How come no one makes a full replacement silicone SMIC pipes?

[jbuhrman]

Truth be to told ETS is not that large of a company. Everything they sell is made when you order it. They utilize the most badass pipe bender I have ever seen for their stuff. Once they have the dimensions it gets loaded into computer and they simply enter it into the computer and it will bend the exact pipe again and again.

I do think if they could just modify some side mounts they already make and still be in the same price range then its possible... not probable but possible.

[jbuhrman]

Originally Posted by jbuhrman
Michael/Robert(whom ever reads the forum PM's today)

I gots a question for ya.

When you guys made the FMIC for the 3000GT/Stealth how much interest was expressed prior to agreeing to make the product? There is an interesting thread about SMIC's and silicone piping on 1 of the major forums, and the question came up about if you guys would take the project on.

I know right now its a no, however if interest was generated I am sure you would look into it. My question is how many people would you need to commit to buy product before you would R&D it, also I believe at the $1500-1600 price range(non-sale price)(if the side mounts are large enough) for a full kit you could get the interest.

Just throwing it out there.

We tried to do it once actually. One of the 3000gt vendors came to see us and wanted 10 of them. We still weren't able to do it (no time). I currently don't have a custom intercooler guy anymore. We are pretty much strictly a production shop now.

Thanks,
Robert
__________________Michael
Pho: 360-896-3000
AIM: ETS MichaelR

response in red

[Greg E]

Well that's a bummer...

[jbuhrman]

I have a few other places I can and will ask. its just a matter of time until we find someone looking to expand their brand and get more products out. Especially since we know some of the vendors will buy a surplus stock that might help out as well with the initial units sold.

[CoopKill]

The true story behind ETS, and side mounts for us is that they do not have the capacity to do anything new at all for a dying platform. They told me they are making way too much on the Nissan/Porche/Evo, and other up to date platforms to spend time on something that will net them so little. As sad as it is, that is a good business model to hold...

[J. Fast]

Only 100 units sold??

The numbers are over 300 now and continuing to grow. Chrome has been DLed more times than that.

One of these days ill write myself a paycheck instead of reinvesting it all into the business.

In all your speech about the insider knowledge of my business, you forgot about the hours invested into customer service too.

I think you're missing my point. Point being, individuals had to front it and assume the risk in both time and money.

About 15 years ago when I was in college at the University of Colorado for electrical engineering I work for AT&T / Lucent Technologies / Avaya Communication as a network systems design engineer. Our 2.2 million square foot building housed a 1 million square foot manufacturing plant called Celestica. We had research and development on one side, and production on the other. Sales and technical support, well, that was another group in and of itself.

I do not have direct insider knowledge as to the inner workings of your business. However, I do have first hand knowledge and experience in owning my own business's and first hand knowledge and experience in research and development of artificially intelligent devices.

Using my personal knowledge and experience, a pencil, scratch sheet of paper, and a calculator I could hinge a pretty close bet that what the production cost is on Crome and how many units it would take to recoup the initial investment and break even on it.

I commend all of the creators and involved parties in the development of Chrome. I'm sure they will all quite openly and honestly admit they developed the product not because they wanted to make money, but because it was a hobby turned business.

Had collaborators taken the idea of Chrome ECU to a real brick and mortar business for research, development, production, packaging, marketing, advertising, and support... One which paid them the entire time (which includes overhead and burden) the investment to date would have been several hundred thousand dollars.

Maybe at 600 units the business would see black. I am in no shape, way, or form dissing Chrome or anything like that. My point is, there's not a lot of companies out there that are willing to stick their necks out there like that.


If owners are looking side mounts, intercooler pipes, or whatever for a 20 year old car... You're going to have to front it. Maybe talk to Oohnoo or something? That guy seems to have made a successful run in the small batch 3/S intercooler market...

[dbest671]

All right, got lost in translation I guess. I was only using ETS as an example, not saying that they would produce the SMIC.

I guess what I was trying to say is somebody is going to have to build them first before they will sell, or at least have the reputation of being able to produce something like that. You can't call yourself a builder if you have only designed something on paper.

[mb7050]

times change. a few years ago ETS would make me sidemount intercoolers when I asked but they didnt have any thicker cores than 3.5" at ~9x8 core size back then.

[jbuhrman]

I think the only was any company would say lets go for it is with unit's sold up front. I think the only way you'll get the number of unit's required would be a vendor buying in and getting 5-10 unit's them selves. I wrote another smaller company I know of thats on the east coast but who knows what happens from here. Its patience, money, and time at this point.. and hell I don't even drive a 3/S no more...

[Greg E]

I think you're missing my point. Point being, individuals had to front it and assume the risk in both time and money.

I didn't read much into your life story but I got your point. Don't think you get mine though. Let me elaborate.

I didn't put the time into Chrome for the $$. I have a full time job that pays my bills.

Why then? Three reasons. Passion, sense of accomplishment/pride and respect.

This community is awesome and I love seeing what people have done with my work. You can't put a price tag on the number of times my name gets compared to the big businesses or seeing someone take my work and build some pretty awesome cars with it. You can't put a price tag on the sheer number of people who thank me and appreciate the efforts I did to give them something without demanding something in return. Repect and praise is a reward far greater than $$.

There is indeed a demand for a simple tuning solution that works well with minimal effort. Oddly, most of the customer base don't even buy a flash ECU for its tuning potential. They bought it because their original ECUs have died and they just want a quality replacement piece. How many 1Gs were sold? How many of them need new ECUs by now?

I'm not gonna speak for the motivation behind both my hardware counterparts getting involved because they don't give their product away. They did, however, research, design, test and manufacture it out of pocket. It was an investment without any kid of fundraiser option. Now that they have a product to sell, they are making return on their time. No one paid them to do it. There was no promise of sales.

That's how you make $$ on anything (not just this 20 year old "dying" platform). It's a risk investment that maybe pays you back later. Another term is entrepreneurship. You create a product or service, then put it out there in the hopes people will pay you for it.

Is there a demand for quality innercoolering solutions for this platform?
Yes.

Are they gonna pay for it?
No, not until you make it available to them.

After that?
I'd be willing to invest the capital to say yes. At the very least I can make back my capital investment.

Is it gonna be worth the time?
In my opinion, hell yes!