DON'T buy the SSAC (eBay) 'ST185' midpipe! *Pics*

WarTowels

Active member
Or buy the full exhaust + DP and sell it cheaper than SSAutochrome, and you got yourself a deal. I notice now you sell the same setup without the DP for almost $108+ more...

https://935motorsports.com/catalog/prod ... ts_id=1459

+

https://935motorsports.com/catalog/prod ... ts_id=1026

= $548 not including the unknown shipping charges on the mid pipe. And that dosen't come with the DP.

Where as SSAutochrome sells the same thing for for $440 shipped.

http://www.ssautochrome.com/level.itml/icOid/1484

-Towels
 

ironpanther

New member
I got a 205 midpipe with the car when I bought my 185. Thank goodness for having welding skills and a summit racing warehouse in town. Bought one 3" U bend and a 14"X3" flex pipe and an hour later BAM! 205 midpipe now bolts up to 185 no problem.
 

OnAll-FOUR

New member
ironpanther":24s5d347 said:
I got a 205 midpipe with the car when I bought my 185. Thank goodness for having welding skills and a summit racing warehouse in town. Bought one 3" U bend and a 14"X3" flex pipe and an hour later BAM! 205 midpipe now bolts up to 185 no problem.

Any Pics of your handy work?
 

935motorsports

New member
I am still trying to figure out how I can be competitive, yet offer service that SSauto does not provide.

Since it seems that the DP combo deal is cheaper there, I will have to investigate that.

When I look at the exhaust only, theirs is $520 shipped, mine is $550 shipped (using my zip code).

There are several things to consider as well. They do not pay hosting fees, they do not have a phone number where you can talk to someone, etc.

This may not be worth $30, but if I get the pricing closer, I think that the decision should be made more simple. If someone has some time, on Monday I can have you try to be a "customer" on both websites and report back to me what it shows. This real world test will be very helpful in helping me adjust the pricing.
 

ironpanther

New member
unlike some of the guys that are good at documenting as they go I tend to just focus on getting things done and right now the mid pipe was just one in a list of things to get this car back on the road. In due time I will get some pictures and do a write up.
 

lumbercis

Moderator
935motorsports":6gekuj9q said:
I am still trying to figure out how I can be competitive, yet offer service that SSauto does not provide.

Since it seems that the DP combo deal is cheaper there, I will have to investigate that.

When I look at the exhaust only, theirs is $520 shipped, mine is $550 shipped (using my zip code).

There are several things to consider as well. They do not pay hosting fees, they do not have a phone number where you can talk to someone, etc.

This may not be worth $30, but if I get the pricing closer, I think that the decision should be made more simple. If someone has some time, on Monday I can have you try to be a "customer" on both websites and report back to me what it shows. This real world test will be very helpful in helping me adjust the pricing.

Robert, where are you seeing the price at $520? SSAC's website has it listed at $400 for the Motoria exhaust. http://www.ssautochrome.com/level.itml/icOid/1484

To be honest, I'm not sure it's in your best interest to stock the full exhaust. People can get them from ebay and have been getting the correct one. They can always put in a paypal dispute if there is a problem and get their money back.

However, what we cannot get from ebay is the correct midpipe. If you can find a way to get Motoria to ship you just midpipes, I'm sure you would get plenty of business from that. I'd be willing to pay up to $100-$125 for a midpipe I knew was $50 from the factory if I knew I was going to get the right one, and to cover your additional expenses. It is still half the price of the Aussie pipe, and would sell to those who wanted to use a different cat-back than the Motoria.

One other option might be to turn the tables on the Chinese manufacturers and just have a local shop copy the SSAC midpipe and sell it as the "935" midpipe. If you could get it done cheaply enough that it was significantly cheaper than the Aussie, then you would probably do well on it. I don't know if that's possible with U.S. material and labor costs, but maybe worth looking into.

J.
 

935motorsports

New member
My mistake. I did a fake "checkout" and it came up with $520 shipped. I found that if I picked US it was $440 shipped.

So I will have to see HOW I can do better then that. The thing is that it is the single tip exhaust which I believe is cheaper. Right now I am only selling the twin tip exhaust.

I don't mind selling just the midpipe, but you have understand that I have to make something out of the deal after paying for shipping twice and having to keep a catback on hand and hope that somebody buys it.

After i posted before, I lowered the midpipe and price to less then $200.


Let me give you an example. The exhaust w/ midpipe is $440 shipped from SSAC. Let's say I sell you the midpipe for $100 and $35 shipping. I end up with a catback on the shelf with about $300 in it.

I have had the catback for $299 on my website for a good 2 weeks and nobody has ordered it. So this $300 is just sitting there and not selling. The only way to justify pulling the midpipe out of the package is to sell it at a high margin. This way, I have less in the catback and when it finally DOES sell, I will be happy.

I hope this makes sense. I am not complaining, I am just trying to figure out how I can help. I asked about the st205 midpipe, my guy is checking. But so far they only have the US related items.
 

lumbercis

Moderator
Robert,
Thanks for looking out for us. Even at the higher price, at least we will have an option that is cheaper than the Aussie.

Have you looked into becoming a distributor for Mongoose exhausts? I looked on their U.K. website and they sell the "blueflame" midpipes in 2.5" and "mongoose" midpipes in 3" for a pretty reasonable price. At least if I am understanding their terminology (I'm assuming "centre section" is a midpipe). I think their products would appeal to a large segment of the GT-4 buyers that aren't willing to chance the quality of SSAC, but don't have the money for the Aussie.
http://www.msport.co.uk/acatalog/Mongoo ... oyota.html
75GBP comes out to about $155 US. Obviously that wouldn't be the final price here in the states. But as long as you could keep the cost at a significant discount from the Aussie, I'd think they would sell well.

J.
 

935motorsports

New member
Those might be tough to move after shipping costs. I always thought mongoose was 2.5", but maybe they have changed.

Aussie was supposed to come out with a 2.5" midpipe for those that were in that "middle" area of what they wanted. Something affordable. I have not heard from them on that though.
 

lumbercis

Moderator
The mongoose website is kind of bad. Their website doesn't specify whether the mongoose systems are 2.5" or 3", only that the "blue flame" exhausts were 2.5" I saw some other websites that talk about 3" systems for the ST185. So I think they have at least made them in the past, if not now as well.

I thought if you could get the exhausts for wholesale you might be able to sell them cheaper than the Aussie, but still enough to make a profit.

How about maybe getting a "935 Motorsports" midpipe made locally? Even though labor might be high, you may be able to sell it cheaper than the Aussie just from the money you save on shipping.

J.
 

Meurz

New member
Nothing yet. At the moment I'm running an Aussie 3" downpipe, stock midpipe, HKS catback. I think I'll go for a quality custom 3" midpipe with some kind of oval part to suit the Cusco Lower arm bar type 2 I have, but then again I might wait till I have a forged gen3 in there and have one made up to suit that oilpan.. Dunno. :shrug:

Not one Jap tuner offers a 185 3" SS midpipe, otherwise that would be installed already :(
 

Meurz

New member
Yeah I know that. But afaik BrashBoy discontinued them? I think I've contacted them a while ago. That price is not bad.. I've sent them another e-mail.. Strange they still have it listed if it's discontinued.. :shrug:
 

935motorsports

New member
DP-stock MP-HKS catback.

Ouch @ stock midpipe.

I considered several times to make them but with Aussie available and the cheaper copies, I just couldn't find the market.

I wanted to go ahead with 2.5", but then when I learned Aussie was doing theirs, I gave up that idea as well.
 
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