Hey all. I haven't done an introduction on these forums yet, but I'm Nick. I'm one of the engineers over at PRL Motorsports, we have a lot of support for newer Hondas. Anyways, I picked up an FD a few weeks ago and from what I've read, the C's shifter seems to be the best one on the market. It's my understanding that it's now discontinued, and finding a good condition used one can get pretty expensive. We do all of our machining in house, so I would like to take a crack at designing a replica for the C's shifter, and if enough people are interested, it may be something that we add to our product line, which paves the way for additional FD support (and that means more billet goodies). I'm wondering if anyone who has a C's shifter would be willing to either lend me their shifter or produce some VERY precise dimensions of the shifter so I can begin my design phase.

Thanks!

 

Sounds like a great project!

I would ask around in the Facebook RX-7 group, there are a lot of part hoarders there.

Dale

 

I would start with another product. There is already a really nice one available.

https://jp3motorsports.com/products/...-throw-shifter

 

Interesting, I didn’t know this product existed. Thanks!

 

So you just need to find something else cool to make.

 

Indeed, if only they would manufacture some more of them...

 

I didn't realize they were out of stock...

 

Reach out to JP3 and see if they are willing to make another run. Theirs is the nicest shifter I have used next to an authentic Mazdaspeed which is long discontinued.

 

I will most likely do that. Thanks!

 

If you’re still interested I have one on my car and can generate a CAD model or drawing for you.

 

Man, I need that JP3 shifter. I bought the Banzai-Racing one and have yet to test it out, but that endorsement makes me want to try to install that one instead. Sent them an email and hopefully they have one.

 

How about making the shifter anyway? So what jp3 already makes one? If its a product you want to provide then provide it. Don't let anyone convince you not to simply because someone else is making one. More options are never a bad thing in the fd world. We already don't have all that many places to choose from, having 1 more place will be a great addition.

 

I 1000% agree with this. Even if the quality ends up being the same, so what? I like being able to have options, and just in case one is out of stock and the other is available the option to purchase is always there. Press forward good sir!!

 

An adjustable front swaybar is another rarity for us. If you can find an old Tripoint or Racing Beat one to copy, that would be sick. They're both pretty much unicorn status by now and there would definitely be buyers for a well built replica of either one.

Another pretty simple piece that could possibly bring in big bucks.

 

Alright guys, here's the deal. So I spoke to my boss, who is the owner of the company this morning regarding designing the shifter. He pretty much told me that it wouldn't be worth the company's time unless we could guarantee at least 100 sales. Being that the FD community is so small, I understand his concern. So, the only way to sell the job to my company would be to obtain 100 non-refundable deposits. I have a few other resources that are popular in the FD community that I can ask who may be able to get more people on board. So essentially, this would be a large group buy and a single production run of 100 going to everyone who preorders it.

 

Hi, first post here, I've been lurking some time, Rx8 owner and I just wanted to add that possibly this could fit the 5spd 4port eu, uk, jdm rx8s so maybe you could address that market also? Just an idea. I'd be interested.

 

I'm not sure I would wish the task of securing 100 preorder deposits from this community upon my worst enemy. That would be an extremely unenviable task..

 

So my question to your boss is; why your a single time group buy? Doesn't it make more sense to produce the product and keep it in stock? Yes the community is small NOW, but more and more of these cars are coming in every year from overseas and there is no signs of that ever slowing down...I would not be surprised if the number of RHD FD's outnumbers the number of LHD FD's in the next year or 2. Maybe this is just my lack of understanding and my desire to have parts I miss out on on group buys, but it burns me up when I miss out on those 1 time production run products that absolutely would remain popular and bought regularly for years to come.

 

He told me that if we were to make this job, PRL would take on the job as a job shop job from me, essentially, I would personally contract PRL to make the part, which I would then sell to anyone interested. For that to work, there needs to be an agreed upon number of parts that PRL is contracted to manufacture for me in order it to be profitable for them to pay me to design and machine it. He isn't interested in branding the part as a PRL part, because according to him, the community is too small for him to want to spend money on marketing and for it to sit on our shelf.

And unfortunately, I don't have the capital to buy a large stock of them with no guaranteed sales.

 

However, I do know of someone heavily involved with the FD community who does have the capital to front. I plan to speak with him, and see if he's interested in funding the project. Perhaps that way, I could design and manufacture the part without requiring preorder deposits.

 

I figured there was a lot more that goes into it than I could ever imagine. I hope everything goes as planned, and good luck to you!

 

I will update you all once I speak with him. He's the owner of the Formula 7 RX7 if you're familiar with that build.

 

I'm assuming you mean the current owner. And yes I am familiar with the car and previous owner.