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Old 01-26-2021, 04:02 PM   #1248 (permalink)
JSH
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: PDX
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Adventure Seeker - '04 Chevy Astro - Campervan
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Xist View Post
I would never think that an engine swap would ever be easy, but 35 hours?!
This was a "simple" job of pulling an overheated engine with a cracked block and replacing it with a salvage yard replacement.

I was doing the work on my own and doing it for the first time so there was lots of time consulting the manuals. Also time taking pictures and labeling / cataloging every nut and bolt and putting them in ziplocks so they don't get mixed up or lost.

That also includes 4-5 hours trying to figure out how not to follow the manual's instructions and trying pull engine without needing to pop the ball joint and move the hub. (I was hoping to avoid paying for an alignment). Of course that failed so that time was wasted.

Time to clean and paint the junkyard engine. Time to clean and touch up paint the engine bay. Time to swap all the accessories from the old engine to new engine. Time to tear down the old engine to individual parts to maximize scrap value.

I also was originally doing this work for someone else and he was a cheapskate that wanted to save every penny. I had to redo some work after he abandoned the project and I bought it from him. Things like reusing old coolant hoses and brittle plastic vacuum lines or not wanting to even spend $15 to replace the spark plugs when the engine was out. All of that takes way more time when the engine is in the vehicle.

It took about 3 weeks start to finished working Saturdays and some nights after work.
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freebeard (01-26-2021), Xist (01-26-2021)