It's running

[Julio]

IT is a great day, today I finished the El-doe-rido. 1/2 case and head gaskets, front & rear seal, with 20 time serts.

Left 2 hose clamps loose at start up found them quick. It started up on the third try. The first 2 stalled then it came right up, and quiet too.

Thanks to all that help me from the leaking bolt hole to the timing set up.

I found where the bracket and mount went that some one told me to put in the garbage. It was the even side to tranny bracket.

I'm gonna hook up the Air bag on the driver side and put the fuse back in when it cools. Hope that turns out the service light.

Hey once again thanks

[adallak]

Good job Julio! Enjoy your Eldo (looks great BTW).

[wontgoslo]

congratulations julio,glad to hear your job is complete!the eldo's northstar looks factory.great color too,i almost bought just like it.till i saw my black 96 sts.i drove them both ,was a very hard choice.love the northstar

[Julio]

thanx radio & cd kicks *smurf* too!

[Scotty]

Great job, I am impressed, really impressed. I would love to see a brief summary of the job, once you relax. I would like to know, things like, how you got the engine out, did you use an engine stand, how did you support the tranny if you took the engine out from the top, if you took the engine out from the bottom how did you get the car high enough? Maybe you have a lift? It looks like a daunting task!

My only experience of this is when I visit my local Cadillac parts department. Right next to the parts department is a shop where they do "major" work, meaning dropping engine carriages. Everytime I go there they have 1 or 2 Caddies with their engine carriages out and engines ripped apart. I stand there with my mouth open stunned and ask questions. The techs usually don't say flattering things about the engine and thats scary. I wish they were trained NOT to make un-flattering statements to customers! The job looks huge. Great Job see if its possible to summarize it, Mike

[shiden_kai]

  The techs usually don't say flattering things about the engine and thats scary.  I wish they were trained NOT to make un-flattering statements to customers!    The job looks huge.  Great Job see if its possible to summarize it, Mike

There is a good reason that tech's don't have good things to say about the Northstar. Most mechanics in dealerships work under the flat rate system. Once you understand how that works, the last thing that you want to be working on is the Northstar engine. In our dealership, I happen to be the only tech who can make better then straight time when working on these engines. This is under

warranty times which are considerably less then "customer pay" times.

Even I, who can make money working on the Northstar engine, would rather not work on it. Here's why: I just did a re-ring on a 1999 Seville. It pays 18.3 hrs to do this job. I did it in 14.5 hrs...so I made 4 hrs on 18 hrs. But if I replace intake manifold gaskets on 3100 v-6 engines, I can make 3 hrs on 4.8 hrs. And it's a lot less wear and tear on the body.

GM wants people to think the Northstar is great engine? Might help if they started paying proper times so that we can do the job right while maintaining our paycheck. As soon as you start cutting into the paycheck, techs begin to resent this, and soon will do almost anything to avoid these types of jobs.

Ian

[Ranger]

But if I replace intake manifold gaskets on 3100 v-6 engines, I can make 3 hrs on 4.8 hrs.

Ian

That means you are doing it in under two hours!? I'm about to start one this week. I'm hoping to be done in under two days!

[Scotty]

  The techs usually don't say flattering things about the engine and thats scary.  I wish they were trained NOT to make un-flattering statements to customers!      The job looks huge.  Great Job see if its possible to summarize it, Mike

There is a good reason that tech's don't have good things to say about the Northstar. Most mechanics in dealerships work under the flat rate system. Once you understand how that works, the last thing that you want to be working on is the Northstar engine. In our dealership, I happen to be the only tech who can make better then straight time when working on these engines. This is under

warranty times which are considerably less then "customer pay" times.

Even I, who can make money working on the Northstar engine, would rather not work on it. Here's why: I just did a re-ring on a 1999 Seville. It pays 18.3 hrs to do this job. I did it in 14.5 hrs...so I made 4 hrs on 18 hrs. But if I replace intake manifold gaskets on 3100 v-6 engines, I can make 3 hrs on 4.8 hrs. And it's a lot less wear and tear on the body.

GM wants people to think the Northstar is great engine? Might help if they started paying proper times so that we can do the job right while maintaining our paycheck. As soon as you start cutting into the paycheck, techs begin to resent this, and soon will do almost anything to avoid these types of jobs.

Ian

Thanks for the insight, now I know why these guys act and look miserable, and tend to speak badly of the NS.... Mike

[Barry94]

Great job. Having done my engine, I know you have a spent lot of hours getting it running again.

Barry

[JasonA]

GM wants people to think the Northstar is great engine? Might help if they started paying proper times so that we can do the job right while maintaining our paycheck.

I hate to take this topic on a tangent, but it sounds like the technicians' gripe isn't or shouldn't be with the engine at all -- but with the GM rate system. If the same competent mechanic can make 50% on a 3100 V-6, but barely break even on a Northstar, it sounds like he's not getting allotted enough time to do the Northstar job (as you stated).

Do technicans have a recourse with GM...do they have a forum to raise issues? Like, "hey, it takes anyone here at least 20 hours to re-ring a Northstar; we need more time so we don't screw something up and piss a customer off." Is there anything like that in the world of GM Goodwrench? Who assigns a time budget to a particular job? Factory engineers?

Just a few questions from someone on the outside looking in.

[timokon@yahoo.com]

Yet another Floridian. Good luck with the Eldo, brother

Tim

[KHE]

Even I, who can make money working on the Northstar engine, would rather not work on it. Here's why: I just did a re-ring on a 1999 Seville. It pays 18.3 hrs to do this job. I did it in 14.5 hrs...so I made 4 hrs on 18 hrs. But if I replace intake manifold gaskets on 3100 v-6 engines, I can make 3 hrs on 4.8 hrs. And it's a lot less wear and tear on the body.

GM wants people to think the Northstar is great engine? Might help if they started paying proper times so that we can do the job right while maintaining our paycheck. As soon as you start cutting into the paycheck, techs begin to resent this, and soon will do almost anything to avoid these types of jobs.

Ian

Ian,

What would you consider a proper time for the re-ring job? Sounds like the time study is fairly close on the NS and way off on the Buick intake job. I do see your point though - If I were a tech, I would much rather do the Buick intakes vs. the Northstar re-ring job.

When the piece-rate system was used in manufacturing, industrial engineers would have to conduct time studies on the new jobs to determine the rate of pay for the assembler/machine operator. There were a lot of factors to take into consideration in order to come up with a fair "rate".

[pabickwermert]

  The techs usually don't say flattering things about the engine and thats scary.  I wish they were trained NOT to make un-flattering statements to customers!    The job looks huge.  Great Job see if its possible to summarize it, Mike

There is a good reason that tech's don't have good things to say about the Northstar. Most mechanics in dealerships work under the flat rate system. Once you understand how that works, the last thing that you want to be working on is the Northstar engine. In our dealership, I happen to be the only tech who can make better then straight time when working on these engines. This is under

warranty times which are considerably less then "customer pay" times.

Even I, who can make money working on the Northstar engine, would rather not work on it. Here's why: I just did a re-ring on a 1999 Seville. It pays 18.3 hrs to do this job. I did it in 14.5 hrs...so I made 4 hrs on 18 hrs. But if I replace intake manifold gaskets on 3100 v-6 engines, I can make 3 hrs on 4.8 hrs. And it's a lot less wear and tear on the body.

GM wants people to think the Northstar is great engine? Might help if they started paying proper times so that we can do the job right while maintaining our paycheck. As soon as you start cutting into the paycheck, techs begin to resent this, and soon will do almost anything to avoid these types of jobs.

Ian

I thought you got paid by the hour so you was paid 18 hours at your hourly rate, it only took you 14.5 hours but you still charged the customer for 18 hours at your hourly rate.

Oh yea, you work on a hourly basis, and then steal from your clients when it takes less time than allotted. Lets see, 65 an hour for 14.5 hours 942.50 earned, and 4 hours times 65 an hour is 260 dollars stolen from the customer. After you add tax and the price for parts, it is amazing you are not taken to court.

I know every mechanic wants and needs to make a living, but that is what the hourly wage is for. Why steal and cheat?

[Ranger]

The techs usually don't say flattering things about the engine and thats scary. I wish they were trained NOT to make un-flattering statements to customers! The job looks huge. Great Job see if its possible to summarize it, Mike

There is a good reason that tech's don't have good things to say about the Northstar. Most mechanics in dealerships work under the flat rate system. Once you understand how that works, the last thing that you want to be working on is the Northstar engine. In our dealership, I happen to be the only tech who can make better then straight time when working on these engines. This is under

warranty times which are considerably less then "customer pay" times.

Even I, who can make money working on the Northstar engine, would rather not work on it. Here's why: I just did a re-ring on a 1999 Seville. It pays 18.3 hrs to do this job. I did it in 14.5 hrs...so I made 4 hrs on 18 hrs. But if I replace intake manifold gaskets on 3100 v-6 engines, I can make 3 hrs on 4.8 hrs. And it's a lot less wear and tear on the body.

GM wants people to think the Northstar is great engine? Might help if they started paying proper times so that we can do the job right while maintaining our paycheck. As soon as you start cutting into the paycheck, techs begin to resent this, and soon will do almost anything to avoid these types of jobs.

Ian

I thought you got paid by the hour so you was paid 18 hours at your hourly rate, it only took you 14.5 hours but you still charged the customer for 18 hours at your hourly rate.

Oh yea, you work on a hourly basis, and then steal from your clients when it takes less time than allotted. Lets see, 65 an hour for 14.5 hours 942.50 earned, and 4 hours times 65 an hour is 260 dollars stolen from the customer. After you add tax and the price for parts, it is amazing you are not taken to court.

I know every mechanic wants and needs to make a living, but that is what the hourly wage is for. Why steal and cheat?

This post is almost 5 yrs old!

It's not stealing or cheating. That is just the way it is done at a dealership. That's how mechanics make money. You pay the book rate for the repair. If he can do it in less time and move on to another job, he's money ahead. IF on the other hand, it takes him longer than book time, he looses money on the job. I don't believe he gets paid for come backs either.

[winterset]

But, IN GENERAL, it COULD be the mechanic taking short cuts to get those hours in. - drilling free hand vs. using some other time consuming method that will work better long term, not cleaning out the holes after drilling etc. all these little things help the mechanic, but any single one can lead to failure - typically after the warranty is up. And a good mechanic knows where to take shortcuts, so they will not have to see this car again, on their dime. Again, I'm not pointing fingers, just saying it's human nature. 5 years later this country has bigger fish to fry - although both issues have a common thread, and similiar consequences - FAILURE.