HVE Carbon Fibre Cold Air Intakes - a cheaper option?

[bretton]

Hey guys,

A few years ago HVE developed carbon fibre cold air intakes for the X3 Excel/Accent, LC Accent, J2 Lantra/Elantra and RD/RD2 Coupe. The problem is that at A$250 each (or A$275 for customers in Australia) they are a slow seller. Quite often I get asked if there is any way to make them cheaper, and unfortunately due to the nature of carbon fibre parts, the answer is generally 'no'.

The question is, do people want these becuase they are carbon fibre and look good, or the added benefits of the larger amount of air flow compared to the factory air feed into the airbox, or the cooler feed of air when compared to a a pod style filter sucking in warm air from the engine bay.

One option we are considering is to make these HVE cold air intakes from fibreglass instead of carbon fibre, which will reduce the price from A$250 to A$180 each. Even though the will not look as good (in some eyes) as real carbon fibre, they will allow you to paint them to match your car's colour, or engine bay feature colour, or any colour you want really.

Any interest?

Cheers


Bretton
www.PerformanceStylingCentre.com.au

[AccentMangaGL]

I think the problem is, that people can make their own WAI or custom make a CAI for like 1/4th of the cost as it is for the carbon fiber one. Even if you made one out of hard plastic and sold them in different colors I think people would buy them. Plastic would look decent and probably be more effective then a metal would. Its just too expensive..

[rockym20]

Actually Bretton, I've been wanting to buy one, but I just got married this summer so I've got a bit (actually a lot) of debt to deal with right now.

I don't think the price is out of line for your carbon fiber model. The cost of your CAI is quite a bit lower than an AEM or Ingen. I think it just hasn't been promoted and talked about much in North America. Perhaps a dyno test showing the increase in power for a stock motor would help things. Lots of people have the AEM and it is a proven performer. If your CAI can provide similar gains and you can back it up with some results, I would expect it would help your sales. This would help you go after the performance people out there. I'm not sure if it would help with the show people as it seems like everyone prefers the look of the metal-tube type CAI. Who knows, maybe a big, long, shiny tube under the hood is overcompensation for a shortfall somewhere else?:

[skierd]

Shipping and cost have been the two major put offs so far for me. I think the carbon fiber is sexy, but so long as it performs and looks decent it could be made out of monkey poo for all I care. I'm probably the exception though...

Any chance of making it out of hard plastic, like the factory resonator or something? Or maybe a fiberglass one that doesnt need to be paint and comes in basic black? Also, will the c/f ones still be available?

If you make it out of hte cheaper material, would you also thing about replacing the stock corrugated rubber section that goes from the airbox to the TB?

[Mad-Machine]

the only problem I have with glassfibre.. it will burn if it gets too hot.

[AccentMangaGL]

I agree, the shipping and handling is what defers us US people from buying them usually. I wouldn't mind paying a little extra for a better looking intake that gives good gains. However I think a hard plastic cheaper version of the intake would be good as well. Give people two options the CF intake or different colored plastic ones.

[qtiger]

Originally posted by Mad-Machine
[body]
the only problem I have with glassfibre.. it will burn if it gets too hot.
[/body]

The plenum on my intake manifold is fiberglass... no problems here.

[bretton]

Yes, I know the shipping cost to the USA can be a bugger. SR do not seem too keen to stock the carbon fibre intakes, but if we had someone in the USA who wanted to it may make it easier.

Fibreglass and carbon fibre is not a great worry under the engine bay with regards to heat, and you would not have any worries regarding this unless the part was within an inch or two of a hot exhaust. Most race cars uses a lot of carbon fibre under the engine bay and fibreglass/carbon/kevlar as bodykit parts (including sideskirts running close to the exhaust outlets) and don't seem to haev any problems regarding fire. Where the exhaust runs close, the fibreglass/carbon fibre/kevlar is usually just shielded with some heat reflective tape.

Unfortunately for small production runs plastics are not an option due to the high setup costs. For plastic parts to become viable, the production run usually has to be 1,000 units plus. The setup and tooling costs for plastic parts is pretty expensive, but the manufacture cost per item is less than fibreglass or other composite materials. That's why most aftermarket bosdykits are made from fibreglass, instead of plastics.

Cheers


Bretton
www.PerformanceStylingCentre.com.au

[rockym20]

Ya, I have a client that does injection molded plastic and a good mold can cost anywhere from $20,000 - $50,000 Canadian (which is like a $1.50 US, but I digress). So you would have to sell a lot of parts just to cover the mold cost.

[db25]

I always liked the hve intake. I think it is a good design. I would be interested if it came in a plastic version rather than the expensive carbon fiber.