1994 Chev Camaro - LT1 Option Plug Wires

[onetonf350]

What a pain in the BUTT. ANY advise out there would be appreciated. HELP with what needs to be removed esp on passenger side and routing. Going to use NAPA high mileage wires. Is that OK?

thanks Chris

[steven kiser]

in some situations the secret is that there is none. can the inner fenders come off? I'm pretty sure they can. that's where I'd start. another tip is not to do them one at a time. hope you're replacing plugs as well. these water pumps have a habit of weeping coolant into cap. his vehicle may become a two day project. oh ya, as far as after market parts go ARE YOU NUTS on this car i'de only use oem. the lengths are exact. on occasion that's a biggie...............

[VCAC239]

On this particular vehicle you'll have your hands full with out a doubt. I've done several but it's been some time. I think the air pump was the biggest thing in the way. As with Steve, USE OEM ONLY!!!! If your going to do it I'd be going soup-to-nuts meaning wires, plugs, cap & rotor. You need to look close a the water pump as well like steve also said. Take your time & do it right once.

Jeremy
Maine

[Tim Martin]

I posalutely would not use aftermarket wires on this one. Been there done that. The job is simply too much to fool around with inferior wires. And shortcuts on this job??????? Afraid there aint none.

[onetonf350]

You are all correct. First of all...There must not be any easy way. We spent a long time on this (5+HOURS). Also... Yes OEM wires. Looking back, I used Napa premium wires (supplied by customer) and any way you route them they were 1/2" too short. What a feekin pain. The customer had said he had just replaced the plugs last week but now wanted the wires replaced as well. Knowing that he was an accomlished guitar player, I questioned how it went for him because I knew these were not easy plugs to replace and he did not seem like the kind to do his own work. he said him and his buddy did it and it wasnt to bad but they didnt want to do the wires. Never asked me to quote a price so I assumed he knew it was a son-of-a b. My "A" tech did the switch and took three hours, started the engine with a worse missfire than it came in with. (plug wires routed wrong). Great!!! I called customer, said it was going OK but needed it overnight to route wires perfectly. REDO that but cant stretch two wires another 1/2". No matter what we're making this work! I modify some bracket and build another small bracket to keep new wires from rubbing against serp. belt pulley, and paint it black took another 1.5 hours. Car runs good now. Test drive make sure all is great (this is a very nice green convertable and a good customer). Clean car and prep for delivery another 45 min.
Long story short... I had a bill for him for $300.00 and he was extreemely dissapointed that i charged so much. I told him "yeah $300.00 was a "deal" only because I'd never done one maybe it took a little longer". He said his buddy could have done it for way less but didnt have the time. I called his "buddy" later and found out he's familliar with these and it shouldnt have taken more than two hours at the most. BS!!!
Lesson learned. Always Quote your jobs first even if you know your customer and dont underestimate your ability. There is no way that could have been done in two hours by these two guitar players in between gigs. They just misdiagnosed the problem in the first place and didnt want to finish the job because they new what a pain it was going to be. WHEN WILL I LEARN?

[steven kiser]

i have to say that the customers friend is correct. personally i know of hundreds of people that can do things faster than i do. i spoke with someone that has a friend who's daughters boyfriends second cousin who works at a burger joint that can do this job in about 45 minutes. your customers friend is familiar with these cars? bull feathers he is. a 94 that a customer supplied wires weren't long enough so you had to redo, the job pay's 3.4 hours stand alone. i would have charged 3.4 to install his wires then 3.4 to install the correct ones. come on, LT1 wires after market off shelf a direct fit........ i think that maybe you did make a mistake in not quoting a price first, another is that you didn't include the installation of the incorrect wires. my accountant has a 90 vette ZR1. when he brings it in for service and wants to know about how much i'll always answer "more than you want to pay but less than i think it's worth". you gave this guy a deal. i would have charged 5 hours this includes the cost of installing the incorrect set. then again judging this guy by what you have said he probably feels that you should pay him for the honor of working on this car. specialty cars or trucks, plow trucks, sanders, over used construction vehicles that are over loaded or just a mess calls for special pricing. i've become accustomed to quoting high on these situations and still get the "am i correct in what i'm doing" feeling. i guess we'll always get tagged on occasion with these situations but i strongly suggest a policy be instituted that on all specialty vehicles the flat rate time doesn't apply. these cars or trucks take more of a specialized service. i use "real time" labor guide in situations like this as a guide. nothing is etched in stone. i'll quote a minimum labor figure and make sure it's in my favor. that guy got a deal and possibly because of his mouthy friend you have at best aggravated a customer relationship. enough.............i'm on a ramble.

[ricmorin]

Absolutely no one gets work done without knowing the cost up front. NO ONE! Perhaps if you had quoted it, the 'consumer' would have had his buddy do it and then they both would've realized what the job was worth. You don't sell time, you sell service. It's 'worth' 3+ no matter how long it took you. Period.

[steven kiser]

not to be misunderstood here, i don't want to give the impression that i "just do it" or "whatever it costs just do it" no, no, no, no one gets any work done without quote and a detailed communication record. i've had customers leave notes and tell me just to fix whatever. 99% of the time when i track them down and give them an estimate they say "i said do whatever". 1% i get are you kidding me? these are the ones that we need to protect ourselves from......

[crmeyers]

Wow! Sounds like a big lesson learned...better luck next time.

[ricmorin]

No kidding, huh? We've all been there one way or another. The good news is that by sharing this info, we can make it less painful.

[steven kiser]

ahhhhh, sharing war stories. always looking for someone worse off in a certain situation to make us feel better about our particular blunder. after i do this it's always the last time, until i do it again.....................