RJ930

After owning my 1985 930 for 25 years, I have had an engine out service completed and i would like to double-click billable hours for the provision of some services. Can anyone provide guidance?

Services Rendered:

Remove engine and Transmission from vehicle. 4 hours?

Reinstall Engine and Transmission. 6 hours?

Disassemble engine block, remove & clean piston, replace piston rings, inspect/polish camshaft, cam lift & alignment, reseal chain housing pins and std with JB weld, replace breather plate gasket & hose, replace t-stat o-ring, replace front crank seal, clean & re-seal oil cooler,repair scavenger pump leak, flush oil cooler lines, flush camshaft housing oil bores, refinish mating surfaces. 60 hours?

Adjust valves. 6 hours?

Install inter-cooler, replace spark plugs and test ignition wire resistance, check cam timing and ignition timing. 5 hours?

Pull & Disassemble Transmission, replace syncro rings, shift sleeves, adjust forks, shift plate guide, replace gaskets and shift rod seal, free up clutch fork shaft. 15 hours?

Lastly -

1. What is a fair per hour range for these types of maintenance services?

2. How do I verify that prices for replacement parts are not excessively marked up?

Many thanks to anyone who can assist!

bpu699

I learned a long time ago to never ever agree to an open ended time and materials agreement.

i want the cost upfront. If they won’t do that, I need an agreed to Will Not Exceed price to cap costs....

good luck

RJ930

Good wisdom.

speednme

Welcome to the world of “Porsche tax”. Removing an engine and trans would take less than 4 hours for an experience shop. Replacing may be about the same (2 hrs?) BUT most shop charge an average of what the book says. If you have a repore with a shop they may charge you based on on actual time. I agree with bpu699, getting a price before hand is good practice BUT (once again) most shops will balk at the idea. I see both sides. Sometimes a shop runs across a car that has issues the owner may not be aware of and thus the repair takes longer than it should, while some shops are done well before their indicated billable hours yet insist on milking the client. It’s a hit or miss. Old schoolers seem to be bit more fair...but that’s changing too.

Cattch

I agree with everything said above. "Open hours" bills are scary... all depends on how much you trust the shop and the person doing the job in the shop.

I currently have my engine out, not going quite as intense as you are. Replacing oil lines, seals, wheel bearing, a few brake parts, hood struts, and anything else we see that is leaking or needs replacing while its out.

My local porsche dealer charges $186/hour.
I work at a high end private dealer that charges $156/hour. I'm of course paying our internal rate).
So labor rates vary based on where you are and what the surrounding shops charge. My biggest advise with rates would be comparing quality of shop then looking at the $. someone charging half the price.... well we all know we get what we pay for. I look at the mechanic, then the rates.

rates I posted are all in Canadian dollars btw

MUSSBERGER

Disassemble engine block? They only took it down to the case. What was the reason of the overhaul in the first place?

Speedster911

the item that jumped out for me was 6 hours to adjust valves.

doing them with an old school feeler gauge is 2 hours max even for a rookie like me

MUSSBERGER

Lot of stuff has to come apart to do them in a turbo. But that's after the motor is in the car and after some miles on the motor.

speednme

Yes if the motor is still in the car but the motor was removed....how can it have taken 6 hours? plus the motor was being rebuild, it should have been part of the rebuild bill.