Ladies and Gentlemen:
I just thought I'd make a progress report....
All the design work has been done and the tooling is now in the hands of
a couple shops. Unfortunately, they're a little swamped right now, so
they can't get to work on it right away. (CNC machines, etc.)
I'm hopeful that within 3 weeks, I will have my prototype mold and can
subsequently begin to test a gasket... if it performs as expected, I
will be able to figure out costs/pricing and begin selling the
gasket.... (At that point, I will only have one mold and production
may be slow, but I will first direct sales only to the team.net
newsgroups, before advertising elsewhere, etc... to assure that all of
you that have been waiting patiently, won't have to wait much longer.)
While still made of a high temp, high performance silicone, it is a
dramatically different design than the TR 2-4A gasket, because I faced a
different type of mating surface, an extreme length, and proximity
conflicts (hardware close to the valve cover, etc.). There is more to
say about the new design, but I'd rather wait until its proven itself on
the street. For those of you that truly understand the word
"TRICK".... this gasket will be all that and more.
I have confidence that it will meet all my expectations (and yours!),
but until I have tested the prototype (after a considerable
investment!), I will not know if I have a winner. While not
particularly religious, I wouldn't mind a few prayers for the gasket's
success... and some crossed fingers.. and so on!
I'll keep you informed... Thank you for 4 years of patience!
(Assuming success with the 6-cylinder gasket, Spitfire will follow this
year.)
--Justin Wagner
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