94touringFD

iTrader: (30)

I feel like for $3,300 (more than likely less) you can have a much better unit custom made to your car. My friend owns http://synapseturbos.com and is going to come to my house and build me a custom v-mount using a new Garret core and my existing radiator. He said it'll be about $1000, granted we're going to reuse my radiator but if he were to produce an actual kit for sale I believe it would be better quality and cost a good amount less than that. I would think a lot of people have shops with the same fabrication skills and could get similar results. Who knows, maybe I should tell him to think of keeping track of everything we do to possibly reproduce it for others.

Zero R

iTrader: (1)

I wasn't referring to a cleaner look than product X, I think the end tank design is crap, as is flow entering the tank. (though I wouldn't know a thing about v-mounts) It also doesn't look like their typical cast tank setup so it doesn't look like it is up to "their" usual standards. Meaning compared to what they have released in the past. Props to them though for even making the thing for such a small market.

~S~

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

Well, for a custom kit, you have to design it... and if it's going to be worth a crap, that takes a lot of time, research, trial and error, fitment, etc. I spent DAYS on mine, only to never have it built... but a NICE custom rad is going to be $1000, and NICE custom IC is about $900... plus all the fittings, piping, etc.

Of course if you cobble up your koyo and hand an ebay core, and your time isn't worth anything, you can definitely save.

94touringFD

iTrader: (30)

Well, my fluidyne radiator hasn't had any problems thus far BEHIND my ETS 4" intercooler so I'm confidant it will work just fine in a v-mount set up.

Who's talking ebay cores? I'm sure not!

You must have missed the part when I typed Garret core, if I'm not mistaken they are a quality piece. Correct me if I'm wrong.

Morgan, the owner of Synapse (maybe some of you guy's have seen him while instructing at Lime Rock), builds cars for legitimate racing, not just track days. His TSX race car I believe paid out from Honda due to their success last year. He builds top quality stuff so I guess I was mistaken about other people being able to find quality fabricators since it sounds like from your bitterness of a failed attempt is what you're expecting from me as well.

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

First of all, I didn't "Fail" at anything... I didn't ultimately pull the trigger on fabrication. What I was stating is how long I know it would take to design something better... let alone make it, test it, and have it work.

Second, if the owner of a true race car performance and fabrication shop will stop by your house, and fabricate a custom set up on your car, that's great, but that's a friend deal and not replicable by most people. A good fab guy is about $90-110/hour. By the time they disassembled your car and took measurements, you'd be in for $500 if you were actually paying. I have one of the best (Mitch Piper) right near me, but I KNOW what he costs.

Again, not sure of the actual cost of Garrett cores, but you need to add fab time for end tanks and such (unless you go completely off the shelf, which doesn't really live up to the "better custom set up" part), and I know because I priced having Ron Davis built my radiator to spec, and Bell Intercoolers make my intercooler to spec (and actually HAD them make a SMIC). I also checked with Spearco and Fluidyne. Costs were similar. So if you're talking big savings, you're probably talking ebay.

Finally, there's no value in simply having it be "custom". That doesn't make it better. All of these cars are the same, so mass produced is still "custom" for the car. You'd have to actually improve on the design and materials to warrant doing it yourself when someone has already done it. It's like all of those jokers who've spent hours making a custom SMIC over the years because they were pissed off at M2's $1400 price tag to maybe save a couple hundred bucks.

That said, $3300 isn't cheap. No doubt. But, with nice piping, that cast y-pipe elbow, and all the various and sundry, it's one of the nicest, most complete kits I've seen since the old Knight Sports one that had the custom Ron Davis radiator, and was about $2500 and didn't come with as much.

gracer7-rx7

iTrader: (16)

Just to put things in perspective from a labor standpoint. It took me and my Mechanical Engineer buddy (Speed of light) the better part of 8 hours to fabricate ONE of the custom IC pipes needed for the custom V-mount he built for me.

People who have never fabricated anything just can't imagine how much R&D actually costs and how much hands on labor actually go into making a product and the trial and error involved. $3k is typical for a good off-the-shelf V-mount setup.

94touringFD

iTrader: (30)

I apologize for the "fail" remark.

Ron Davis and Bell, now that's definitely skyrocketing prices. I assure you I'm not using ebay BS to build anything for my car. Yes Morgan charges about $90/hr and is definitely hooking me up. He's not going to really disassemble much of anything cause my freshly panted 99' front end will already be off. He's coming to the house to do work cause it will be on jack stands while my brother presses in my SuperPro bushings. He said he was willing to come by and do the raw fitting and use my brothers welder to spot weld everything and bring it to his shop to do the finish welds.

I love my car but am not a good driver by any means. I own my car for pure pleasure at this point. I've built it with the intentions for it to be "purpose built" one day but doesn't get tracked yet. He says I need to come to some track days while he's instructing and he'll teach me a few things.

I see now we were on different pages, you're talking serious top quality nothing but the best parts and I'm looking at good generic parts that will work just fine for my needs. Garret cores do a great job at cooling charge temps but from what I've heard they are dense cores and reduce the flow to the radiator when in a FMIC set up. This is the reason I've decided to attempt v-mount. The radiator I have worked great in the stock location with a huge FMIC from ETS. Since it's in good condition my brother suggested I continue to use to save a little bit of money.

So far my problem is figuring what size core to get, my ETS I think was overkill for my application. I don't want to sacrifice response for more intercooler that isn't necessary.

Sorry for the threadjack here, I'll just wait till my car is back from the bodyshop and ask any questions I have when the time comes.

Again, ptrhahn sorry for coming off like a dick.

94touringFD

iTrader: (30)

R&D is my brothers job (he has done all my work for me, got to love family). He works at the R&D center for GE as does my father.

dvo

iTrader: (22)

i think I'd rather go with the HKS one. Nice piece though

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

No, my apologies for a bit of an over-reaction. It's just that over the years on this forum, there have been lots of reactions to retail costs of products that only factor in raw materials and don't factor what it really takes to make something from scratch. That said, I love a good custom/build thread, so good luck!

94touringFD

iTrader: (30)

I know exactly what you're talking about. On my own none of what happens to my car would ever happen, lol. I'm lucky to have the support that I have. I do want to see if Morgan and my brother would have any interest in producing a full kit if it would cost less than some others.

As for this kit, I think from the pictures you can get a better quality off the shelf kit but I do like the piping for the twins.

Zero R

iTrader: (1)

94touringFD, run the bell core, it's a much nicer piece than garrett and cost difference is negligible, after using both cores I wont go back to Garrett.

Gracer7-rx7, you are 100% right sir. I've made I don't know how many and people just don't get the work involved most of the time.

~S~

Herblenny

iTrader: (13)

What I want from that Greddy V mount is the Y pipe crossover attachment... especially if its for the 99 y-pipe.

Jason, Can you order just that piece?

jacoolv6

So that is including a new radiator?

KrisD1

looks pretty nice to me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUserabDa1A

94touringFD

iTrader: (30)

That unit seems to have had the end tanks cleaned up a bit, looks nice. I can't wait to see it on some cars so we can get some real world feed back.

anees

iTrader: (6)

does any 1 know what air intakes are those ... they look pretty sweet
thanx

anees

iTrader: (6)

oh .. i dint read ... it
so the air intake comes with the kit only?

dvo

iTrader: (22)

is it me, or does the greddy core look a lot like the RotaryWorks core? I've been debating on whether or not to do itbut I think I'm going to build my own with help from a friend.

RotaryWorks V-Mount Core

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

Most all V-mount IC's look at least similar. Not sure where Rotary Works sources their cores.

94touringFD

iTrader: (30)

Who manufactures the core is extremely important. Also look at what your going to use the car for when deciding your budget and looking at where you're going to source parts from. Since my friend that is helping my brother and I with my v-mount has an account with Garret already, I'm using that core. I decided to go with the Garret because the cost difference between that and the Bell core isn't worth it to me since I mostly just enjoy my car on the streets. When I eventually get my car on a track my driving skills will not be good enough to take advantage of the benefits of the Bell core. If I were building this car more as a track car I would pony up the additional funds for the better core. People have proven some of these less expensive cores or "junk ebay" cores to work just fine for a street car that even gets some track time. They are not ideal if trying to maximize your set up and get use of all the potential it might have. If you try to save money when buying parts just know what you're getting yourself into so you're prepared for the outcome.

KrisD1

Got myself a radtech single turbo vmount kit. Couldn't be more happy with it, this really is a work of art. Now I know why they supply Koeningsegg. And for half the price of the greddy one:-)

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

Got any more info on this?

Their Web site is pretty light on details, and the pics show straight sections of tube welded together to form the "bends". Not exactly work of art territory:

http://www.radtec.co.uk/index.php?p0...rtNo=IRMVM%201

Sephek

iTrader: (20)

Who has 3k laying around?

ptrhahn

iTrader: (9)

What's lame is, the "base kit" for $2700 doesn't seem to include the y-pipe side piping for the IC, but both the more complete kits also have the intake, which seems pointless.

If they could provide the radiator, IC, fittings/brackets, and pipiping all the way from the y-pipe to the throttle body, it would be worth it (still not cheap) for $2700. If you recall, the RE v-mount was over $2k, and didn't come w/ the greddy elbow ($125), and still required that you have piping fabbed (which can be several $hundred).