rhanselman

We mounted it vertically on the ZR1 back approximately where the spare tire mount bolt is. We made a special plate to mount twin pumps. On the LT1 we are going to use the same bracket with the single pump.

I don't think this will work with a solid axle w/o lots of extra work...

rhanselman

OK,

We have 20 sets of pipes made and are almost ready to start the test installs. We've experienced one large setback on our way to BG... Unfortunately the Fab guys installed the vacuum line on the vent of the waist-gate instead of the proper port. Yep, you guessed it, Jerry dropped her into passing gear and over boosted the motor. The car is in the shop in Las Vegas getting a fresh stock rebuild. We figure it put us behind about 30 days.

After the new engine is installed she will go to OKC for inventory. After the inventory we can order the STS supplied parts for the two test installs. Once those are done and verified the systems will be available.

BTW - the production mandrel bent pipes are beautifull... I'll have pics soon...

Cheers,
RH

Wilddr805

I and many others who are would be buyers want to see amazing results! Post me up baby....Looking forward to it!

93 ragtop

Hey Ron, thanks for the answer!! Cant wait to see these running

hgh pwr

I looked at your prices on your web site and was surprised it was that high,I thought you would keep it close to the sts f-body kit which is $3,995 for the base kit,not $5,500-$6,000 that price should be for the higher boost kit. I think if you want to sell these you better re-think your price because I will not pay that much and I don't believe a lot of people will pay that much. thanks

old motorhead

Maybe the price difference is intercooled vs non-intercooled???

RacerX70CC

And people wonder why more companies don't support the C4 platform...

Research and development costs real money... and is part of the price of a new product. I'm glad somebody's still thinking about the C4 guys, personally...

ubnpast

It seems like because you own a corvette everything costs more. Headers are alot cheaper as well as most other parts for other cars. All of the r&d should take the same.

hgh pwr

In an earlier post I thought he said he was going to keep the cost close to the f-body kit,this has priced me out of the market.I don't have unlimited funds like a lot of guys and don't kid yourself they are in it for the money not the satisfaction that they helped the poor c4 crowd.

qwiketz

one of the big problems is that r&d costs the same. With the c4 you're going to sell 25 kits, tops. With the f body, you may sell 250. The r&d costs are split across more units.

ubnpast

They would sell alot more units if it was more reasonably priced..
But anyway I do want to see how it turns out and how people like them.

RacerX70CC

Exactly! You hit the nail right on the head... Supply and demand sets the price. Most Corvette owners are waxers, (and are less likely to modify their "babys" to this degree)... consequently there's less demand for an item such as this.
F-body owners are more performance oriented (more likely to modify their rides), and thus more kits will be sold.

And as far as "being in it for the money" as another poster put it... EVERYBODY in the high-performance industry is in it for the money, don't kid yourself.

qwiketz

well to a point I agree. If it was $1500 cheaper, there's still only a limited number of guys that would buy. Four grand is almost half of what many of these cars are worth at this point. In addition, most c4's weekly highlight is getting driven to the store on the weekends. Not too many guys are like us and are willing to chop up a perfectly good car and beat on it until it breaks!

93 ragtop

As stated above, there just are not enough c-4 being modified to bring down prices. Its the same with solid axle rear ends. They are starting at $5,000 and for a camaro, you could get a 9in. for less then $3,000.
Not trying to sound mean, but if $2,000 is going to keep you from turbo charging your car, its probably a good thing. You will end up spending way more then that in drive train and engine parts when you are making in excess of 400 rwhp.

Zix

The "hidden" expenses will drain your cash...and sometimes your will to live! On my 383 I spent about $3000 chasing down a fixing a clutch problem, my car would tear up clutches every 2000 miles or so, with easy driving! I went through three different high-dollar clutches until I found out it was a transmission alignment problem!

hgh pwr

$1500-2000 dollar difference is a lot of nitrous bottles,since I don't drive my vette every week that will do me fine.
R&D does cost money but these guys said on 4/17/07 quote lt1 hours from completion post #31.
I think they will sell more with a lower price and if this was an upgraded boost I would purchase it.

BAM92

A turbo kit priced the same as a blower kit, sounds like a steal.

Bruce

here is my 02 based on my experienced with material cost.

If it is a 16g 304ss material cost me $480 just for pipe. $79 a bend that was 4 yrs ago.

Now I think this kit is using mild steel and it is cheaper, $200 at most.
here is my estimate

$200 mild steel pipe
$1500 T76 turbo
$250 42mm turbonetic race gate
$200 50mm BOV
$700 intercooler
$350(good turbo oil pump)
$250 V band, clamps, rubber connectors

All these add up to $3450 if they to sell at $4500 which they can make $1000+/- profit and STS will get a piece of the pie as well because it is associated with STS and what not. But $5500-6000 is kinda high.

If you have the skill you can do for much less. If you look around you might be able find a used T76 for $800 $300 ebay intercooler and everything off ebay cheappy. Just buy a good turbo oil pump $350 and fab the kit yourself for $2000

RacerX70CC

This argument is taking on a life of it's own...

$1000 GROSS profit may look like a lot to the neophyte, but it's not all that much (about 30.1%). This is not taking into account STS's cut which won't be cheap, I guarantee... (think 15-25% of each unit sold as a rough guess) The gross then falls to 5-15%, and doesn't take into account the time and expense involved (R&D again!), plus marketing, etc. etc. Hmmm... not much of that grand left is there?

Profit is NOT a dirty word... but the fuel that drives business. To a consumer, that doesn't matter though... everybody wants top shelf quality at Wal-Mart prices (sorry... basic economics states otherwise!).

As I stated before... it's no wonder a performance manufacturer (let alone a shop) doesn't want to bring products to the C4 market. It's almost a sure money LOSING proposition.

As to the "fab it yourself" deal... that's all well and good, but in reality, only about 1% of the forum guys have the skillset and access to the tools required. If you can do it, more power to ya!

And for the record... I have no dog in this fight.

A26B

OK... We are not using mild steel. It is all 409 SS, mandrel bent. Stainless steel & mild steel for that matter, is going up on a daily basis. Mild steel prices have increased about 75% over the last year.

Items needing added;

R&D (a lot of $'s)
stainless steel material
pipe jigs for bends & assembly of welded fittings
mandrel bending
assembly after mandrel bending (flanges, cats, rolling, etc.)
special tubing fittings, y's, cones, hangers, etc.
catalytic converter, metallic substrate
oil supply & return lines, braided ss, AN fittings, etc.
G&A :inventory, packaging, web site, sales, advertising, mgmt, etc.

If you add in the items listed above, cost goes up significantly.


No doubt true, if you have the cars. (We own ZR-1 Corvettes but had to purchase an LT1 Corvette for the test vehicle.) But.... when you do it yourself, it is a pieced together, homemade system. Nothing wrong with that from a purely function viewpoint. If you plan to market as a complete (nuts & bolts) system to Corvette owners, you have to do better than that.

Don't forget to considered the cost of your time... As you also correctly stated "If you have the skill" (not to mention the welder & tools). That's a very big if. The same rational could also be applied to headers & cat-back exhaust, but how many Corvette owners do in fact build their own.

Someone posted earlier above;
Unfortunately, you have no way of knowing just how mistaken you are. Both of us (Ron & Jerry) are C4 Corvette owners. Between us, we have 6 C4 Corvettes. Even so, you have to be real about this. Where on earth have you ever seen aftermarket performance equipment marketed by a non-profit organization. I certainly hope we at least break even & maybe even make a little money on this venture. No need to make public all of the time & expense we have invested to date, even if anyone was interested. No one really cares about the cost only the sales price which is understandable. We're doing the best we can to generate a quality (material & workmanship) product at a reasonable price. Shoot, we could own a new C6 ZO-6 and have had a lot of free time to enjoy it if we had never ventured into this project.

Ron & Jerry