I'm guessing that if they didn't make a run they would sell 20-30 right away to all the core hinson guys who really want one. And then they would sit on the other 170 for along time. The biggest thing is that they arnt made anymore so they are worth a lot, as soon as they make a run the market is flooded and the value would drop on used ones in return makeing it harder for Hinson to sell them for a profitable price.
You are spot on! That is the exact issue in hand on the selling side. Same problem I ran into when looking at reproducing the OEM fenders and that was utilizing overseas manufacturing/tooling. But for these covers I struggle with the 200 number being that these are machined job shop type parts. Can't imagine 200 covers are needed to cover expenses and turn profit assuming they were the original fabricators. I don't have possession of a cover but I'm guessing there is a cover plate, some bolts, an o-ring, a bolt ring that gets welded on, and the donor cover. Usually most of the initial expense is in R&D and tooling/jigs. This should be a non-issue unless everything was originally farmed out with companies that are out of business. The other issue could be that they typically carry a backlog made up of higher margin products meaning that these cases will never see manufacturing time due to limited capacity and simple economics. I'd suspect that they can sell the fab'ed case as bare metal and anodize the cover plate to make us all happy happy happy. That's it - we need a R reality show...lol. Volume usually has to do with covering min lot buys on materials, setup time, or scrap....I'm not familiar with the exact process but I don't see anything more than machined and off the shelf parts. Something like a Roll foot peg is easily understandable since they are cast; ultimately it would be nice if these companies could just explain their situation a little more instead of saying no or throwing out random numbers. With that said, I'll keep at it....maybe we need to get a little more organized by making an actual list of serious buyers. Lets decide what we want! At the very least, we should be willing to supply our own side cover. We can put together a proposal for Hinson and go from there. They seem very loyal to CT so we may want to ultimately work this through a distributor but let's try to at least get something definitive from Hinson or CT. 2015 marks the 30 year anniversary of our beloved engine....maybe a Hinson 30th anniversary edition cover...WOW!
Thoughts anyone - who's in? I'll work my tail off to get us organized. Send me a pm with a first name, a way to get in touch, and price point (need at least $400 w/core donor).
