L.S Swap labor cost?

[Z06ing]

First post wasn’t sure where to post this. I’m starting to fix up my 85 blazer my dad got me and my brother when I was 8 Y/O. Looking to do an LS swap and an uncle of mine has a guy who quoted $1200 for him to swap the 350 SBC to LS if I buy all the parts. Does $1200 in labor for this kind of swap sound fair?

 

[Desert_K5]

It sounds low to me. It's a pretty involved deal to do right.

 

[Chickntrk]

$1200 sounds like a hack job

 

[ZooMad75]

I’d ask to check out a sample of his work. That’s a low quote.

 

[1-ton]

Your asking for trouble expecting an average repair shop to do an LS swap. There are people that specialize is LS swaps, but they do not like taking on other peoples projects. There is a guy that has a YouTube channel in the Lake Havasu Arizona area called "Old School Merlin" that can install an LS engine into a lawn mower if he wanted too, but I am not sure if he wants to take on other peoples projects. He could possibly recommend someone if you got ahold of him.

 

[frankin5]

The current jeep he is converting belong to a customer.

 

[1-ton]

The current jeep he is converting belong to a customer.

Is that the guy that is his friend he go's wheeling with, and recently flopped his jeep over when they where wheeling?

 

[Cucv_M1008]

$1200 sounds like a hack job

Absolutely hack

 

[Cucv_M1008]

It's not hard to do it your self

 

[Hogback Fabrication]

I’d ask to check out a sample of his work. That’s a low quote.

This for sure.

But someone doing side work could definitely do it in a few days. It's pretty easy honestly, especially on an old truck like the GM squares.

 

[ZooMad75]

For me it would depend if a new stand alone harness is being used or making a stock harness work.

Taking a stock LS harness and pruning out the crap you don’t need is time consuming work and it’s easy to butcher and make your life hell later. Not saying it can’t be done, but that’s where a good amount of labor is spent.

Bolting in the engine is the east part. It’s making the wiring work that is the difficult part.

If you are going to use a new stand alone harness and have a ecm ready to go it would greatly simplify the wiring down to a handful of connections.

What is the guy asking for parts to provide besides the engine and mounts? Does he want a harness too?

 

[Z06ing]

Yes my uncles guy quoted that price with everything ready he said. I’m assuming that means everything down to the harness, ecm, bolts. I looked up the guys shop and it has 4.6 stars on google reviews. Pictures look like he does a lot of old school dragsters / funny cars. I’m thinking him being a friend is another factor for the low quote.