Hey guys,

I would like to hear / discuss how long it takes you to make a 4 cyl. tubular manifold, including the collector, start to finish, and maybe some ways, tips/tricks you have found to speed up the process, if you are comfortable sharing.

It takes me WAY too long to make one, and I need to speed it up.

 

Last time i made one it took me about 5 hours start to finish.

 

5 hours to cut the collector, all the runner bends, and weld it all up with a back purge? 5 hours?? There's no way in the world I can do that in 5 hours. It takes me at least 16 hours, if all goes super super well.

 

I'm usually pushing ~9hrs after all said and done for a Ramhorn.

 

it depends on the manifold but for a ramhorn i would say start to finish i'm into it 8-10 hrs.

 

Do you have a set cuts you make before starting? Or do you just figure the angles on a per-manifold basis? The last one I did was a real bitch ... I'm trying to find ways to improve, even though I do not plan to make manifolds regularly.

 

 

Make one and document the cuts (length/angles)... then jig the final product. Some of my stuff has a "negative" to drop bends into place w/o a possible screw up of runner placement.

 

Im sorry i should have put in there that I use pre made collectors.

 

I always have a collector cut before starting and as I build one I have more collectors cutting. I would say 8-10 as well for a ram horn total.

 

Becuase my **** is hella baller... mine take about 12 hours.... er four months.

 

Being that I usually only work on Honda applications I dont even waste my time making manifolds anymore. For the Honda market it is a waste of time if you can get a good quality manifold from one of a number of companies.

I know you are usually working on VW or Audi type stuff so for you I would say that it could be profitable. I dont think that your start to finish time is out of the ball park. Especially with the type of work you are turning out.

If it is taking you longer than expected to make a manifold then I would just pass the extra expense in time on to the customer. Your work is awsome so I dont think it should be a problem.

 

Markku,

takes me about the same pal.

 

Bill for your time invested, if it takes you 12 hours to make a quality part it takes you 12 hours. Its not worth competing w/ the lowballers as you'll never get ahead. I haven't made any new ramhorns in months cuz these days they will never pay the overhead. You seem to have a niche market it, stick to it and bill accordingly.

 

It's all in how you look at it. If you're looking to start new it's going to take a lot of time. Lets say you decide you want to make your own flanges. Well you need to buy gaskets, make a cad design, Burn or cnc mill your flanges, make a collector, backpurge and or backgrind. It really depends on what kind of quality you want. Obviously mig welding is the ulitimate production welding process, but most people tig weld manifolds for the quality. You also have to consider quantities. One manifold will take X amount of time. 5 of the same will take almost half the amount depending on the situation.

 

Takes me about the same. I do it for fun mostly, I can make 4 times that amount in simple repairs. Repair work pays my bills and fab work is more like a hobby than a money maker.

 

I was always wondering how long it takes people to fab something like a turbo manifold up, I think repairs would prolly yeild more money then custom fabing something for someone, maybe not im a noob to the welding game as of now

 

i find after buying $200 in materials, gas for the tig and back purge, and then try to sell at a competitive price it ends up being (for me) around $10-$15 per hr. its kinda hard to sell a custom manifold for top dollar when someone can buy a brand name one for the same price, you may have to lowball the price of your manifolds untill you get a name for yourself out there making great quality stuff, then the price can go up.. just my 2 cents

 

yeah this market is like any for custom made stuff. without a name for yourself no one will justify spending the money, unless you unlock some mega-secrets and are now making more power than anyone one else. im starting to do some fab work but like someone else said, it will be more for a hobby than a money making scheme, however if i make some cash on the side it will keep the hobby a little more interesting.

 

Well, I learned a long time ago that manifolds was not a way to make money, at least not for me. I have never made a Honda manifold either. I learned pretty early on that there are high-quality Honda manifolds available for next to nothing. (I still don't understand why anyone takes the time to make a quality product to turn around and sell it for $500-600, sure you'll sell a lot of them, but you're just shooting yourself in the foot). I understand the whole thing about making a name for yourself, but what will lowballing do for your name?

I find this entire industry has a lot of non-business like trends, low balling, undercutting, all things that hurt everyone including the ones doing it ... but what can you do. I'll just keep doing what I do, as long as people are willing to pay for it.

Thanks for participating guys!

 

this is why the honda market is hard to work with. it is waaaay to overpopulated with talented fabricators, which drives the price of quality work down. The honda scene is very tough to make money in, stick with a small niche market and you can make decent money.

 

Yeah i always scratch my head at manifold makers. Ive made 3 manifold and im no manifold pro. Its just to me not worth it. Unless you have jigs all set up and what not and pre made collectors and flanges. **** is it realy worth hovering over that hot manifold for what at the end 10-15 bucks a hour????

Mark like everyone else stated, i would not bother making them one offs here and there. Just get the customer to buy one or charge large.

 

Yeah, I think that's where it's headed. One offs in the 1000+ range, and that's it. Taking 16 hours of shop time, and charging 15/h is just plain not going to work for me, as the bills need to get paid. I guess when you're working out of your home garage, or parents' place, it's okay, but when you have a shop that costs a certain amount per hour just to have the lights on, it's a different game.

 

the amazing part is how many people think having a custom 1 off manifold is cheaper. "xxx company has xxx manifold for 600, can you make me one cheaper?"

i get that all day every day.

 

Charge your hours, if you don't you will either be very poor, or you will go out of business, it is that simple. Let the cheap *** customers buy parts from the dude making parts out of his basement, people who want a solid product where they know they can get support in the future will pay the extra bucks to buy from a legit shop.