If you start to think , as a tech,
well if the dealership gets $120 an hour and they only pay me as a tech,
$25 an hour, be aware running a business is also a real ,bag of crap, in most cases,
,you can,t imagine the government mandated licensing, business permits,
taxes,record keeping requirements,
the IRS,OHSA,AND EPA, local building and zoning,FICA,
insurance issues that running a shop mandates.
And dealing with the public at large if you have your own shop is also a huge P.I.T.A. most of the time,
partly because
a significant percentage of the customer base has insane expectations,
and most have zero idea what is actually required to do repairs
and honestly thinks that damn near everything should be covered under a factory warranty,
and partly because they have zero knowledge about what takes place during a diagnoses or repair!
most people now do not work at jobs where they are forced to both work with their hands and logically diagnose both,
mechanical and electrical systems, and at the same time, maintain the tools, skills,
and parts inventory required to repair or replace defective components and sub-systems.
The majority of customers Ive dealt with, can,t begin imaging how time consuming,
it is and the amount of precision tooling it requires to for example just correctly assemble an engine.
many have the attitude that , frankly leaves me shaking my head, wondering if theres ANY working brain cells in some peoples heads
statements like.....
"if I wanted it fixed by tomorrow ,I'd have called you TOMORROW!"
Or
"If you have almost 50 years experience do,ing these repairs,
I find it hard to understand why you can,t tell me exactly whats wrong,
and how much it will cost, and how long it will take, to repair my car with out,
you expecting ME to drive it over there for YOU to look at!
Or
" I think I can order the parts cheaper on line,
and you certainly don,t need the O.E.M. parts,
to repair that, so why does a simple repair like replacing a clutch take all day?"
OR
"yes I understand the manufacturer has been out of business for 15 years, what does that have to do with my life time replacement warranty?"
OR
"yeah, I had the shop pull it all down and inspect it, but their repair estimates absurdly high!
can,t you just ask them to pack it all up and drop it off over at your shop so you can give me a more reasonable estimate?"
OR
" can,t you just PATCH IT UP TEMPORARILY so I can get to work, while the parts are on order,after all,
its got 8 connecting rods, and only ones got a spun bearing"
OR
"why should I need to pay what that machine-shop charged YOU , to get the parts to fit correctly, they should bolt on as they were out of the box!
,that cost should be included in the labor charges and YOU didn,t do any of that personally"
OR
"yes I understand that buying and installing a crate engines going to be cheaper,and faster than re-building , that 454 chevy engine that threw a rod out through the oil pan,
but if they can sell an engine too you for X dollars, why can,t you buy and assemble that list of performance parts, to build a 454 that makes twice the power,that, we discussed for a similar price"
Ive built over 150 plus engines and while that might seem like a huge total , keep in mind thats over a time span of nearly 47 years and for about 15 years I was doing it as a semi business to make a bit of extra cash and both help some of the local guys, reduce their costs and improve my skills and buy my tools and get both those guys and myself help on my and their, projects and qualify for discounts on supplies and build the contacts in the local machine shops to reduce both my costs and get the guys I helped reduce their costs,and while ding so I was knocking out 8-12 engines a year,during that time frame,as I got older I cut back on the number of engines but constantly try to improve the quality even further!
I built a good reputation, based on building many durable high quality muscle car engines, that produce good power and have built mostly big block Chevy,396-555 engines, Chrysler 383 -440, and Pontiac 350-455 based engines with a few dozen 283-406 SBC, BUICK, CADDY 472-500, ETC. along the way.
if you divide the 150 plus engines over that 47 years you'll see a average of maybe 3-4 engines a year, which hardly qualifies as a serious business,Its been rewarding in that I'm forced to keep up with constantly evolving tech improvements and the necessity to learn the skills required,I may not be truly a full time pro engine builder, as I don,t depend on the profits from the builds to pay my bills every month, but it does count as extensive experience!
The way Ive always done engine builds has NEVER MADE ME ANY REAL PROFIT!
I generally charge local guys, I deal with about $15 an hour, and thats rarely even close to what any reputable machinist would charge , and they will be there helping and watching during the process, thats understood or I don,t get involved. plus they will buy all the meals and shop supplies we use, and we will be driving to the local machine shop as required, when I can,t perform some modification with the shop tools I own,(and yes theres always a few things I can,t do yet as I have not yet purchased some of the larger machine tooling, boring and line honing, block decking and a few other operations are farmed out due to lack of proper shop tooling)
I get a great deal of satisfaction, out of seeing engines I build produce very good power and last for years without breaking, but to do the work correctly takes far more time and effort than most guys can imagine.
I want the people involved to have a full understanding of the process, the time and effort required , and to understand I,m not doing this to make money,
but as what might best be described as an obsession with doing things correctly, and having pride in the results of my skills, and trying to pass on those skills and hard won knowledge.
I realized very early , that 99% of the people I help and deal with are totally clueless, as to the skills required and what components work the best, etc. so I,m forced to take the process a step at a time and have them be totally involved, explaining at each step what needs to be done, why it needs to be done and how its done, and have them pay for the supplies or parts and when required take parts to a machine shop with detailed instructions on what needs to be done, how long it will take and have them pay for the related cost and do the actual parts transport.
IT will generally take most guys far longer,
3-4 weeks, on average, and the costs will be higher , because the machine work and parts used will be correctly clearanced and we won,t be looking at getting the least expensive parts , but rather the best parts we can afford,and having them correctly fitted, and we won,t even start until after a well discussed parts list, and machine work costs and time required is agreed on,and they have the time to be doing the build cleared on their schedule.
and the parts ordered, delivered and inspected and the list of parts is on hand and complete before we start, as I don,t want too spend weeks or months waiting on parts ,and I only want to deal with machine shops I trust and have experience dealing with that I know do quality work.
(vs the day or two most guys seem to think it takes to build an engine,)
and the total costs will be significantly higher than they might originally have expected,)
but in the end almost everyone has zero complaints,
in fact I have had a long list of repeat customers,
wanting to do their next engine build, who jump at the chance to do so, when the opportunity, and their bank balance allow it.
engine building done correctly may be an impressive skill , but its not going to be profitable.
for the few guys that care to really learn anything about the finer details of engine building, done correctly I went through most of the info in this thread and its sub links
http://garage.grumpysperformance.com/index.php?threads/tbucket-engine-project-dart-shp.3814/
your obviously free to register and post questions if you think I skipped over and missed and details you have questions on, after you read through the thread and sub links. but keep in mind I generally build higher end muscle car style engines and a few racing engines with durability being the prime goal, given a choice,unlike many builders, I'll gladly sacrifice that last peak 15 hp to gain an addition 10-20K miles of extra operational life expectancy in an instant