I'm just curious if these prices are similar to every other high end Mustang shop, or if I should go elsewhere. I obviously want the job done right the first time, but these prices seem outrageous to me.

Long Tube Headers with shorty h-pipe.
4.10 Gears
Camshafts with phase limiters.

$2350 for total install. It's an 18 hour job at $115 per hour.

I was hoping around $1250, I almost fell out of my chair when I saw they were charging me twice that.

 

dude you are getting three very high labor items installed on your car at one time, its gonna be a hell of a lot more than 1250 i can guarantee you that.

most shops will charge you around 500$ for longtube install (some more, some less just depends on the shop), and around 500$ for gear install (again, some more and some less depends on the shop) assuming you have all parts, gaskets, fluids, etc... and they are performing only labor. camshaft install i havent ever needed a quote for but i would not be surprised anywhere in the 500-1500$ range depending on what kind of work they had to do and wheather or not they pulled the heads to install them.


your best bet, is to shop around and find one shop to install your gears. then shop around and find someone to install your headers. a forum member or hell someone on craigslist may do it for a couple hundred bucks or some mom and pop car shop. just make sure you check em out and know that they know what they are doing.

 

Yes I understand the labor cost more than the actual part on these. Around $500 for 3 parts doesn't equal to $2400. $1500 is fair enough. I'm not asking them to put my car on a dyno and tune it either, because than maybe I can justify the costs. But $2400 still needs like a ridiculous amount.

My next question is, where in/around Jersey is a trusted shop?

 

well like i said, the cost of hte cam install is questionable on how much they are going to charge. to do a PROPER cam install job they really should pull the heads and make sure everything is up to snuff. 2400 does seem a little high, but 1200 is a little low as well as well. ask them for a breakdown on how much they are charging for each of the installs and ask them if they are pulling the heads to do the cams or leaving them on.

and are you not getting your car dyno tuned? or are you having another shop do it? you really have to have a dyno tune with the cams...unless you went the mail order route (which is a questionable way to go).

 

Yeah I had already asked them for a breakdown of the install for each.

Yes, I'm doing the mail order tune. Why is that questionable? I understand I won't be getting every last horsepower out of it, but so long it won't detonate I'm sure I would be happy regardless.

What would the reason for pulling the heads be? The car has under 10k miles, I would assume, and hope everything is up to snuff. If removing the heads would mean more money, I don't think it would justify the cost at this point.

You seem to be concerned about the cams. I'm concerned about the gears. I don't know anyone that has limited mechanical ability doing a gear swap, but I've heard of several people with little mechanical skill install cams on s197s.