what do you think the labor charge should be for a head and cam swap?

[phoenixdawg]

I just got a quote for a shop here in Houston of $1300 labor only for a head and cam swap on a 99 LS1. The motor is on a stand, so no pulling or replacement necessary, seems very high to me.

Anyone done this, how diffiuclt is it to replace heads and cam?

[JChristian1835]

It's not too hard... I don't see $1300 if the motor is out of the car. Most shops I've seen ask that much for the motor in the car. If you have any mechanical knowledge what so ever, I'd say go for it and do it yourself. But if you are worried about it then you can always have a shop do it an warranty the work, but I would say $1300 is alittle steep.

[phoenixdawg]

that is what I thought, seemed very high to me

[JChristian1835]

If you want I personally don't think a cam swap is too hard. If you would like I could type up a step by step process for you.. but it's kinda long so I thought I'd ask first

[phoenixdawg]

I found a step by step on one of the LS1 tech sites and it seemed pretty good, not too difficult, just time consuming about swapping the heads and ensuring you get the coolant out of the system. How many hours do you think it would take a novice(first timer) to do this?

[WS6]

with the engine on a stand? give yourself all weekend. No since in rushing this at all. LS1howto.com is an excellent resouce for doing this job. The hardest thing will be torquing the headbolts without the engine stand moving around on you. Use ARP head bolts so that you don't have to worry about torque angle. The other hard part will be putting the crank bolt back in correctly. Make sure you have good tools before you start this job. Read and ask a lot of questions. Do you happen to have a service manual for the LS1 engine? That would help. Honestly it is not hard. The problem is there are some specific tools that will be needed for the job. Regular SBC tools don't always work either.

As for a shop to do the work, I'd charge you $300-400 to do the work and have it done in a day easily. Actually, by lunch time almost. $1300 is a rip off. Are you sure they understood that the engine was not in a car? I'd maybe try again on that.

[Chad-1stGen]

$1300 is way high. Even at $100 an hour there is just no way to spend 13 hours on the job when the engine is on a stand. Doing the swap yourself is pretty straightforward. The most technical part IMO is ensuring proper valve adjustment.

[Bad Bowtie]

Dawg,
This link may help and its from LS1 how to http://www.ls1howto.com/index.php?article=2. It shows a head and cam swap for F-body (not sure what you have) but you could skip over the in car stuff and go straight to the motor section. Hope this helps. I'm sure if you get stuck on something along the way, you have alot of good LS1 guys on here to help you out. I think 1300.00 on the stand is :bsjerk:... sounds like an in car price.
BB

[marine02ss]

Man that high I charge $1500 head/cam swap,degreeing cam and with all new gaskets I dont like to reuse them.But this #is for Camaro LS1 in car.I would probably charge $400 on engine stand

[phoenixdawg]

thanks all, I think I might give this a shot myself, after reading the scoop on it, it does not appear that it will be too hard.