How many hours to replace 355 headers and bypass valve?

I did it myself in my garage. It took me WAY longer than 16 hours. 4 weekends and 3-4 evenings thrown in for good measure. I could say that I easily spent over 60 hours working on it.

 

i think the best suggestion is to wait until "engine out" service. Then I think the time used for headers and bypass is much lower

 

I don't have my receipt here but I'd say labor was on the order of $1500. At $100/hour or so, the 16 hour estimate seems reasonable.

 

16 hours is not unreasonable.

 

?

When I replaced my headers it took about 4 hours to remove the headers but the install is a little less.....the time is in removing and reinstalling the header nuts.
When you factor in the time to remove the wheels, fender liners and loosen up the y pipe (for the bypass valve).....16 hours is more than enough time (actually generous for any experience mechanic).
I'm sure it can be done in one day....I did.

 

I should mention that I have a hoist and this speeds up the work times.....but then so do the local garage mechanics.

 

Oh yeah, 16 hours seems reasonable for a shop. I did run across many issues in the process that slowed things down and it was my first time digging into the engine bay.

 

I just did this job last week. $1600 is a bargain! I spent 20 hours doing it in my well equipped shop with a lift, but I also did a lot of extra time cleaning, painting and sorting while I was in there. Its a very fiddly job and you must take your time to avoid causing any new issues.

16 hours is a fair estimate for sure.

 

I will post more if I can find them. 16 hours being careful is not out of the question, but it can be done in far less time if you have spent time working on the car.
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+1

A few years ago, when we helped gothspeed put a set of 360 headers, high flow cats, and his custom exhaust, in his 355 we did it in a day.

 

Don't go all "Energizer Bunny" on us here.

 

Everything in the engine bay of the 355 is designed with such small clearances that usually many other items have to be disconnected or removed all together in order to get at he intended part.

I think 16 hours is fair, they can probably do it much faster but that comes from experience.

 

16 hours is a little on the high side. Unless you have a hole in your existing headers, I would wait untill your engine out service.

 

I agree... It would defiantly be much cheaper then.

 

I suppose I could do it much quicker the second time. This has me remembering all the issues I encountered. Fittament of the Fabspeed headers was an issue. Prior "mechanic" cross threading the cat thermocouples (I put test pipes on as well). Getting the stock Y pipe to bolt up to the headers and capristo exhaust at the same time. Removing the oil tank was a *****. Yeah, so I guess I did a little more than just replacing the headers.

16 hours is reasonable as a "shop rate" but I bet you could just negotiate a flat cost to do the job. Shop around a bit.

 

Like they said if they are not required wait until the engine out so you can do others things with out overlap labor charges

 

you do not need to remove the oil tank to replace the headers.....its a little tigher on the right side with it in but it does not obstruct the re and re.
I only just removed the lower oil tank hose just to get it out of the way ( but that was not necessary either).

(see the pics in post 10 above)

 

It didn't really seem possible with the view I had. I didn't loosen the motor mounts and jack the engine though either. I just went off some insturctions I found here on Fchat and that had removing the oil tank as a needed step.

 

Goofball.

 

I don't know why the motor mounts were loosened and the motor jacked in jm3 header replacement (perhaps the motor mounts were sagging causing some interference?) but this was not necessary in my re&re of my headers.

 

I got mine out without jacking up the engine or removing the oil tank, but I did remove the big oil line and the cooling fan on the right side..getting the stock headers out was the big issue, getting the Fabspeed headers in was no problem other than getting all the header bolts started and tightened.

 

The bypass valve is a snap, and can be swapped in less than one hour, by a hack like me. I did the manifolds (QV London) with two buddies and a lift, and it took us about 10 hours, but that was WITH a long lunch break and a run to an auto parts shop. (we did remove the remote oil tank)

My QV London manifolds recently failed and were rebuilt again (by QV London under warranty) and removed/replaced by Ferrari of Seattle, and their charge was a very reasonable 8.5 hours or there about.

*note on QV London manifolds: Mine were originally purchased from QV London back in August 2005. They failed about 24,000 miles later. These were the early versions were they only replaced the first few inches of tubing. They stated the manifolds failed just past the replaced sections. They claim on this warranty repair, that they replaced the entire tube. Since it is covered with heatshields upon return, I will have to take their word on it.
While slow to respond, they did eventually repair and return that at their cost. Though I overnighted them at my cost, their repair and return took about 5 weeks.

 

How do you know when they are leaking? Im asking because I really wouldnt know what to look for other than I've read that some guys hear them making noise.