Reverse Engineering Rare/Desirable Parts.

M

mik_m666

Member
Bit of background first, I own/run a remotely operated vehicle company and as such have access to some fairly decent engineering equipment. Some of which we use on a fairly regular basis to re-manufacture/reverse engineer components, parts can then be essentially converted into editable CAD models and as such sent out for manufacture or manufactured in house.

Now, the interesting part... Having got to grips with the tech and having a network of not only our own engineering workshops, but also a large amount of sub-contractors I'm starting to look at other uses for the equipment.

My question to you is... If you could have any rare/desirable/obsolete parts re-engineered and released again for sale... what would they be???

We can scan anything from an M1 nut, right up to cars/aircraft, so body components etc are a possibility, but fibreglass isn't one of our current consumables for decent/sensible manufacturing costs.
 
Someone was after an oil cooler mounted bracket for an RX7 the other day on here, apparently they are rare, look very simple to make, but cost a fortune to import.

I think either keep an eye out in the 'wanted' section to see what bits people need, or you may have more luck on type specific forums, where there is more knowledge about certain cars, the bits that are hard to get hold of etc. I would also start with the classic car side of things, because they are more likely to want a proper product (as opposed to bodging it!) that is likely to be hard to get hold of.

A further option, contact some specialists of classic cars, they may be able to advise you of some parts that are hard to get hold of and thus worth manufacture.

Hope that helps.
 
I would second the classic car market. My grandad has three classic cars and is always commenting on how it's nigh on impossible to get certain bits rather than having to make similar parts do the same job.

Failing that, almost every Japanese car will rot like a bastard, so replacement sills etc if made in big enough amounts to then make them 'cheap' if you will, might just save a lot of cars for example.

I reckon there's plenty of demand for you to be a supplier if you can make pretty much anything!
 
Thanks for the replies, I'm already in touch with a few 'specialist' garages, classic Aston's, heritage racing groups and so on, obviously replacement panels for hand built cars are impossible to source, so the ability to re-manufacture as built items from 60/70/80 years ago is worth it's weight in gold to the right people.

I prefer tinkering with more modern machinery, so just thought I'd see if there was any interest in the more current car scene as well.

Rare wheel centres, split rim faces etc can all be re-made, which could assist people with mangled rims.
 
I guess wheel centres would be quite popular as you always see decent Work/Volks/Rays/BBS etc for sale but they are often missing the centre caps. I imagine this would appeal to the VW boys as well, they're always after that OEM+ stuff.

Also maybe gearbox adaptor plates? JZ engines to BMW adaptor plates for example.
 
Centre caps, bellhousing adapters and flywheels, replacement sills, seat rails for bride / recaro seats often go for loads of money, another one also if you can work if plastic is big more inlet manifolds for BMW m52 engines as the M50 ones which people use are getting thin on the ground now.
 
Some good ideas there guys, the bellhousing conversions would be an interesting one, should be able to do batch runs if enough interest in group buys etc, split rim wheel centres and centre caps are also looking very popular.
 
E30 4 stud hub remanufactured to allow 5x120 / 5x114

Prevents using e36 bits as this compromises the geometry, crappie hub adaptors or super expensive e30 m3 bits.
 
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