How hard is it to remove the engine?

[ChrisD]

I sent that video to the guys who gave me the labour quote and this is what they said:

"We could also take an engine out in 1 hour. But also bear in mind you have a turbo charger that needs removing, the complete engine then need to be completely dismantled and then every single face will need gasket sealant removal and every component cleaned. There is a thread on one of the forums from a good customer of ours, who has said it took him 6 hours just to clean the casing from old sealant. Only then will it be ready to send to the engine builders. Once returned from them, it would take approx. 2 days to re-install all of the ancillaries and get the engine back in the car ready for mapping"

Fair points I think, although I still think their original quote which indicated 36 hours of labour is perhaps a bit excessive.

To be honest though, the more I think about it the more I'm tempted to give up on the idea of the forged internals. It seems like its just going to be really expensive even if I can get the engine out myself and once we're running more boost as the engine can take it, other things like the transmission are going to start failing. Makes more sense to put the money in to an engine and tranny swap really... but even that will probably be way more expensive than I think :/

[ChrisD]

Originally Posted by OkieSnuffBox

From dealing with BMWs and such for a long time, one thing you are paying for when you get higher prices?

The job will be done right, with OE parts, and it will be done ON TIME.

The budget guys.......use aftermarket parts, mostly do a good job, but have never, ever been on time for myself or any of my friends. Less downtime is typically worth the money over the hassle (especially if it's your only car.)

I don't know, I paid A LOT of money for installation of a supercharger on an Audi once and they took 3 times as long as they said they would. I think its pretty much luck of the draw when it comes to garages and you can't really tell anything from the prices (unless it is really low, in which case yeah that generally indicates they're probably not great... but high prices definitely don't equal high quality/service)

[Uplink]

Originally Posted by ChrisD

I won't give exact prices as I'm not sure they'd appreciate that, but let's just say between £1500 and £2000 (£2000 is about $3100 USD) for "Engine Removal, Clean Up and Re-install". Then there's a separate £2000 for the actual forged engine build. However, I was thinking that engine removal cost was literally just to get the engine out of the car, but someone else in this thread pointed out there's probably quite a lot of additional work required to remove everything so that you're just left with the block. Even so, that price for the removal and re-install seems pretty high to me.

The cost for absolutely everything (rods, pistons, valve springs, gaskets, bolts, oil, coolant, etc and the labour to install it all) was about £8,000 (about $12,000 USD) and that just seems way too high to be worth it... especially when the stock transmission probably won't take that much more power even once the engine will. So maybe I'd be better off just looking in to engine+transmission swaps rather than beefing up this engine, but I dunno.

WOW! That seems excessive. At $100/hr labor you're looking at 31 hours booked. Granted, book hours are usually listed as higher than what it actually takes the job to be done, but 15.5hrs to pull the engine still seems high. Maybe someone here has a shop manual with the listed hours and you can do the math with the shop's hourly rate to figure out if the price quoted is truly high or just list price.

I think it really depends on what you're ultimately looking for out of the end product. If your engine is tired, yes, consider the rebuild option. If you just want a power boost, you could to a full Cosworth 2.3 package for right around the cost they list. Or comparing apples to apples, the straight Cosworth 2.0 will most likely make the same or more power than a forged NA motor and cost you significantly less.

Something to think about, what best suits your needs and goals.

[Uplink]

Originally Posted by ChrisD

Yeah I've priced up all of the parts (gaskets and bolts included) and the shop I got the quote for the labour from priced up the parts as well and came to a similar figure to me.



Already got a turbo on it and stronger axles n CVs. Admittedly the transmission is still stock and would probably die at some point though...

Sorry, didn't see you were boosted before I made the last post.