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It has been a long time since I had to have any shop work done. I remembered it as expensive.
I took my LT1 (Camaro) heads in to have them pressure tested - $48 ($6 per cylinder). Not too bad really.
They took one look at the heads and said "There are badly warped"
Oh no, this is a very bad thing (I thought).
"You have to resurface them."
"(Gritting teeth) - How much?"
"$24"
"Umm times what?"
"Nope just $24."
I ordered a gasket set from them $199 - cheaper than Summit for the same set.
"This comes with valve seats, do you want us to put them in for you? There is nothing that indicates you need to replace them, but you get new ones with the gasket set"
Well it makes sense if I have the heads off and the seats come with the gasket set to go ahead and replace them. "How much?"
"$24"
I think they only have one key on their cash register. Everything is $24 or mullitples of $24.
Anyway I was very pleasantly surprised. I had budgeted $500 for shop work, plus $250 for gaskets. I ended up with all the shop work, gaskets, new head bolts, a set of platmium spark plugs, and some fluids (coolant and/or oil - I forget) for $400.
It is nice to get that kind of surprise sometimes.
There is no head gasket replacement job in the entire world that will cost only $24.
NO ONE can LOOK at engine heads and tell they are warped. NO ONE.
You likely talking valve cover gaskets, that I can maybe possibly see done on some cars for that amount. And somewhere in Steal, Alabama.
Resurfacing engine head requires its removal from an engine, and it's anywhere from 1.5 hr to half day labor. Corvette, hah? 5.3L? It's six hrs labor to pull heads off.
There is no head gasket replacement job in the entire world that will cost only $24.
NO ONE can LOOK at engine heads and tell they are warped. NO ONE.
You likely talking valve cover gaskets, that I can maybe possibly see done on some cars for that amount. And somewhere in Steal, Alabama.
Resurfacing engine head requires its removal from an engine, and it's anywhere from 1.5 hr to half day labor. Corvette, hah? 5.3L? It's six hrs labor to pull heads off.
Umm. Did you read my post?
I took my heads to have them pressure tested. That means they are off the engine. Pressure testing is done in a shop and cannot be done with the heads on the engine.
It is not the head gasket replacement that cost $24, it is the resurfacing. Resurfacing is different than replacing the head gasket. Basically they put the head into a machine and grind it down to be flat again. Replacing the valve seats was also $24. Pressure testing was $48. None of those things is rpelacing a head gasket either, it is machine shop work.
The head gasket set alone cost $199. Replacement bolts were something like $40.
I was surprised by how cheap the resurfacing and valve seat installationw was. The pressure testing was only a little less than I expected. I am happy that my budgeted $750, turned out to be only $400 (including 8 platmium spark plugs which I had not included in my budget). That is a nice surprise that rarely happens.
The labor to R & R the heads is free. My son is doing the mechanical work in his auto shop class. It will take a lot more than 6 hours. Closer to three months. All said and done, it will cost about $500 to repace the head gaskets. THe mechanic quote was $1800, so my son is saving me $1500. In return he gets the car next year if he gets his GPA up to 3.6 by graudation (I will probably give it to him if he makes a real effort and even gets close to 3.6, but don't tell him that, I want him motivated).
The machine shop work was done at an auto supply place.
THey could see the heads were warped. The machine guy took one look and said, Yes, those are badly warped, they were overheated at some time. He could also tell by looking the head gasket had been replaced before. They then put them on a flat suface with some blue paper used for porting or sometiing and showed me they were warped. They were correct. Apparently after 1000 or so head resurfacings, someone can see it by looking, especially if they are significantly warped which they said these were. Actually he said he was surprised the car was still running.
Not a corvette. Did they put the LT1 in a Vette? I am not sure. They were in the Camaro Z28 from 1994 through 1996.
I am also curious for those that know about these things. Is $24 a normal price to resurface v-8 heads (Aluminum)? Is $24 normal for valve seats? What about $48 for pressure testing? It seems really cheap to me.
That is really cheap, at least to me. The problem is the costs vary from location to location so what seems cheap may actually be expensive and vice versa. The same work done at a machine shop I know of in the Philly area probably would have run you $150-$200+. The resurfacing alone would have been ~$100, with the rest being the valve seats and pressure testing. Overall, I'd say you got a great deal.
There is no head gasket replacement job in the entire world that will cost only $24.
NO ONE can LOOK at engine heads and tell they are warped. NO ONE.
You likely talking valve cover gaskets, that I can maybe possibly see done on some cars for that amount. And somewhere in Steal, Alabama.
Resurfacing engine head requires its removal from an engine, and it's anywhere from 1.5 hr to half day labor. Corvette, hah? 5.3L? It's six hrs labor to pull heads off.
CJ, if the work is quality then I would say they deserve some repeat business and recommendations. Those are great prices, perhaps they are just good honest people running a likewise business. Such places are very rare these days, so rare, that as you have exhibited it is almost literally unbelievable. Whenever I find places like that (assuming the work is acceptable) I recommend them to everyone and make sure I can give them as much repeat business as possible.
Thanks.
I'm looking for a cheap car for work and was wondering about the cost of this.
How hard is it for someone mechanically inclined, not afraid of Haynes manuals, 46, (Not a 18 yr old "I can do anything" type) to do a head gasket replacement themselves?
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68,329 posts, read 54,381,135 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Coldjensens
It has been a long time since I had to have any shop work done. I remembered it as expensive.
I took my LT1 (Camaro) heads in to have them pressure tested - $48 ($6 per cylinder). Not too bad really.
They took one look at the heads and said "There are badly warped"
Oh no, this is a very bad thing (I thought).
"You have to resurface them."
"(Gritting teeth) - How much?"
"$24"
"Umm times what?"
"Nope just $24."
I ordered a gasket set from them $199 - cheaper than Summit for the same set.
"This comes with valve seats, do you want us to put them in for you? There is nothing that indicates you need to replace them, but you get new ones with the gasket set"
Well it makes sense if I have the heads off and the seats come with the gasket set to go ahead and replace them. "How much?"
"$24"
I think they only have one key on their cash register. Everything is $24 or mullitples of $24.
Anyway I was very pleasantly surprised. I had budgeted $500 for shop work, plus $250 for gaskets. I ended up with all the shop work, gaskets, new head bolts, a set of platmium spark plugs, and some fluids (coolant and/or oil - I forget) for $400.
It is nice to get that kind of surprise sometimes.
It's valve stem seals that came with the gasket set, not valve seats.
And at $24 to resurface 2 heads it's more likely they're being put on some belt sander contraption (not the most accurate method IMO) rather than milled.
Thanks.
I'm looking for a cheap car for work and was wondering about the cost of this.
How hard is it for someone mechanically inclined, not afraid of Haynes manuals, 46, (Not a 18 yr old "I can do anything" type) to do a head gasket replacement themselves?
(Bump)
With the desire and determination. Any man or woman can do it.
Well, if it works then great and if not, well they didn't do the heads correctly !!!!
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