Harmonic Balancer and Cam Swap... do these estimates seem high?
 

Hi all, so I I have a 2002, MN6, with 102,000 miles on the car. It has an A&A V3 Si 3.8 pulley w/Big Bubba 50mm Blow Off Valve, Standard 6 Rib belt setup on it. It also has BTR Dual Springs w/titanium retainers, Comp Cams Trunion Kit, Hardened Pushrods, LG 1.75” Headers, Corsa Touring Exhaust w/high flow cats, McLeod RST Dual Clutch, and a Mighty Mouse Catch Can. It has the stock bottom end of motor, Stock MN6 Transmission, Stock Original Torque Tube and bushings, Stock Rear End and Output shafts.

All supercharger work was done 2 years ago at 94,000 miles and I know I should of had the balancer swapped out back then! https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...illy_nilly.gif So now the cars balancer I believe is starting to go. I see some definite wobble in it. I got 2 estimates from my local shop. Being I already have the dual springs, trunion kit and hardened pushrods I figured this would save me some cash for parts and labor when comparing this job to my brothers cam swap job. His shop charged $2600 total minus the oil pump and water pump but he bought the balancer cam, springs and pushrods. I will need a new balancer, crank bolt and pinning kit, C5R timing chain, oil pump and water pump. Obviously the labor and tuning as well. So with that, do these estimates seem accurate for labor time and cost? Is it that because i am supercharged that is really ramping the labor hours up? Need some input from anybody that might have put a cam with its supporting mods in after they had a supercharger already on the car.

For the two separate estimates here is what we have

--Just the Balancer
-- 12 hours labor at $95/hr = $1140
ATI Pulley = $395
ATI Pin Kit = $124
Total Estimate = $1,659 + tax

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For the second estimate --
It would includes either an LS3 Supercharged Cam, or the CCP Jam cam -- YouTube to see which one you liked better from a sound standpoint. It would also include fluids, gaskets, the C5R timing chain, new oil pump, waterpump, and the A&A pulley.
-- 34 hours of labor at $95/hr = $3,230
Parts = $1,210.
Total estimate $4,440 plus taxes

So this seem about right or way off? 34 hours of labor vs 12 hours to do the balancer???

LOL 34hrs of labor? Find a new mechanic. Your gonna be more bc of the R+R on the blower but 34hrs is crazy. A balancer swap should be ~6hrs labor. Add a few to pin crank.
Do some research and find a good local shop or take alittle trip. HPA in deleware did my cam and my bill was under $2k out the door with them supplying everything except crank pulley and upgraded rockers. Id highly recommend giving them a call if nothing to just get a approx price range.

That's nuts. Here is what Cordes Performance charged me here in Phoenix a couple months ago. (HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, by the way. Cordes is my go-to shop for things I don't want to do myself).

ATI balancer w/ no UD $402.00
ARP crank bolt $27.60
New gm front cover seal $19.95
Power steering fluid $12.25
Labor $473.00
shop supplies $4.00

Wow those labor quotes are out of control! The blower won't add much time to the install and having the springs already installed will save an hour or more.

Thanks for the kind words and recommendation! We try to be very fair with our labor prices.

I did my balancer on my garage floor in half a day. If someone is willing too pay $473 in labor just for that, I should go around the country just doing balancers on Corvettes.

I agree 34 hours is absurd. no way it will take that long. find a new place or do it yourself. I did my own but then again I have 2 automotive technical degrees and I like to learn new things lol. Look at www.ls1howto.com

I can say some shops local to me are WAY over charging. I have 4 known speeds shops near me. I don't have time to change my clutch. Called 4 and here is what I got back.

Ls7 clutch kit, flywheel, slave, pilot bearing, new slave cylinder, bleed relocation kit.

Shop1 - Very well known vette shop $3800
shop2 - Another know vette shop $3700
Shop3 - Speed shop $3380

Above shops were going by who knows what (book time is not even that high) Parts were only $700. The rest all Labor.

Shop4 - very well known shop $1700. WOW what a difference.

Talk about Vette taxing but come on. I have shop1 calling me every day asking when am I bringing it in. LOL never.

When I told the Corvette tech at the local dealership all the stuff I did on my garage floor (including transmission swap), I got jaw-drop googly-eyes. Then I asked what it would have cost for them too do it, I think I have a little heart attack.