My friend runs a speed shop, and has a customer that wants to get the following items installed:

EGT gauge w/ probe
Boost gauge
4K GSK with valve springs
Fuel/Cam plate
Delivery valves

How long should I expect each item to take to install? My buddy charges by the hour, so I want to make sure the customer gets a fair hourly rate. For instance if an item SHOULD take 2 hours to install, and it takes me 3, I don't want to have him charged an extra hour because I was slow/careful during the process. When I do work for him I usually knock a couple hours off of how long it takes me, usually because I know I work at a little slower rate because I want things done right, done neat, etc.

So, if you can help me out I'd appreciate it! I'm very mechanically inclined, I have no doubts I can perform the work, I've already done the boost/pyro, and worked on plenty of other engines...skill isn't a question. Just the first time you work on anything new, it takes longer, but, the customer shouldn't have to eat that cost.

Thanks!

 

My gauges took me almost 6 hours to install, but it was my very first time , and it included painting/mounting the pod , tracing wires for lights , etc etc.

The cam plate would not take any more than an hour to do it right (adjust gov arm), and i would say the same for the dv's , by the time you get the lines out of the way, get the old dv's out , new ones in and lines back on/bled out.

I have no idea how long it would take to do the GSK with valve springs , just the GSK should be around an hour give or take.

 

Well here are my times:
Fuel plate: 15 minutes
4k gsk: 2.5 hours, 1 hour to measure, take springs out, put sprinmgs back in, and measure for each side and about half an hour to double check, put back together and start.
Gauges: 5 hours if pre turbo egt's are done and about 2 hours if it is post turbo egt.
DV's: 1 hour
Valve springs **** near took me 6hours to do because it was my first time and i had to modify my tool. I highly reccomend he does the titanium keepers and hardened retainer because eventually he will have to do it so might as well do it once and right.

And as a side note if he happenes to be one of those people who get mad when things dont go his way when working on his truck i suggest copenhagen black . I went through 6 cans doing my 4k, valve springs, keepers and retainers and afc it about 9 hours.

 

How the heck does a pre turbo EGT take 3 extra hours!

 

It might if you go though the hassle that many do with greased taps and magnets to remove chips.
I just drill and tap then start the engine to blow them out. The only thing that can go wrong with this method is that a chip could wedge in the turbo causing it not to spin. For this reason I leave the intake hose off the turbo to make sure it spins, if not just shut it down and turn the turbo backwards to dislodge the chip.

I find the most time consuming part of all the mods mentioned to be getting the wires though the firewall and connected to the right places.

 

It all depends how many times the person has installed gauges or if it is the persons first time.A friend of mine, his family owns a trucking company and he has been around semis and trucks his holw life. He talked me through the steps on where I should drill the holes,and etc. It took me about 2 1/2 to 3 hrs. Just because he showed me how to do it right.

 

Thanks for the responses guys. Also was wondering, versus the hours, what's an average fair price to pay to have each of those items installed? My buddy's shop charges $35/hr, so 5 x 35 = $175 to have a pyro gauge installed...is that about right/fair? I know I surely wouldn't pay that much, but then again I do everything myself...

 

5 hours to install a pyrometer?? Theres something wrong there. 2-3 hours is realistic.

 

When i did my pyro , i did NOT drill a pilot hole , reason being it would keep about 80% of the shavings from even having a chance to get into the manifold , and what did get in , i used a magent to fish back out. drilling , tapping , etc the probe took a grand total of 30 mins?

 

im going with JKM here, it shouldnt take more than 30 minutes to install a pyro guage. it didnt take me longer than that....

 

Maybe 30 minutes to do the drilling, tapping and screw in the probe but no way to run wires, install mounts and pick up needed wiring. Closer to two hours.

 

Re-read my post Bill , i said 30 mins for the PROBE , the gauge,wiring,mount , would take quite a while longer.

 

can't tell you about the other stuff but I did pyro, boost, tranny start to finish not counting the tranny pan tap in 4 hours, pretty easy to do, never done it before. its pretty easy to do.