That 27 hour total includes:
- Setting up my work area in the driveway, and cleaning up the driveway of tools and parts at the end of the day, 2 times.
- Lunch, dinner, and other various short breaks.
- Running around to stores/dealer for 2 hours trying to get replacement fuel line clips and some wrenches in sizes that I didn't have (which didn't even end up helping me; you'll get details of this saga when I do my detailed install writeup).
- Taking pictures.
- Never rushing to do anything, taking my time and double/triple checking things along the way.
- Re-routing various hoses/etc multiple times until I found the path that I was the most happy with (instructions don't attempt to fully detail exact routing paths).
- Cleaning up coolant spills multiple times. Even when you think a hose is done spewing coolant, you move it again a few hours later and more comes out!
- Being cautious and frustrated because of stubborn bolts in tight places.
I am not a pro at all. This is the most in depth I have ever gotten into working on a car. I've done some work on my motorcycles, but there's much less curse-inducing corrosion on a motorcycle that is never driven on Michigan's winter salted roads.
There were many temporary road blocks for me. A seasoned mechanic would probably have determined the best approach to get things done more immediately, but nearly every step along the way was a new puzzle for me to solve, often with trial and error. Trying to get a wrench on a hard to reach bolt, attempting multiple angles of the wrench and multiple positions of my body, trying standard box and open ended wrenches, socket wrenches with and without various numbers of extensions, etc. The instructions are intended for someone that generally knows how to work on cars already, so they don't detail anything like this. I won't even be able to describe the best way to do these things because I was focused on solving the problem in the moment. Taking time to take clear photos and notes for every detail and trick of every step of the way would have taken forever.
Some teaser pics...
My high tech work area. yes, that's an old counter top on saw horses for a work bench
A little helper:
Finishing up in the dark on Saturday night:
Turbo blanket was the final touch installed on Sunday afternoon:
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