914 custom turn signals Options

[74forsche]

So I need some real feedback. I have recently posted my son and my first product on the for sale section here. I own my 3rd 914 which I rescued from a lot in Georgia several years ago. I am in the process of restomodding it. Given it was a dead car it was perfect for me to modify. My first realization was it needed much better lighting. Which sent us down the road of 3 d printing parts. If I could get some feed back regarding our front turn signals i would appreciate it...I only got one response which I feel was more focused on professional pictures and presentation. Again I dont have the resources to make a big glossy website. This is an honest venture and we aim to make several parts for the 914 in the future. Check it out and please give me usable criticism.

[Superhawk996]

So I need some real feedback.

As an retired engineer that has done automotive product development for 27 years I'll offer my honest appraisal:

1) Need to duplicate or improve on OEM fit and finish. Current design that places the LED housing inside the OEM housing doesn't meet that criteria.

a) From a design perspective, it raises the turn signal lens too high above the sheet metal and doesn't look integrated (my personal opinion / observation based on the photos posted in FS/WTB).

b) From an engineering perspective - the lens needs to be sealed to the housing to avoid water intrusion and condensation. Current design, as I understand it, is that the new LED housing is sealed to the old OEM housing but there is no seal between the new housing and the lens?

c) Simply removing the OEM bulb holder from the die cast housing and routing the new LED wires though that hole and under the new plastic LED housing is going to lead to the possibility of water and moisture being captured between the old OEM housing and the new LED plastic housing. That will not be good for the old housing and/or not good to have that moisture trapped behind the new LED housing.

2) Weight. 914's are all about being light weight. Adding additional parts (and therefore weight) is not desirable. Even if light weight themselves - like the plastic LED housing - it's still an unnecessary weight addition.

a) If your new LED housing were to replace the heavier zinc die cast housing that would be a real benefit and would reduce overall weight.

3) Durability. Will the new housings withstand the elements and vibration? Can they withstand UV exposure? How are the LED's mounted to all of this? Vibration in vehicles has a way of fatiguing parts to the point of stress cracking, solder joints crack or corrode, etc. How is a customer to know that your parts will survive for more than a year or two? LED's have become notorious for not meeting advertised life expectancy before LED's begin burning out. This has been the case for both OEM and aftermarket LED light solutions - how will you address this?

4) What is your competitive advantage vs. all the other LED solutions for 914's currently in the market place? This can also be called a Unique Selling Proposition. What is it that makes your solution unique vs. the competitors? I'm not going to try to answer this but you should be able to.

5) Pricing. Not only are you competing against LED options, you are also competing against traditional bulbs. There are currently several other LED options for 914s. As mention in the previous post, these range from simple auto parts store LED bulb substitution (~$15) to complete LED board replacements (~ $150/pair) which already have been proven on other vehicles. On the high end, Auto Atlanta offers a plastic housing, dual European bulb housing and lens replacement for ~ $370.

6) Reductive Design Principles. Generally speaking, engineering design is about achieving function with the minimal number of parts, reducing weight of parts, reducing the number of interfaces, reducing fastener counts or moving from screw in fasteners to clips and snap on parts, reducing assembly labor, etc. The aim being reduction of manufacturing costs and ultimately consumer cost.

a) Unless I'm misunderstanding the new LED light & housing, more parts and more interfaces are being created.

b) Labor is necessary to make the conversion. This in and of itself isn't a complete show stopper but the end result of the conversion needs to justify why someone would be expected to expend the labor (and cost) to do the conversion. You have to overcome inertia. It's easier to accept the OEM design and do nothing vs. doing a conversion. You have to over come that inertia to no do it.

Having said all that -- I still applaud you for trying to bring new options to market as I sit here on my (IMG:style_emoticons/default/bootyshake.gif) (IMG:style_emoticons/default/type.gif)

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