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Fair price for carb work?

  • Thread starter Thread starter qslim
  • Start date Start date
Q

qslim

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A local cycle shop here near D.C. with a good reputation quoted $400 for lining the tank (TONS of rust), cleaning & overhauling the carbs, and tuning & matching with a 4 gas analyzer on a dyno. Don't know much about what work like this normally runs, so I'm wondering what you all think.
 
I paid about $375 at Myers Cycle engineering in Kensington, Maryland. That sounds about right to do the tank and overhaul the carbs. Especially since most shops will not work on our bikes... What shop is it? As long as it isn't Iron Works Cycle you should be fine.
 
I should add that it was my 1993 Suzuki VX800 (the slides were stuck and there was rust in the bowls) that they did and that was roughly one year ago.
 
Its a place called Fairfax Cycles in Fairfax, Va. Never had anything done there myself, but the owner had a rep for not being afraid to work on anything, including Ducatis, old BMWs and BSAs. My boss is into BSA for some reason, and he has had this guy do a lot of work for him over the years. Anyway, I dropped it off on monday and I should be picking it up tomorrow or Monday.
 
That is fair, without question. I'd pay big just for the tank lining- that job sucks. That is worth $100 easy.

The shops around here want $100 just to get it on the Dyno. Any tuning is a min of $65/Hr.

Takes me a good 3 hrs. to clean my carbs, between taking them off, disassembly, etc. and I know them by heart. Figure $200 right there.
 
I was quoted 265.00 to line a tank if I brought it it

and Oh Yeah, 30 more for the Kreme kit.
 
Re: Fair price for carb work?

qslim said:
A local cycle shop here near D.C. with a good reputation quoted $400 for lining the tank (TONS of rust), cleaning & overhauling the carbs, and tuning & matching with a 4 gas analyzer on a dyno. Don't know much about what work like this normally runs, so I'm wondering what you all think.
Click to expand...

I work for a dealer, and we would charge 5 hours to completely R&R a set of rack mounted in-line 4 carbs. I am a amateur bike mechanic, and it takes me about 8 hours (If everything goes smoothly). You can save yourself some cash if you just bring in the carbs off the bike, then we charge 3 hours of labor @ $70USD/hr. Trust me it's a big job. (We tell customers this right up front, that if the carbs are rusted/skanked REAL bad inside, the price can escallate.
Rich
 
Yeah, I figured it was at least a fair deal, what with the dyno time and all. The only drawback to this place is that it takes a week or so just to drop it off and then at least a week in the shop. I was over there last week and there must have been 50 bikes lined up in his lot and shop. But I guess the wait is worth not having a crap job done to your machine.
 
Is anyone aware of a similarly reputable shop in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area? My GS850 hasn't yet worked right, and my amateur ass is going to take all winter to get it up and running, and I need it now.

Randy...
 
That price quote sounds pretty fair to me as well. I actually began the process of lining my own tank last night. I bought the POR-15? heavy duty seal kit for $32.50 http://www.por15.com/product.asp?productid=306 which included several additional items. It normally comes with a 1 qt bottle of "Marine-Clean" which is their first step degreaser/cleaner, then the second step is another 1 qt bottle "Metal-Ready" of rust converter (phosphoric acid) and finally a tiny 1 pint can of "US Standard Tank Sealer" sloshing sealer. This kit is designed to handle a tank of 8 gallons or less. The heavy duty kit additionally includes a 1 qt "Por-Strip" paint stripper (methylene chloride) to soften and remove a previous sealer coat if it was done badly or has let go. I spent about 3 hours removing a badly fouled up previous coat of sealer by sloshing the stripper (1/4th bottle each time) and rinsing with scalding hot water each time. I finished last night by flushing the tank twice with the Marine-Clean degreaser to remove as much paint stripper residue as possible, again rinsed with hot water and drained. I shop-vac'd the tank to remove as much water as possible and left it overnight with a pair of 500 watt shop lights almost resting against the skin of the tank to bake it dry (It's critical to dry out any moisture as even a few hours of water inside will begin the rusting process all over again). I started again this morning by pouring in the bottle of rust converter (phosphoric acid) and sloshed the stuff around and set the tank in a different position every 30 minutes. Finally rinsed it out this late this afternoon and drained it again. Parked it up against the shop lights again when I called it a day. I did peek inside a few times while it was beginning to bake dry, and noted that all the inside surfaces had turned a flat/satin black color from the acid conversion process. As it began to dry out, it all turned an ash charcoal color. I should be ready in the morning to pour in the sealer and slosh it all around. The I'll pour the excess out and allow it to dry for 5 days before pouring in fuel.

After the time and effort I've expended so far... I'd almost be willing to force a few bills into someone else's pocket to do this for me next time around. (Or maybe advertise that I'm available for tank treatments and see if I can recoup the investment in cash and education :)

Seriously...It does sound like a huge amount of work, but from what I've seen of this particular treatment, I think I'll be happy with it for a long time.
 
Qslim,
Could you please post the number for that shop? I think my old bike is headed there for the same thing you had done.
 
I envy you Dave, and everyone else who obviously has a good home shop under their control.

Last year my garage was my domain....

Now that I've moved out I am stuck with all of the tools and chemicals I could carry, and another human being in a room the size of a chicken coop and no indoor working space :(
 
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