???i was wondering since i would rather pay a few bills to have it done somewhere where they have an air compressor and **** instead of pulling the heads.

 

The last few quotes I've heard on this board were around $800.

 

if you look around, you can find a nice rebuilt 350 for $800

just an idea

 

$800 to change valve seals??? Those shops should wear a mask and carry a gun. If shop rate is @ or near $50/hr, thats 16 hours labor. It should only be about 2-4 hours to pull valve covers and change seals on the engine. Even if someone was slow, maybe 6 hours. Damn, I dont like mechanic work a whole lot, but if I could get $800 a pop, I'd do everyone I could find. Best bet would be to call a good reputable shop, or the chevy dealer, and ask what flat rate hours is for the job. Just multiply flat rate x labor price/hr, and there it is.

 

I pulled the heads on my LG4 305 ,and took them to a shop. I had the heads resurfaced , seals replaced ,and new valve springs installed. It cost me $200.00 bucks. Its a bit of work to pull the heads ,but is cheaper than having the garage do it. Just get a manual ,and got work.

 

I think the labor manual calls for 4-5 hours depending on what year the car is. $200-250, add the seals $15-20 and new valve cover gaskets $15-30 and theres no way the job should cost more than $350. You don’t need to pull the heads to do the seals, its just amazing what some shops can get away with. I wish I could get away with that kinda stuff, although I wouldn’t. Also funny that some shops charge tax on thier labor.

 

forget that id rather swap in a set of SR torquers instead of spending that kind of money to get o rings put on my valves.im pretty sure i could do it but i just dont want to pull the crappy stock heads to do this to...if im gonna go through the trouble ill just try to get a set of 305 trorquers

 

or you can change them yourself, you don't even need a compressor. stuff some nylon rope in through the sparkplug hole and then turn the engine til that piston presses the rope against the head, it'll keep your valve from falling in. you can rent a spring compressor from a parts store. search the board for details.

 

Izzackly what I did...20-25 ft of 1/8" rope stuffed into the chamber, crank it up, remove the rocker, compress and remove spring, replace seals, replace spring and rocker, move on to next cylinder; set valves when finished. No problems and only took about 3-3½ hours...

Pete

 

is it to terribly hard? id like to get rid of the blue smoke at start up and maybe replace the springs while im at it.