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OK, then whom do you have in mind as your typical customer? What's he like, what does he want, and what is he doing? Maybe we can each tell which of us is him, and then those who are can help you more directly.
Well, if you don't mind paying what it's worth to build it, I'll build you the engine that you want. But I'm not going to take a loss on it. I know there aren't any guarantees in business, but there also isn't a reason to go into business without some potential for gain.
If a guy wants a flat-12 for his 917 replica, there are ways of getting it done. But are they really going to pay what it costs? If so...why aren't they doing it already?
I work in manufacturing, I know exactly to the penny what it costs just to machine or fabricate something, from the raw material to the tooling to the exigent overhead. Now I've got to build some profit into it so that I can make it worth my while, as well as have some stability to provide additional parts down the road.
I have no qualms whatsoever in delivering to you exactly what you want...so long as you have no qualms whatsoever in taking possession of it and paying up at time of transfer.
There are alot of quips about building a prototype and then maybe someone will be interested. That's alot of coin to toss down on a whim, that any person on this forum could also do on their own. If I'm going to build a one-off, it will be for ME, for MY purposes. I fail to see how that helps any potential customers.
Building a product is a different matter and I'd rather hit the broadest part of the niche, serve it well, and have it grow to be an enterprise with legs.
If you want DOHC and 4 valves, I can do that. If you want all-billet and carbon-fiber, I can do that too. But I can promise that it's not going to be affordable to all but the wealthiest of patrons, or the most dedicated of track nuts.
I truly believe that my real market is you guys. I have no doubt that we have some really well-off individuals here, but if they were THAT well-off, they'd be buying the originals, rather than building replicas and slapping SBCs with flipped Porsche boxes in their rides.
Which means that you want performance, but you also want reliability. You want style, but you also want safety & comfort. Which is at complete odds with a highly tuned quasi-race engine that requires a teardown/rebuild everyone 10hrs.
Am I that far off on my appraisal?