18 hours done right, is about right. These 6 to 10 hour joker jobs could not possibly include the time to properly clean and inspect all the surfaces of old gaskets, stick polish the imperfections out, and powerwash and dry the heads, torque all the bolts, and just take the time to do it right. I'm sorry, but that's a fact.
Here's the breakdown from my recent experience, and I had a guy helping, and we took our time to inspect, clean, label and catagorize the parts and bolts:
1hour - Wipers, cowel, heater blower cover, hood removal and storage.
3.5 hours - Jack all fours, coolant drain, oil drain, coolant lines removal, vacuum line removal, spark plug wires removal, throttle cable disconnect, steering pump removal, thermostat housing removal, intake and valve cover removal.
1.5 hours - Spark plugs, exhaust manifolds, rocker and pushrod removal and label, both heads.
Notice that's six hours already.
2 hours Clean, Inspect, Prep, and Polish the intake, heads, thermostat housing, and block contact surfaces. - no shortcuts.
2 hours - Install and torque heads, rods, rockers, manifolds, and plugs.
5 hours - Reinstall and torque all parts, oil fill, coolant fill.
1 hour - Hood, blower cover, cowel, wipers.
1 hour - Burp coolant, inspect everything, drive and inspect again.
That's 17 hours, if you don't run into problems, which can happen in any install. Now tell me if any of these numbers sound unreasonable because the way I see it, 6 hours requires superman.
I've since learned that they can be gotten for less. But talk about sticker shock when I first saw the bill.
