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Got my van back!
https://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=22663		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  quarter mile heartbeat [ Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:13 am ]
Post subject:  Got my van back!
Just went yesterday and got my van from the autowreckers who changed the motor. It originally had a 225 slant six in it, and the "new" one is supposed to be the same, but looks different from the stock one (the van is a 1984 dodge 150 half ton). The engine seems to work, but it took them four days to get it installed and started (they charged me 650.00 for the engine, and 1245.00 for the installation). Don't know what this engine came from, but i'm guessing it wasn't a van. Now, how do i hook up the turbo to it? Maybe star in the new fast and the furious movie, "fast and furious: The slant six brick ". Anyone with a van understands that title. They aren't very streamlined.

Doesn't matter what kind of engine a van has, they sure don't handle well in a wind, although the addition last year of air shocks in the back stabilized it immensely.
Author:  SlantSixDan [ Wed Apr 11, 2007 12:49 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Got my van back!
Quote:
Jthey charged me 650.00 for the engine, and 1245.00 for the installation
WhatwhatWHAT?!!! :shock: That installation charge is way out of line.
Author:  Slanted Opinion [ Wed Apr 11, 2007 1:37 pm ]
Post subject: 
I was thinking the same thing. Even under a shade-tree with chainfalls it shouldn't take more than 8 hours to pull a slant and put it back in. Not to mention doing it in a fully equipped garage.

Unless perhaps, they did some extensive swapping, like intake manifolds, etc. But I doubt it.
Author:  rock [ Wed Apr 11, 2007 3:27 pm ]
Post subject:  quartermile, here is the time it took me..
quartermile,

I gotta agree with the others that time is outrageous! For instance, I did a swap in the backyard with only a Sears come-a-long chained over a 4 x6 last summer. Counting skeeter swatting time, AND including skinnying underneath to pull the tranny back, undo drive shaft, undo shift linkage, pull radiator, drain oil and fluids...3.5 hours. Time to put back in, hook it ALL back up and drive off...3 more hours because I wanted to move alternator to driver side, do a little painting and so on too. I know others here can do it faster but I am just old enough to have tools vaporize and reappear, misplace my eyeglasses, and forget I bought new stainless hardware so I get to some hardware twice. I have to look up torques too because I couldn't remember all them and sweated through the note paper they were on and had to re look them up. So, a nice slow 6.5 hours with no shop, no helper, and only the come along. Though I did break down and get a load leveler and it is very useful.
rock
'64d100
Author:  Rust collector [ Wed Apr 11, 2007 4:06 pm ]
Post subject: 
Well, you have a van again! WOOHOO!
Author:  Slanted Opinion [ Wed Apr 11, 2007 4:29 pm ]
Post subject: 
Kinda expensive... BUT, as you say, you have a working vehicle again, and the last thing I want to do is get you discouraged.

Also, my time estimate (and some of the others) are based on cars and trucks. Vans are, if I remember correctly, notoriously more difficult to work on. That labor might be a lot closer to correct than we think.

Congrats on getting your rig going, and thanks for helping keep another slant on the road.

:D

-Mac
Author:  Rug_Trucker [ Wed Apr 11, 2007 9:35 pm ]
Post subject: 
11 hrs for a swap comes to mind per the book. Never swapped a slant in a van. 360's? Yep!


BTW mine isn't a brick! It's a shoe box! :lol:
Author:  SlantSixDan [ Thu Apr 12, 2007 7:25 am ]
Post subject: 
Quote:
11 hrs for a swap comes to mind per the book.
If a wrecking yard is using the flat-rate manual, or if the job actually takes 11 hours, I will eat a spark plug. Even assuming either of these to be the case, $1250 ÷ 11 = $113.63 labour rate, which is far above the going rate for actual shops (not wrecking yards) even in expensive Toronto. The labour charge was grossly inappropriate for this swap. :-(
Author:  quarter mile heartbeat [ Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:28 am ]
Post subject: 
Everyone figures that the engine swap was expensive. Here's something else: was driving it into town yesterday, and it quit!! But only after a cloud of white smoke out of the tailpipe. The radiator was empty, but the antifreeze reserve was still full. The antifreeze was leaking out of the exhaust pipe around where the seats are. Don't know what broke, but it did. Sent it back to them. Had better not be any more charges to fix it. They did change the oil pan, intake and the like and rated it at 15 hours (also changed all the gaskets). It was supposed to be a tested motor. Hope it doesn't take another three week wait for it.

I know i could've bought another van for what i paid to get this one fixed but it has to be this van. Sentimental value, as it were. My mom and I used to travel in this one (and the station wagon) alot, and on august 10, 2006, she had a fatal heart attack in her sleep. I'd like to think mom still travels with me and, on the icy and snowy nights Canada is prone to in the winter, maybe even takes the wheel sometimes.
Author:  SlantSixDan [ Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:49 am ]
Post subject: 
Quote:
was driving it into town yesterday, and it quit!! But only after a cloud of white smoke out of the tailpipe.

Oooohboy. Sounds like a head gasket or cracked casting. I hate to be the one to come right out and say it, but you got "took" on this job...bigtime, even if they really did 15 hours' work ($83.33/hr, still excessive for a wrecking yard) and even if they'd done the job correctly, which they evidently did not. :-(

This is one of those "Wish you had found this board before you went that route" moments.
Author:  quarter mile heartbeat [ Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:00 am ]
Post subject: 
I've actually dealt with this auto wreckers alot, including a motor for my plymouth horizon from them years ago which ran until the frame finally went on the car. I used the car as the company car of the delivery company I operated for four years. Delivery is rough on a vehicle, and that motor ran perfectly, only using oil when it had to be changed.
This motor just seemed more of a fluke than anything, or else it just wanted to keep up the tradition of 2006, with one last kick.
Don't think my family and i can handle two years like 2006...april, laid off the job; deaths included: former boss, former co-worker, cousin, mom, and my little 20 year old dog; blew van engine december 26. In 2007 so far: sister diagnosed with emphysema, her son with MS. It started on April 14, 2006 (my 41st birthday) so the year should end with my 42nd on Saturday. Here's to hoping...
Author:  Slanted Opinion [ Thu Apr 12, 2007 1:29 pm ]
Post subject: 
Sorry to hear about your recent rough stretch.

Don't let them charge you for as much as a single nut or bolt or hour labor... either they messed up putting it in, or the engine was ready to quit in the first place. Either way, they need to either fix/replace the engine (with a warranty), or refund all of your money.

-Mac
Author:  slantzilla [ Fri Apr 13, 2007 5:23 am ]
Post subject: 
I'd pay money to see Dan (or anyone else) swap a junkyard Slant into a 23 year old van in 11 hours. The time not only includes the actual R&R of the van engine, but also the changeover time for all the necessary parts to get the donor engine to fit. If the old engine was locked up that also makes the removal more difficult.

That being said though, they should repair it properly under warranty (unless they had a "no warranty" waiver in the invoice), and also re-imburse you for towing if it needed it.

$1900 for an engine with installation is not that bad a price for having it done at a shop. :shock:
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