Anyone design,build, and sell there there own intakes?

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The Iron Icon
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Anyone design,build, and sell there there own intakes?

Post by The Iron Icon »

Have been working on a design for SBF that is looking promising and we are expecting an excellent midrange without much or any lose in lower or upper rpm compared to a normal single plane, but wont know for sure until we can get some dyno time. My question is those that have done all the work to get there intake to market, what did you do to get the word out, how did you price your intake, and would you do it again? As in was it worth the cost for you with time, materials ,etc? thanks for any advice. Once i have it on dyno and ive made sure its as good as i can make it i plane to post dyno numbers.( hopefully within the next 6 months)
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Re: Anyone design,build, and sell there there own intakes?

Post by tjs44 »

I just got done doing one,copied from a rare Pontiac SD tunnel ram intake.We 3D scanned it,3D printed a plastic to confirm fitment.Needed a little computer work to fix some thing.After that we had to have it converted to solid works to make the patterns.Hope you get a good pattern maker and good foundry.As I remember it was like 20 month from start to finish.Jon Schmidt was a God send to help me get it done along with a couple great people with a 3D printer and 3D scanner and a 5 axis CNC.Our intake is a 2 pc 2-4 tunnel ram and we sell them for $2500.We have sold 40 so far from the first run and have another 20 coming from the foundry.Hard part is to find a "good" foundry that will do small runs.Good luck with your project.Tom
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Re: Anyone design,build, and sell there there own intakes?

Post by tjs44 »

Pic of one
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BCjohnny
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Re: Anyone design,build, and sell there there own intakes?

Post by BCjohnny »

Purely from a commercial point of view ......

If the manifold turns out as good as you say and if you manage to get it made on a reasonable budget that predicts a respectable return on investment, you will have only a short window of opportunity to get it out into the marketplace before it draws the attention of others

This 'advertising push' in itself could possibly cost more than the development costs, and you'd have to have all your ducks in a row prior to having a finished product

Because with something like a SBF, if the manifold is as good as you say, copies will be out there within months competing with your product, at a fraction of the price, and while some people will prefer the 'original' many will go on cost alone

It's almost impossible to patent a 'run of the mill' type manifold, and anyway you'd wear yourself trying to protect it

Sometimes it's worth having a less popular niche product, than something that attracts unneeded commercial attention

Not trying to pour water on your dreams, just add a touch of reality, and the best of luck if you go ahead
The Iron Icon
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Re: Anyone design,build, and sell there there own intakes?

Post by The Iron Icon »

Tjs44 good looking intake and glad to hear your getting them sold quickly. To build mine again it would take way to long for me to maintain any sanity, I hope to find some good guys to work with here on the east coast and still see a profit if I can sell them.

BCJohnny wont lie the copycats are a concern, wont say its a run of the mill intake at all ( also might change stuff around a bit for a few other benefits that I cant say have been done to any intake I've ever seen to help my case), so if it as good as we think it will be ill probably be looking to shell out for a patent (then there's out of country to worry about). But at the end of the day if I can make a profit( even if small) and maybe be remembered as even a small innovator in the realm of engine building and performance id be content with that.
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Re: Anyone design,build, and sell there there own intakes?

Post by dannobee »

If you prefer to do everything in secrecy, you could learn a lot from this guy. If you look at his channel, he goes over everything you'd need to cast an intake at home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEtIexjl6ao

Over the years, he's tried a lot of techniques and equipment and gravitated toward lost foam casting. I'm sure he doesn't know everything, but between him and Jon, maybe your learning curve can be shortened up quite a bit.

He also has a website at thehomefoundry.org.
The Iron Icon
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Re: Anyone design,build, and sell there there own intakes?

Post by The Iron Icon »

Ive seen him before, very interesting stuff he has done.
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Re: Anyone design,build, and sell there there own intakes?

Post by SchmidtMotorWorks »

dannobee wrote: Sat Oct 15, 2022 9:47 am If you prefer to do everything in secrecy, you could learn a lot from this guy. If you look at his channel, he goes over everything you'd need to cast an intake at home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEtIexjl6ao

Over the years, he's tried a lot of techniques and equipment and gravitated toward lost foam casting. I'm sure he doesn't know everything, but between him and Jon, maybe your learning curve can be shortened up quite a bit.

He also has a website at thehomefoundry.org.
That lost foam approach is interesting but I would advise against it.

The right path to go depends on what the design looks like and how many you want to make.
Is it designed for casting manufacture?
Manifolds look the way they do because the shapes are driven by what can be easily cast.

To put it briefly, someone on the project must know about design for casting.
Someone must be capable of making foundry tooling either with very good woodworking skills or CAD and CNC skills.

There is no cheap easy way to make a manifold casting.

The cheapest and easiest one ever made was probably the early Edelbrock Torker.
It was designed with low cost manufacture as the first priority.
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The Iron Icon
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Re: Anyone design,build, and sell there there own intakes?

Post by The Iron Icon »

SchmidtMotorWorks wrote: Sat Oct 15, 2022 8:57 pm
dannobee wrote: Sat Oct 15, 2022 9:47 am If you prefer to do everything in secrecy, you could learn a lot from this guy. If you look at his channel, he goes over everything you'd need to cast an intake at home.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEtIexjl6ao

Over the years, he's tried a lot of techniques and equipment and gravitated toward lost foam casting. I'm sure he doesn't know everything, but between him and Jon, maybe your learning curve can be shortened up quite a bit.

He also has a website at thehomefoundry.org.
That lost foam approach is interesting but I would advise against it.

The right path to go depends on what the design looks like and how many you want to make.
Is it designed for casting manufacture?
Manifolds look the way they do because the shapes are driven by what can be easily cast.

To put it briefly, someone on the project must know about design for casting.
Someone must be capable of making foundry tooling either with very good woodworking skills or CAD and CNC skills.

There is no cheap easy way to make a manifold casting.

The cheapest and easiest one ever made was probably the early Edelbrock Torker.
It was designed with low cost manufacture as the first priority.
I have been trying to make sure it wont have any challenge in casting. as for how many id make it is dependent on how many people will want one after I dyno the prototype and release results....if no interest I imagine ill just make 2 more by hand. the 1 for me and then one for shop to keep on improving...and the original one for when I inevitably screw one intake up. :lol:
SchmidtMotorWorks
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Re: Anyone design,build, and sell there there own intakes?

Post by SchmidtMotorWorks »

Can you model in 3D CAD?
You really need a CAD model with all of the features for casting in it if you are going to make a manifold.

With todays simulation tools, you don't really need to wonder if it will work.
You should have 90% + certainty before you make anything, by hand or by casting.
The days of surprises on intake manifolds are behind us if you are doing it right.

If so, make a model and send it to me, I can tell you how to proceed.
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Re: Anyone design,build, and sell there there own intakes?

Post by Walter R. Malik »

In the 70's & 80's, before CAD; I remember designing and actually building many intakes by a lot of welding for a base then with tongue depressors, balsam wood and lots of fiberglass and epoxy.

Qualifying the power on the dyno making modifications, then pouring a positive with rubber and cutting them apart to be drafted into prints which were made into molds,

WOW ... how things have changed.

Although, the Holley 300-25 and 300-14 are still a great intake manifolds.
http://www.rmcompetition.com
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bob460
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Re: Anyone design,build, and sell there there own intakes?

Post by bob460 »

The Iron Icon wrote: Wed Oct 12, 2022 1:55 pm Have been working on a design for SBF that is looking promising and we are expecting an excellent midrange without much or any lose in lower or upper rpm compared to a normal single plane, but wont know for sure until we can get some dyno time. My question is those that have done all the work to get there intake to market, what did you do to get the word out, how did you price your intake, and would you do it again? As in was it worth the cost for you with time, materials ,etc? thanks for any advice. Once i have it on dyno and ive made sure its as good as i can make it i plane to post dyno numbers.( hopefully within the next 6 months)
To suit which SBF heads?
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