[1967MustangFastback]

I know shop rates differ across different parts of the country but I'm kicking around the idea of a motor swap in my head. I don't need a motor swap by any means. But....the craving for more power has been hitting me so I wanted to see what it would cost. What I'm specifically looking for is the cost to remove the 289 engine I have and install a crate motor. I'm just referring to the shop labor I would be looking at if I supplied the ready to run crate motor. Let's just say the crate motors would be a 347 or possibly a 408. I would prefer an idea of the amount of hours it would take (approximate) as well.

Thanks in advance.

 

[awhtx]

Why pay somebody else to do it?

 

[geicoman58]

There are labor manuals that will give estimated times to do things on your car such as replace a starter motor or a water pump, and even an engine. They are for stock vehicles going back with stock parts with no seized rusty bolts or studs snapping off. That info is fairly easy to look up and use as a starting point at whatever rate they charge. However, the shop will add hours to swap things over that are not stock and time to adjust and fool with other things. Then there is the no-profit on parts aspect with you supplying an engine. They charge a lot more for fluids, and anything else needed than you stoping by O'Rielys to buy stuff, so... I would guess a private garage would be thinking around 25-35 hours minimum around 100-150 an hour and I bet they won't really want to get involved with it unless they feel they are beating clock time by at least a factor of 2..... Where are you located?

 

[tx65coupe]

I wouldn't consider paying a shop to do a motor swap. With an engine hoist and leveler, it really isn't that hard to do.

 

[Mustangerbob1]

If you have the new engine ready to go, for example, sitting on a pallet, etc.

This is a job that you should ask some friends, and they might be able to either help you or know someone who is familiar with the Mustang, who will do it for some $$.

Not a shop rate of $100 an hour.

Also, most shops will not have an idea of the nuances of pulling the Mustang engine, and it will take longer.

 

[Milligan]

About 3 years ago a friend Was quoted at $750 to swap an engine in his 86 Caprice from a local shop. Seemed like a low quote to me for the amount of hours it typically takes, but guys that have an engine hoist and tools right next to them could do it in a day and it still be very tidy I guess. He provided would have provided all the parts and had them there.

If the shop has to order the engine and parts then the quote could go up quote a bit. If you are fitting new headers and exhaust then there may be custom welding work so up again. It is all so subjective and dependent on the job but if I had to give a bottom dollar these days then I’d say at least $1200 if you had every part for them to blow through it and that is still cheap in my mind. I like to do it myself, but I enjoy it.

 

[Milligan]

Why pay somebody else to do it?

Could be quite a few reasons. I have numerous friends that live in apartments in the city. Some people have no interest in that kind of work. Some folks have very active family lives so stringing together days free of obligations can be difficult.

 

[Lizer]

My guess is you'd have up to 4 hrs to remove engine (removing hood, draining fluids, unhooking all linkages, cables, hoses). I've removed a straight 6+C4 before in an hour, but that's because I know exactly everything that needs to come off, right down to the socket size required for each bolt or nut.

Install of the new engine could be another 4-6 hrs by the time it's set in place, exhaust bolted on, connections made, filled with fluids, and timed.

Depending on where you're at, shop rates vary anywhere from $70/hr to $100+.

Contrary to some of the opinions expressed here, a lot of smaller mom and pop type shops might have their own personal hotrods or might even own their own classic Mustang, so they're likely to know exactly what's up.

You may be able to find a Mustang club or local enthusiast with somebody who can help you do it in their shop. The straight 6 I mentioned was somebody who wanted help removing their engine so I trailered their car to my shop and we did it.

 

[1967MustangFastback]

Why pay somebody else to do it?

I have actually done it with a buddy in the past on another car. Removing it is not that difficult if you have the cherry picker, the tools, the space and most importantly the time. It is by no means a complex process but I have learned that I would need to take my time, bag and tag all nuts and bolts, take good pictures of the before and preferably have a decent lift. I don't currently have the lift, cherry picker or much time so I was just curious what the cost would be to outsource this type of work to a shop that has done plenty of these in the past.

 

[1967MustangFastback]

There are labor manuals that will give estimated times to do things on your car such as replace a starter motor or a water pump, and even an engine. They are for stock vehicles going back with stock parts with no seized rusty bolts or studs snapping off. That info is fairly easy to look up and use as a starting point at whatever rate they charge. However, the shop will add hours to swap things over that are not stock and time to adjust and fool with other things. Then there is the no-profit on parts aspect with you supplying an engine. They charge a lot more for fluids, and anything else needed than you stoping by O'Rielys to buy stuff, so... I would guess a private garage would be thinking around 25-35 hours minimum around 100-150 an hour and I bet they won't really want to get involved with it unless they feel they are beating clock time by at least a factor of 2..... Where are you located?

I'm in CA. Shop rates are closer to the $125 to $150 range here an hour. Especially now with inflation and prices just overall being much more for everything. At 25-35 hours @ let's say $130 an hour, this would cost a lot more than I thought.

 

[wicked93gs]

Most engine swaps can be accomplished in 15 hours or less. Heck, just this weekend I swapped out the engine in my wife's Fiat 500, a FWD car that I had never swapped before. It took me 17 hours total...and most of that was swapping parts(accessories, trans, etc) from the old engine to the new one strangely enough...actually pulling the engine and replacing it took about 8 hours and FWD is a lot harder since you have to pull axles and the entire front end off the car. In the mustang, swapping the engine took me about 7 hours total.

That being said, modifications and addressing issues usually ads about 50% to the time involved. I would still say its possible to swap in a modified 331 in less than 15 hours total, it just depends on if the person swapping has done it before and knows what they are doing.

 

[Boost1087]

I’m just curious what shop is charging 25 hours to swap a engine that’s crazy **** my wife could do it in 8 hours

 

[1967MustangFastback]

I’m just curious what shop is charging 25 hours to swap a engine that’s crazy **** my wife could do it in 8 hours

This genuinely made me laugh. I don't know the skill level of your wife or if you were being sarcastic or not. My first reaction was to laugh out loud.

In all seriousness, I think different shops will push what they can as far as hours go. I can't see any shop taking on a project of swapping motors for 8-10 hours of work. It may take them this long to complete but they won't bill at this price. At a shop rate of $130, I think 8 hours would be a bargain to do this job.

 

[manicmechanic007]

The good book probably pays about 12 hours for your particular motor swap
A/C and P/S will add to the labor time about 1.5 hours each
You want the guy to not haul ass and do a piss poor job so offer the shop 15 hours
You see to it that the tech does not feel slighted (tips beer whisky)
Nobody really wants to do a motor swap in a vintage car of any type
A ZL1 Camaro maybe or a Boss 429 Maybe
just for the test drive
Try to find an sole proprietor enthusiast not a shop that has a bean counter in charge

 

[JeffTepper]

I’m just curious what shop is charging 25 hours to swap a engine that’s crazy **** my wife could do it in 8 hours

What's your wife's hourly rate???? LOL

 

[Milligan]

I’m just curious what shop is charging 25 hours to swap a engine that’s crazy **** my wife could do it in 8 hours

8 hour engine swap? Your wife work at Roadkill Garage? Haha

When the moons of Jupiter align allowing all parts to be on hand, no bolts seized, and no unexpected issues then maybe, just maybe 8 hours would allow for a quality swap…

 

[JeffTepper]

When it comes to an engine swap where fabrication and adaptation are usually necessary, keep in mind that one often finds ancillary items (pulleys, brackets, hoses, belts, wiring harnesses, starters, alternators, repainting/detailing the engine compartment, hardware, and fasteners, etc. can add up quickly. If the car spent time in the rust belt, broken fasteners and other impediments to an efficient job can bog down the timeline and blow the budget. Parts chasing can also be a real time sink especially if custom adapters are needed to get everything to fit and function. Note I haven't even mentioned the "While I'm at it" list !!!!!!! If you are planning to hire it out and are setting a budget, be prepared for a time and materials bid where the actual cost will likely be more unless you are extremely organized and execrcise considerable restraint keeping the scope under tight control.

Depending on where you are and who your friends might be, you may find you have access to a crew that can make an engine swap childs play. i have been part of such crews over the years and have given my time and received the benefit of others willing to help me. Sort of like a "Barn Raising" where 3 or 4 friends show up and roll up their sleeves to help. One of the more memorable Saturdays a number of years back involved a call for help from one of our local Mustang buddies putting a rebuilt engine into a newly painted Mustang. 9 people showed up and we had the engine in and running in about an hour. With the rest of the day now "free", we decided to assemble the rest of the car (body, glass, trim, etc) and we did. By the end of the day, all major parts and most minor parts were installed, aligned, and adjusted to fit and function as designed. Besides the satisfaction of helping out a buddy in need, we were treated to a delicious meal when we were done! Smiles all around.

The old addage "What goes around comes around" applies here.

 

[Kelly_H]

I would also guess 10-12 hours for a motor swap, assuming that all of the parts from the old motor fit the new motor almost exactly right. Once things start needing to be engineered, you're going to run into $$$ for labor.

Personally, I have done a 5-bolt 289 to 6-bolt 289 swap, and then the reverse... first one took us 18 hours, second one took us about 8. The reason it took 18 hours the first time is because we pulled the motor, found that the old one was a 5-bolt and the new one was a 6-bolt, and then had to engineer solutions for the bellhousing, bearing retainer, flywheel, clutch, starter, and clutch linkage. That required digging a bellhousing out of the garden (don't ask), cleaning it up, drilling holes in it to adapt it to the 5-bolt Toploader, finding that the starter would no longer touch the flywheel (6-bolt bellhousing we had was larger), digging an appropriate flywheel out of the parts bin, surfacing it, finding that the clutch wouldn't bolt up right, milling new holes in the flywheel for the clutch, finding that the bearing retainer wasn't right for the new bellhousing to mate to the transmission, digging the matching bearing retainer out of a parts bin, finding the new bearing retainer wouldn't fit the transmission, milling the bearing retainer to fit the transmission, sticking the whole thing together, installing into car, finding that clutch linkage pivot arm is now too long, shortening and rewelding, etc. etc. The point I am making is that in 18 hours, we did a SIGNIFICANT amount of hot rodding and problem solving, and still ended up with the new motor in the car, cranked up and running. So any shop that charges you 20 hours for an engine install is either taking you for a ride, or looking at your pile of parts and planning for some engineering work to be needed.

Now, when we did the swap in reverse, all we had to do was revert to the old parts. It took 8 hours and that was us working at a relatively leisurely pace, I recall.

 

[Boost1087]

I guess no one in here spins wrenches for a living I could not with a straight face ask for 25 hours to swap a 289 302 in any mustang seriously any hafe way decent mechanic could swap an engine in a few hours we normally would ask double what it would take u or if it was a new car double warranty the problem with having a shop do it is it would tie up a lift so so of the smaller shops might not want to do it just ask around find a shop with true gear heads and I’m sure they would do it for around 10 to 12

 

[myfirstcar66]

I borrowed a cherry picker and pulled a 289 and C4 out of a 65 Fairlane by myself in about 4 hours in my side yard with hand tools, having no idea what sizes the bolts etc were to begin with. I figure putting it back in would take a little longer, just to be sure it was all right and tight.