We have been big honda guys for quite sometime, but early this year we decided to expand into diffrent markets. The new cobalt ss turbo seemed promising so in May we purchased one. Here is a little bit of fab work and parts we have been developing.

Cobalt intercooler kit:











Catless Downpipe:

 

Looks good guys!! Its obvious there isn't much slacken inside that shop!!

 

i think the new cobalt ss turbo is wicked! too bad its in a cobalt body, haha.

parts look fantastic as usual.

what kind of power gains do you see with the intercooler and exhaust?

 

Why not contact a "local" mandrel bender and get a contract bending those parts. Then setup a jig and weld on any parts that need to be welded. You could probably increase your profit margin with ease and end up with a better product.

 

becuase getting mandrel bent alu. isnt cheap and when doing small runs its typically more money to have them done the way. besides im sure synapse guys dont have a problem welding alu and can get those pieces down in the time it would take to drive down and pick up the pieces from the bender. welding alu is fast and easy if you know what your doing..

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by ebydrc &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">becuase getting mandrel bent alu. isnt cheap and when doing small runs its typically more money to have them done the way. besides im sure synapse guys dont have a problem welding alu and can get those pieces down in the time it would take to drive down and pick up the pieces from the bender. welding alu is fast and easy if you know what your doing..</TD></TR></TABLE>

They are still getting the mandrel bends from somewhere. Most likely the place they are getting them from has a mandrel bender or can contact the company that supplies their mandrel bends. From there instead of getting 3 90* bends, you can ask to get specifically bent pieces. The amount of materials used is the same. Shipping cost should be damn similar. Cost of bending will increase but a good welder is making $20+ an hour and probably can knock out only so many an hour. So at some point it would be economically sound to do things that way. Not to mention some shops are busy. It is more cost effective to have your welder on custom projects where the time needs to be spent and let the mandrel bender take care of the production runs. I mean if you only sell 20 kits a year, it's cheaper to do the way they are doing. But I can't see a mandrel bender turning away an order of 100 of these simple bends. I also can't see them charging more than 20% of what it would cost to just send generic bends.

 

i doubt they are going to be needing this in orders of 100 units, even then these still will need to be cut down to the correct lengths, misc parts welded on (bov flange more then likely) and every end will still need to be bead rolled... and CAD design runs what 45~100.00+ a hour now?

 

i went from a 2000 si to a 2008 cobalt ss/tc and i do not regret it. even after test driving a 2006 civic si the cobalt won. i would have prolly taken a 2001 itr or a 2003 s2000. but getting one of these bad boys for 20k i just could go wrong. the cobalt body grows on you i hated it at first but as you drive it more you respect it more.

 

for some reason i don't like the 90* angle on the charge pipes connecting to the ic... could you have rounded the piping better as opposed to having the airflow do that tight curve?