sheetmetal ls3 intakes on ebay

[Kenny]

So do the flanges or welds leak? What does each dyno out to? Sometimes there are guys out there that can't afford an intake that costs $2,000 more just on assumptions. There is nobody speaking with a first hand comparison (testing) yet. I have considerable experience with the manufacture of high end race components..... If you guys think that your high end "made in USA" race valves weren't machined off blanks that came from China, or the roller wheels on your roller lifters, the list goes on and on.....

I made intake tubes, throttle bodies, custom roller cams etc, for a different application. You can't patent everything you build and Hogan's might have a suit against American companies if we did. The key is having your next product in the design stages before someone copies the current version. Staying a step ahead is key. One thing I can tell you for sure: It doesn't matter if you are the only person making a particular product, knocking people over the head with your prices will catch up with you sooner or later..... I personally know lots of companies that have fallen prey to this.

So back to the OP, how does this intake perform?

[Bsinclair]

Originally Posted by Kenny

So do the flanges or welds leak? What does each dyno out to? Sometimes there are guys out there that can't afford an intake that costs $2,000 more just on assumptions. There is nobody speaking with a first hand comparison (testing) yet. I have considerable experience with the manufacture of high end race components..... If you guys think that your high end "made in USA" race valves weren't machined off blanks that came from China, or the roller wheels on your roller lifters, the list goes on and on.....

I made intake tubes, throttle bodies, custom roller cams etc, for a different application. You can't patent everything you build and Hogan's might have a suit against American companies if we did. The key is having your next product in the design stages before someone copies the current version. Staying a step ahead is key. One thing I can tell you for sure: It doesn't matter if you are the only person making a particular product, knocking people over the head with your prices will catch up with you sooner or later..... I personally know lots of companies that have fallen prey to this.

So back to the OP, how does this intake perform?

i asked for dyno charts as they said it had already been done. i have yet to get any info from them. with the short runners i would think the hp would be higher than the american made unit and tq to be a little less. i was told by the seller they would sell one for $650 if i wanted to try one. im no where close to having my car running so im really not interested currently.

i agree with you 100% on the above statements. i have watched this happen in motorcycle parts for years. over charge enough people and there will be someone ready to jump in with the same part for half the price.

[Kenny]

Originally Posted by Bsinclair

i asked for dyno charts as they said it had already been done. i have yet to get any info from them. with the short runners i would think the hp would be higher than the american made unit and tq to be a little less. i was told by the seller they would sell one for $650 if i wanted to try one. im no where close to having my car running so im really not interested currently.

i agree with you 100% on the above statements. i have watched this happen in motorcycle parts for years. over charge enough people and there will be someone ready to jump in with the same part for half the price.

Throwing out accusations of someone "stealing" a design is kind of ludicrous as well. We have Hogan, Wilson, Precision.... Who was first? Who was the first to do the bell mouth runner extensions that Jim Feuling was running 30 years ago, and many ran before him? This is all about looks, and they all look awesome.

You won't be able to predict the performance with just runner length. If two intakes are tuned to the same rpm, but one uses first wave (shorter runner), and the other uses second wave(longer), you will normally see the shorter runner making more power at the extreme ends of the rpm range, and the longer runner will be more concentrated toward the midrange. Same goes with taper. A 3° taper will have more at the extreme ends, where a 0 taper will be more concentrated around the tuning point. You can also factor in plenum volume, more volume usually = more bottom end. That would be deceptive when comparing these intakes because the volume of the port extending into the plenum will need to be subtracted from the volume.

We had a local guy that was running an end all sheetmetal intake on a mountain motor (before he went top fuel funny car) and he was just mopping the floor with his competition......everyone bitched and whined about that magic intake. He finally got so pissed off that he replaced the intake with an unported holley pro dominator tunnel ram at the track and went faster! Everyone was just dumbfounded, including him. You just don't know until you run it.

[camcojb]

Originally Posted by Kenny

Throwing out accusations of someone "stealing" a design is kind of ludicrous as well.

Call it what you want, but that manifold is pretty much identical from the outside to the PMC unit. I've had a couple Hogan manifolds, along with Wilson. They're all sheetmetal intakes, but they don't look the same.

They copied PMC's design in my opinion.

[Kenny]

Originally Posted by camcojb

Call it what you want, but that manifold is pretty much identical from the outside to the PMC unit. I've had a couple Hogan manifolds, along with Wilson. They're all sheetmetal intakes, but they don't look the same.

They copied PMC's design in my opinion.

I agree, and it sucks, but it is what it is. Everyone in this business has to deal with this problem. The best defense that I found was to constantly move forward, use manufacturing techniques that kept expenses to the end user as reasonable as possible and of course, customer service. Look, there is a reason someone can build a similar intake for less than 1/3 the price and still have enough room to knock $150 off the retail price. This is not purely a function of being made offshore.

The more desirable your product is, the more others are tempted to copy it.....Personally, I would make the recommendation that if you can't/won't pony up the bucks for the PMC unit, go with the Holley Hi-Ram or Edelbrock unit. Let's put this where it is, it's about the looks and having something others can't afford. There is no inherent performance advantage to having an off the shelf sheetmetal intake that isn't custom designed on the dyno for your particular application.

I am not willing to buy a Rolex as it doesn't make sense at my income level. I am not interested in a knock-off that is just offensive IMO. Yet I still like to know what time it is, and you would be mistaken to assume that me and my Timex don't know what time it is