How much in labor for heads swap?
Can anyone give an answer besides for doing it yourself? I did my last set but got new heads i want to throw on and cant handle doing it myself now cause ive got some herniated discs. Im not going to have a shop do it but 1 of my mechanic friends do it so whats a fair non-shop rate for a heads swap?
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To pay a regular shop to put heads on an LT1 has gotten to the point where it is not worth it. For the amount of money you would spend on labor and the heads, you could have done an iron LS swap and gotten better driveability and more horsepower, with far more power potential. The LT1 is becoming the flathead ford for Chevy, where people only keep with this platform because it is more of an oddball engine. "Hey cool you have an LT1? Reverse flow cooling system and an opti, I remember those days!" With all the 24x swaps people are doing and spending around $1000 to do that, plus $1200 for heads, another $1200 in labor, plus your doing the valvetrain while your at it so another $1000 easy, you are up to $4400, and only have 400rwhp. A junkyard complete 6.0 with wiring harness and PCM is around $1200, throw a cam in there and you are at 400rwhp for $2200. Add another grand or so for an LS T56 or $500 for a truck 4L60e, but subtract the $1000 you will get selling your LT1 with trans and harness.
Doing an LT1 head swap purely for horsepower is not worth it IMO, it is worth it however if you like working on cars, and enjoy the "yea I did that myself" feeling. Otherwise, consider going to the dark side.
Doing an LT1 head swap purely for horsepower is not worth it IMO, it is worth it however if you like working on cars, and enjoy the "yea I did that myself" feeling. Otherwise, consider going to the dark side.
To pay a regular shop to put heads on an LT1 has gotten to the point where it is not worth it. For the amount of money you would spend on labor and the heads, you could have done an iron LS swap and gotten better driveability and more horsepower, with far more power potential. The LT1 is becoming the flathead ford for Chevy, where people only keep with this platform because it is more of an oddball engine. "Hey cool you have an LT1? Reverse flow cooling system and an opti, I remember those days!" With all the 24x swaps people are doing and spending around $1000 to do that, plus $1200 for heads, another $1200 in labor, plus your doing the valvetrain while your at it so another $1000 easy, you are up to $4400, and only have 400rwhp. A junkyard complete 6.0 with wiring harness and PCM is around $1200, throw a cam in there and you are at 400rwhp for $2200. Add another grand or so for an LS T56 or $500 for a truck 4L60e, but subtract the $1000 you will get selling your LT1 with trans and harness.
Doing an LT1 head swap purely for horsepower is not worth it IMO, it is worth it however if you like working on cars, and enjoy the "yea I did that myself" feeling. Otherwise, consider going to the dark side.
Doing an LT1 head swap purely for horsepower is not worth it IMO, it is worth it however if you like working on cars, and enjoy the "yea I did that myself" feeling. Otherwise, consider going to the dark side.
As far as shop rates are concerned, they are getting upwards of $100+ an hour and many shops will not want the responsibility and offer some sort of outlandish price.