Nominations for improved cooling head gaskets - fourth round

[Harv]

Ladies and gents,

It's gotten round to that time again. I did a batch of the gaskets a while back, and kept about a dozen for my own stash. Over time I've helped people out who didn't order (I'm a sucker for a grey motor rebuild story), and now have no gaskets left in my own stash (other than the 3 I still owe Dave).

It seems that there is still some demand from people wanting the cylinder head gaskets, so I will do another round (I've had more than 300 made so far). Same deal as the last three times, and pricing will be similar (the numbers below were from last time, and may change slightly):

a) Gasket: $43 per gasket (or whatever AA Gaskets quotes me).
b) Packaging (7mm ply, wrapped in tape, instructions stashed inside): $3 regardless of the number of gaskets ordered.
c) Postage: $25 regardless of the number of gaskets ordered (yes, your postage might be slightly less... you still pay $25. Trying to manage many, many individual postage costs is beyond my attention span).

So if you want one gasket, you owe me $71.
If you want two gaskets, you owe me $114.
If you want three gaskets, you owe me $157
If you want four gaskets, you owe me $200
If you want five gaskets, you owe me $243
If you want six gaskets, you owe me $286

Rough timing for the process:
a) I'll collect expressions of interest from these forum posts. I need at least 50 nominations to make a gasket run. Not sure how long it will take to get 50 nominations - please be patient. I don't make a red cent out of these gaskets, and I have more than enough grey motored projects that are lagging behind. My mental picture is that it might be May or so of next year before you get your gasket
b) Once we have 50 nominations, for those who express an interest, you get a month to pony up the funds to me. There is always one or two people who don't bother paying, which I guess is human nature.
c) I'll place the order, and AA Gaskets will let us know the timing. Stupid me normally pays AA Gaskets as soon as we have the 50 people (to make the process faster), so anyone who doesn't pay is at my risk.
d) When the gaskets arrive, I'll parcel them up in plywood (like last time) and send them to you. Note that it is cheaper if you combine postage with a few mates, or as a Club.

Cheers,
Harv (deputy apprentice gasket scraper).

[DougT]

Hi Harv, put me down for two.

Thanks
Doug

[Trevor_B]

Hi Harv,
Can you put the VIC FE FC Club down for 10.
If you get close but can't get over the line to 50 we might be able order some more....

Cheers,
TrevorB

[Trevor_B]

Hi Harv,
Please increase the VIC FE FC Club's order to 15.
Thanks
TrevorB

[Not Happy Jan]

Hi Harv... ill  take 2 please.

[floyd58]

Hi Mate Can you put me down for 3 please
Thanks Aussie

[Trevor_B]

Hi Harv,
Your pricing is pretty darn good at $46 + Postage even if purchasing only 1 that means $71 posted.

Repco is selling a Permaseal AD880 standard head gasket for $115 (+postage) see https://www.repco.com.au/en/parts-service/car-engine-parts/gaskets/permaseal-cylinder-head-gasket-ad880/p/A9686897?kwSearch=ad880

Thanks for your efforts looking after us Grey motor owners 

Cheers,
TrevorB

[my8thholden]

The ownership of Repco has changed , it is no longer the great Aussie company it was ..I got my gasket set from the engine reconditioner I use , put the cylinder head gasket aside and used Harvs ..best way for me ..Vern ..

[Harv]

One week in, 29 orders so far. Will likely need 50 to make a production run.

Cheers,
Harv

[Trevor_B]

Hi Harv,
Please increase the order for the VIC FE FC Club to 20 after our meeting last night 
Cheers,
Trevor_B

[Harv]

Post Christmas update. We are now over the 50 mark, so should be able to place an order with AA Gaskets.

To finalise this up, I am going to set a deadline: need any more orders in place prior to the end of January please. I will then use that number to make the order.

Cheers,
Harv

[DougT]

Hi Harv, do you need any payment upfront? If so please provide payment details.

Regards
Doug

[Harv]

Slight hiccup with the gaskets.

With the nominations now closed, I got hold of AA Gaskets to place the order. Unfortunately, AA Gaskets has ceased manufacturing about 18 months ago and sold off all their gear. I still own the tooling, and they were a little surprised that no one had contacted me to send the tooling to me. They are now trying to locate the gear.

Looks like I need to find a new manufacturer. Have opened conversations with a number of locals, and it is looking good so far. Will send a sample to one of them when I get home, and keep you all in the loop as we go. This may change pricing, so will let you know and can understand if the new pricing is not OK for you (no idea yet if it will be more or less expensive).

Apologies for the delay.

Cheers,
Harv

[Trevor_B]

Thanks for your efforts Harv, it is appreciated.

Don't think the cost is that critical 

[my8thholden]

Harv ..have you got Swanston's at Hornsby on your list of potential manufacturers ?....Vern ..

[Harv]

Yep, called Swansons first. They are not able to do them in anything other than copper. Really nice people though.

Cheers,
Harv

[Harv]

Update. Have found a manufacturer willing to make the gaskets.

Indicative pricing is $120, say $150 with freight and packing. Will finalise that number in coming weeks and check again that those who have nominated and still want to proceed. Recognise it is twice as expensive as it used to be, and some people will not be comfortable. It is OK to opt out - no harm, no foul.

My own mental picture says it has been five years since we started this gasket caper, and global prices have gone up. We have also had a pandemic in the middle of it which has shaken all kinds of stuff up in various supply chains. Local manufacturers like AA Gaskets continue to close down, leaving only the little bespoke gasket mobs. They are not set up to bang out 100 gaskets in an afternoon, so prices are higher.

The manufacturer is making up four sample gaskets for me. Will take a look at the quality before we go any further.

Cheers,
Harv

[Harv]

Ladies and gents,

My sincere apologies for the delay in update. With all my chasing, I have only been able to find one Australian company who can manufacture small runs of gaskets. There are several places that can do copper, but very, very few that can do the steel and composite gaskets we need. Most people will not want to play with copper gaskets.

The local company makes their gaskets in two ways. For unique jobs (one or two gaskets for oddball engines) they are hand made. This is not cheap. For medium size jobs (like our order of 50 or so gaskets) they use an overseas manufacturer. The local mob now have a quote from their overseas manufacturer ($128.83 + GST), and a batch size (100 gaskets). It's slow to progress as the local bloke does this as a side-hustle, and the overseas manufacturer normally does very large production runs.

I think I can still make this work.

Plan for now is for the overseas manufacturer to quote on and then make some test samples. I'll check these for quality, the same as I did with the AA Gaskets test samples many years ago. If all is OK, I will proceed with an order. For those that want them, I will on-sell them at cost (same as I did with the last 3 AA Gaskets runs). I suspect I will have more than a few leftovers, and will stash them away. History has shown that about once every two months someone gets in touch wanting one of these gaskets (its a curse). This should let me answer those queries for a few years until we need another run.

Please bear with me as I work through this. I understand that some people will no longer want their gaskets - all good, no harm, no foul.

Cheers,
Harv

[Trevor_B]

Any update harv??
Got some VIC members who keep hassling me for when they can buy some head gaskets 

Cheers,
Trevor_B

[Harv]

Called the gentleman who is supplying the gaskets last Friday. His overseas supplier had been unresponsive (for weeks) about the cost of making some test pieces. Have given the go-ahead to make the test pieces anyway... my risk on the cost.

Once I get the test pieces and confirm they look like they should, I will finalise the order and get 100 in. Should be plenty of spares for the latecomers.

Cheers,
Harv