This topic contains 25 replies, has 8 voices, and was last updated by Profile photo of VS 355 UTE VS 355 UTE 7 years, 2 months ago.

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  • #21635
    Profile photo of Immortality
    Immortality
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    Member since: August 31, 2015
    Posts: 535

    He already has a fabricated one. It looks rubbish. Why does everyone think his going to make 100’s of plenums. He just wants a one off

    Yes, we are all well aware but either casting a one off or making it from billet won’t be cheap (as per my original post).

    Yes, his is fabricated but it doesn’t look anything like the original, one could be fabricated to look stock and with a little work and a coat of paint it could be made to look very close to the original.

    #21636
    Profile photo of Immortality
    Immortality
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    Member since: August 31, 2015
    Posts: 535

    The mouldings and paper work got thrown out. I don’t believe any technically owns them. Making a full manifold would be very costly. I know flow craft require 30 customers who have fully paid before he makes his. They could be made. But it would run into the 10’s of thousands of dollars before even one was ready. james just wants one for his bottom half as his plenum is a ling long job.

    You can’t really compare the cost of manufacturing a product today to when flowcraft did their version of the manifold, costs have greatly changed and once you have a set of molds the costs come down considerably for any following production runs. I’d suggest the casting facility probably has a minimum run/cost and flowcraft probably don’t want to produce 30 manifolds and have 20 sitting on the shelf for any period of time, the profit margin is probably quiet good too these days per manifold. Personally I’d be happy to get hold of a lower and then fabricate the upper, it’s not a hugely complicated design.

    he told me this 2-3years ago. Manufacturing them isn’t cheap and it’s not worth his wild unless his got min 30 sold.

     

    Yes, comes back to economy of scale.

    The casting facility would have a cost/price per unit and casting only 5 would be very expensive, there is probably also a fixed cost too per production run.  Even the Chinese have these sorts of things but just cheaper than our local manufacturers ( Back when I was working in automotive retail we were constantly getting approached by Chinese manufacturers).

    Just look at what our favorite Aussie car parts copier/manufacturer does, can copy an Aussie made product, manufacture in China and sell copies for AU$200-300 per manifold……

    #21641
    Profile photo of Slow355
    Slow355
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    Member since: March 2, 2015
    Posts: 322

    He already has a fabricated one. It looks rubbish. Why does everyone think his going to make 100’s of plenums. He just wants a one off

    Wouldnt go that far for a home made job way better than any ebay etc jobs i have seen for starters not a single welf is seen its all made seamless.

    munch munch ls1s for lunch
    Best 1/4 mile 13.1@105mph 60ft-1.8sec Reaction time .8 sec 0/100-4.8sec

    #21642
    Profile photo of Slow355
    Slow355
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    Member since: March 2, 2015
    Posts: 322

    In all honesty, that plenum could be very closely replicated by fabricating it again. Some laser cut ali plates and a bit of mill work for the holes and detail on the top would net the desired result i’m sure (i’m a trade qualified metal fabricator). I nearly took this path myself when a cheap lower half popped up years ago, I decided against it and ended up buying a complete vn grp a setup years later. I’d personally hate to see copies of this type of thing make it to production. Yes they are rare and expensive, but that’s what makes them so special to have.

     

    So i take it you are sending me a quote?

    munch munch ls1s for lunch
    Best 1/4 mile 13.1@105mph 60ft-1.8sec Reaction time .8 sec 0/100-4.8sec

    #21677
    Profile photo of BLOWNVS
    BLOWNVS
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    Member since: March 2, 2015
    Posts: 47

    Haha, You won’t find a quote from me in the mail mate, we’re on opposite ends of the country. If you were local id consider taking the job on. Have you explored the options of having one made out of a composite material like carbon fibre/ fibreglass. If someone would lend you a plenum to make a mould it might be an option perhaps?

    #21680
    Profile photo of VS 355 UTE
    VS 355 UTE
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    Member since: January 13, 2016
    Posts: 141

    . Have you explored the options of having one made out of a composite material like carbon fibre/ fibreglass.

    This is what i would be doing.

    It could be done in epoxy with a carbon fibre top layer for around $500.00 if you had a crack yourself.You have the bottom section so the height/width and length are sorted.I could give you the throttle position  measurements and your right to start a mold.As it’s a custom plenum you could place the throttle’s either  side if you wanted like the Giaccottolo,although progressively linking the two could be troublesome.

    After the complex curves and clearancing required on my ducting this would be a relatively straight forward piece to attempt.Make the rectangular plenum mold first then you can shape the two throttle attachments separately and attach later from the inside.I’d recommend getting a 6mm or so metal bottom plate for plenum and also two for the the throttle flanges and glass them in to give it some more  strength where there are mating surfaces and thread for the mounting studs.Finally i would get some of that phenolic material and shape it to sit between both sections to minimise heat transfer into the epoxy plenum.Then you can move on to the ducting lol.

    Don’t get me wrong,this plenum would need a lot of hours glassing,shaping and sanding.But if you like a challenge and take your time it can be done.

    Blacked out engine with glossy carbon fibre plenum would be a one of a kind.

     

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