 5.0 said:

.....that would still be much less than $1100

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How's the engine install coming? I need to drive by and take a look.!!

RC

94GTLaserRC said:

How's the engine install coming? I need to drive by and take a look.!!

RC

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motor and tranny are out. im in the process of prepping the engine bay for paint.

People get paid to install those things?!??! Come on now, quit being a wimp and pick up a screw driver and start installing that ****. Its really not that hard, and when it gets tricky....stangnet willl help. Dont you have friends that have tools? I think its about time to start putting together a tool collection.

Actually for that price, you could buy me a roundtrip plane ticket and I will come up and do it for you.

I've done multiple transmission swaps, plus an engine and trans swap with a 315 piece Craftsman hand tool set + a few misc. tools added in (1/2" breaker bar, 10" extensions, u-joints for sockets, jackstands, torque wrench, etc). In total, I'd say I have less than $400 in tools, so it's definitely do-able yourself with just hand tools. The only problem I see is how you said you work 70 hour weeks, so having it installed might be better as far as time goes. Now that the weather is getting nice, maybe it's time for a nice vacation to install and enjoy it for a few days or so? I think that's my plan for my engine swap coming up in the next month or so.

I say go for it, get the tools you need, and then you will have them later down the road for anything else that will arise.

BlueOvalStangGT said:

Actually for that price, you could buy me a roundtrip plane ticket and I will come up and do it for you.

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we can make it a group project.

If you need some help, I'm in the Ann Arbor area, I know mcgrawj or whatev is in the area too. The more people you have on the job the better, I bout lost it when I was replacing a blown header gasket, only because I was doing it myself and there are certain times when another set of hands helps when mounting certain things.

I think when I do my H/C/I or vortech, I'll look to recruit some people for help, if I can make enough money before school starts again.

By installing it out of the car i think they meant bolting the blower and brackets and stuff up, then put all that on the motor at one time. Putting it together on a bench is easier than inside the engine bay.

As for the tune, my bud did this kit on his H/C/I car and hasn't gotten it tuned yet... (I know, don't tell me...)...