The topic says it all. How much would you pay someone to install an engine into your car? I was just kind of curious as to what would be too much. I don't believe I'm talented enough to take on a job of this magnitude, nor do I have the tools necessary.

Thanks.

 

I think the standard is 8-16 hours for a r & r. Labor rates from $50 /hr and up. See if you can find somebody to do a side job for you, usually mechanics who race on the weekends do a lot of work in their own garages.

 

gunny....where's the two stripes down?

 

It would actually be 3 up and 2 down; however, I'm not actually a Gunny. I'm using that name in reference to the Clint Eastwood character of "Gunny Highway" from the movie Heartbreak Ridge.

But, next month I should be adding another stripe to my avatar.

 

I wouldnt pay a dime to have an engine installed. Its straight forward and easy. Only special tool you need is a cherry picker. 10$ says someone you know has one you could use for free.

Id say yours looking at 600$ at least if you take it somewhere. Unless you know someone you can trust that does side jobs.

Im sure you can swap an engine. A buddy of mine is almost retarded and he did an engine swap in his truck.

I didnt think I could do one then I just did it.

 

A few tips:

1) Keep all your tools organized
2) Keep all your parts organized when you remove them
3) Keep all your screws/bolts/nuts organized
4) Work in a garage, not on the street (See items 1,2,and 3 again)

Did my first engine swap a few years ago, a friend blew out his 2.8, and got another 2.8 for $100. Most of the time was spent hunting for sockets, or cleaning up each night and putting everything back in the garage. Took 4 weeks to get done; we'd work Friday afternoon and Saturday on it. If only we were in the garage... (sigh)

 

You can doooooooooo ITTTTTTTTTTTTT! I have swapped several motors in my garage, and the first without hardly any experience. It is a great confidence builder. Now I have several thousand dollars worth of tools and can rebuild manual trans and transfer cases and do ring and pinion installs. Just take your time? If you have a digital camera use it. You wont regret it. Take pictures of things as you remove them, it may be a week or so before your ready to install the new motor. Now where did that bolt go? I bag everything in ziplock bags and label them. It helps trust me. Especially if it's not a car your familiar with. Hell I think replacing drum brakes is harder than doing an engine swap.

 

yeah, it's not hard at all. Just dont dive in and start ripping things apart. Take you're time and study how things are, my best advice would be to get some white medical tape and mark every single line.

Put a piece of tape on the female side and the male side, and make the same marking on each side so you know exactly where it goes.

Personally i just use a number system: 1 goes to 1, 2 goes to 2, etc...

As far as the gunny thing, you have a sergeants insignia but your name was gunny so you're missing two stripes down. Where'd you pick the 3 stripes up, 2 stripes down though? In boot camp thats how we learned it, the di yells "E-7 of the marine corps!"

We yell "sir, e-7 of the marine corps is: Gunnery sergeant, he wears three stripes up, 2 stripes down, cross rifles in the middle sir!". They'd make us yell that usually at times of physical stress, as if it werent bad enough we were exhausted, now we have rack our brains for the answer and blow our throats out.

Ok, sorry for the nostalgia.

 

RJR99SS
you must have been in the marine corps a long time ago. your right about the gunnery sgt. 3 stripes up 2 stripes down, but he had a insignia of 2 stripes up and that is a corporal. I on the other hand had 3 stripes up and cross rifles in the middle and was a Sgt. 1 stripe with rifles was a lance corporal and 1 stripe without rifles was a pfc and a slick sleeve was a private.


*** I loved being a Marine it just didn't pay squat.

 

oh....yeah it is a corporal, for some reason i could of sworn it said sergeant. must of been cause of the gunny part, oh well. isnt the first time i made that mistake....

 

An engine swap in these cars does look intimiditating. All those wires hoses, and switches. I have done motor swaps in bikes and complete tear downs for frame painting etc. I completely agree with a few of the aformentioned details. Bag & label nuts bolts, wires, connectors etc. and take pictures especially if you don't have a manual geared specifically to your vehicle. I have started bike/motor swaps that I thought would be one week and six months later I am getting around to putting things back together and the baggies work wonders for knowing what bolts go where. I do not have a garage, cherry picker, stand etc. and would probably take the car somewhere it could be done safely and properly. Living in Cali rates are like $65-75 an hour I wouldn't want to spend more than $500 just for the swap so I would shop for deals, side mechs with facilities and so on.

 

Thanks for all the replies guys. My biggest problem is, I don't have the liberty to spend 3 - 4 weeks playing and learning. This is my daily driver, so the most I can afford is like 4 days of car rentals. However, I did meet a guy at church who said if I ever needed any help on my car, he would help me. So I might take him up on that offer.

And for you Devildogs out there, I am a Corporal. However, according to my ops and admin guys, next month I'll finally pick up Sgt. I use the Gunny Highway name in reference to the movie Heartbreak Ridge. Awesome movie if you never seen it. The acting is a little questionable, but good movie none the less. Clint Eastwood plays the second most believable Marine in a movie, asides from R. Lee Ermey of course, but noone can really compete with him. That guy is so salty.:hail:

Well guys, yall are actually doing a pretty good job convincing me that I could do this if I had the time, but time is something I don't have alot of. So maybe I can find someone who will do this for $600 or so.

-The Gunny (aka Corporal of Marines) [two stripes up, cross rifles in the middle]

 

I feel your pain Gunny (uh! i mean Corporal) time and space is something I lack as well. Good luck on making the numbers for Seargent, I only went as high as Corporal USMC Vet from the first 90-91 Iraq campaign. Are you replacing the motor with something new or tearing it out rebuilding it and putting it back in? Where are you stationed currently?

 

When I swapped my engine it took a day to unhook it and remove it. Another day to swap the trans to the other engine and all the other sensors, spent the rest of the day making sure everything was ready for the reinstall the following day. Third day the engine went back in and started hooking it up. Fourth day I finished hooking it up and filled all the fluids and rechecked all connections, then fired it up. The rest of that day was cam break in, oil change, top off all the fluids and a general once over on the engine/trans. Accounted for all my tools and drove it the next day. All work was done by myself, no help. If you had someone helping you that knows what they are doing, you could probably knock it down to 2 or 3 days.

 

I can easily swap an engine in an afternoon in my own car, if I was the one who prepared it.

But that means having everything I need on hand, and eliminating surprises before I start: no "oops, I forgot the oil" and go run and get it, then 5 minutes later "where's the anti-freeze" and go get that, and no "oh no, this new motor has this kind of water pump on it, but my power steering needs that kind of water pump, but somebody stripped a head off a water pump bolt in this block already, so what do I do now" and all that fun stuff.

All that aside, if I had to pay somebody, I would pay them the going shop rate which is $60ish per hr.; then I'd do everything in my power to make sure that they could get it done quickly, by preparing and supplying the right stuff on the front end.

 

Things like engine changes are flat shop rate, the book says 12 hours for an engine change, you pay for 12 hours, even if it only took 8.

 

It looks as though I'm going to spend a good chunk of my overseas pay on a nice new motor. So I was trying to get all the calculations done in my head first.

. . . and I'm currently stationed in Atlanta. I just got back 2 weeks ago.

 

The thing with paying for a job like an engine swap, is that it generally will never work out like you hoped. There are usually at least a couple of 'bugs' that will pop up, and if you didn't do any of the work, guess what, you won't have the first clue where to look, which leaves you taking back to pay more money to have that fixed.

Swapping an engine isn't that big of a deal as long as you have the space. If you know what you're doing it can easily be an afternoon job like RB said. Even if you took your time on every last detail and even got so **** as to label everything (which IMO is unnecessary since harnesses are cut to length and connectors are specific for all the different sensors, but i digress) it still can't be more than a couple day job.

It's not my money or headaches, so do what you want. I think you should give it a shot though, you'll be amzed at how easy it really is. Hell, i'm planning a cam swap at some point this summer, and also need to replace my oil pan and helicoil a header bolt. While i could do it all in the car, it's just easier to pull the engine and do it all with free and easy access.

 

i've helped friends swap engines in demo cars, we've doen it in two and a half hours

 

We usually get between $475-575 to do an engine swap just depends on what all has to be changed. TBI fbody should avrage around $500 a tpi would be around 575. Both include cleaning and preping parts.

 

My motor swap took alot longer than it should have. And here is why. I blew the 305...Pulled it out the same day...Then the car sat for a good 3 weeks before I had the money to order the motor. I got the motor and it was in 2 days later running.

I didnt label anything. No point...I changed just about everything over. If I take it apart I can put it back together. I have a photographic memory.

I did the swap in my driveway of a nice quiet residential area. The neighbors LOVED it lol. If you were near me Id do it for ~200$