GhostStar Posted November 13, 2008 Report Share Posted November 13, 2008 so a guy pulls up to the shop i work at with a clean 86 flatty auto with 76000 miles. said he just bought it from some kids. it smokes a lil and im already thinking head gasket so i try to pop the rad cap off and there is a ton of pressure. i let it cool of a lil bit and come back to it and it still has a ton of pressure. i let the pressure bleed off look iniside and see a bunch of copper flake fix a leak stuff i already tell the guy that, that is a bad sign. so i go get my trusty combustion gas detector fire up the car and stick it to the rad and on the first sec i had it on there it instantly showed signs of combustion gasses. so im going to do the job on the side and was wondering what you would charge to do a hg. Im thinking no less than 500 in labor. were hoping its just the hg and not a cracked head. let me know what you think. oh and this was the first flatty i have came across and it does all the talking stuff that is sweet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad Posted November 13, 2008 Report Share Posted November 13, 2008 what is your time worth to you? It's a 5-7 hour job if you do some tune up stuff while in there and do a good job cleaning surfaces. It can be done in about 2 horus if it's just a quickie gasket swap and you've done a few already. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelby Posted November 13, 2008 Report Share Posted November 13, 2008 $500 labor let me ask you how much would you have made if the shop did the work and you were paid normal wages unless your doing all the valve work and machine shop work your self,, $500 is way over chargeing just to r/r a head Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostStar Posted November 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2008 this is including valve job not just a gasket slap Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indiana Posted November 13, 2008 Report Share Posted November 13, 2008 I bet your head is cracked. What is the compression? Have you even checked it? Flatty is easy to overheat if someone is messing with BOOST levels. When they start to play the last thing they look at is a gauge. You'd be very lucky if it was only a headgasket. When the head is off you look between the valves for a hairline crack. What do the plugs looks like? Clean plugs means burning coolant. This car can be loosing coolant (white exhaust, smell is sweet) and not have a blown headgasket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fanta Posted November 17, 2008 Report Share Posted November 17, 2008 Eh, if it were me, I wouldn't charge labor. Parts? Yes. Machien work? Yes. But that would be something he woudl order on his own. For me, the satisfaction of getting another one of these cars back on the road is good enough. A free meal couldn't hurt either. I do understand that these are struggling times, so making any extra money is a good thing. If you're doing the valve job yourself, $500 is fair. If its not you though, then I think the owner of the car should pay for the valve job and whatever parts needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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