Rare but important parts? Lets make more!

[VaGuS510]

Hello everybody

I have an opportunity. The company that I worked at last summer and I am going to be working at permanently in a couple months is being into manufacturing overseas(cause that is where it all happens now). They tend to manufacture smaller parts but if they see profit in it. They can do die casting of aluminum and zinc, machining of anything, injection molding of plastics, and many other processes (likewise, if they don't currently do it and see profit, they may be interested).

This gives us an opportunity. We can have a large number of parts manufactured for a relatively cheap price. Candidate parts need to be for common vehicles, be used on multiple models and ideally require at least one per vehicle.

On example would be the L-series thermostat housing. It was used on hundreds of thousands of cars and good ones are hard to come by in my experience (I have broken a few bolts off myself).

Other ideas:

-Exterior door handles (I have broken two)

I am just testing the water with this. They are incredibly busy right now and so this would not be a priority for them or me.

[Arne]

I don't know that either of those two examples are good candidates, because they are still available new from Nissan.

[FastWoman]

For the 240, 260, and 280...

plastic interior panels!

Edited March 13, 2011 by FastWoman

[Mike B]

Reproduction plastic interior panels are already available for the 240Z. I'm not sure if 260Z and 280Z interior panels are the same, but I know they are different than those on a 240Z.

I think you would be hard pressed to find many parts that could be easily reproduced, are used on all years of the S30, and are not currently available. Also the thing that makes a part rare is that they weren't used on many cars, so I don't think any of the common parts would be considered rare.

Now if they could make small runs of some of the truly rare early parts that would be something else, but the market wouldn't be very big, so it's probably not economically feasible.

-Mike

[VaGuS510]

well, my thinking is that there are a number of parts that are hard to come by simply because they fail often...and that is what makes them rare. it is likely that many of the candidate parts are already produced, but I am curious if there are any others out there.

[Gary in NJ]

1972 Choke lever. I bet you could sell as many a 20 a year

[hls30.com]

Rare but important parts? Lets make more!

... large number of parts manufactured for a relatively cheap price. Candidate parts need to be for common vehicles, be used on multiple models and ideally require at least one per vehicle.

... They are incredibly busy right now and so this would not be a priority for them or me.

You have a good idea that does not fit your required parameters.

Rare but important parts are not those that are " for common vehicles, be used on multiple models".

When I looked in to having similar(essentially cosmetic) pieces made by an overseas company(I sent the folks at the Harrington Group(and others) a bunch of photos, measurements and a few parts, the up front costs to the company were expected to be made up by volume. When you have a shrinking market(the S30 market), the typical business model is a tough fit. Enthusiast tend to do things with out regard to profit to create availability-at least for themselves-exactly the opposite from the typical business model your company looks for.

Most of the currently rare parts sell to the few enthusiasts that consistently win the ebay auctions for unobtanium Is there a single part of an S30 other than tires that I could sell 10,000-(even 500) of if I were to pay for the parts, pay to have them shipped, picked up, stored, and shipped out as needed-I could not come up with one.

[cygnusx1]

Ironically, the very reason things become rare is because they aren't worth making in volume anymore. Find someone that can make 1-10 pieces, of a variety of parts, at very low cost, and now you have a business. Unfortunately, SLA types of technology (3D Printing) is just about the only thing that can do this right now. The problem is that SLA models are not fully functioning parts and a good SLA machine costs a fortune. A few more years and we will get there though. The next closest technology, is using SLA to make molds that can mold one-off parts. Still expensive though.

Edited March 13, 2011 by cygnusx1

[Oiluj]

Yep, SLA and other rapid prototype technologies will revolutionize the classic car parts industry. It's just going to take a maybe 5 more years for rapid prototype parts to become good enough at a low cost. Happily, it's only a matter of time...

[jellobob777]

The one item that comes to mind if it could be done at a reasonable price is the chrome /plastic strip that divides the center of the 240 Tailights .It has never been available by its self that i know of and almost every 240 built from 1969 through 1973 could use new ones , I could use a few sets of those myself

[wmitch5219]

Some parts that could be manufactured relatively cheaply I think are reproductions of the various OEM exhaust parts for the 240z. When I finished my car last year after 5 years of restoration, the very last part that I needed was a stock downpipe. After searching and searching, I finally found a NOS example and paid dearly for it. With the dwindling (there may be none) choices for exhaust systems for the 240, I think that there is a market for these parts. Up until a just a year or two ago, you could buy a complete exhaust from a Nissan dealer. Now they're all gone.

[Carl Beck]

The one item that comes to mind if it could be done at a reasonable price is the chrome /plastic strip that divides the center of the 240 Tailights .It has never been available by its self that i know of and almost every 240 built from 1969 through 1973 could use new ones , I could use a few sets of those myself

+1 for this !!

Not up your ally - but door skins - really excellent OEM quality would be required. Needed presently or not - many people I know would buy two or three pares just for spares if the price was at all reasonable.

FWIW,

Carl B.