Custom Fab Work Requests

[UnitD77]

My roommate plans to get into the custom fabrication business.
He wants to know, just as a curiosity as of right now. What Items would you fellow PTers like to see fabbed up.

He wants to start small but is willing to do just about anything. He initial ideas was to do Billet Aluminum pulleys.
He wants to (and i wont stop him) build me a Long Tube 4-2-1 Header that removes the CAT so the runners can be longer.

My question is, what Items would you like to see him offer? Nothing will be made, he just wants to know what types of items people would like to see.

[rob302]

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my friend kevins spends an average of 40 hours fabbing up headers. he charges $90/hr and they come out with tubes equal within 1/8"... there's NO MONEY in making these for a PT. he could make WAAAAAAAAYYYYYY more elsewhere



for pulleys, is he planning to turn them on a lathe? i only ask as last i checked, having a part CNC'd from someone else was $300 for setup, $300 an hour to run it, plus materials.

even on a lathe skipping CNC fees in favor of labor, how can he make any money?? pulleys are too big to be profitable, IMO..
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plus getting incorporated and insured so if he makes something that fails and he gets sued... f that. which is why i didn't get into that business.

there is NOTHING he should be wasting time making for PT's if he's trying to make a living.

why not start with universal junk.. door lock pulls, chromies, dress up parts, etc?

i went to school for mechanical engineering. i wanted to make RC car parts for a while. ie: a pair of A-arms for $30-40 made out of a $2 chunk of aluminum....+ $300 for setup, +$300 an hour to produce.

[rob302]

i ddin't mean to sound like a dick..

[AnRAutotech]

We try it didn't work, no market for PT new items.

[Fk5]

I doubt there is any market for PT pulleys. You can't see 'em. I know a guy who makes motorcycle stuff. Triple trees, pulleys/cogs for belt drives, adapters for more modern brakes (calipers and master cylinders).

There is a mopar guy that makes a bunch of that type stuff - adapters to use Viper calipers or Toyota alternators on muscle cars. AR Engineering. I think that might be where you can make some money. Kits to adapt modern engines into older cars (swap mounts) and pulley/bracket set-ups to use more modern a/c compressors, alternators and serpentine belt set-ups on modern cars. Still probably not much money, but at least there might be a market.

[UnitD77]

I duno how he plans to make money off it, I'd assume he isn't charging $300 an hour to run it or set it up. There is plenty of custom parts milled out for other forums. He is currently a Focus guy, and they make all sorts of parts for each other. I wasn't looking into the viability of the practice, that's his problem, I was just looking for ideas for him to make.