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Possible Group Buy from Alpine Innovations

Alpine 1789

SAOCA President
Diamond Level Sponsor
There have been multiple discussions here about the Weber kit sold by Alpine Innovations (http://alpineinnovations.co.uk) in the UK (see http://forum.sunbeamalpine.org/index.php?threads/weber-conversion-manifold.29686/ for the most recent one) and I have been convinced that it represents a better option than the existing log manifolds. Still, I am very happy with my 38DGEV and wasn't really interested in going back to a 32/36. So, I contacted Jerome at AI and started a conversation with him about buying just the manifold. The discussion has morphed into a wider discussion about a group buy for other SAOCA members. My timing was very good, as Jerome had just had a large batch of manifold produced and is, for the first time, in a position to talk about selling just the manifold.

Jerome is still gathering some of the information he will need for exact pricing, but here is what we know at the moment:
  • He would sell us just the manifolds for £185. That is about $262 at the current exchange rate.
  • He would sell his kits at a 5% discount. The basic kit currently sells for £527, so figure it at about £500 even, or $710. But, Jerome told me that he sources the filters in the US and it certainly doesn't make sense for him to send them back to buyers here, so he would sell us the kits without the filters, which would save some on both the costs and the postage. I don't have exact prices yet, but SS sells the Weber filters for about $40, so use that at the moment for a quick estimate for the base-level filter.
  • The big unknown right now is shipping. Jerome estimates insured shipping to my zip code for the complete kit at about £75, $106. He has never shipped just a manifold, so he needs to get a little more information before giving me a cost, but it should certainly be less.
The big unknown at the moment is what it would cost to ship a bunch at one time, and then we will have to deal with distribution within the States. I'd be happy to bring them with me to SUNI, for any attendees who bought one and were content to wait to save the postage costs.

We need at least a rough count before we can attempt to finalize costs and Jerome is open to discussing further discounts if there is enough demand here to make it worthwhile. So, I am not asking for a commitment yet, but please let me know if you are interested in buying a manifold(s) and/or kit as part of a group buy. I will finalize and start taking orders once we have a firm price for buying them and getting them here.
 

sunalp

Diamond Level Sponsor
Hi Jim,

Actually, I bought a manifold from Jerome a few years ago as I didn't need the complete kit.
I think it was one of his factory seconds and can't remember what I paid for it. I don't recall
the shipping being all that bad, and I had it the next day!

I have a Series II project that will be using a single Weber, so put me down for 1 manifold.

Cheers!
Steve
 

Alpine 1789

SAOCA President
Diamond Level Sponsor
Dang it, my “complete kit” just arrived this week!
Opps. Sorry.

put me down for 1 manifold
Great. That makes two, so far. Not really a group buy yet, but we'll see if anyone else jumps in.

Oh, the 32/36's are available at Sunbeam Specialties and are less than $300.
That is why I assumed there would be more demand for the manifold than the complete kit, but we'll see. Jerome did tell me that he had the carbs specially jetted for his manifold, but I don't know how much different that makes since it is pretty easy to re-jet them.
 

alpine_64

Donation Time
Jerome did tell me that he had the carbs specially jetted for his manifold, but I don't know how much different that makes since it is pretty easy to re-jet them.
And.. Really depends what spec your engine is... 1500, 1600, 1725 ...head work, cam etc...etc...
 

fireroad

Donation Time
Opps. Sorry.

No worries, I was so excited to be able to ha e time and help to get my SV back on the road this summer I want to make sure I had all the parts in and ready to go.

I wish I noticed whe I ordered that they have an improved water heater valve design. If that becomes part of the group buy I would absolutely be in for one!
 

Alpine 1789

SAOCA President
Diamond Level Sponsor
I received an email from Jerome at Alpine Innovations last week and have been remiss in not passing on the information to everyone. Here is what Jerome wrote:

These are approximate costs to ship manifolds to 11968 USA, USPS is cheaper when sending 1 or 2 Manifolds but transit time is much longer than when it goes with UPS.
  • 1 x Manifold sent with USPS UK」23.00 or UPS UK」35.00
  • 2 x Manifolds sent with USPS UK」35.00 or UPS UK」46.00
  • 4 x Manifolds can only be shipped with UPS UK」67.00
Price includes transit liability insurance.

11968 is my zip code. At today's exchange rate, the manifold would still be be $262, with shipping to the US anywhere from $35 to about $17/per manifold. We'll have to figure out if the shipping discount is worth the effort if we elect to go that way, but let's first get a count. I am going to make the assumption that the savings of having Jerome ship multiples isn't going to make anyone's decision, so let's get a count on how many want them at $297 delivered. (Please send me a private message if you are only interested if we can utilize combined shipping to save a little more.). We can finalize shipping options once we have a count and know where they will all be going. I'll set this up as a separate poll on the For Sale Forum so that we can have a clear indication of interest. Please respond to the poll, even if you have already indicated interest above.
 

howehap

Platinum Level Sponsor
I just bumped into this manifold thread, I usually don't look parts for sale so I won't get tempted. We might get additional interest if we mentioned it under "modified Alpine" too.
-Bob
 

Alpine 1789

SAOCA President
Diamond Level Sponsor
Hmm. It is currently here and in For Sale. I am open to cross posting it, but we generally frown on members cross posting to too many places. Does anyone else feel like this should be listed in an additional forum?
 
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