blown 87

New gears are available from Porsche.

brutus

That is never going to happen since a true professional is going to do more than that as he must warranty the job.

928mac

I knew that someone would have to throw that in.
If your car is well maintained your statement is not completely true. I did my belt when I got the car and did it again 5000 k later (one year) when I had time to do a refresh over the winter months. (because it was covered in oil)

at less then $50 a belt and even at $50 an hour for 10 hours, its still well under a grand

brutus

Brad Porsche shop rates are much higher than $50 per hour in many areas. Dealers nearly three times that rate. I did see a belt done on an early 16 V in about three hours however. Nothing but the belt. Just to confirm that it would still run after a broken belt.

928mac

I agree, and I bet at porsche up here you would be lucky to only pay $300/hr but at 5 hr thats $1500 + parts maybe 35 min to do a pump while your there and an hour to reseal the tensioner.
Now that said I'm a while your in there guy and it will take me a week on my car. I was wondering what flat rate was.

pcar928fan

Like the Kelanel post just above Greg's here my '95 just got done (under duress as the H2O pump seized in AZ on the way to me in TX) and it needed cam gears! New oil pump, crank seal, oil pump seals, obviously new H2O pump, a few new hoses, coolant flush and several other things and it came to $3100! The shop was the best one in AZ and they did a spectacular job on it and they got my friend back on the road bringing the car to me faster than anyone could expect...especially considering the seizure was on a Sunday morning and they got the car afternoon on Sunday...had him back driving by 4PM Monday! AMAZING REALLY! Great folks at Exotic Motorsport!

hacker-pschorr

Because it's true

How so?

No matter how well maintained your car is, other items should be replaced along with a new belt, things like cam seals for instance.
Sure most shade tree mechanics skip this step and don't get too upset when they leak a month later. A shop owner can not and will not take that chance. Unless they are a cut rate outfit.

This is why service records are so important, more so than a PPI or a known belt change time / mileage. If I see an invoice for a timing belt job where seals were not replaced, I'll tell the seller his car is not well maintained and doing the job over properly will cut into the price.

Take Audi's for instance. My local shop did a full timing belt / water pump service on an A6 only months after the dealership performed the same job.
Why?
The new owner of the car saw on the invoice none of the rollers, seals or the belt tensioner (yes, the one people are putting on 928's) were not replaced.
ALL of these items are considered wear pieces and should be replaced with every belt change service.
The local Audi dealership has been caught cutting their share of corners on some very expensive vehicles.

You won't find a Porsche dealer with a labor rate under $100 an hour in Wisconsin.
I can only imagine what the rate is in Los Angeles.


So, to go back to your statement "properly maintained"....what does that mean? A shop like Greg Brown or Blown87 doing 100% everything the car will ever need the second it needs it, no exceptions.

Yes there are 928 owners out there who take such care with their cars.

GregBBRD

I figure 10 hours to do a belt, water pump, rebuild the tensioner, etc. If I have to replace the cam gears and re-time the engine, we add a couple more hours. I don't think we have done one in years, that fast. I'm happy when we get one done in 2 days....even though we still only charge the quoted hours.

Most of these vehicles are far "beyond" what the "flat rate" Porsche warranty rates called for. Installing in a new belt/water pump on a car under warranty isn't quite the same job as installing a belt on a 25 year old car with 100,000+ miles on it!

And my shop rate hasn't been $50.00 an hour since before 1980. Out here, it costs me over $1000 a day , if I unlock the front door, or stay home in bed.

At $50 an hour, in a 10 hour day, I'd have lost $500.00.

I can't make that up, in volume....

GuardsRedHammerhead

This thread really makes me appreciate my Volvo S70 T5 timing belt job, that cost me $90(by a guy who does them every day, of course, no WP)

The PO of my car had the belt and pump and all the other goodies done two years ago at Michael Stead Porsche in California. Looks like around $2100 total. I have the dealer receipts in my "portfolio".

They probably put a crap water pump on it.

Imo000

You are a mechanic, right? How much does the shop you work for charges? Up where you are, labour rates can't be cheap. The oilsands drive up the cost of everything.

To me, replacing a WP takes more than 35min. Scraping off the old gasket, cleaning all the bolts/bolt holes and the block takes time.

SeanR

Been covered above by Hacker and Greg.

10 hours is a minimum billed and it takes longer than that. If you can find someone to do a belt in 5 hours, you might as well just give someone else 5 hours in labor. You don't just go in and R&R a belt unless you just did it a few weeks/months before. If I have to go back in that soon I didn't do something right the originally and my time is worth more than that.

I looked back at a few records from last year, the least amount I charged for a belt change was $1600.00. The owner refused to have much of anything changed and I really should have just sent the car out the door w/o touching it. It was an early 16v car. The most I charged was $3600.00, those cam gears are expensive.

Key point, get it done right the first time. It's never a cheap job to have done and if you are doing it cheap, the 928 might not be the best car for you.

hacker-pschorr

Add to that a water pump bolt or two breaking off....... How many times has that happened and the customer expected you to eat the extra labor time?

123quattro

This thread makes me so happy that I work on my own cars. I couldn't afford them otherwise.

mickster

Get the Motor Mounts done (and oil pan gasket if needed).

I have an old invoice for another 928 that Sonny did and he charged 4 hours at $90/hour for Motor Mounts.

Damn cheap!

Michael

P.S. I'll email you that invoice so you can see what he charged a few years ago.

brutus

Probably a "rebuilt" Porsche pump which have had some problems from being "rebuilt" too many times.