What performance/handling parts....

[ZetecVan 2.0]

...do you think are overpriced for what they are? Specific examples would be good...

 

example: Strut brace, Mk1 Escort. £80 from Burton for a bit of tube and some brackets. Worth £50 tops.

[Mr Sam]

deffo strut braces....hence why i crafted my own rear one

[ZetecVan 2.0]

How much are double anti roll bars and brackets for escorts?

[antz]

panhard rod kits.....£70...its a big bar

[mk14dr]

two words - SCENE TAX

[Retromotorsport]

I would say it takes a skilled man to put it all together in a kit , but by the way some things fit you would think it was a trainee.. but that said if it takes an hour to fit up on the bench, taking the garage average of around £50/hour ... then the rod has cost £50 to make, with £20 of hardware (rod end, bush and bolts) ... ahh that = £70

 

Now a solicitor for example ... £80 for a letter .. thats a rip off and some of them have less training than a fabricator.

 

Or another way round it ...

 

I charge £200 to fit Gp4 Turrets

 

At home the average is 2 days to fit them ..

 

Now at the garage average of £50/ hr ... 8 hours a day x2 16 hrs x £50 is £800 !!!!!!

 

Am I cheap or dear ??????

[Fiesta Steve]

deffo strut braces....hence why i crafted my own rear one

 

Rear strut brace for a Fiesta is only £20

[ZetecVan 2.0]

I would say it takes a skilled man to put it all together in a kit , but by the way some things fit you would think it was a trainee.. but that said if it takes an hour to fit up on the bench, taking the garage average of around £50/hour ... then the rod has cost £50 to make, with £20 of hardware (rod end, bush and bolts) ... ahh that = £70

 

Now a solicitor for example ... £80 for a letter .. thats a rip off and some of them have less training than a fabricator.

 

Or another way round it ...

 

I charge £200 to fit Gp4 Turrets

 

At home the average is 2 days to fit them ..

 

Now at the garage average of £50/ hr ... 8 hours a day x2 16 hrs x £50 is £800 !!!!!!

 

Am I cheap or dear ??????

 

Totally understand where you're coming from. In my game (the IT part, not the knicker selling), you can be charged upwards of £75 an hour. Now if that's for someone to come in and change a setting on a computer, that's expensive. If it's to configure a server, it's probably not too bad.

 

The reason for the question is I'm doing a bit of research for a project for someone.

 

Oh and Gary. You are neither cheap or dear. You are great value for money

[Retromotorsport]

Why thank you ...

 

There are some parts out there that are expensive in my mind, but i do buy in the Turrets , i cant make them as cheap as that, close, but they are cheaper at £70 odd quid a pair. And Gaz do the dampers to my length for me to suit the position of the Turret.

 

Everything else i make as i dont do rally cars as such so the rally parts dont fit. (except the arches ...and i mod them )

 

Alloy top mounts are over priced, anyone who wants a batch of them made would save a few quid on them.. they are CNC machined so they are not labour intensive, years ago they where probably only done in small numbers, so more expensive, now with batch ordering they should be cheaper.

 

a comparason .. 4 link kit , more than double welding on the parts than an adjustable panhard rod, 3 more rod ends and loads more hardware and its only twice price ... makes the 4 link (clubmans kits) good value i think

 

Oh and it takes me 4 hours to fit Gp 4 turrets ..

 

If only i got the £200 .. out of that theres rent, rates ( @46p in the £ ) Electric and gas (to keep your babies warm in the winter) Corporation Tax (whats that for) Income Tax, Profit Tax, phone bills, materials bills, waste bills, etc etc ... oh then some left for me to take home to the missus.

 

Why the F**k do i bother ????? Cos i love what i do

[105Speed]

Mike I am surprised at this coming from someone who runs their own business..

 

I mean.. if you applied the same logic to your business... I would look at a Thong and say... well that should be 50p with the amount of material thats in it and it could only take 5 minutes to machine up and hardly any materials... but its not 50p is it.

 

 

Burtons are a re-seller, they have to make a margin, the person who made the item... and I suspect it was Retro Dave as he makes a lot of the Burton Strut Braces, has to buy the materials, employ a fella, rent his unit, pay his business rates, electric etc etc etc oh and make some money for himself.

 

Then the items when made have to be couriered to Burtons, so there is a charge that has to be 'absorbed' into Burtons Cost Price and then they have to make a margin to keep their lights on....

 

So out of that £80, just how much do you think there is in that for everyone..... ???????

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And please.... what the fook is Scene Tax ?

[4parajon]

I'll open my can of worms another day thanks

[ZetecVan 2.0]

I think my question or example may have been a bad one. I wasn't after a cost analysis of a burton strut brace!

 

I'll come clean. OSF have been approached by a company who are interested in manufacturing certain products like strut braces, roll cages, anti roll bars etc, specifically for OSF. Now keep quiet about this because it's hush hush ok?

 

So, they are wanting to know which items you would fit onto your car. There's no point in going off and making Anglia strut braces if everyone wants Mk1 Escort ones.

 

So the question again. What performance/handling part would you like this company to manufacture for your car?

[caprifan]

...well from my point of view escorts are catered for by everyone...I would like to see bolt on/weld on strut braces for Capri's as no one makes them apart from Caprisport and they fon't look all that....

 

and cages are really expensive for Capri's...and only Safety Devices make them ...and on asking recently won't provide 1 cage..you have to order 3 or something WTF !

 

would need to know what else they can make to be able to say what else I would be interested in....

[105Speed]

I think my question or example may have been a bad one. I wasn't after a cost analysis of a burton strut brace!

 

I'll come clean. OSF have been approached by a company who are interested in manufacturing certain products like strut braces, roll cages, anti roll bars etc, specifically for OSF. Now keep quiet about this because it's hush hush ok?

 

 

Shouldnt you have PM'd me the hush hush bit Mike

 

 

And hopefully the cost break down of the Burton strut brace, as an example, should show that some things just cant be made much cheaper without going to China unless of course this mystery company is 'Burt Quoks Chinese Restraunt and Takeaway of Bradford'

 

 

And commericially there is no point in getting into a market thats already swamped with stuff, far better to ask the question...

 

 

What cant you get for your OSF that you would like ?

 

 

That way the product range available expands rather than just 10 companies all trying to do one product cheeeeepa

[Retromotorsport]

personally i would want a alloy billet machined center section for the atlas and double butted axle tubes and my 4 link and watts brackets on the tubes.

 

I think if its a club buying thing, then getting them at a cheaper cost if they fit will be a good thing .. I get Pms or phone calls about fitting parts from the well know Rally suppliers .. its their parts why phone me.. ohh because they have the common " we have solds loads of those and never had any problems" answer .. i then tell them to cut it about till it fits, they say..i shouldnt have to do that. My answer.. Moan at them, i didnt sell you it.

[GT_Jim]

there arent many for mk1/2 cortinas maybe im looking in the wrong places though

[105Speed]

What sort of thing would you like for the MkI Cortina ?

[Rick]

who makes knickers?! ???pics?

 

i would like to see nice alloy escort water bottles, same shape and size as originals (and theyl prob b cheaper too!)

 

nothing else springs to mind really

[GT_Jim]

What sort of thing would you like for the MkI Cortina ?

 

ive considerd a straight strut brace but i need how it drives when its finished as the front end has been seem welded and ill be running coilovers so i dont want the front end too stiff

[ZetecVan 2.0]

who makes knickers?! ???pics?

 

 

I sell them.

 

No it's not a chinese takeaway in Bradford. It's a curry house.

 

No, the company is a steel fabrication company oop north who do have an interest in old fords, but at the moment do manufacture bespoke items for cars and lorrys, including manifolds.

 

I can't really say more than that as it's early days, but they've said they are planning on doing strut braces, cages and exhaust manifolds initially.

[Rick]

having never seen you i now imagine you to look like bob hope from emmerdale! (he sold knickers for you non emmerdalers)

[V8ian]

I think my question or example may have been a bad one. I wasn't after a cost analysis of a burton strut brace!

 

I'll come clean. OSF have been approached by a company who are interested in manufacturing certain products like strut braces, roll cages, anti roll bars etc, specifically for OSF. Now keep quiet about this because it's hush hush ok?

 

So, they are wanting to know which items you would fit onto your car. There's no point in going off and making Anglia strut braces if everyone wants Mk1 Escort ones.

 

So the question again. What performance/handling part would you like this company to manufacture for your car?

 

I would say 95% of the people who use this site are hands on people,and have the want and ability to make and fit things where needed, if a company has aproached OSF about wanting to make things for our cars, I would think partial universal kits for strut braces may be a way to go, the PCD of the top mounts is nearly all 2 sizes other than the anglias and early ZZs, perhaps make Top rings, angled brackets so take rose joints, a length of tube with 2 insets to weld in , and sell it as a cut and fit kit, Raldes got right with the Adjustable spring mounts for Mac struts, cheap and universal, fits any car that used 2" tubed struts, there has to be scope for making other parts like rear disc brake brackes from a decent gauge material, Universal Panhard rod kits, Universal anti tramp kits,

Mexico type pedal boxes, with variants to fit other cars that are bolt in coming off the original master cyl mounts.

I dont think people allways want to buy Off the shelf parts, but if they can buy the little bits that are hard to fabricate for the average layman, they could be onto a winner.

There is allways a bit of pride to be had by saying "I made that" rather than "I bought that for a horrendous amount"

 

Ian

[ZetecVan 2.0]

having never seen you i now imagine you to look like bob hope from emmerdale! (he sold knickers for you non emmerdalers)

 

His company is NaughtyNylons which coincidentally is my ebay username.

 

My website however is www.ladygarden.co.uk

[Rick]

[Vista]

i would like to see nice alloy escort water bottles, same shape and size as originals (and theyl prob b cheaper too!)

 

It's not a performance bit but having had two of the damn things split on me (one NOS I'd just paid a fortune for) I think that's a pretty good suggestion. It'd need to utilise the existing mounting bracket.

 

I'd also like a dipstick and tube conversion kit for those of us with side draft carbs on Pintos. Mines currently a bit of a bodge with a rubber hose and guesstimated marks on an extended dipstick. It'd be nice to have a decent replacement that's accurately graduated for max & min