Thread: Double win of header failure, lengthy story ahead.

I have gotten two OBX headers from eBay, no problems except the coating flaking off/burning off etc whatever it was after just as few drives. Fitment was good and quality was good for the $$ - but this was 2 years ago no idea if they've changed

You could say they did something wrong... Or you could say that some opportunistic assholes unscrupulously stole the design of a decent, relatively-niche part and and cheaply reproduced it, with no R&D of their own, in china and then undercut the company that engineered the part by 60%.

I won't even get into the actual overhead and cost of R&D to make a quality piece in this thread... I will be doing serious math this summer to decide if, and in what form it makes sense for the Marsh headers to hit the market or if they will just be a few custom pieces under a few special hoods.

My question is, why didn't Hotshot immediately get on top of the knockoffs and file suits and stuff? Or did they? Or was it not patented?

Here's Greg's header, going for $895: Exhaust Manifold Gasket, VVL (Turbo), Exhaust manifold gasket from the SR20VET. Fits all VVL, is stainless and re-usable.

Has anyone tried to copy that? And if they did would Greg & co go after them b/c of what happened with Hotshot?

Odds are it was never patented and if it was I can pretty much assure you there were no international patents filed. Relatively low production, niche product, the patent application and litigation would have been big chunks. This is, of course, a gamble but its one that gets taken in our community all the time. I would be willing to say that there are no significant legal protections for most of the cool parts we as an SR20 village are using.

We have all been part of the problem... there are probably very few among us who have never bought a knockoff part at one point or another either when we were starting out or just to save a few bucks, but the only real way to solve this is to stop buying junk. Revenge of the Nerd- Boycott Fakes!

I did buy knock offs... but Hotshot already had gotten one thousand dollars of my money for a couple headers and a CAI. I though that was enough at that point..

I didn't mean you specifically Jordan... it was more of a sweeping soapbox moment.

Okay fair enough. I remember JWT used to sell Hotshot stuff

@Kyle I tried to mass produce, but it wasnt worth it after making 8 headers. Pricing, overhead, and more importantly my health, just wasnt worth it. Tried w/ 3.5" intake, apparently one buyer was a rep for a manufacturer and stole my design. I gave up trying to mass produce.

Health is certainly paramount over header/s. Thanks for the reply, Hogan.

I would recommend the first step (as Randy put it) would be to get some pencil on paper, and draw out a business plan prior to utilizing man hours for such a task. Planning is always beneficial.