Here is a picture of the plenum plate that I made.

 

Really nice work! Looks like an exact carbon copy of both the Hughes and APS kits.

What did you use to cut it?

 

Not sure if you guys call it the same but you will figure it out if not. Here its called a hack saw, a good file and a few hours of your time but it was worth the effort. Sorry about the bad picture, I have a better pictures on my cell phone that I must get off it some time.

 

Yeah, we call it a hacksaw stateside! (And we call Hughes a "hackshop"!) haha

That is some really nice work to be done with a hacksaw! I dont have the kind of patience to be doing anything with a hacksaw.

That just popped another idea in my head, I could use my sawzall! Of I could use the mill? Mill>Sawzall

 

Hmmm....a few hours of our time.Some peoples time is worth more then others I guess.Lets say you make 30 bucks an hour,then it takes you 3 hours to make this piece,then you have already spent 90 bucks.Plus the price of material and tools.So for some people it is more fiscally sound to just buy it.

 

I dont understand what you are saying? 3 hours of time is $90? Who do I pay the $90 to? If that is true, I owe someone $3,931,200 already!

 

wow, looks real good leahy

and purpl, it would def be funner doing it on a bridgeport mill...theyre so awesome, plus the fact that youre basically working with an antique tool is pretty cool too

 

what hes saying is that if YOU make $20/hr mowing yards, then the time you take to make the plate, you could have mowed and made money, but i doubt the average joe will take off work just to make this

 

Oh yeah, I was using it today to hollow out some wood and this thing is just awesome! My teacher said that back in the 80s they had 10 of them lined up in the shop. My jaw dropped!

Bad thing is I'm only making $8.50 mowing grass. It will probably take me an hour on the mill to get it right, Thats only eight dollars and fifty cents of my time!


I'm gonna play Devil's advocate here. So if it takes you 5 hours to R&R your plenum gasket, at $30 an hour, you could have made $150 (Plus the cost of the Hughes plate and all the gaskets and the tools= $303). Or you could pay a mechanic to do this for $90 an hour. Thats $450 already, plus you have to include the $153 for the parts. Thats $603!

So in this 5 hour time (working $30 an hour) you could have made $150. It takes $303 to install the plate DIY. It takes $603 for a mechanic to do it, but you are working during the 5 hours, so its really $453. But there is 2 very important variables that both you and I forgot: Hughes Engines and work!

Nobody wants to deal with Hughes Engines. Imagine how many hours you could spend e-mailing Hughes Engines because its been 2 weeks since you ordered the plate and it is MIA or it is broken. Plus the time you spend on this forum ranting about how horrible Hughes customer service is. Lets say 3 hours and $90. Oh wait, you could have made one yourself in this time! So now you're out $176 (Plate + Time) and a plenum plate!

None of what I just took 20 minutes (thats $10 right there!) to write and figure out makes sense because of the biggest variable in this Purple Dodgeilicious plenum equation becuause.....You dont work on your truck while at work!!!* You work on your truck and post on this forum in your FREE TIME!!!, right? So, I couldnt have made $90 instead of making a plenum plate because I'm not at work, I'm doing this in my free, spare time. And If I didnt have this spare time and was working friggin 26 hours a day, I'd have a shop do it and defeat the whole purpose of DIY.

 

is yalls a bridgeport? im not sure if thats all there is or not