Spent a good deal of time this weekend thinking of potential parts and gaps in products being offered. I came up with a few options for new products that I don't think are currently being offered by anyone.
1) Polished aluminum intake flex pipe. This is the replacement section of intake pipe between the factory airbox and the intake tube connecting to the turbo. The current market has a silicone section of hose being made by Samco. My thought is using a mandrel bent section of aluminum with a silicone connector to the factory intake tube and a flex mount connected to the airbox. It would need a port welded to the side of the pipe. The silicone section is priced around $190, and I would estimate a $100-$150 price range would be a good alternative to the silicone version. It would also dress up the engine compartment with the polished aluminum. This would be great for people looking to keep the factory airbox, have improved performance, and something shiny under the hood.
2) Intake tube, turbo to flex section. This would be a replacement for the rubber section of pipe between the turbo and flex section of the air intake. The tube would be polished aluminum and use silicone adapters to connect to the factory flex pipe, Mountune/Samco silicone intake, or to the section of tube proposed above. The market would be for people using the silicone flex tube or for a gradual step approach to modifying where small steps are taken for people on a budget and are looking at small gains over time. The polished aluminum with silicone adapters would dress up the engine compartment as well.
3) Complete polished aluminum intake tube. Combining proposal 1 and 2 into a single section of pipe connecting the turbo the factory airbox. From a manufacturing standpoint, the pipe for option 3 would be made and then cut to create proposal 1 and 2. The tube would be great for people using the stock airbox or the Mountune intake, which at this time, are the best options in the market. A sale price of $225-$250 for the section would make a great alternative to the stock hose, stock with silicone, or the open element filter intakes that would suffer from heat issues. The challenge will be avoiding heat soak from the aluminum tubing.
4) Lower turbo to intercooler metal tube. The factory metal tube includes a resonator and the aftermarket replacement tube packages include a new metal tube with all new silicone sections. Nobody is offering a replacement for the metal tube for those not quite ready to do the full tube package. This would be a mandrel bent section of either stainless steel or aluminum and work with the factory tubing.
Here is the section of factory piping with the resonator;
Fiesta ST chassis detail 041 by
Bryan Redeker BRGT350, on Flickr
*correction, ATP Turbo does offer the replacement pipe for the turbo to intercooler. They determined the upgrade wasn't needed for the stock turbo.
Products 1-4 are the low hanging fruit in terms of needed development and speed to market. Mandrel bent tube, a welded bung, silicone adapters, and hose clamps to make the products. I see these products as a good entry step into the market with the least amount of investment to get started. I would estimate 6-8 months to bring them to market. It gets the GReddy name out there with the ST owners and buys time while further products are being developed. It also fills a gap in products that are currently not being offered or minimal options in the aftermarket.