What is the maximum you would pay for a "true" high quality cold air intake system? Functional and say the quality of AEM ect.....? I have the oppertunity to do some real in house testing and developing with an engineer at Saturn (gm company) through a training program they offer to engineering students. This will be my project while in the program, but i would consider mass producing a high quality unit if it was under demand.....

The Lowest I think I could go would be $150 with everything needed. IE. MAF adaptor, APEXI filter, couplings, polished mandrel bent tubing ect. be honest and tell me what you are willing to shell out for a product like this. Also please write any sudgestions on how you would like it to function, what you would like to see changed about it or things that could make it better or aid in the development process...thanks

 

I dont see how you're gonna make it effectively work without cutting up the car. Many people such as myself refuse to cut up their car for 3 horsepower from stoplight to stoplight. There is simply no room from the enginebay to the frot of the car, without cutting something or giving up something. IF you come up with something that fits those guidelines, I bet it won't be any more functional than the stock intake, which isnt too terrible in reality. I bet a lot of people actually lose power by going with an open element filter exposed to enginebay heat, versus the stock intake tract pulling air from the front duct.

 

So some sort of "cold air box" would seem more desirable to you then would a true cold air intake. I am planning on retaining the OEM Across the radiator intake in the "box" setup. The "box" will hopefully require no cutting. I have seen the threads on these setups and have vastly improved upon the various designs. I can't give away too much but i will say that i am not one for cutting up the car either. And for a marketable product that isn't convienient either...thanks for the input

 

I am not replying to the poll but rather giving you some advice. If you do get to a finished CAI product. I hope you can sell it for a lot less than 150 bucks. My own CAI which is selling for 180 or 200(group buy - individual) has yet to sell a damned thing. I hope you can share the source of your APEXi filter supplier with me. I don't know how your going to get it for less than ~50-80 dollars through discount places or at wholesale. I have given much time to this and searched for long whiles on many occassions. Even making phone calls to people. No luck man some things you just can't buy that cheap. Given that lets take 65 as an avg. price for the intake filter from APEXi the HKS AFM adapter or the one that HIGGI makes should be ~15 bucks wholesale from what I have seen. that is already 80 dollars of your price. How lets say that you do have access to a mandrel bender or own one yourself(highly unlikly) how much are they going to charge you for a bend? supposing it is a one peice design OUR intake uses three bends at the moment. lets just SAY you were able to pay 20 bucks a bend for them and suppose you use 3 like our intake. that is another 60 bucks we are already at 140 bucks. Now you still need a coupler for the AFM to the CAI pipe. Guess how much a QUALITY silicone qoupler costs? ~7 dollars from most online IC shops. that leaves you with an "estimated" 3 dollar profit. Wow how about that for lucrative sp? This is also not including any labor charges given you don't do all the work and you have ZERO bills to pay or development costs. Simply put the CAI is a nice product to have but not many will stand up and say "I will take one, here is my money." Most people here will talk to you and say "yeah I will get one and so will my brother and his uncles waitress too" come down to it nobody shows up with cash. Lets face it we are all short for cash. If we werent we would be in the FD camp.

I don't know what you will think of this but that is my 2 cents. I am still trying to lower the price of my cost but it ain't easy let me tell you.


Santiago



PS- that was not for any polished steel only aluminized steel.

 

I guess what i tried to get at is that a "poll" on here or any forum for that matter will not be an accurate sample of what people will or will not buy. Especially given the fact that you would be selling something that is relatively expensive.

Good luck though. I would enjoy to see if you can pull a true CAI off for 150 with the APEXi filter and make an actuall profit.

If you need ideas just shoot me a PM. It is always good to have competition it makes things better and cheaper for the community. This is the reason I started my own thing.

Santiago

PS- I made this second response because I had to rush out off the lab to attend my science class here at my university.

 

Make something for the inside of the car, stereo mounts, gauge pods, S-AFC mounts, Etc etc ... that is something most all of us could use. Under the hood is so different and custom from one car to another... plus 9/10 of us alredy have an intake system we are happy with, that is typically one of the first things anyone does. just my 2 cents

 

Someone needs to make a CF or fiberglass mold of the dashboard and door panels....... screw the CAI everyone does that.

 

1987rx7 pm me if you are serious about the low price of my Apexi filters........hit me up and i'll tell you how to get them cheaper then that. you need a ein # to get them from where i do. Thanks for the input, I have access to a lot of resources in the program i am in and i also work around a lot of injection molding. I am just trying things out. I have a feeling that this is a dead end. I will keep you posted on my progress. Interior parts seem to be more desired unless it says Racing Beat on it no-one wants to pay for it. Gotta start somewhere.

 

Injection molding eh? How about some new ultra-UV resistant stereo surrounds.

 

Yep.

 

Or to one-up that; Demister Grills & Idiot-Light Surrounds

 

Well technically I don't "employ" anybody. It is only me doing all the work.(Except for the welder which is a good friend of mine ) I haven't applied for an EIN or anything yet. The only thing I have done is gotten the inside track on some of my familie's whole sale businesses which help me out with the K&N filters a bit and I can get large quantities of mandrel bends for low cost but I need a set minimum....crap...to much crap about me. anyways Interior parts are always wanted but you should talk to Mazdaspeed7 abou that. He made/makes CF parts for interior and I have seen him post about not waisting his time with a part UNLESS HE WANTS/NEEDS IT! That goes to show you how much of a REAL demand there is. For somebody to buy something here I would say the price has to be from 0-100 dollars max. Oh well. Hopefully people will re-consider what is and isn't valuable.


read above statement about my observations from reading mazdaspeed7's posts about his parts. ^^
And not everyone does a TRUE cold air intake. There are only three CAI's that I know of out there that do what a CAI is supposed to. One of them is ours, the other two cost 250 and 300+

Stupid me for thinking that 50 bucks off the closest competition was going to sell intakes. lol

Santiago


PS_ sorry about ranting.

 

I'd pay $150 for a good proven Cold Air Intake.

 

Good thing I have a dyno to use now.

 

The new logo looks good santiago!!!!

 

Thanks buddy. We will have to IM sometime. Too bad it is 1am lol.

That was created in colaboration by my webmaster and another friend of ours by the name or Andrew. Thanks you two!

Santiago

 

Rpeck is right. You should make some a-pillar dual gauge pods and ashtray safc mounts. I'm sure the cost dont' be too much and you might be able to sell them at a competitive price.

 

I am making a CUPHOLDER RIGHT NOW!!!!! Any takers? all i can get it to fit is a 20oz drink or a sonic drive in cup........what do you think?

 

YESSSSSS """CUPHOLDER"""


But what are they, I never had one, but sounds good. I'll take a one year supply please!!!

 

Did you doubt that I was? I am always right

The above quote has to be the most accurate statement I have ever heard on this forum, but don't mind me .. ive been most of the night.

 

too big of a pain in the **** to make. I just bought a ford din style cup holder and installed it above the radio. works very well!

 

I was being sarcsatic.

 

A steering column gauge pod would be cool.

 

Unbreakable stereo surrounds. Seriously. I bet you'd sell hundreds the first week. I would probably buy 5.