Let me ask if it's ok first...

 

Yea DITTO - its like a strip tease - show us all of the goods.

 

 

What until you see the Header that goes with the head. All 304 stainless with true equal length primaries going into a Burns collector.

I should have pics very soon.

Longboard

 

I hate you...

 

Don't be hating with Jesus in your signature!

 

ooops...I was directing that jovial remark to Longboard teasing me with more stuff I don't have...

 

I would be surprised if the little devil o.k.s that pic - the port design is starting to get into his I.P.

 

and he is a buddy, once the head is sold, it's not his to say if it can be photod or not. It's really up to the owner of the head. That said, head owners may not want to **** thier tuner off.

But really, it shouldn't be that big a deal. If someone wanted to map his head, they could just buy one and have all the secrets..... Kind of like some others have done!

Matt

 

Some of us are not technically "customers"...let's say more like "partners in crime/test pilots"

 

I understand.....

 

we're all just jelous!

Matt

 

Chuck Yeager's of the mini world!

 

OT: but related-ish to those waiting for the cam

we have been working on cam design for a couple weeks in my Design and Manufacturing II class, and it is sweet, it is a whole lot of work though, zillions of equations, but i think it is fun

though we were working off a boring pushrod engine

back to your normal programming schedule

 

If you could equate the perfect MINI cam you would be our hero!

 

i could do that if someone told me the ideal lift and duration paths for the valves (we haven't learnt that yet) which would be different for different heads and paid me an consultant fee and lent me their cnc grinder

right now i am working on the steering and brakes for the UofM-Ann Arbor Solar Race Car (mmm carbon fiber monocoque). gonna be racing in the world championship australia (4 time US champions but only ever gotten 3rd in the world) this fall i will post about it in the offtopic forums when we unveil the car and all (if you are interested www.umsolar.com) sorry for the hijack

 

Longboard when are you going to dyno that bad boy so Jan can sell me something else?

.

 

Of course, but I really don't care to show everyone else. He doesn't want every other tuner and their mother getting their hands on it, that's fine with me, and I understand why . This head is truely revolutionary.

 

Very soon. Jan is picking me up so we can go get my car right now.

Longboard

 

Very soon. Jan is picking me up so we can go get my car right now. and then we're off to the dyno and then to test and tune at Pomona tonight

 

Aww... too bad. I wanted to come for the dyno .

 

bump...

 

but after I was in grad school, my lab partner and I found ourselves working at different companies making the same technology. I called him up and asked him for all his marketing liturature, at first he said "Are you crazy?". When I pointed out that all I had to do was call a friend who'd ask for it all, and then send it to me, and I'd get it anyway, with the only difference their sales force would act like it had a real lead, he sent it to me.

Lesson here, if one of the other vendors wants the info, they will get it by buying a head. I think several head suppliers here have done just that. This doesn't mean you make it easy, but it's impossible to hide the design. Best you can hope for is to sell a bunch first, and make a rep so others come to you.

Sad fact of the competitive market.

Matt

ps, I know this doesn't mean you give it away, but I'd only go so far to hide what it looks like. You really need the 3D profiles to copy it, so photos won't really do much.

 

Or, maybe you file a patent application if you believe you truly have something to protect. One other alternative (which would certainly flush out the copy-cats) would be to sell the head under license to the end user. One of the prohibited uses would be to perform (or assist in the performance of) any reverse engineering of the head.

However, all of this exercise is to just slow down your competition. When you consider the potential size of the market for the head, you can't be looking at more than say, 5,000 total head sales (and this is probably across all vendors). Factoring in the cost of a patent and the defense of the patent, it is probably not cost-effective to pursue patent protection.

If memory serves, the little devil is also an ECU tuner of the first order. His tuning secrets (and fuel maps) will provide a bigger bang in combination with the head than just the head alone. This is where the secret sauce can become compelling. In fact, I would consider giving the head away (for a little more than cost) when combined with an ECU tune.

I wonder what people would pay for a head + ECU tune combination that yielded somthing around 250 whp?

 

[quote=caminifan;

I wonder what people would pay for a head + ECU tune combination that yielded somthing around 250 whp?[/quote]

Head + ECU + =

More power just arrived!

Attachment 20251



Lognboard