I dont think its the fact that Americans dont want to do any work...thats kind of a generalized statement. I work as a Senior Financial Analyst for Fidelity and have to work some pretty tough hours so when the weekend rolls around im usually working on/building something new for my house, so I dont have time to mess around with a welder. Thats like me saying why do you buy mutual funds or pay to have a portfolio of stocks actively managed? If you werent lazy you would go online, read all the 10K and 10Q reports, look at the company balance sheets/GLs, listen to conference calls, run regression analysis projects on various markets to check for correlation between different asset classes/aources and run Black-Scholes models to check for mispricing of securities...its great that you can fabricate things on your own and have access to the proper tools but come on you cant expect the average car enthusiast to start buying welders and trying to tig/mig weld a set of turbo headers together. Would I like to learn? Sure! Do I have time? No, thats why I would be first in line to buy a set of headers from a Sponsor such as Speed inc, turbo tech....

 

^ well put.

 

Dam, only $60 an hour on your side of the country!

 

That price is quoted from him. Im just saying "turbo" headers are no different than any other form of exhaust, headers....ect. I know places that do custom headers and exhaust, all TIG welded (all purged) and stainless. My friend is having the guy that does this do his BBC headers on a 3rd gen...all mandrel bent SS for $600. total. Thats taking the car there and making them for that exact app. Now mass produced Jig welded stuff should be able to be made at a percentage less.

As the financial stuff....If I paid someone for 10 hours of work and all they got done was something that could be done in 2, thats how this is. Your paying (example) $1000. and out of that material is say $100. weld time is 2 hours at $100. hr shop rate....You have an item valued at $300. and then sold for $1000. The shop rate should cover all the overhead...hense the name "shop" rate. Maybe you financial gurus and the majority of everyone else cant see this. My background makes it very clear to me and I think its a joke. ASME TIG welder for 9 years, and now I am a maintenance manager at a larger metal fabrication factory. I deal with lasers, powder coat lines, welders, presses, punches, everything related to metal fab pretty much except machining. Im very familiar with this feild. I dont know anything about your stocks and what not, but if someone tried selling you a $100. something for $1000. and only you and your feild of work knew about it.....wouldnt you laugh and say.."what is this joker doing?" Thats how I see this. Im just the one who tells it like it is. People dont mind paying a lot, thats cool. But if those people actually knew....they'd probably be a little pissed. But for the majority....they never will know so they just go with the flow.

 

^ vaild point also.

 

I'd have to agree with powertrip, you can do this for a bit less than people think. I've done it a few times already and can't see why people charge so much for a bit of tubing SS or mild steel.

A crossover for a truck manifold set up is as basic and easy to make as one would want. There isn't 1000 dollars of work or materials in a crossover/ DP for a truck manifold kit.

If some would just take the time to DIY they'd see that its no big deal. BrokeEF and Sideways240 would agree with me as well as some others that have tackled a set up like this before on their own.

 

Exactly, im not trying to start a huge debate, just saying it happens in every industry. If the going rate on this site was approx. $1500 for a set of turbo headers then id bite the bullet and purchase a set as I dont have the ability, know-how, or tools to fabricate my own. It honestly happens all the time in the financial realm. Some funds charge outrageous fees just for investing in their financial instrument but 99% of the public doesnt even look at the prospectus that lists out the fees that they will be paying. Then there are fees for withdrawing early, etc, etc. I look at some of the funds out there and what they charge (front load, back load, fixed fees, asset based fees, etc) and its absurd that people will invest in them at all! I think we are both on the same page and do agree that buying something for triple or quadruple the actual costs sucks but if its the going rate what can you do? Anyways sorry for hi-jacking the thread, back to the original poster, have you made any decisions yet on your setup?

 

It comes down to skills and time and money. I can't weld worth crap.I wanted a kit that would fit and look near stock and keep my air . I didn't want to do a bunch of fabricating and got my short block done but assembled the top end and installed the new 408 and the kit but had paid help to do that at a more reasonable 20 bucks /hr instead of 80 shop rates. My helper was worth every penny and it was still 85 hours to do the engine and the turbo kit install . My kit is extensive install. But end results are also professional and very good.
I respect people that can weld especially tig and fab up all this stuff. Local guy did a master power t70 and fabbed up his turbo setup on his third gen. Its running 11.23 at 126mph and there is likely more there.
So sure you can do this stuff a lot cheaper but you have to have the skills and time.

 

Exactly, and its not like a complex setup either, a couple elbows at most....what is the major difference between this crossover pipe between manifolds and say an Off-road Y-pipe that places sell for a few hundred bucks? ...its got an additional T4/T6 flange on it...thats all. I see them HIGH priced and some arent even stainless.

How many places/people do custom exhaust work? Theres got to be a place in damn near every town....or every other. Thats all a turbo setup is basically. A custom exhaust system routing the exhaust to the turbo. Thats the hot side and what people think is so hard and costs so much. Packaging is another story. Usually a place will do a whole custom exhaust for less than 500. so bending/welding up a simple crossover between manifolds should be cheap....very cheap.


Oh well.

 

Stuff runs much cheaper on your side of the world, I need to move . Labor rate here is at least $140 an hour and it takes a little time to make a cutom set from scratch. I agree, if have the tools and know how, I don't see it being a big expense. You don't even want to know what a 25.2 cage is costing me . One thing for sure is everywhere BUT west coast labor rates gets you alot more dollar for dollar.

 

it's just what the person thinks their time is worth.

i've spent i'm going to guess about 7k on the turbo stuff, or maybe a little less. but i payed for it by this being my first time and having to order parts twice because i didn't get the right part the first time. or over ordering parts that i don't need. but mine isn't your basic log setup either, has a lot of twists and turns to be able to keep my AC.

you basically are able to do it cheaper your next time around as you now have a good idea of where everything needs to come from.

like what i said, it's all in what the person believes their time is worth.
for me it was a challenge to myself to do it and have everything stay in the same spot minus the radiator being moved forward

 

I would agree 100% people over complicate things, its not rocket science. Welding is a skill true, but then again you can learn to do it with a little practice (thats exactly what we did) On the other side of it, you can also mock it yourself and bring it somewhere to have it welded (we thought about this) OR like was said have an exhaust place do it. If you dont want to learn or spend the time on it, then you will pay a premimum for someone else to do the fab work for you, plain and simple.

Sean