Reasonable Price on Twin Turbo Conversion

Old 10-03-2008, 03:57 PM
  #1  
marshalllhancock
Junior Member
SHOW GUEST
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Americus, GA
Posts: 9
Default Reasonable Price on Twin Turbo Conversion

I have a question for all you guys that may or may not have done a big block nitrous to big block turbo conversion.

I have my car at a well known chassis shop right now and want to have the following list of mods done while its there.

Mount BBF to mate up to the powerglide that we already have mounted in the car (This includes removing the front motor plate mounts for the sbf that was in the car and replacing with mounts for BBF front motor plate. I supplied both the motor and mid plates)
Build 2 14" Stainless headers and mount 2 Precision PT88 Turbos
Build 3" Mild Steel Down Pipes with side exit aluminum pipes as shown in the rendering below. This will require notching the factory fire wall to allow for side exit exhaust too.
Supply all stainless and mild steel for headers and downpipes plus labor to build the headers.
Supply all V-Band Clamps and Flanges that I didn't take with me when I dropped the car off at their shop.
Scale and Set-up car that is already built and was almost race ready with the SBF with the exception of collant system plumbing and wiring both of which I will be doing myself.

I have also already done the complete cold side aluminum pipe work and have supplied both turbos, both wastegates, bov's, stainless header flanges, and a few of the V-Band clamps and flanges. I will also be providing all the motor parts including the aluminum doghouse/elbow as well as doing the EFI intake conversion.

I have been provided about 4 different quotes by different shops and builders and want to see who is closer to being fair on the prices that were quoted to me. I was told by all the shops that the job could take between 40-100 hours depending on which one did the work.

Thanks in advance for any numbers that you guys can provide for me to help me decide which way I need to go. I have a partner in this project too and want a top quality job but I don't want him to think I am trying to price gouge him on our deal either. The prices that have been quoted to me range anywhere from $3800 all the way up to a little over $8000 forthe complete job so you can see where my concern comes into play on this deal.

I WILL NOT go into the names of any of the shops and I'm not trying to to make anyone sound bad. I just want an honest opinion on what a job like this should cost. I'm friends with every one of the shop owners and would trust any of them with this job but we know what we were planning to spend and some of the quotes seemed a little over priced IMO. Maybe it's just me and if so, I will bite the bullet and go with the shop that I feel is the best even if they are the most expensive. I will admit that I am also seriously considering sticking another big inch nitrous motor in the car and calling it a day. We could be up and running and in no time that way but I feel the twin turbo combo will be much more competitive in these tough heads up classes.

marshalllhancock is offline  
Old 10-03-2008, 04:16 PM
  #2  
bjuice
Administrator
RACING JUNKIE
 
bjuice's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Greenville s.c.
Posts: 3,236
Default

i agree the turbo is the way to make the Big power as long as you can harness that beast on the spool up off the line...i know they have come a long way in this area..

Ya know....its hard to price another mans work..and i am of the a firm belief you really get what you pay for..by the sounds of it you have a ton in this car with Turbo's Only...so i would not sacrifice Quality for price at this point ( within reason)

I can tell you this. Alan Pittman a very well known chassis builder ( scotty cannons ex pro-mod chassis man ONSAT) ( also owner driver of the pro-mod car Grave digger..Now sold)..he will not work on just anything.
He gets a minimum of $750.00 up thru $1,000 just to set up a car..this is everthing you can think of scaling.diagraming on the floor etc...just setting it up...you can betcha its straight as an arrow with minor adjusments to be made at track if any...i know this sounds like a ton of money to some people but ya gotta understand what type of cars he is setting up..anywhere from 80k to 200k cars running sub 6 second 1/4 mile et's..when you are dealing with cars like this 1k is money well spent to assure the thing will work properly..Your life and monetary investment

i will go out on a limb here and say if your chassis guys are near the quality of Alan Pitttman..go ahead and subtract 1k for the chassis set up this leaves you $2800.......i would say ya got a pretty good deal there.


http://www.draglist.com/Pictures/POD...POD-081502.htm

My opinion only.

Brian
__________________
Bjuice..

"I'M YOUR HUCKLEBERRY ! "
bjuice is offline  
Old 10-03-2008, 06:17 PM
  #3  
lively
Senior Member
RACING JUNKIE
 
lively's Avatar
 
Join Date: Nov 2004
Location: ILLINOIS
Posts: 2,190
Default

YOU NEED TO CHECK REFERENCES ON EACH OF THESE SHOPS AND MAYBE TALK TO OTHER CUSTOMERS THEY HAVE DONE 8) 8)
SOME SHOPS OVERPRICE BECAUSE THEY THINK THEY ARE THE BEST!!!
BUT WHAT KIND OF WORKMANSHIP AND CUSTOMER SERVICE AFTER THE WORK MEANS ALOT TO ME ALSO
I HAVE HAD SOME PRO WELDING LATELY THAT WAS QUOTED AT ONE PRICE THEN ALMOST DOUBLED WHEN FINISHED- PLUS THE WORKMANSHIP WAS NOT PRO AT ALL[ I WILL NOT USE EITHER ONE AGAIN AND WILL ALSO TELL OTHERS ABOUT THEIR CHANGING PRICES AND BAD WORK!!

DON'T CUT CORNERS AT SOME THINGS/ IT CAN COST YOU ALOT MORE FIXING IT LATER LIKE BRIAN SAID :evil: :evil:

LIVELY
lively is offline  
Old 10-04-2008, 10:22 AM
  #4  
outlaw256
Senior Member
RACING JUNKIE
 
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: falkville al
Posts: 1,764
Default

being honest with you , its next to impossible to give a price on a job like this with just a describtion on the work needed.dealing with the piping and mounting the turbos can be a major pain un the as$!!!. if its a fendered car it really gets to be PAIN.on a open car its still hard but a hell of alot easier.if the fenders arent covered up with junk and can be taken off pretty easy that would drop the price here.just visualizing what needs to be done, a this is just a long shot on price but id say around 3500. to 4000.one of the things that help us get jobs is that the shop is here at my house. so i have unloaded cars or bikes at midnite and been here for them to drop them off at 5.00 a.m.!!on their way to work.we are a 2 man shop. sometimes 3. ( YOU READING THIS CUZ? ). we are not the fastest in fact we take our sweet time. due to a bike wreck im crippled up so i have to get off my feet for a couple hrs a day. so that leaves my son alone out there for a while each day. and we do overlap work.but if problems arise with our work down the line we are here to help.their is a well known shop here that most people think they shi? the moon and theyare one of the highest priced shops ive ever seen.BUT they really aint that good and dont deserve the money they charge.and dont take nothing back cause it wasnt thier fault.sorry didnt mean to toot my own horn but it gets me what shops charge, then dont want to work with you when problems arise.the lower priced one seems fair, just check out how they back their workand how they are with customers.good luck and i hope you are happy with your choice. ken @ outlaw steel
outlaw256 is offline  

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off


Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service - Do Not Sell My Personal Information -