bscpanther

The way I see it we always seem to try to make the stuff ourselves that I don't have a problem going to the vendor through, mainly because it's not expensive stuff to begin with. What I would really like to see is one of you guys fabricate an intake and a three inch down pipe. I expect to be overcharged just because I'm driving a P-ride and I love to support our vendors but I can't imagine for one minute charging $1000 for the intakes and $350 for a DP. I'm not bashing anyone here, all the vendors have the same unbelievable prices for these products and the worst part is I really feel like these parts could be fabbed with no problem if you know how to measure and weld. The best part is I would really think you could charge half the current market and still make good profit. So lets have it, what do you guys think. Do I have a point here or am I missing something?

blown 944

I can get an intake doen for about 550 that looks like this for my supercharged car. I'm sure it will find it's way on the 951 once I step up to the bigger turbo yet


a down pipe I did it myself for a T4 turbo for less than 100. Depending on the turbo used fabbing a downpipe using a v band on both top and bottom shouln't be too much. I used a v band to connect to the exhaust about 9" below the brake booster.

TurboTim

You are missing this...........The intake manifolds on the market are priced at a thousand bucks because of the R&D that went into them.Then there is the cost of production,materials,overhead,labor,equipment,etc.......And welding aluminum in general isnt the easiest thing to do.

On a side note.We did the box intake thing about 8 years ago and lost 20 cfm per runner on the flowbench over a stock intake manifold.That is what you get for $500.Some square tubing with some stock runners welded to it.The problem is you take a step backwards. In the case above it was a good deal because he needed a way to get the air into the engine and the stock one would not work.Besides that,the supercharger will add alot more power then the intake will take away but on the 951 it is a different story.You put something like that on and you will lose power.Now I will take all this back if there are some nice velocity stack in there, but I seriously doubt it because of the cost and the $500 price tag.

The cost for a Wrath microweld 3" 304SS stainless ubend can retail for as high as $100.Add to that V-band clamps assemblies that can go for as much as $100 per assembly and it looks like you wont be saving any money by doing it yourself over buying from a vendor.Even if you can find some materials on Ebay for about half the price, you still have to build it. Let me tell you this........ building a 3" downpipe on the car, is a real mother and if you cant build it on the car, then you have to build a jig.Damn, that is more money and time for materials and labor.So you end up right back where you were of not saving money.


Just something to think about and in no way, shape, or form was it intended as an insult to anyone.I think it is cool for people to experiment and try to do things themselves but when it comes to certain parts, they should just break down and spend the cash if they dont want to chase their own tail in their pursuit of horsepower.

95ONE

I'm sorry, but I dis-agree. Compare to this piece. Check out the price at the bottom of the page.

http://www.advancedinductionresearch.com/fd1201-20.htm
I've installed three of these. Huge power gains. Temps are lower. Car's lighter.

Olli Snellman

Is that company still there. They have updated their web site last time 10/23/03...

TurboTim

And it is for a Honda.There are about 50 million of them on the road today vs. 30,000 944t.

333pg333

So you were able to fit a modified intake from a Honda to a 951?

95ONE

I knew you'd say that.

Make these intakes for around that same price. ....For the 951.
I bet you sell almost as many Carbon Fiber intakes as they do.

95ONE

No. I had a shop that worked on a lot of Hondas. I was just stating that I have experience handling these things. They're awesome.

333pg333

Ah, ok. It does look to be a quality piece of kit.
Digressing slightly, ST made mention of ITB's in another thread. What is the consensus on these? I imagine that you would have a very equal flow rate, perhaps better than the best of these one piece intakes? Anyone have experience on these?

Olli Snellman

Tim,
you are too optimistic, less than 30.000 951s were made

gt37vgt

R&D please cut the runners down to 5 " and build a box . show us all the extensive gas velocity and pressure differential data .
And yeh I'm right behind you guys if dump pipes are done change over the material cost is down to 15" of tube and a flared 2.5" they realy should be able to be done for 200 . but in there defense materials are so expensive . well here it is

black944 turbo

I agree, same with maf kits and so on. I have been working on cars for a long time, but p-car prices are unreal. I work on a lot of japanese turbo cars and the prices are 1/4 and some of these are lower production as well.

tommo951

You think Porsche prices are expensive, I recently converted by LP5000 Countach to Quattrovalvole spec.
That is expensive! To be honest even Jag performance parts a loads more expensive than the Porsche stuff. It all comes down to the market, if 50,000 items are to be sold with a develpment cost of $50,000 it can be offset by $1 per item towards development (on a break even scale) However if only 1000 items are going to be sold you need to add $50 per item. You then have material costs, manufacturing cost, transporting cost, staffing and finally profit (remember these are businesses not hobyists)
I would estimate on a $300 downpipe there is actually between $75 and $100 gross profit
And if Tim is going to make them he probably has to take a production run so he is holding stock which I wouldn't guess to by fast moving. Lets face it these guys lay out quite an investment to produce parts for our 20 yr old cars. They deserve a profit. And I hope they continue to make profit which they invest back into further development of our cars.
Right I can now step off the soapbox!!

xsboost90

that intake may make improvment over the stock Honda intake, but i doubt it would over a stock porsche intake. They did alot of R&D at the factory to get the stock intakes right on the 944. I doubt honda did because they weren't building a fast car, just an econo box.

i agree with tommo- who wants to go through all the trouble to make a QUALITY product that actually works and not make some profit?