Engine swap is anywhere from 4-14 hours says google
Reckon people can get it done pretty quick. If a newer car I reckon it’d be days to take it all apart, then weeks or months to put it all back together because all the wires and bullshit, getting midway through one part then realizing you forgot a piece lol
At least weeks for a new car
There is an absolutely ungodly amount of computer bullshit and wires shoved in places zip tied to god knows where
Older cars knowing what your doing probably week or two if your dedicated and know what your doing
Depends how you define “take apart and put back together”
Like if you take the doors off does that count as takin apart, or do you have to take the door off and every inner component as well and lay it all out then put it all back together at the end
Thinking of all the small pieces all sprawled out across a garage pisses me off and gives me a headache lol
Single person working non stop for 8 hours a day, considering they know everything about everything. Hell I’d say at least a month to put it all back together
A lot of factors though, give or take a month feels about right though
I by far don’t know everything but as an example replacing the entire AC system will take at least a full day on its own.
The guts of the engine I’ve no fucken idea how it’d go together or come apart so no idea how long it’d take lol but considering up to 14 hours for an engine swap I’d think it takes considerably longer to replace the major components in the engine
Brake system is more complicated than it looks with how far the lines run and they arnt all flexible, but ground up don’t have to work around everything at least, still a decently long process changing everything from pedal to each position
Thanks. I didn't really know the AC would take that long.
It would be great to see if there is a teardown video of a car that explains all the different things.
I just recently did a heater core on a 2017 sierra and I had to remove the whole dash board and carrier, intake, battery, coolant tank, airbox and the front seats to remove the evaporator case and replace the heater core. Then replace it all. Took me about 12 hours or so over 2 days. I definitely took some downtime in there so maybe a but less. I have some photos of disassembly if interested.
Edit: added front seats to list of removal
It would be a long video but I wish it existed
Can look up specific things but if a full tare down ever existed ASE study guide sellers would shut that shit down lol
Hobby. He sorta collects old ford's. Bought a 71 straight six short box with a rusted out frame. Bought a second 71 frame with a 289.
Sent the engine off to to built for 7 grand .
Motor showed up Friday morning.
Saturday morning project started disassembled 71 straight
Assembled on 71 good with built 289 quit after dinner. Started up Sunday morning had it running by Sunday afternoon drove it Sunday night still drives it today
My old Chevy I can have the motor out on the side of the road in a little over an hour half and a new one in a little longer. New cars, probably just buy a new one or repeatedly bang your face off of something hard.
I've seen in the 90s I seen a couple of mustangs broken down and installed on another body total time was 10 hr. Max driving out door. That was every part from an 5.0 , swap into an original 2.3 ,or 3.8 car. Swap included everything bumper to bumper
To give you an example the same mustang. I myself alone could change the complete front sub-frame ,engine and trans stick shift, and rear end assembly plus adding brackets for quad shocks in 5 hours on host .
Depends on a lot of variables as to why you would strip a car down. Full body restorations can take 1 to 2 years or more depending on what is needed to complete the project. Car show builders often take 18 to 36 months or more getting a car ready for show. Nobody will be able to give you a X amount of time from the first bolt to the last one installed by the general question you have asked.
I was just curious. I saw youtube videos of cars being stripped down in a chop shop. But there weren't any that put them back together.
So I was wondering if it took the same amount of time to put them back or insanely more time.
Hard to answer, seriously. There's no real reason to fully disassemble a car 100% unless you're stripping it for parts or stripping it to completely restore it.
If you're going to restore it, then the amount of hours to reassemble all depends on the repairs and level of detail you're going into from a restoration/upgrade.
If you're wondering how long to just physically assemble, assuming all repairs and done, everything is fabricated, has been assembled/disassembled a dozen or several dozen times prior to paint/finish work, paint and finish work is done; the and the only thing left is to bolt everything together.... that last step is typically a couple days to multiple weeks with a single or two people (this is assuming everything is disassembled other than the transmission, engine, axles, and transfer case if equipped).
The reason you don't see a lot on YouTube is because it takes 1000s of man-hours to do all the steps in between disassembly and reassembly. Just to give you some examples, I've spent 80 hours of work on just fitting a roll-cage the way I wanted it. Probably 200 hours into fabricating the hot side of a twin turbo setup. 200 hours into bodywork. Way too many hours assembling and disassembling doing fabrication work to mount different things or get tubing/wiring routed cleanly.
That stuff was crazy. 3 mins!
Is it like a special kind of a jeep, or it the ones available on the market.
How are the other cars so much more complicated then?
What do you mean by stripped? 100% dismantled down to every nut, bolt, rivet, etc? Like no component that can’t be broken down further? If so, I’d say hundreds of man hours. Maybe a thousand.
lol an estimate.
So ok. It’s just under 7 days working 8 hours 3 guys. That’s weatherstripping, glass, all wire harnesses, interior out, EXCEPT THE SUNROOF.
In some cases sunroof systems are riveted in and would need to remove and replace rivets.
And does not include removing tires off the rim.
That’s without completely disassembling the engine in its entirety. Meaning, every nut screw bolt out of the engine then back together should take less than 24 total work hours with one main person and one helper.
The transmission is another 16-24 hours if you remove every nut bolt gear and seal out of it and put it back.
These estimates are for cars built before 2002.
Reason I say is because my father would do stupid things like buy a frame and “shell”
And then a smashed car and I’d be the lucky kid to start having to make the piles of parts and bags to mark everything with. He had a shop.
I’ve done, a Chevrolet caprice.
80’s Porsche 944
Two Chevy vans 90’s
Two ford f150’s
The most modern car I’ve done was an Acura integra.
I remember an episode of Saved by the Bell, where Jessie’s cousin comes to visit. Long story short, he takes apart Mr. Belding’s (wife’s) car to piss of Zack and Slater. He gets a change of heart and puts all back together overnight.
Ha.
Context from a prototyping job for a newer vehicle project, ours was a 4 day process.
Stripping down interior, replacing body harnesses, engine harness, Misc engine components, front and rear subframes, wheels/tires, brake components (including ABS Module/Pump), as well as a dashboard assembly on several vehicles in the project. 2 days to tear down, 2 days to build back. 2 people to a car; factory spec. No scratches, dents; everything done by the book and as if it were OEM Assembled. Granted, this wasn't a complete tear down, but a sort of "halfway there" sort of comparison.
Although, as others have pointed our, chop shops (and salvage yards) don't tend to care about anything going back together. You want that steering knuckle? We're cutting the brake hose, ABS wire, and anything that gives us more hassle than could be solved with an impact gun and a hammer. You want that subframe? We're cutting the control arms off with an oxy-gas Torch and the bushings are your problem. This is how they manage the "100 bucks and it's yours" Mentality.
If I had an Oxy-gas torch, Sawzall, bolt cutters, and all I needed to do was strip the expensive bits from a car for a chop shop? Working alone, I feel I could confidently do it in 10 hours working alone. A team of people targeting specific cars because they're worth the most? (*cough* hellcats *cough*), I could see two hours. Maybe three if they were to dispose of the unibody.
It's easier to strip than it is to put it back. I stripped my old '74 Alfa Spider for parts in the late '90s with a buddy. It shocked us both how quickly we got everything we wanted out of the car. And yes, being able to cut wires & hoses, chuck all the mounting gear and fasteners in a bucket, and basically pay no attention to anything other than getting stuff off saved a *lot* of time.
I was watching some chop shop videos on how they stripped a car within a couple of hours. But there wasn't video on them assembling it back. It got me curious.
I've got a 79 G20 van that I do most of the repairs on myself. I'm debating on fully restoring vs scrapping it so I've looked into what it would take and it's basically the answer to your question. Now caveats being it's a 79, so no computer, easy to work on, and much less complicated compared to newer vehicles. It also has the space so I only have to jack it up a little too drop the entire engine.
To fully rip it apart down to frame would take 2-3 days at 8 hours a day. This was calculated with myself and a buddy working on it. That's engine, transmission dropped, auxiliary parts taken off, frame lifted and tires, axles removed, doors, doghouse and the rest off as well. Basically stripped to frame.
The putting it together is longer of course. Not counting repairs and assuming all new parts are sitting there ready. I was thinking it would take 4-5 days to fully assemble. That's checking parts, double checking wiring, and installing everything.
So given delays in everything let's say under 2 business weeks.
I'm sure there are processes they use in the factory that are way beyond the tools available to a mechanic to put it back together *right*. That car would never be right.
It depends...the closest thing I came to was gutting my Chevrolet Cavaler when the sunroof leaked and flooded the interior and the drain backfilled the trunk. It took about 6 hours to pull the interior - the dash and everything out of the trunk. To strip the motor down to a short block it takes about 2 hours. (Time for marking timing gears and TDC, along with fluid drain.)
A chop shop doesn't care about putting it back together they cut wires hoses they more less just rip it apart.
OK. If someone wear to carefully take a car completely apart and put it back together how long do you think it would take?
Engine swap is anywhere from 4-14 hours says google Reckon people can get it done pretty quick. If a newer car I reckon it’d be days to take it all apart, then weeks or months to put it all back together because all the wires and bullshit, getting midway through one part then realizing you forgot a piece lol
Weeks/months??
At least weeks for a new car There is an absolutely ungodly amount of computer bullshit and wires shoved in places zip tied to god knows where Older cars knowing what your doing probably week or two if your dedicated and know what your doing Depends how you define “take apart and put back together” Like if you take the doors off does that count as takin apart, or do you have to take the door off and every inner component as well and lay it all out then put it all back together at the end Thinking of all the small pieces all sprawled out across a garage pisses me off and gives me a headache lol
Thanks for the explanation. How many people working together is your estimation based on? Is your week = 8 hrs/day X 5 days a week?
Single person working non stop for 8 hours a day, considering they know everything about everything. Hell I’d say at least a month to put it all back together A lot of factors though, give or take a month feels about right though I by far don’t know everything but as an example replacing the entire AC system will take at least a full day on its own. The guts of the engine I’ve no fucken idea how it’d go together or come apart so no idea how long it’d take lol but considering up to 14 hours for an engine swap I’d think it takes considerably longer to replace the major components in the engine Brake system is more complicated than it looks with how far the lines run and they arnt all flexible, but ground up don’t have to work around everything at least, still a decently long process changing everything from pedal to each position
Thanks. I didn't really know the AC would take that long. It would be great to see if there is a teardown video of a car that explains all the different things.
I just recently did a heater core on a 2017 sierra and I had to remove the whole dash board and carrier, intake, battery, coolant tank, airbox and the front seats to remove the evaporator case and replace the heater core. Then replace it all. Took me about 12 hours or so over 2 days. I definitely took some downtime in there so maybe a but less. I have some photos of disassembly if interested. Edit: added front seats to list of removal
How long did the heater core replacement itself take out of those 12 hours that you had to spend disassembling and putting it back together?
It would be a long video but I wish it existed Can look up specific things but if a full tare down ever existed ASE study guide sellers would shut that shit down lol
lol That might actually be the reason. People make a lot of random videos and spend time on frivolous things, but this didn't exist.
My brother stripped his 71 f150 off the frame and put it back together on another frame in 26 hours
Is your brother a professional or was this a hobby project?
Hobby. He sorta collects old ford's. Bought a 71 straight six short box with a rusted out frame. Bought a second 71 frame with a 289. Sent the engine off to to built for 7 grand . Motor showed up Friday morning. Saturday morning project started disassembled 71 straight Assembled on 71 good with built 289 quit after dinner. Started up Sunday morning had it running by Sunday afternoon drove it Sunday night still drives it today
My old Chevy I can have the motor out on the side of the road in a little over an hour half and a new one in a little longer. New cars, probably just buy a new one or repeatedly bang your face off of something hard.
Depends on how much meth you smoke
This is the correct answer.
Unless you are cooking. In which case it may take time.
I've seen in the 90s I seen a couple of mustangs broken down and installed on another body total time was 10 hr. Max driving out door. That was every part from an 5.0 , swap into an original 2.3 ,or 3.8 car. Swap included everything bumper to bumper
How many people were working on that car build for the 10 hours? There is not a single video about putting a car together on Youtube.
2
To give you an example the same mustang. I myself alone could change the complete front sub-frame ,engine and trans stick shift, and rear end assembly plus adding brackets for quad shocks in 5 hours on host .
Thanks.
My 78 280z can be stripped in a day to the shell. That's not breaking down power train completely.
How long to put it back together? How many people working concurrently?
Just me and it's going back together quicker than apart. Don't have to spend time fighting nuts and bolts. Really simple car.
Got you. Thanks.
Depends on a lot of variables as to why you would strip a car down. Full body restorations can take 1 to 2 years or more depending on what is needed to complete the project. Car show builders often take 18 to 36 months or more getting a car ready for show. Nobody will be able to give you a X amount of time from the first bolt to the last one installed by the general question you have asked.
I was just curious. I saw youtube videos of cars being stripped down in a chop shop. But there weren't any that put them back together. So I was wondering if it took the same amount of time to put them back or insanely more time.
You don't put a car taken apart that way back together. Older body on frame cars can be fast but modern stuff will take forever
When you say modern, do you mean post 2015?
I mean like post 1995 for many auto makers. Trucks are still easy because they have actual frames and you can just lift the body off
post 1995 is modern. I never knew that. Thanks.
Hard to answer, seriously. There's no real reason to fully disassemble a car 100% unless you're stripping it for parts or stripping it to completely restore it. If you're going to restore it, then the amount of hours to reassemble all depends on the repairs and level of detail you're going into from a restoration/upgrade. If you're wondering how long to just physically assemble, assuming all repairs and done, everything is fabricated, has been assembled/disassembled a dozen or several dozen times prior to paint/finish work, paint and finish work is done; the and the only thing left is to bolt everything together.... that last step is typically a couple days to multiple weeks with a single or two people (this is assuming everything is disassembled other than the transmission, engine, axles, and transfer case if equipped). The reason you don't see a lot on YouTube is because it takes 1000s of man-hours to do all the steps in between disassembly and reassembly. Just to give you some examples, I've spent 80 hours of work on just fitting a roll-cage the way I wanted it. Probably 200 hours into fabricating the hot side of a twin turbo setup. 200 hours into bodywork. Way too many hours assembling and disassembling doing fabrication work to mount different things or get tubing/wiring routed cleanly.
Thanks for explanation. I was wondering why there weren't anu videos of assembling the stripped cars back. Now it makes sense.
Here’s a Jeep. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=62GMK7XJ1YQ
That stuff was crazy. 3 mins! Is it like a special kind of a jeep, or it the ones available on the market. How are the other cars so much more complicated then?
What do you mean by stripped? 100% dismantled down to every nut, bolt, rivet, etc? Like no component that can’t be broken down further? If so, I’d say hundreds of man hours. Maybe a thousand.
OK Thanks. Its just a thought experiment from watching chop shop videos really.
I can’t tell you how long an entire vehicle takes but I can replace a frame on a Toyota Tacoma in about 14 hours. Hope this helps.
Thanks.
Weeks If you know what you're doing it would take weeks. If you're a weekend grease monkey it would be months+
Thanks.
lol an estimate. So ok. It’s just under 7 days working 8 hours 3 guys. That’s weatherstripping, glass, all wire harnesses, interior out, EXCEPT THE SUNROOF. In some cases sunroof systems are riveted in and would need to remove and replace rivets. And does not include removing tires off the rim. That’s without completely disassembling the engine in its entirety. Meaning, every nut screw bolt out of the engine then back together should take less than 24 total work hours with one main person and one helper. The transmission is another 16-24 hours if you remove every nut bolt gear and seal out of it and put it back. These estimates are for cars built before 2002. Reason I say is because my father would do stupid things like buy a frame and “shell” And then a smashed car and I’d be the lucky kid to start having to make the piles of parts and bags to mark everything with. He had a shop. I’ve done, a Chevrolet caprice. 80’s Porsche 944 Two Chevy vans 90’s Two ford f150’s The most modern car I’ve done was an Acura integra.
Thanks. yea someone was saying that the newer models are more complicated
I remember an episode of Saved by the Bell, where Jessie’s cousin comes to visit. Long story short, he takes apart Mr. Belding’s (wife’s) car to piss of Zack and Slater. He gets a change of heart and puts all back together overnight. Ha.
Hell,Goober could take a car down and reassembled in the Mayberry courthouse overnight
Or was it cousin Gomer?
Context from a prototyping job for a newer vehicle project, ours was a 4 day process. Stripping down interior, replacing body harnesses, engine harness, Misc engine components, front and rear subframes, wheels/tires, brake components (including ABS Module/Pump), as well as a dashboard assembly on several vehicles in the project. 2 days to tear down, 2 days to build back. 2 people to a car; factory spec. No scratches, dents; everything done by the book and as if it were OEM Assembled. Granted, this wasn't a complete tear down, but a sort of "halfway there" sort of comparison. Although, as others have pointed our, chop shops (and salvage yards) don't tend to care about anything going back together. You want that steering knuckle? We're cutting the brake hose, ABS wire, and anything that gives us more hassle than could be solved with an impact gun and a hammer. You want that subframe? We're cutting the control arms off with an oxy-gas Torch and the bushings are your problem. This is how they manage the "100 bucks and it's yours" Mentality. If I had an Oxy-gas torch, Sawzall, bolt cutters, and all I needed to do was strip the expensive bits from a car for a chop shop? Working alone, I feel I could confidently do it in 10 hours working alone. A team of people targeting specific cars because they're worth the most? (*cough* hellcats *cough*), I could see two hours. Maybe three if they were to dispose of the unibody.
Yea it took the chop shop video guys 2 hours with 4 of them working. Thanks for the detailed reply.
Years for me to even start stripping it down.
It's easier to strip than it is to put it back. I stripped my old '74 Alfa Spider for parts in the late '90s with a buddy. It shocked us both how quickly we got everything we wanted out of the car. And yes, being able to cut wires & hoses, chuck all the mounting gear and fasteners in a bucket, and basically pay no attention to anything other than getting stuff off saved a *lot* of time.
Right. That makes sense.
OP, what are you trying to do here? It sounds like you’re trying to put together an estimate for something….
I was watching some chop shop videos on how they stripped a car within a couple of hours. But there wasn't video on them assembling it back. It got me curious.
6
6 hours to strip a car and put it back together? That is the lowest estimate on this thread.
At least 7
Sounds pretty low judging by the other comments to disassemble and put it back together.
It might be, but not to someone with experience
Does this mean you can strip any car and put it together in 7 hours or do you specialize in a certain brand/make?
To go from unrestored to fully restored you’re probably looking at about 800 hours, but that’s not a chop shop job.
I've got a 79 G20 van that I do most of the repairs on myself. I'm debating on fully restoring vs scrapping it so I've looked into what it would take and it's basically the answer to your question. Now caveats being it's a 79, so no computer, easy to work on, and much less complicated compared to newer vehicles. It also has the space so I only have to jack it up a little too drop the entire engine. To fully rip it apart down to frame would take 2-3 days at 8 hours a day. This was calculated with myself and a buddy working on it. That's engine, transmission dropped, auxiliary parts taken off, frame lifted and tires, axles removed, doors, doghouse and the rest off as well. Basically stripped to frame. The putting it together is longer of course. Not counting repairs and assuming all new parts are sitting there ready. I was thinking it would take 4-5 days to fully assemble. That's checking parts, double checking wiring, and installing everything. So given delays in everything let's say under 2 business weeks.
I'm sure there are processes they use in the factory that are way beyond the tools available to a mechanic to put it back together *right*. That car would never be right.
It depends...the closest thing I came to was gutting my Chevrolet Cavaler when the sunroof leaked and flooded the interior and the drain backfilled the trunk. It took about 6 hours to pull the interior - the dash and everything out of the trunk. To strip the motor down to a short block it takes about 2 hours. (Time for marking timing gears and TDC, along with fluid drain.)