Playing With SOLIDWORKS

[Halon]

Yeah, I got SS button heads for everything. In the pic they are used on the air dams., but I put the stock socket head bolts on the spark cover for test fitup. Those have now been replaced with SS button heads as well. Looks nice and clean.

I have a set of valve covers here now that I need to modify for larger ventilation ports, then get coated. These black ones in there now are temporary. Not sure what to coat them. Matte/satin black seems like it'd blend in nice, but could also do some sort of color for contrast. I'm bad at color coordinating, lol.

[Halon]

#1 complaint from people was that they wished the spark plug cover went down to cover up the recessed valley on the sides of the NA valve covers. So I got a qoute to try and get a 3D / Form done. They told me the mold fee was almost a grand!!! So yeah screw that, that's why I'm sticking with flat pieces.

So, I kinda came up with this idea to keep it simple and cost effective. I think it looks pretty good, so I'm going to have some made out of CF on my next order.

[A//// Guy]

That looks nice!

[turbotalon1g]

hell yeah very nice.

[Halon]

Got my next runs in. Same Semi-Gloss and Matte as I've been getting. But I handed off a bunch to the same guy that painted my car, and he cleared them so I can offer a High Gloss version. Holy cow makes a huge difference, really gives the CF some depth!

Also, the side tabs seem like they will work out nicely on the spark covers.

The manufacturer also finally seems to have understood what I was looking for with the weave pattern. Entire sets all match perfectly together now! Funny how this small detail was actually kind of tough to get my point across. OCD baby.

And also, I made one set out of satin black G10 Garolite. The idea there was it's a little more OEM / subtle looking because I receive comments about folks who don't want the CF look. And also, it's almost half the cost, so even the po-folks can play

Pics







High Gloss (Cleared)


High Gloss (Cleared)


Satin Black G10


G10


Comparison Hi-Gloss, Semi-Gloss, Matte, G10

[rose0529]

The carbon does look really nice with the high gloss on there!

[turbotalon1g]

agreed, time to make some for the durango!!

[s1ngletracker]

good stuff brandon! I love CAD!

[Halon]

Thanks man.

I will say, making and selling these has been an interesting experience. Learning so much about the business side of things. Finding manufacturers you can trust, pretty cool even if it is super small scale. I still really have enjoyed it. I'm not making much money on it, the joy has been just in doing it.

However I am now seeing another side of it. Copy-cats are starting to pop up now that people are seeing how quickly these are selling. I actually see the side of things now where companies spend time and money designing things, just for them to be duplicated by someone else later. That's kind of a bummer, but it is how it is. If these copy cats end up being around the same price range as me, then this may be my last run of these.

But, always interested in new things. So if anyone has ideas, lets work together and draw em up! To me the fun is making it. Selling them and making a little money is kind of cool, but the true fun to me is designing it, seeing it manufactured just like you wanted, and fitting right! So anyone has anything simple they want done, lets do it up!

[Halon]

Another very simple piece. It's a spark plug cover for the 1UZFE (SC400) motor. Someone with my other covers asked if I could make it for him. So he helped me with the prototype set. Said fitment was spot on, he was really happy with them. So I made a few more sets. One local guy (red drift SC400) has a set now, and two more sets just got thrown up for sale today

[Halon]

Also I'll throw this one out there too. It was a very small piece that Rosey and I both designed, and Rosey machined from Aluminum. It's a small shifter linkage piece that can be used to make a shorter shifter assembly for a CD009 transmission. There's shops selling shorter shifter assemblies for the CD009, but they range in price from $230-$350. They are out the door solutions which is great, but for people on a tight budget that don't mind a little DIY action, they can use this piece to make a homebrew shorter shifter setup for around $70. Thanks again for the help creating this Rosey!!

Here are some pics of the small little linkage piece. And then all they do is buy a 240sx short shifter off eBay ($40-$60). Then they just cut a few inches off the base, drill two new holes, and use this fitting to couple it to the trans shaft.

240sx short shifter - modified:



The aluminum linkage piece:






And the end result:

[s1ngletracker]

What about creo??

[Halon]

Well kind of a cool update. I'm officially done selling those front air damn / cooling plates. After selling right around 60 sets or so over the course of a year, I officially sold the design to Real St. They are taking over that design / manufacture / sales of those particular parts completely. Was fun I actually made something people wanted to buy, and that a big company like Real St. saw the potential and bought the design!

[A//// Guy]

Thats awesome!

[tehehodi]

congrats on the sale!

[asshanson]

time to retire!

[Speedfreak]

Or a GT-R

[Halon]

I traded them green Supra from Drag Week, good trade good trade.

[turbotalon1g]

haha badass, surprised they didn't steal it. I say that because it seems to happen a lot out there.

[Halon]

Very true. I didn't just sell th em the design though. I gave them my manufacturer contacts snd pretty much everything I had figured out over the course of 8 orders, like pricing, standard packaging, fastener info, proven margins, etc. So they literally don't have to figure anything out, they take over a already pretty much a complete product from start to finish.