In the next month or so, I am gonna do the plenum gasket repair along with R&R the timing chain, Harland Sharps, and almost everything between the two (hoses, sensors, etc..). Was looking at Hughes site and thought just how much of a rip off the plenum plates are. $10 in a gasket, $2 in fasteners, and probably $20 in aluminum (just a guess) and they sell it for $86. Thats already a $54 profit, and it probably takes less to make it than my estimates. Now think about how many of you guys have the plenum plates from Hughes? Would 100 people be too small of a number? Because already there, Hughes Engines has made $5500 off of you! I think that is rediclous!

I'm not one to throw away money, so I am gonna make my own plate. I have acess to a pretty cool old mill at my school and my teacher would not care if I used it. I'll go this weekend and get a FEL-Pro gasket from Advance and use that as the template (Or one of you guys can send me your old steel plate! ). The only thing I do not know is where to get the aluminum at, and what grade I need and things (I do know that it needs to be 1/4'' thick!). I can probably flip through the phone book and find whatever I need, though.

Also, Sherrif mentioned that there were two different FEL-Pro plenum gaskets, is this the one?
http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/web...KAMS_966013658___

 

Probably more like 50 bucks in Aluminum but 30 bucks is turned into chips..

Now if you're waging that you're labor $$$$$ on a Bridgeport is equal to a CNC, I assure you that you will lose that bet.

But if you wanna try I'd say t-6061 Aluminum, That's what I always used for making machine parts Etc.

 

That just shows how much I know about metal prices! And I'm sure that some of the money goes to cutting these plates out on a laser or water jet (APS says they use a laserjet)

I'm not sure what you are saying in your second line, remember, I'm an idiot!

 

worst case here. about $50 for 1' x 2'. i don't know what #number you need.
http://www.metalsdepot.com/products/...cc=%20&aident=

look in your local yellow pages for a metal dealer.
local scrap yard.
ask your teacher with the mill.
drive around any industrial areas and look for any place that has metal stacked up.

 

Why do you need to machine it? I just made one tonight, took me 20 minutes. I used a cutoff wheel, a drill bit and a grinding disk. you dont need to exactly follow the contour of the steel plate. I left mine straight, but made it curve where the distributer sits. drilled the mounting holes, good to go. Go to a scrapyard find a pc of aluminum. I paid $2.00 for a pc of 1/4" scrap aluminum.

Way to many people rely on companies to manufacture parts for them. This is a simple plate anyone can make. For some its just easier to pick up a phone and charge it. I'm like you. I refuse to buy something if I can make it!

 

someone was talking about this a couple of days ago, and said they could get a piece from their work, at cost, which was $2-4, so i guess that was scrap cost of $1-2 per pound. maybe they could get you a piece too. hell, maybe they could get everybody a piece.

 

If all else fails, 12'' x 18'' plate for $12. All I need is a 16'' x 7'' , Correct?
https://www.speedymetals.com/pc-83-8375-61sh080.aspx


Oh, I just want an excuse to use the mill!

I completly agree with you. If I can DIY, I will.

 

You can also make a trip to the scrap yard and see if they have anything to use there.

I know my local scrap guy will sell stuff out of his yard.

 

I'm the same way. That's why I drive a 15 year old truck, i enjoy fixing it :P

 

That was me. The scrap price was $.80 per pound.