How many hours to replace 94 plug wires?

[DC/NH]

My vette needs front brakes and I work at a Large dealership with GM certified mechanics. I was having an occasional bucking problem so I decided to change the plug wires. Bought some nice blue maxes. The work took 5 hours!!!!!. He said he had to remove all the covers and other parts to get to all the plugs (change my plugs too (Bosch platinums) With my discount O paid $300 not including the wire set. What is the deal!!! Can this be so. I work there and I doubt they are cheating me.ad

 

[vett boy]

A c-4 is tough but my 87 took me about an hour and a half.And i'm not good.

 

[c4cruiser]

Because the LT1's Optispark is at the front of the motor and below the waterpump, the wire routing is much different than the L98 motor.

The wires on the driver's side go under the A/C compressor and alternator and through a small bracket below the compressor. The PS pump and a belt idler pulley have to be relocated so you are looking at unbolting and moving 4 components on the drivers side. Don't know what he meant by "covers".

The wires on the passenger side are straight forward and cn be done in less than a half-hour. Getting the coil wire down to the Opti is sort of a pain but just takes perseverence.

If the wires you bought are larger than the stock wires, the wire looms would have to be modified to hold them in place. Although the stock wires are 8mm, the outer jacket is smaller in diameter than many of the aftermarket 8mm wires.

If the dealership is getting around $90+ an hour, that probably is not a bad deal.

 

[davec0_17]

Sounds like an expensive guess.

 

[GuyzVette]

I had plugs and wires done by a shop that I trust here, as my mechanic is a fellow SCCA member and has done all my work, and their time was 4 hours. So yes, IMHO, that's about right.

 

[pns0ccc]

It required about 5 hours for me to do the job myself. I would pay a shop $300.00 to perform this task for the aggravation and skin I lost. IMHO it was a good deal.

 

[Sunstroked]

I would have to agree with c4 cruiser. I changed out mine recently. Installed MSD wires, 8mm as well. I dont think it took me 5 hrs but close. The passenger side was fairly straight forward and went quickly, I changed plugs at the time also. But when I got to the drivers side, the pace slowed to a crawl as I was very careful to route them the same as the original. I also had to modify the wire looms using a carbide grinder. That way I kept the stock looms. A few weeks later I changed out the water pump and distributor cap and rotor. I had an engine miss at idle. My pump wasnt leaking so the distributor wasnt damaged but I changed it anyway. I did find 1 wire terminal on the cap that had carbon tracking to ground. That was the source of my engine miss fire. All in all I think it took me around the same time to change out those parts then it did for me to change the wires alone. Access was so much easier and you can see what you're doing with the alternator, air conditioning compressor and belt pulley tensioner out of the way.

 

[DC/NH]

The car is running great, very smooth and fast. I guess it really needed the wires.