I've got to side with you on this one Jim. Sometimes I don't care for your way of putting it but when it comes down to it, you can back up the **** you talk. You have done all the leg work and homework on your kits. There is no need to help someone else out that isn't willing to go that extra mile that you had to travel.

That's a sexy rear end too! Maybe one day...

 

How long did it take you to make the set you made?

 

It's been about 2 years so I don't remember exactly, but IIRC it took me a couple of days of machining.

 

And you weren't exactly a novice machinist at the time, right?

A couple 8 hour days multiplied by a fairly conservative shop rate of $50/hour adds up pretty quickly. Add materials, and all of a sudden you've got a $1,000+ one-off bushing kit. The only way to reduce the cost of hand machined parts is to make a lot of them at the same time. You get a break on materials by buying in bulk and save time by machining multiple parts while the machines are set up for a particular operation.

Considering that the last group buy I did was only 20 or 21 sets, $655 isn't that bad. Not when you consider that shipping was included in that price. Then you've got the boxes and packing materials, all the time and cost for phone calls and e-mails, and the travel time to pick up the finished pieces (2 hours each way). Then you have to assemble and zip-tie all the pins and bushings together so people don't mix the parts up. A few hours of monotonous hell and a couple blisters later (21 sets is 756 parts and 378 zip-ties), you're finally ready to ship them all out.

Wow, I really was gouging people on the price. It's not like we're talking about something hard to make like aftermarket trailing arms and toe links which are a real bargain for a couple threaded aluminum tubes and a few spherical rod ends...

 

that wasnt me jim. . .

 

Jim's price is MORE than fair.

If you don't like the price, don't buy them.

You should see what a supplier charges us for a custom set of bushings in different durometers. Normally we do them in house but when its a rush job its bend over time.

For the low volume Jim does its a great price. Now I'm sure Jim found someone who does this for him on the side for a good price, because I can't imagine he is paying a 'retail' shop to make these pieces.

Now if he wants to give me the dimensions then I'm positive I can get a set made cheaper, just don't expect me to sell them to anyone

 

jimlab,

I'd hate to see jimlab give up selling the kits. It's great to have other options.

What is the reason you have chosen to abandon selling your bushing kit? I know you had a lot of trouble with the people that machine the kits for you, but supplier/manufacturer problems can be overcome.

Would you continue selling them if you had a reliable manufacturing source?

 

Jeez, I'm clairvoyant...

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.php?t=399750

 

I'm not quit sure you get it . . .

 

Jim forget about the bushings, we need an update on your car! What happened to the weekly pictures?

 

i'm sorry but how hard is it to buy a set and caliper it down. it's called back engineering, and i use the term lightly, because there isn't much engineering here just measuring. $500-600 and you have all the dimensions you need and can resell the jimlab bushings.

i just wish they were made from something better than nylon. i know it was probably chosen because it is relatively easy to mill, and provides good performance, when new, vs. rubber. jim, if you want to argue that you can PM me and we can talk material specs.

nobody is taking away your effort, and I am sure some think of you as some kind of engineering god. however, the only things i think are truly laudable are you deep pockets and motivation.

not knowing you personally, i think you have a severe superiority complex. i say this, only, because of the way you phrase your posts. if you truly don't plan on profiting from your bushings, ever again, then it is just a matter of pride(or as another member posted 'god complex') that doesn't allow you to share the dimensions. a more likely scenarios is; that you do plan on profiting from them in the future, in which case, keeping the specs private, makes sense.

in your defense however, mill/fabricating time is very expensive and/or time consuming. with your current manafacturing process there probably isn't much profit being made.

i think the thread starter wasn't necessarily trying to imply that you are cheating people, just that some people can't afford to fork out $600 for a set of bushings. that he might have a way of getting them cheaper.

the problem is anytime someone mentions the word bushing around here you feel like they are shitting in your back yard. calm down, drink a beer, and relax.

cheers,
josh

 

Here is a good thread from howard coleman and Max Cooper's impressions of bushing needs on FDs. https://www.rx7club.com/suspension-wheels-tires-brakes-20/musings-bushings-399866/

 

I don't think everyone realizes that jimlab's bushings ARE the cheap alternative. Stock bushings are not cheap.

 

you are right, but that doesn't mean that people should quit trying. personally, i don't think the venture will be successful, but you never know.

 

Apparently you missed the insinuation that I was overcharging people for something that was very simple to do. Simple, sure, but very time consuming and labor intensive, as I've explained to him on more than one occasion.

Apparently, he didn't.

Only when I or my bushings are directly involved in the discussion.

Want to know what you can do with your suggestion?

 

act on it by sending you a six pack?

i did some reading and i see that this same question has been revisited on several occassions. i can understand some of your frustration.

 

we'll see in a couple weeks. If I can produce them cheaper the RX7 community will benefit. All I want at this point is a pat on the back from Jim when/if I do it.

 

Knock yourself out, but the market is pretty much fully saturated.

So far, you've done nothing but run your mouth. What do I get when I'm proven right that they're incredibly time and labor intensive to produce, which results in a high cost per unit/set?

 

Same you always get. Ridicule from the same people who proved you right

 

He's just asking for a "redistribution" of knowledgebase.

It's kinda like the Democrats/Liberals push to redistribute wealth.

Besides, he's probably acustom to looking at other people's scantrons.

 

Everyone wants Macy's quality at Walmart prices - how do you do it - Chinese labor.

Jim you are my hero simply because you made the bushings in the USA. I do mean MADE not ran your mouth about what you can and/or can't do.

Thanks for delivering

 

a bigger head . . .

 

which head?

 

well we can bicker back and forth forever, this thread is going no where. I'll post my results when I get them, then we'll see if anyone is interested.

Until then, feel free to inflate Jim's ego with your intelligent rips on the kind of person I must be.