I plan on getting an LT4 Hotcam Kit, LT4 Timing Set, and a tune for my Z this spring. A guy that works at a local Pontiac/Buick dealership that I take my car to be serviced at from time to time does work for people on his own at his own garage. It's really impressive, he has his own lift and everything. He charges $30 an hour and said he would be capiable of doing it for me. How long do you think this would take to do?

 

$30 per hour? Damn, jump on that deal! I haven't done the install, but expect 8-12 hours depending on how everything goes.

 

Thats a very good deal, but if you have the room to do it, you would be best off doing it yourself. Take the $30/hr. that your going to spend, and buy a decent tool kit if you dont have tools already. Then you spent the same and have tools for future projects for the rest of your life. If your not sure how to do the cam swap, do a lot of reading/research on here first. Pick up a manual for your car. And then just ask as you go, there are a lot of people on here that can help. When I did my cam swap it took part of Fri. night, all day Sat., and part of Sun. to finish. I would say it took somewhere around 20+ hours start to finish but this was also the first time I had ever opened up an engine before. There were many times where I would get stuck, come online, post a question, and then start working again when I got my answer. Also quite a few times I had to stop, clean up, run to the store to get a tool I didn't have. Now that I have done it once before, I would think I could do it again within about 12-15hrs. Someone with all the right/good tools and experience (mechanic) probably could do it around 8-10hrs or so...that would be my guess at least.

Aaron

 

That is a very good deal. It can all be done in a weekend, if he works hard on it. But if you think you can do it yourself, go for it. You will learn alot about your car, and make future modification easyier.

 

One way to find out would be to contact your local GM dealer or a repair shop and ask how many hours the flat rate manual allows to do the job.
I installed the hot cam kit, but working on my car is a hobby, so I work slow and meticulous. Lots of labeled zip lock bags, digital photos and a few beer breaks.
I decided to replace the valve seals, water pump, front crank seal, spark plugs, various vacuum lines, injector o-rings and anything else I could think of that was 10 years old while I was in there. I decided to drop the pan to insure a good seal and spot check bearing clearance with plasti-gage on a couple mains and rods just to make sure the bottom end is healthy. This '94 only has 30k on it but I replaced the O2 sensors to insure a precise AFR feedback to the PCM. The GM intake and valve cover gaskets are premium quality but costly and worth it, in my opinion.
If the car is not your daily driver and you can take plenty of time to do the research and do it right, it can be a fun project. A rush job will not be very enjoyable. Good luck with your project.
Craig

 

what a great deal

 

Mitchell Estimator Times are :
Camshaft R&R Auto Trans 10.7 hours
Man Trans 11.3
Includes R&I oilpan
Add Extra time for Air pump .4
Cruise .2
Pwr Str .4
A/C .4
T/C .7
Valve Springs All 5.1
Not saying it would take that long but flat rate thats how it is listed