What's the average labor cost to just remove and replace an engine?

[gn87man]

I agree $1000 minimum and no beer drinking during the process. I always tell whoever it is, have some money reserved for anything safety related. I don't play that game. And another thing is maintenance after the fact. Don't call me about running your car into the ground and not checking the oil or turning the boost up and blowing it. Not my problem. Have another 1k ready if you do. Some people are plain stupid and shouldn't own anything more than a Honda Civic.

Rant off/

Good points! Understandable. Thank you!

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[Nick Micale]

Also depends on your location, labor rates vary depending on where you live. I was at 75 an hour 10 years ago before I got out of the business and most independent shops are now over 100 here in the DC area

Labor rates may vary among shops and $100 and hour is now a normal shop rate, but your concern should be the experience that the shop or person doing the work who should be somewhat familiar with a vehicle that was made for only 2 years, and that was 30 years ago?

Many of today's "techs" are not as old as our cars, and have no clue to just do an engine R&R without screwing it up?

I cannot believe how some of the hack techs can screw up simple things like using SAE bolts in metric holes and lots of other stupid moves which take a lot of time to make right.

My point is you best look for an experienced person/shop instead of just a price.

 

[gn87man]

Labor rates may vary among shops and $100 and hour is now a normal shop rate, but your concern should be the experience that the shop or person doing the work who should be somewhat familiar with a vehicle that was made for only 2 years, and that was 30 years ago?

Many of today's "techs" are not as old as our cars, and have no clue to just do an engine R&R without screwing it up?

I cannot believe how some of the hack techs can screw up simple things like using SAE bolts in metric holes and lots of other stupid moves which take a lot of time to make right.

My point is you best look for an experienced person/shop instead of just a price.

Very good points Nick. I will definitely keep this in mind with my upcoming R&R. Thank you!

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[TURBOELKY]

Labor rates may vary among shops and $100 and hour is now a normal shop rate, but your concern should be the experience that the shop or person doing the work who should be somewhat familiar with a vehicle that was made for only 2 years, and that was 30 years ago?

Many of today's "techs" are not as old as our cars, and have no clue to just do an engine R&R without screwing it up?

I cannot believe how some of the hack techs can screw up simple things like using SAE bolts in metric holes and lots of other stupid moves which take a lot of time to make right.

My point is you best look for an experienced person/shop instead of just a price.

I've spent a whole lot of time cleaning threads that had SAE bolts ran in them. Especially on the plenum holes and coil pack horse shoe holes of the intake.

 

[fastblackracing]

1k plus or minus a bit....and its almost always plus a bit. No body ever brings everything needed so there are trips to the parts house, stuff from online vendors or whomever, tuning and cam break in and on and on.
Plus at this age 95% of the cars have some amount of damage, threads, wires fittings etc....that others have mentioned
and if you have someone do the job that does not take it upon themselves to take care of these issues it will cost you many times over in grief and downtime when you could have been enjoying your car for a few hundererd $$ more.
If your looking to have this done seek out the best and get in line and pay the man his rate......so many horror stories...

 

[gn87man]

1k plus or minus a bit....and its almost always plus a bit. No body ever brings everything needed so there are trips to the parts house, stuff from online vendors or whomever, tuning and cam break in and on and on.
Plus at this age 95% of the cars have some amount of damage, threads, wires fittings etc....that others have mentioned
and if you have someone do the job that does not take it upon themselves to take care of these issues it will cost you many times over in grief and downtime when you could have been enjoying your car for a few hundererd $$ more.
If your looking to have this done seek out the best and get in line and pay the man his rate......so many horror stories...

Very good information. Thank you!

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[gn87man]

Thank you all so much for the helpful information thus far.

I have called 3 turbo engine (gn) local experienced mechanics over the past week to get estimates on a R&R.

The lowest estimate was $1000 and the highest estimate was $2500!

$2500 seems very expensive to me for an R&R.

What do you folks think?

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[Pronto]

Depends on what's included. An extra 1500 in parts and labor could easily happen if silly problems happen or you want them to tune it.

 

[gn87man]

Depends on what's included. An extra 1500 in parts and labor could easily happen if silly problems happen or you want them to tune it.

They told me that $2500 was the cost just to take the motor out and put the new one in. Nothing else included.

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[TURBOELKY]

Just curious, what state are you in?

 

[gn87man]

Just curious, what state are you in?

Texas

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[Pronto]

Then that price is a rip.

 

[gn87man]

Then that price is a rip.

My thoughts exactly. Thank you!

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[TexasT]

Sometimes, a shop/ business has a lot of work so they might price their services so as not to take on any more work at the current time. Some may know , that with the age of these cars, pretty much anything you touch under the hood crumbles and they are planning to have to replace much of it to make it run again.
As pointed out above, many of these have been worked over previously and come into the shop already goofed up. They might be planning to be able to "right" some of those types of wrongs.
If you want it done right, it costs. Nothing cheap about hot rods.

 

[gn87man]

Sometimes, a shop/ business has a lot of work so they might price their services so as not to take on any more work at the current time. Some may know , that with the age of these cars, pretty much anything you touch under the hood crumbles and they are planning to have to replace much of it to make it run again.
As pointed out above, many of these have been worked over previously and come into the shop already goofed up. They might be planning to be able to "right" some of those types of wrongs.
If you want it done right, it costs. Nothing cheap about hot rods.

That is a good point. They might not have wanted to take on any additional work at that time. So they quoted me a very high price.

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[TexasT]

Have you considered pulling it yourself?

 

[gn87man]

Have you considered pulling it yourself?

Yes, but unfortunately I don't have the room in my garage or the extra time to do it.

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[Otto J]

$100 is today's typical labor rate for a repair shop. IMO if you are a specialist with Turbo Buicks and REALLY know what you are doing then $100 an hour is cheap.

 

[gn87man]

$100 is today's typical labor rate for a repair shop. IMO if you are a specialist with Turbo Buicks and REALLY know what you are doing then $100 an hour is cheap.

Yes, true. But it takes an experienced mechanic about 10-12 hours total to pull the motor and put a new motor in, correct?

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[pacecarta]

you say pull an engine and replace with another you are not talking about an simple pull and a reinstall
shortblock , long block or fully prepped replacement engine will increase the cost of what you are asking about
the guy at 2500 might not be off on his quote