Tom,

Please don't take this post the wrong way, but I think you have a good bit more work to do before offering a kit like this for sale.

It sounds like you have a great custom setup on your Focus that is working really well for you. But that is an awful lot of power increase for an otherwise stock engine. I am really glad to hear you have not had problems on your engine, but the odds are, that if you offer this kit like it is, you will have a large percentage of them with serious problems, and they will be seriously pissed at you. This sort of thing happens all the time, look at the Vortech supercharger kit for the contour, from those here on the board, IIRC they have had a greater than 60% failure rate, mostly on the blower drive system.
As to what I was referring to about "controlled durability testing" what I was getting at, is that what you do with your car, and how you drive, and where you drive, is not necessarily representative of what other people may do when they have your kit. A properly engineered product will be tested under controlled conditions, and determined where the weak points of the system are, and where it can fail, and that any potential failure modes cannot result in serious harm. You do realize that should someone install your kit on their car, and the rubber fuel return line you supply/instruct them to use happens to rupture, you would be completely and totally liable for the ensuing fire? Also, should more than a small percentage of the kit purchasers have engine problems directly related to your kit, it would completely destroy your credibility to any and all future potential customers, not to mention any potential liability should someone decide to come after you legally.

I do not wish to sound like I am trying to talk you out of producing a kit, or trying to say what you have done is not impressive (honestly, the numbers look very good). I am trying to make you look a the big picture, and help you make a better product, and keep you out of trouble. Luckily for you, you have nowhere near the legal ramifications in this area as my company does for the products I help design (hell, we get sued big time for stuff that is completely and totally beyond our control, and not our fault in the slightest)

IMHO, if I had both your's and Terry's kits in front of me right now, and I was going to purchase one of them, I would honestly have to choose Terry's, despite your impressive output numbers, because I know Terry understands the concept of properly and completely engineering a product before putting it out to the market.

In no way is this post intended as a slam toward you or your kit, nor an attempt at making Terry's stuff look better, just my view of the situation. I am all for free market competition, may the the best overall kit sell better.

It's all about balance.

bcphillips@peoplepc.com