At the moment in gauging the feasibility of making casting molds to reproduce in sand cast aluminum, the intake manifold which I have designed for my single turbo Legnum project. As I have had a few people ask me to make one for them.
here are a few photos of my prototype fitted to my car
although the first prototype (pictured) was designed to have the throttle body on the drivers side of the car only. for the cast version it will be a symmetrical bolt pattern so the upper plenum shell can be reversed to have the throttle body on the stock side.
also my manifold is to suit a Ford FG Falcon 70mm E-throttle (drive by wire) I have yet to check fitment in the car with a stock "large bore" auto throttle body but i don't see it being an issue
here are some pics of stock intake vs my intake bolted up in both orientations
stock intake ... we all know what this looks like, (its shit
)
My Intake, "twin turbo orientation"
My Intake "single turbo aka flipped orientation"
my current prototype has trumpets inside the plenum chamber, although i only did it this way because it was the way I could at the time. after some flow bench testing i have revised the design to having a bellmouthed edge as part of the plenum chamber base plate. this not only significantly increases airflow, but simplifies production and increases plenum volume.
now down to some numbers.
the foundry needs to make one "cast prototype" to get the risers and metal flow through the mould correct. and of course needs to manufacture the patterns for the sand moulds.
this is the majority of the cost, (ignoring the post casting machining, milling, drilling and threading all bolt holes etc.
to create the cast prototype and evenly split the mould tooling costs the cost is
for 5 manifolds $2100NZD per person
for 7 manifolds $1750NZD per person
for 10 manifolds $1500NZD per person
this is cost price, I am not making a cent off this, Infact making a loss on each one after machining the castings and supplying bolts etc, the final sale price would be around 2000nzd after the first batch, just willing to offer the first batch at a lower price to help break up the tooling costs.
Of course a brake booster and boost reference port will need to be drilled and tapped in somewhere. but that can be easily done, even on the underneath if you wish for it to be hidden. and you clearly have to make intercooler piping to suit. for twin turbo fitment probably means ditching the stock airbox and battery to boot to make some sort of airbox in place of the stock battery.
for single turbo fitment, moving the rad overflow bottle and maybe tweaking the PS bottle bracket to fit I/C piping. also the dipstick tube mounting bracket would need to be modified as (with the falcon throttle at least) the dipstick is in the way,
You can get away with ditching the coolant feed to the stock throttle body.
if there is enough interest for this payment would be upfront to cover the prototype and mould costs.
and there would realistically more than likely be a 2 or 3 month lead time from puling the trigger on it to having a product in the post to you due to the prototyping and mould making processes.
any questions feel free to ask. and if your intrested in one either post here or PM me and ill make a list. if I get enough people we can start talking about time frame
here are a few photos of my prototype fitted to my car
although the first prototype (pictured) was designed to have the throttle body on the drivers side of the car only. for the cast version it will be a symmetrical bolt pattern so the upper plenum shell can be reversed to have the throttle body on the stock side.
also my manifold is to suit a Ford FG Falcon 70mm E-throttle (drive by wire) I have yet to check fitment in the car with a stock "large bore" auto throttle body but i don't see it being an issue
here are some pics of stock intake vs my intake bolted up in both orientations
stock intake ... we all know what this looks like, (its shit
)
My Intake, "twin turbo orientation"
My Intake "single turbo aka flipped orientation"
my current prototype has trumpets inside the plenum chamber, although i only did it this way because it was the way I could at the time. after some flow bench testing i have revised the design to having a bellmouthed edge as part of the plenum chamber base plate. this not only significantly increases airflow, but simplifies production and increases plenum volume.
now down to some numbers.
the foundry needs to make one "cast prototype" to get the risers and metal flow through the mould correct. and of course needs to manufacture the patterns for the sand moulds.
this is the majority of the cost, (ignoring the post casting machining, milling, drilling and threading all bolt holes etc.
to create the cast prototype and evenly split the mould tooling costs the cost is
for 5 manifolds $2100NZD per person
for 7 manifolds $1750NZD per person
for 10 manifolds $1500NZD per person
this is cost price, I am not making a cent off this, Infact making a loss on each one after machining the castings and supplying bolts etc, the final sale price would be around 2000nzd after the first batch, just willing to offer the first batch at a lower price to help break up the tooling costs.
Of course a brake booster and boost reference port will need to be drilled and tapped in somewhere. but that can be easily done, even on the underneath if you wish for it to be hidden. and you clearly have to make intercooler piping to suit. for twin turbo fitment probably means ditching the stock airbox and battery to boot to make some sort of airbox in place of the stock battery.
for single turbo fitment, moving the rad overflow bottle and maybe tweaking the PS bottle bracket to fit I/C piping. also the dipstick tube mounting bracket would need to be modified as (with the falcon throttle at least) the dipstick is in the way,
You can get away with ditching the coolant feed to the stock throttle body.
if there is enough interest for this payment would be upfront to cover the prototype and mould costs.
and there would realistically more than likely be a 2 or 3 month lead time from puling the trigger on it to having a product in the post to you due to the prototyping and mould making processes.
any questions feel free to ask. and if your intrested in one either post here or PM me and ill make a list. if I get enough people we can start talking about time frame
