Need 9 more guys who want ws-6 hood.
#92
05-02-2012, 01:39 PM
That "He" is Me actually - I'm Jeanie 
~ And I correspond with all our customers by email, fb or phone and on some of the forums we sponsor.
A little background, before I get into answering some questions I've read through out the forum.
The reason we haven't made a 99 Monte hood yet, or have put our ateneas out there to gauge interest is because we really don't have an interest in them. Can say that over the last 5 years, we've had about 10 guys asking - including the original guy who asked about doing something custom.
It's different when you're building hoods for Camaro's and Firebirds, you know that they're going to sell and you'll at the very least recoup the money and time you've invested into making the project.
As I've explained to Clinton, making the mold alone on an item can run in the thousands. If I had to put some numbers on it, I'd say between $7-10,000, and that's not even making the parts after. We do not use CAD or other machinery to build our items, everything here is done the old fashioned way, by hand. Yes, it may take longer to build something or it may be more expensive to make molds, but we wouldn't have it any other way (well maybe if we found a system that works better!) ~ But it allows us to make parts that we know will fit, the customers will be happy with and have a very strong customer base because of that reason.
The $1100 for building a mold is pretty reasonable - although I know it's more then an average guy can afford. One of the reasons we would send customers his way is because he was more of a custom shop then we are and he did good work. Materials used to make molds and the parts are unfortunately not inexpensive - everything's petrolum bases, and unlike gas, our prices never decrease. Which is one of the reasons that guy is no longer in business sadly ~ Even though the price at $1100 sounded pretty nuts, he was probably undercutting himself just to get the order.
When Clinton originally started emailing me, we didn't really want to take this project on. We're extremely swamped with our normal production, and still slammed from an extremely crazy winter and early spring when everyone is gearing up for the season. And we no longer take on as many custom jobs as we used to. As much as everyone things there is, there is really no money doing these projects. You can never charge the customer what it costs you to build the item and recover your time, because most guys are not equipped to pay that much or don't want to. So we eat it. And have done for many projects we've taken on over the years. Have a lot of pieces we were told that would sell well, made them, and I'd say we've sold 1-5 over the last 10 years. Our Mustang Fiberfab front end is a perfect example of that.
What we have done for other forums that were looking for something custom, is work with them on a design that they come up with - and is feesable for us to do.
This is where the 10 orders come in, with deposits when we're ready to go with this project, because without that, we are unfortunately not able to set things aside to do something custom that won't really sell well for us. At least having this amount of orders will help us recover most of our costs from making the molds, without having to charge a customer an enormous mold charge - or not take the order at all, which chances are, is what we would do.
Our guy suggested the Ultra Z because he has seen them out there, and yes, there are guys at the track all the time that don't like a scoop from one car put on another car. There are a lot of picky guys out there that believe that everything should be anatomically correct, which is why we really don't see the hood selling too well otherwise.
A cowl hood would be better, and would most definitely get the final approval as it's something more universal that most customers can agree on.
Having a moment to actually jump on the forum and read what is going on here - I don't get a lunch sometimes!! ~ I can see that there is interest in the WS6 design, and I'll let our guy know that. I don't think we would do anything with extractors off the bottom or top, would have to be a fairly simple design should he agree to take it on. But it would give you guys a hood that would work well for you. The water drainage can be taken care of by a simple drain hole we add to some of our designs.
As for ZZP, we no longer work with them because of issues we had with their company. Not the other way around - have heard previously that they were blaming the split on us. We decided to terminate business with them. Although, we never did a Monte hood for them, it was a Grand Prix design that we still offer.
The customer who has our WS6 hood on your Firebird, since you're local, is there a way to schedule some time to bring it in for an adjustment? That, or I can get some troubleshooting advice done here for you.
Our guy will usually install these for customers on a Saturday - or make adjustments, but because of our workload, it might be a week or two before he can take you. Let me know, and we'll get that guy fitting correctly for you. You can reach me here at the shop 8am to 4pm 630.543.0232.
Hope this helps explain things a little more for you guys.
If we can move forward with this, to be honest, it won't be until mid to late summer unfortunately. Because of the amount of orders we have in our shop right now, we are not taking any custom work until we slow down a little, which summer seems to be our slower period.
Once the go-ahead is given, and we get a hood..I advise our customers to allow 8-10 weeks for the items to be completed. Normally it takes anywhere from 4-5 weeks to make a part that we have a mold for, sometimes a little less if we're a little slower...but mold work adds a few more weeks to that process.
Thanks guys.
Will chat with our guy and let him know about the interest...get some more feedback here for you guys shortly. I like to keep things honest and realistic...sometimes that means on passing on things and other times it means we can do it, but have always appreciated honesty when I'm doing business with someone and think our customers like the same.
Jeanie
~ And I correspond with all our customers by email, fb or phone and on some of the forums we sponsor.A little background, before I get into answering some questions I've read through out the forum.
The reason we haven't made a 99 Monte hood yet, or have put our ateneas out there to gauge interest is because we really don't have an interest in them. Can say that over the last 5 years, we've had about 10 guys asking - including the original guy who asked about doing something custom.
It's different when you're building hoods for Camaro's and Firebirds, you know that they're going to sell and you'll at the very least recoup the money and time you've invested into making the project.
As I've explained to Clinton, making the mold alone on an item can run in the thousands. If I had to put some numbers on it, I'd say between $7-10,000, and that's not even making the parts after. We do not use CAD or other machinery to build our items, everything here is done the old fashioned way, by hand. Yes, it may take longer to build something or it may be more expensive to make molds, but we wouldn't have it any other way (well maybe if we found a system that works better!) ~ But it allows us to make parts that we know will fit, the customers will be happy with and have a very strong customer base because of that reason.
The $1100 for building a mold is pretty reasonable - although I know it's more then an average guy can afford. One of the reasons we would send customers his way is because he was more of a custom shop then we are and he did good work. Materials used to make molds and the parts are unfortunately not inexpensive - everything's petrolum bases, and unlike gas, our prices never decrease. Which is one of the reasons that guy is no longer in business sadly ~ Even though the price at $1100 sounded pretty nuts, he was probably undercutting himself just to get the order.
When Clinton originally started emailing me, we didn't really want to take this project on. We're extremely swamped with our normal production, and still slammed from an extremely crazy winter and early spring when everyone is gearing up for the season. And we no longer take on as many custom jobs as we used to. As much as everyone things there is, there is really no money doing these projects. You can never charge the customer what it costs you to build the item and recover your time, because most guys are not equipped to pay that much or don't want to. So we eat it. And have done for many projects we've taken on over the years. Have a lot of pieces we were told that would sell well, made them, and I'd say we've sold 1-5 over the last 10 years. Our Mustang Fiberfab front end is a perfect example of that.
What we have done for other forums that were looking for something custom, is work with them on a design that they come up with - and is feesable for us to do.
This is where the 10 orders come in, with deposits when we're ready to go with this project, because without that, we are unfortunately not able to set things aside to do something custom that won't really sell well for us. At least having this amount of orders will help us recover most of our costs from making the molds, without having to charge a customer an enormous mold charge - or not take the order at all, which chances are, is what we would do.
Our guy suggested the Ultra Z because he has seen them out there, and yes, there are guys at the track all the time that don't like a scoop from one car put on another car. There are a lot of picky guys out there that believe that everything should be anatomically correct, which is why we really don't see the hood selling too well otherwise.
A cowl hood would be better, and would most definitely get the final approval as it's something more universal that most customers can agree on.
Having a moment to actually jump on the forum and read what is going on here - I don't get a lunch sometimes!! ~ I can see that there is interest in the WS6 design, and I'll let our guy know that. I don't think we would do anything with extractors off the bottom or top, would have to be a fairly simple design should he agree to take it on. But it would give you guys a hood that would work well for you. The water drainage can be taken care of by a simple drain hole we add to some of our designs.
As for ZZP, we no longer work with them because of issues we had with their company. Not the other way around - have heard previously that they were blaming the split on us. We decided to terminate business with them. Although, we never did a Monte hood for them, it was a Grand Prix design that we still offer.
The customer who has our WS6 hood on your Firebird, since you're local, is there a way to schedule some time to bring it in for an adjustment? That, or I can get some troubleshooting advice done here for you.
Our guy will usually install these for customers on a Saturday - or make adjustments, but because of our workload, it might be a week or two before he can take you. Let me know, and we'll get that guy fitting correctly for you. You can reach me here at the shop 8am to 4pm 630.543.0232.
Hope this helps explain things a little more for you guys.
If we can move forward with this, to be honest, it won't be until mid to late summer unfortunately. Because of the amount of orders we have in our shop right now, we are not taking any custom work until we slow down a little, which summer seems to be our slower period.
Once the go-ahead is given, and we get a hood..I advise our customers to allow 8-10 weeks for the items to be completed. Normally it takes anywhere from 4-5 weeks to make a part that we have a mold for, sometimes a little less if we're a little slower...but mold work adds a few more weeks to that process.
Thanks guys.
Will chat with our guy and let him know about the interest...get some more feedback here for you guys shortly. I like to keep things honest and realistic...sometimes that means on passing on things and other times it means we can do it, but have always appreciated honesty when I'm doing business with someone and think our customers like the same.
Jeanie
#94
05-02-2012, 04:51 PM
7 are in for ws-6. Dont know about other designs. But the mid to late summer part drops one of our guys out. He is in Canada and is driving through the area around July so that is why the big push for end of May. He was the first to say yes "IM IN". Without him we are at 6.
Last edited by Mr Grizzly Mint; 05-02-2012 at 05:01 PM.
#95
05-02-2012, 08:07 PM
i agree the cowl hoods do look awesome 
thats y i am having one custom made as i speak its a 4" cowl hood that has the svo induction on top of the scoop.
thats y i am having one custom made as i speak its a 4" cowl hood that has the svo induction on top of the scoop.
#96
05-02-2012, 09:50 PM
aright...well i'm that "Canadian"... the cowl is kinda growing on me but im not completely sold on it... would it be hallow on in the inside or just a cowl stuck on the hood? whats the price on this guy? seems way simpler to make, should be cheaper...imo
also for the "ship" date... it would be great if it was ready for when i drive through.. as shipping and duty fee's would probably be 50% if not more then the hood itself..
so im not "out" but just want a bit more info on this.. specially on the shipping side of things.. if possible..
also for the "ship" date... it would be great if it was ready for when i drive through.. as shipping and duty fee's would probably be 50% if not more then the hood itself..
so im not "out" but just want a bit more info on this.. specially on the shipping side of things.. if possible..
#97
05-02-2012, 10:28 PM
OK but we would need to make another forum and shoot some cowl ideas if the ws-6 dropped out. 4" is to big for me but a staggered 2-2.5" like nemisis's hood on page 9 would be ok. Again we would probably need to get all the guys together in a chat room or file sharing web like a private wiki and agree on a hood.
#98
05-02-2012, 10:35 PM
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: St.Louis , MO.
Posts: 7,523
Nice Looking Hood..How Much $$$ ???
#100
05-03-2012, 12:52 AM
it's photoshopped :p
If it was in steel i'd guess about $800 or so, I don't think fiberglass would be much cheaper, it all depends on how much initial interest they get also.
I would love that hood lol
I would love that hood lol