Hey all,
I dont post much but have been around for years. I have a guy who needs a really custom set of headers built for a 69 Camaro, with a twin turbo LS1 motor in it. He has sent me some pictures of something similar that he wants done.
On jobs like these, do you charge by the hour, or try to give a set price on the job? He will be supplying all of the 304SS.
Any and all help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Heres pictures of something similar:




Thanks in advance!
Kyle Curley

 

i'd charge somewhere in the neighborhood of $2000

 

for just labor or parts included?

 

Same here; ~$2k plus materials. I just did a 5 cylinder header that was just about bang on $1000 in labour, so it seems like a good starting point.

 

all stainless
made from u bends not the BS weld ells
cost of the stainless flanges
cost of the stainless collectors Those aren't pee shooter size parts
the stainless v band parts


CUSTOM one off set

I'd be willing to say those in the pic cost somewhere around 6500++
no offense but even though I enjoy this site and there are several talented people on here it is the wrong place to ask
weld ell versus ubend is a big difference

 

I did a pair of similar viper manifolds for about $1500 labor as a side job. It was all U bend tubes from burns with burns collectors. That stuff goes together pretty fast since it cuts easy and you only weld one pass...Where I work now, that same job or your project would probably be $2500+ on just labor.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by KFMRC &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">all stainless
made from u bends not the BS weld ells
cost of the stainless flanges
cost of the stainless collectors Those aren't pee shooter size parts
the stainless v band parts


CUSTOM one off set

I'd be willing to say those in the pic cost somewhere around 6500++
no offense but even though I enjoy this site and there are several talented people on here it is the wrong place to ask
weld ell versus ubend is a big difference

</TD></TR></TABLE>

This is exactly what I was thinking. Making an exhaust manifold using tubing vs. piping is not in the same ball park. I would agree that a set of exhaust manifolds using tubing would be in the 5-6K range. Parts and labor.
It took me several years to learn that unless you are going to make money on a fabrication job its not worth doing it. I used to do stuff for people because I just really enjoyed fabbing cool ****. I didnt really care if I was making alot of money at it. Boy did my attitude change once I started paying for my shop rent,insurance, mortgage ETC. LOL

 

I would guess around $5500 parts and labour, and I would charge hourly.

 

1500 a side

 

We have a similar build at the shop and it was $3600 total.

 

I would guess at least 3k if you need to position the turbos. Talk him into maybe positioning them himself, with sturdy "fixtures" for you to build from, and that will save from putting them "too close to..." stuff.

 

i did a set of headers for falken tires a few months ago. the space was so tight i spent half the time putting them on, taking them off etc. also you have to think about how much prep and weld time you will have. will it be back purged? you have to factor in the extra gas you will use. they were on a tight schedule too, so i had to finish both headers in one weekend. i basically went up to the place the car was on friday morning and got home 11pm sunday night with about 5 hours sleep in between. i charged 3500 not including materials.

 

Bad *** !!

 

Im going with about 15 hours per side @ $100 an hr works out to be $3000 in labor and then parts.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by KFMRC &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">all stainless
made from u bends not the BS weld ells
cost of the stainless flanges
cost of the stainless collectors Those aren't pee shooter size parts
the stainless v band parts


CUSTOM one off set

I'd be willing to say those in the pic cost somewhere around 6500++
no offense but even though I enjoy this site and there are several talented people on here it is the wrong place to ask
weld ell versus ubend is a big difference

</TD></TR></TABLE>

Very well put.

 

8ga tubing going to be used?

 

most likely 16ga. [freak] 8ga

 

based on my previous exp. id say 2500-3000 is fair

 

didnt think that 16ga would stand the heat.

 

those are nelson manifolds. They cost a grip, if i remember like $5000? i couldnt find a price on theyre website. They are 321ss

 

Oh man....way to ruin a perfectly good 2nd gen IS.

I admire your work. I don't admire the purpose as I don't care for the drift fad.





Fast cars are for straights.
Fast guys are for turns.
The ones who can't do either drift out trying.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by blueoval557 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hey all,
I dont post much but have been around for years. I have a guy who needs a really custom set of headers built for a 69 Camaro, with a twin turbo LS1 motor in it. He has sent me some pictures of something similar that he wants done.
On jobs like these, do you charge by the hour, or try to give a set price on the job? He will be supplying all of the 304SS.
Any and all help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!
Thanks in advance!
Kyle Curley</TD></TR></TABLE>

Charge by the hour and give him a ballpark number of how long you thinik it is going to take...

You dont want to charge him to little and then undercut yourself... On anythign Custom at my shop we just charge by the Hour...

 

sometimes its hard to charge by the hour. I've found that customers respond better to a flat rate than an hourly rate. you might have to underbid a few times until you get a real good idea of how long it takes you to make something like this. bidding fabrication is the hardest part of the business for me at least, I can guarantee that I have never made more than my regular hourly rate on a flat rate quoted fab job. one thing that does help me is having a minimum rate, like lets say a custome header has a minimum cost of 1200 bucks. that way a customer sees the 1500 dollar one you made him and says yeah that's at least 300 bucks better than a regular one haha. idk, other factors in quoting a job like this is what kind of turnaround time they need, like do you have to drop all the other work your doing to do these headers... also will you have the car? and if you do, do you have to remove old headers or bolt/unbolt brackets and such to do the work you need to do. I also tend to charge more if the cars are really dirty under the hood, because I will clean it up before I start working on it.

 

Colletors alone would be all most a grand , flange tubes and the big one labor shop time .