How much is it to have the valve seals changed on a TPI 350? I need to have mine changed eventually. Just a rough estimate would be cool. It's not something I'm going to do right away but down the road it's going to get done.

 

You can get a good set for about $20.
I would say the best way to do them from what I've read is to get an air tank/compressor, and get the fitting that will fit into your spark plug hole. Remove the plug and shoot up some air into the CC while you are working with the valve so it doesn't drop into the piston.

Might not hurt to shell out a few more bucks for valve locks too (the little things that wedge in the top of the valve to keep the assembly together). I ported my new aluminum heads while they were off the motor, and the spring compressor slipped once or twice and sent those things flying while trying to get them back in. That was fun to look for, but I was lucky because I was inside in an open room. If you are in your garage or outside and they land in grass, you are effed. And hey if you end up not using them you can always return them =D

Edit: Reading your post again, it seems like you are looking to have an estimate for a shop to do it. I would say it is a 2 hour job from start to finish, so say 70$ in labor per hour, it should probably run you $200 or so.

 

I was living in an apartment for the first few years after I got my GTA... It was blowing huge clouds of smoke at startup and I had no place to work on it..

I had my seals done by a Pontiac dealer. This was about 8 years ago and cost around $500... They used $GM parts$

The labor is the killer.. You could probably get it done for quite a bit less at a local shop. Goodwrench shop rates are one of the highest.

The job did the trick. I haven't had any smoke since....

 

Yeah man, dealer prices are outrageous, I'd hope that you wouldnt have to pay that much for seals man. Hell, at that rate, you could just get a set of remanufactured iron heads on ebay or something.

 

I'll probably do it myself. I don't know if I'm going to try the rope trick or just turn the engine till the the piston is at TDC. I'm not sold on the compressed air thing. If I were to have bad rings wouldn't it cause it not to hold the valves up? I don't particularly want to tear it down anymore than I have to.

 

Rope trick works, but I'm not a fan of cranking over the motor manually unless I have to. There's that chance that you could snap that head off the crank bolt, not fun. I mean, you have to take out all the spark plugs to remove compression but I've seen it happen, not to mention it is a PITA to do.

 

No, because the compressor will be pushing air into it a hell of a lot faster than it could ever leak out, even if you had no rings.

 

When I was saying I could turn the engine, I don't have to do it manually right? I could remove the plugs and have someone bump the key until the piston came up right? I can get my dad to help me if I need it. From what I can understand replacing the seals is straight forward. I just have to pull all the plugs out. Driver's side should be pretty easy but I don't know about the Passenger's side. Hopefully I can get to work on it within the next 3 or 4 weeks. The ones I priced the other day were 19 bucks and some change for both the intake and exhaust sets. They are Felpro brand. Are they good or should I look for another brand?