Thread: Marsh Tuning and Morfius Performance

I'm not sure how this has any bearing whatsoever - working at a shop we sell parts and labor - it's foolish to think that we only make money on the labor - plus when you look at the bottom line of a business in the automotive industry the profit margins are razor thin as it is.

People see 105.59 on my wall and assume that goes into my pocket... we average a 30-60% markup on parts - why is that? To keep the lights on and the employees paid - otherwise we would be closed up within a few months.

And customers still bitch up a holy storm about my place of business and our 20% markup on new products.

Two (2) guys that can absolutely verify "how happy" I was at the Convention.

There is no question in anyone's mind that I have zero (0) issues with folks making money.

What did you gentlemen think of the brass parts pictures I just posted?

Not Turbonetics for sure...IMHO with the caliber of this build, and you not having issues with nothing but the best for your car, something better (aesthetically) should've been used.

I like things to look nice but if it works it works.

Given the budget you have made us aware of. There would not be brass anywhere on the car except for the parts inside the transmission.

I'm not sure where you can find the step up 90 for the liquid side of the A2W setup without going brass. To be fair, its a smooth transition as well, I wouldn't be upset about this as it could have been a LOT worse.

The droid for the job is AN fittings. End of story.

You "literally" have an infinite solution pool and I've secured very obscure fittings to do odd job turbo oil, power steering and coolant bypass for example.

Also, any NASCAR speed shop can fab up some of those pretty sweet icore fittings/lines for a proper price if you do see fit.

I appreciate all the input on the Home Depot Racing parts.

I *think* we can all agree that those parts did not come from any automotive store or supplier. They are not "Turbonetics", they are plumbing department parts, plain and simple. Easy, quick, ugly and cheap.

However, apparently those brass plumbing fittings are also functional, reliable, and will not break. Is that a fair statement?




Allow me to put the aesthetics in perspective.

I'm quite a bit over budget (more than a couple grand) already.

Among everything else, I needed to replace $4.85 worth of battery tie down posts. Should probably get a new tie down itself, the rubber one on there is brand new but looks a bit sketchy on fit.

The only tie down I really liked was on Amazon by Stillen. $64.44. Extremely expensive for a battery tie down, but it looks just like their FSTB. Which nicely matches my black-silver-polished-aluminum underhood decor.

Speaking of which, a friend sold a Stillen FSTB on FB yesterday. Old school goodness. I made a comment, she PM'd me about another Stillen FSTB for sale and named a price. It would get rid of my non-matching blue Cusco FSTB, while coordinating nicely with my bay and new Stillen battery tie down. I bought it. $170.00.

Therefore, to fix the $4.85 battery tie down posts, I spent $239.29 just to make it look nice.

All of which makes perfect sense.

It also means that what should have been utilized was a proper machined vacuum distribution block and AN fittings.

My only gripe from a functional point of view would be the points of failure on the vacuum lines. I would run two "T" fittings with a hose and proper clamp on each one for a total of 6 junctions. The way they have these with the threaded stuff, it is 12 junctions for twice the chance of failure.

When I got a new hydraulic clutch line for my BMW, I made sure to get the one with the least junctions. When I did my turbo oil feed line for the SE-R, I similarly made sure there were the fewest junctions possible. SE-R charge pipes? Least junctions possible. When I did my vacuum lines on the SE-R, I kept them simple, tidy, and least junctions. I did have the luxury of removing every single tiny little bit of emissions equipment or other extraneous things which simplified the shit out of the vacuum plumbing.

I haven't added an oil cooler yet, partially because I haven't figured out the best way to do it without the bazillion junctions most people deal with. I do have a plan though.

I prefer the fewest points of failure possible. I realize this is a bit picky. I guess I'm nothing if not picky.