New LT1 Intake
TECH Fanatic
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 1,979
Likes: 3
From: Upstate NY
Im impressed. You do know your stuff. What you said makes perfect sense but its a little different with us. This is my buddys shop. A small buisness,Not a corporation. We have very little overhead and have designed this intake ourselves and will be building it ourselves so our time, our dime. Corps. have to pay there employees or contractors to design and build their product and yes is a huge expense. We also get materials alot cheaper then you would think. Yes edelbrock has a choke hold on the market which proves my point. They use that to surpress economicly anybody who has an idea on how to make something better. That enables them to keep making dull, humdrum, gimik LT1 intakes and get away with it because they bankrupt the competition. Well, thats going to change hopefully. The design is done. The material for the prototype has been ordered and we will start building it by the end of the month! If it turns out as expected, we will decide what to make it of and that will determine the price. And it wont be $1500! Well, unless you want to send us that much
. The only real expense would come in contracting somebody to build numerous amount of units if the demand is very high which corps have to do every time out and still have to worry about turning a significant profit not only for them, but their shareholders as well.
. The only real expense would come in contracting somebody to build numerous amount of units if the demand is very high which corps have to do every time out and still have to worry about turning a significant profit not only for them, but their shareholders as well.When volume forces you to contract out the manufacturing and you have to increase the selling price, where will the volume go? Plan for that in your initial selling price. Folks who say they will pay you $500 will probably change their minds at $750 or $800 (FAST). People like it when you can reduce you initial price because the volume decreased unit costs, but they strongly resist an increase from the initial price. Most often they "vote with their wallets." Many businesses fail for just those reasons.
FWIW, I probably wasn't clear on my point about Edelbrock. I meant to say their aluminum castings are some of the best made. The cast for some fairly well known outfits. I don't think they are trying to run folks like you out of business. The Edelbrock foundry makes money pouring castings for anyone who can pay for them, competitor or not. They probably won't lose money making castings for a competitor to encourage his market success.
Obviously if you purchase a casting it has to be machined. If you have tried to machine or weld some of the other stuff out there, you'll know what I mean. Ever try to machine bubblegum?
BTW, you and your buddy are the "shareholders". Take care of them.
TECH Junkie
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 3,092
Likes: 11
Some good ideas. Maybe an aluminum lower half and a composite upper half like on the L31 vortec motor. You might be able to use the same o-ring seal between the two halfs. Also take a look at the marine version LS1 style intake for the earlier small blocks. By the way those are available for the Vortec motor.
itll be an upgrade for me though. i still have the 48mm and home ported. but what im saying is make the intake accept the bolt pattern for LSx throttle bodies so we can switch over to their style. the guys that are H/C/I or FT can use the 90mm+ TBs and bolton guys can use the ported stockers or the 85mm.
Last edited by Revelation Z28; Oct 10, 2007 at 05:24 PM.
itll be an upgrade for me though. i still have the 48mm and home ported. but what im saying is make the intake accept the bolt pattern for LSx throttle bodies so we can switch over to their style. the guys that are H/C/I or FT can use the 90mm+ TBs and bolton guys can use the ported stockers or the 85mm.
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10 Second Club
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 2,630
Likes: 28
I've been following this thread for a bit. I really think that people aren't aware of just how bad a stock LT1 intake mani is. Take a look inside of one if you haven't yet. They are full of obstructions, and casting flash. They were designed for hood clearance. I hope this new manifold can move some serious air. It should be targeted at modified cars up to full on set-the-record cars. I would have no problem paying 750+ if it works like a converted Victor Jr./custom elbow setup. If you are running around with some bolt-ons and a hot cam, the stock manifold is doing just fine for you.
BTW a converted Victor EFI sbc mani with a custom elbow makes a lot more than 15 hp on the top end over a stock intake, on a built motor.
BTW a converted Victor EFI sbc mani with a custom elbow makes a lot more than 15 hp on the top end over a stock intake, on a built motor.
I've been following this thread for a bit. I really think that people aren't aware of just how bad a stock LT1 intake mani is. Take a look inside of one if you haven't yet. They are full of obstructions, and casting flash. They were designed for hood clearance. I hope this new manifold can move some serious air. It should be targeted at modified cars up to full on set-the-record cars. I would have no problem paying 750+ if it works like a converted Victor Jr./custom elbow setup. If you are running around with some bolt-ons and a hot cam, the stock manifold is doing just fine for you.
BTW a converted Victor EFI sbc mani with a custom elbow makes a lot more than 15 hp on the top end over a stock intake, on a built motor.
BTW a converted Victor EFI sbc mani with a custom elbow makes a lot more than 15 hp on the top end over a stock intake, on a built motor.
pretty smooth inside this 94 intake I blasted
Last edited by buffman; Oct 12, 2007 at 09:47 PM.
but joe when refering to casting flash, the stock intakes I've checked and cleaned aren't all that bad. I've seen some of the early Edel castings that people got, and the casting flash was horrible.
TECH Junkie
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 3,265
Likes: 1
From: CHITOWN
composite woud make it more expensive, make it harder to make etc
I like the idea of using a LS1 throttle bodies, it opens up the market to different designs and sizes
I would just copy some of the hogans/custom intake manifolds people are paying almost 2K for and selling it alot cheaper
It shouldnt be more money than a FAST, keep it in the price range
All this is talk, with no pictures or set design
Make somthing, then come back and show it
IM SICK OF TALK and TALK IS CHEAP
I like the idea of using a LS1 throttle bodies, it opens up the market to different designs and sizes
I would just copy some of the hogans/custom intake manifolds people are paying almost 2K for and selling it alot cheaper
It shouldnt be more money than a FAST, keep it in the price range
All this is talk, with no pictures or set design
Make somthing, then come back and show it
IM SICK OF TALK and TALK IS CHEAP
TECH Regular
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 434
Likes: 0
From: Winnipeg, Mb
very interested, i think for it to be succesfull it would need to be:
make sure the thing will give you better bang for your buck than a single plane intake.
- aestheticly pleasing
- a clear improvement in hp and torque numbers
- lightweight
- easily adaptable
- reasonably priced compared to edelbrock and holley type products
make sure the thing will give you better bang for your buck than a single plane intake.
