I'm gauging interest in this little project of mine. I have done all my own work so far, but this one is on a kind of higher scale. I have tools, but none of them are air tools. I have ramps, but my car is too low to drive up on them. I talked to Midwest Motorsports and they gave me a quote of two hours labor at $75/hr. I know that estimate is too good to be true and I would love if it were only accurate (I don't think they know what they are getting themselves into). They are a great shop and I would have them do all the work on my car, but I think the labor would be closer to 4-6 hours. Anyhow, I had planned on making a long day out of it, but if anyone wants to get dirty, I would pay for the beer and BBQ. This should take place at your garage as I don't have one right now. Again, I'm only gauging interest from those of you who know what they are doing. I want to have this done before driving up to the Rally next weekend.
Exactly my thoughts. Like I said, I'm guessing it would take me the better part the weekend. I called Midwest Motorsports back and had a long talk with the owner and we cleared up exactly what is involved. This will be their first time on this particular car, but they have worked on other turobed cars. It should be closer to 4-5 hours for them if they cruise through it. Hopefully they can cut that time down though. This will include installing my engine mounts which should be routine considering they already have to loosen them to jack up the engine. I know the one side is a bugger. They will be flushing my radiator which I was planning on doing. They are also wrapping my up-pipe, but that should be minimal. The main body of work is just getting all that crap out of the way and coaxing the pipes out. They have the factory manuals on the computer, but I think I will give them my directions from various forum postings with detailed pictures and trouble spots. I had this all planned out, but this car is always throwing curve balls and it usually comes down to a matter of leverage for me. I get stuck trying to get one bolt off for hours (I have worked on much worse though). Anyhow, hopefully there aren't any leaks but at least I know they will fix them if they come up. Appointment is for Thursday.
What? The 16 hours of shop time surprise bill? I doubt it, these guys are used to working on vintage british and european autos and race prepped cars. The Subaru although chock full of knick knack brackets and wires is still alot more straight forward than those nightmares. This coming from someone who is not the best auto mechanic. I've been able to tackle every project so far on this car and I don't think the pipes are that big of a step from what I've done. The owner is a friend of mine and he will be calling me a couple hours into it to let me know their progress. I would rather head off the bill before it gets to that point. If disaster strikes, I will have to head in after hours and complete the job myself. Let's hope it doesnt come to that. What is it with mechanics and not being able to estimate the bill?
Seems to me that the most critical thing is that they get the torque sequence right for installing the new uppipe. Other than that it should be gravy, apart from the time-consuming aspect of it.
You mean tighten them all down together in a star pattern until they reach the proper spec? Should the intitial torque be enough or are people going back and making sure they are all still tight? I know a few people swear they have never had leak issues and they claim to have installed several different brands of uppipes. I don't know, right now, I just want my car ready and reflashed by this weekend. Normally, I would say that a weekend of work was worth not spending $2-300 for an install, but I don't have the time nor the resources to get this done by then. I'm confindent they will do fine with it.
