A little muffler porn Options

[Mikey914]

Working on a mount for the mufflers. Liking it so far but need to make some further adjustments.

[barnfind9141972]

Both Ben and 914Rubber make amazing contributions to our community, but let’s be honest. If 914Rubber quit the game and someone here bought everyone of their items and had them remade, would anyone care? Making a 100% from scratch design for anything costs time and money, as if time wasn’t enough money as it is. Why not reverse engineer or improve or modify a proven design? I mean unless Ben was open to making every single hangar/bracket 914Rubber needed for a price that made sense to Mark there’s nothing to be said. People will keep buying from Ben if/when he decides to make them again, but we live in a need now world.

[Superhawk996]

Both Ben and 914Rubber make amazing contributions to our community, but let’s be honest. If 914Rubber quit the game and someone here bought everyone of their items and had them remade, would anyone care? Making a 100% from scratch design for anything costs time and money, as if time wasn’t enough money as it is. Why not reverse engineer or improve or modify a proven design? I mean unless Ben was open to making every single hangar/bracket 914Rubber needed for a price that made sense to Mark there’s nothing to be said. People will keep buying from Ben if/when he decides to make them again, but we live in a need now world.

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In principle I agree - there is certainly truth to all you’ve said.

I came out of the chute being pretty harsh. As I’ve stated, I don’t think I have all the facts of what is going on “behind the scene”.

I’ve come out of the OEM automotive world and trust me when I say I’ve had 1st hand experience where there was joint development between the OEM and a supplier where you later find out the supplier has sold your joint design to a competitor. It happens. Usually it’s not worth litigating. Whether that is what happened here or not, it would be hard to say given I don’t have all the facts.

In the end it is business and market competition and you are right that people can make their own decisions. Just a shame to see it in such a small market and tight community.

Bottom line: I’ve supported both of these guys and I will continue to do so. I was being a jerk by throwing the oil tank commentary in there which was uncalled for. Just glad I was able to get Ben’s mufflers and headers before those went off the market. Those headers are a near duplicate of the OEM design (but in stainless) and I fully get that buying those was exactly what was described - need it now - don’t really care who made them but yet appreciated that Ben was making them available when no one else was.