head gasket went out on '93 firebird

my head gaskets went out my 93 pontiac firebird....formula v-8....they said it would cost me about $892.50 to get it fixed and of course i would have to buy the head gasket kit....do you think that's a reasonable price to pay to get the gaskets fixed?

i really love the car and don't want to give it up so i'm debating weather or not i should invest more money into the car.... or if i should just let my baby go and buy something new......what do you all think? the body is great and the love the way it drives!!! my only problem is the head gaskets.

Reply to
figueroa
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That sounds like a good price; if you want it for cheaper, get a low comprehensive deductible on your insurance, and make a claim for it; I've got mine at $250 if anything ever goes wrong with my car. And make sure you get that quoted price in writing. As far as gaskets go, if you can swing it, get some MLS(Multi-layered steel) gaskets, they will last you forever, and you can even get ones that are thinner than factory(>

.04") to bump your compression ratio up just a hair, possibly gaining you like 1-2 hp.

The Freak

Reply to
FBodyFreak

Would it be too difficult to do it yourself ? What you got to loose if you are thinking about giving up the car !

Ive never done one on a V8 but I guess a head is a head ?

I am interested to know - as I think I will be doing my 73 350 soon !

As for the price you have been quoted - it sounds about right for a 'good' mechanic to do it.

Reply to
tricky

I agree that the price is about right. A lot of stuff to remove to get the heads off.

tricky-

Good luck with the heads on your 350. Those babies are heavy! I pulled and rebuilt the 455 in my '74 TA last year. I set the 4X heads aside and put on a set of 6X #4 heads from a '78 400 to bring the compression up. Also put in a Comp cam. Boy does that baby run now! Why not pull your engine and freshen it up if you are pulling the heads anyway. Not too much more work to do that anyway. HD

Reply to
HoDad

Yeah, it would be a good idea to do a cam too, but that's a LOT of extra work; if you leave the engine in, you have to pull off the front clip; if you pull the engine out, that's also a ton of work. If you have the money and time, and know how to pull a cam and all that, then go for it. You might as well swap it for the LT4 hot cam conversion, I think you can get the cam, rockers, valve springs, retainers, and all that for about $400 something; so if you do that and the gaskets yourself, you actually SAVE about $300. I say GO FOR IT! Make sure to check out shbox.com , it's like the bible for 4th gen F body's. And if you need help along the way, we'll all be here.

The Freak

Reply to
FBodyFreak

I thought with the LT1's you could still get a cam in by pulling the rad & lifting the Air Con 'radiator' same as my '78 Camaro.

Reply to
Terminal Crazy

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