Laughable GM dealer
Thread Starter
Intermediate
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 40
Likes: 0
From: Oxford PA
Laughable GM dealer
I bought Borla Stingers (used off of Ebay) for my black '01 coupe. The seller says that they don't come with the gaskets, which I would have replaced anyway, so I stop by my local GM dealer to pick up the new gaskets. Just for fun, I asked how much they would charge to install the cat-back Borlas on my car. Well, the lady I talked to said, "Let me go check with the technicians in the shop".
So I paitiently waited for her to come back and she says, "We charge $75/hour for labor, and Joe Schmo (name withheld) figures about $337".
She continues, Joe says that they take a lot of tweaking to get the tips aligned and he has done a lot of them in the past, so he knows". 
I suppressed my initial urge to
and walked out with the parts I bought. 
So, my question to all the folks out here who have installed their own exhausts, 4 1/2 hours????? Is that
or what?
I'm figuring an hour, tops, if you run into a small alignment problem. I'd do it myself, If I could get the car up high enough, but I've heard that you should raise it up a minimum of 30-36 inches, which I can't do at home.
So I paitiently waited for her to come back and she says, "We charge $75/hour for labor, and Joe Schmo (name withheld) figures about $337".
She continues, Joe says that they take a lot of tweaking to get the tips aligned and he has done a lot of them in the past, so he knows". I suppressed my initial urge to
and walked out with the parts I bought. So, my question to all the folks out here who have installed their own exhausts, 4 1/2 hours????? Is that
or what?I'm figuring an hour, tops, if you run into a small alignment problem. I'd do it myself, If I could get the car up high enough, but I've heard that you should raise it up a minimum of 30-36 inches, which I can't do at home.
Drifting
Joined: Sep 2005
Posts: 1,258
Likes: 0
From: Home Southern Maine
St. Jude Donor '08
$100 at Mineke, only issue was using boards to get easy angle to get the car on their drive in lift. Less than an hour, I had the directions from Borla printed out and went over the install before they started.
Beer
Beer
Race Director
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 16,795
Likes: 62
From: Lake Havasu City, AZ
Uh,
We did it in a club member's driveway...
Did the floor jack lift one car at a time
took the Borla's off his, put on Z06 Ti's
Took the stock off mine, put the Borla's on,
Went over to Autozone to buy the gaskets we forgot about.....
All done in about 3 hours......
We did it in a club member's driveway...
Did the floor jack lift one car at a time
took the Borla's off his, put on Z06 Ti's
Took the stock off mine, put the Borla's on,
Went over to Autozone to buy the gaskets we forgot about.....
All done in about 3 hours......
Yellow C3/C5
Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 1,822
Likes: 1
St. Jude Donor '05-'06
I had a local muffler shop install my Ti exhaust for $65. I would have only taken him about an hour if he hadn't of lost one of the hanger bolts up in the the bumper support. He spent another hour almost trying to fish it out with a magnet
Drifting
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 1,283
Likes: 1
From: Monmouth County NJ
I had mine done in Carlisle. They had my stock system off, and the Borlas on and the car off the lift in about 20 minutes! The system and the install was $900. Tips are straight and no leaks. Granted those guys had done a bunch already, and were good. You did the right thing walking out of the dealer 
.
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Le Mans Master
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 8,004
Likes: 250
From: Tampa Fl
St. Jude Donor '12-'13-'14
some good deals out there !
I had my Vararam, high flow duct, 160. thermostat, Ls6 manifold, Kooks headers, X-pipe, and GHL exhaust installed for $700.00 at a dealer in NJ. ( when my car was being re-ringed.
)
They also offered to but new heads on the car included for the $700 if I wanted to, but I couldnt get a set quick enough.
I had my Vararam, high flow duct, 160. thermostat, Ls6 manifold, Kooks headers, X-pipe, and GHL exhaust installed for $700.00 at a dealer in NJ. ( when my car was being re-ringed.
)They also offered to but new heads on the car included for the $700 if I wanted to, but I couldnt get a set quick enough.
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 1,937
Likes: 1
From: Tempe Az
I've done a stinger install before.
30 Mins to cut off the 2 stock mufflers
15 mins to unbolt the stock pipes
30 mins to install new stingers pipes
4 hours is bull**** and the tips don't take that much time to fix
30 Mins to cut off the 2 stock mufflers
15 mins to unbolt the stock pipes
30 mins to install new stingers pipes
4 hours is bull**** and the tips don't take that much time to fix
Racer
Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 281
Likes: 1
From: Clayton North Carolina
I paided $500, for my Full polished Borla's, and installed them myself in 45 min. in my garage with a set of ramps and a jack. Anything over $75 is a rip off IMFO, any shop with a competent worker shouldn't take more then a hour to do a cat back system. It's the old "you have a vette you have money" so we can charge 5 times normal.