TCP power R&P now only 2500

[corpse]

yeah, only 2500 - I know this is kinda old news, but I just checked on it today and almost fell out of my chair. how in the world can they just up the cost $800!!! That is utter highway robbery (no pun intended)..

Now IS the time for some ppl to put their heads together to come up with a comparable power rack unit for at least half the cost. This is utterly ridiculous. But I suppose it costs 800 to sell, stock and support a product like theirs.

 

[blown65]

Screw that, I got my whole Mustang II front end with tubular A-arms, coilover shocks for 2,500 bucks and I get rid of the shock towers.

 

[rockafellz]

Total Control Products and their distributor can suck a fat one for that!! Even the manual rack went up like $400!!

Well, it looks like i'll be going stock with a negative wedge kit and a quick steer kit.

TOTAL CONTROL, you lost my business and a few others i'm sure!!

hmm... Maier Racing is just 5 miles away....let's see if he's got some decent subframe connectors... maybe he can even fabricate me a x-cage too..

Just me...

Erik

 

[corpse]

like I already said - what we need to do is pool together some resources and come up with our own setup.. I don't mean we as in StangNet classic people - but a few of us with the resources to do up a "kit"... I can get any machine work done - like some nice machined brackets.

hey, whoever has the power tcp rack unit - anyone have some detailed close-up pictures of how the unit is installed.. Or maybe you can scan in some pics of hte installation instructions?

Speaking of TCP - who was that tcp employee on the board? There are certainly a large group of classic stang enthusiasts here - and many of us have bought products from tcp (like me), and I really feel like we DESERVE and are OWED an explanation why the hell TCP would gouge their customers like that. That is really flat out wrong.

I agree with blown about the whole M2 setup - dollar for dollar they blow TCP away - but many of us don't want to remove the shock towers (I don't, that's for sure)...

 

[corpse]

for no othe reason than to further aggrevate myself - look at the current cost of the KRC pump "kit".

http://www.totalcontrolproducts.com/krc.html

Yeah, bite me TCP!!!

Now you raise the price of your stupid p/s pump too!? $800!? Your company is out of your mind. Man, for $800 I could afford to hire a 3 foot sweat shop worker to stay under the hood of my car and manually pump the damn fluid. So that's a double-price increase? Oh wait, the reservoir adds to the cost??? Nah, cuz as I recall it was included before.

ok, I swear, I'm done with my b1tching..

Anyways - I think they are just trying to squeeze every dollar out of hte road racers they can - and they just used the street crowd as their test dummies - which is smart thinking I suppose. I mean, it stinks for us - but I'm sure it's great for the owners - they are laughing all the way to the bank. Hopefully, it's not with YOURr money (it won't be with mine!)

 

[burnout289]

his name on stangnet is 'Psydwaze'. go get 'im tiger!

i think i'm down with the mustang II front, like blown65 has. i can't afford anything at the moment, but when i can, might as well get it all in one big bundle. and i really am not too bothered about losing the shock towers.

 

[gp001]

I think you are right on Corpse. Idon't mind spending money, but when you give sole distributorship to someone and then jack the price so drastically we're (consumers) are gonna notice.

I think the TCP guy said in the other post that they were being undersold and not making any money. Also, others have told me the Mustangs Plus jacked up a lot of their prices, maybe they're gettin greedy? I don't know, I haven't compared prices.

That TCP power R&P WAS going to be my next purchase

 

[Bullitt]

not sure if this helps but.......

when i got my alignment done, the guy who did is heavy into modding his cars (mostly chevy's though) and he does a lot of his own custom fab work.

looking at the rack he said it looks almost identical to a Dodge Intrepid unit....... time to start doing some hw guys!

i think the only tough part about adapting a rack from some other vehicle is doing the steering shaft, as most modern cars are collapsible, blah blah.

hmmmmm.

 

[mustangdave]

Hey guys, I agree. I just went to their site and e-mailed them to tell them they have got to be kidding. I suggest we all do the same. It may or may not make a difference, but I sure feel better. Actually, I'm going to contact some other sources to e-mail them too because their products look to be of really high quality, but definitely not that high! Organize, revolt!!! Sorry, had a sixties dream last nite.

 

[Mustang1969]

Yeah, I definitely think TCP is robbing Mustang enthusiasts. But there is a term I learned in my Econ class called "substitute goods." So I know I personally won't be buying any TCP products anytime soon and with other products out there at a much more economical price, I can definitely see problems in TCP's future due to their vast price increase. Their fault for trying to make an extra $500 off people.

 

[corpse]

whoa - I sent em a lengthy "note" I encourage everyone to do the same - stir up a little heat. It's one thing if they "adjust" the prices a little - but what they are doing is flat out WRONG. If they were Microsoft, the DOJ would be all over them like flies on sh1t. Last I checked - Microsoft doesn't even price gouge their customers like they could!

 

[Mustang1969]

corpse, I think you yourself are sitting on a money maker. You could probably make a nice penny selling the 69-70 Autometer gauge conversions. Custom brackets and speaker mounts, etc. such as what you have on your car. I wish the previos owners hadn't cut into my doors and rear panels, but life is life. You don't know how many 69-70 Mustang owners are probably looking for an Autometer gauge converson or a how to on coverting their radios to indash CD players with mounting hardware to put their subs in behind the back seat.

 

[xoxbxfx]

Originally posted by Mustang1969
corpse, I think you yourself are sitting on a money maker. You could probably make a nice penny selling the 69-70 Autometer gauge conversions. Custom brackets and speaker mounts, etc. such as what you have on your car. I wish the previos owners hadn't cut into my doors and rear panels, but life is life. You don't know how many 69-70 Mustang owners are probably looking for an Autometer gauge converson or a how to on coverting their radios to indash CD players with mounting hardware to put their subs in behind the back seat.

well, a couple things...

JME Enterprises is currently producing their 69 cluster. I emailed them jsut the other day to see what was going on, and they are supposedly in current production and will be out within a month.

Also, they are "surveying" :-/ and they are thinking of making the radio bezel for a new age in dash cd player. They said it will be made out of aluminium. They probably are like tcp....$1000 for a radio bezel

 

[J's 67]

I agree. The TCP stuff were already expensive at the first place. Their products were on my list but not anymore. I understand they had spent time and money to develop those products, however, it's not reasonable anymore. Undersold? Then they can lower the price, hire marketing professionals, find more distributors (not only MustangsPlus), and etc. so they can increase the sales volume.
I'll write a letter as well.

 

[calcat]

I like the first idea corpse had. The main stumbling block is the mounting bracket. Everything else can be had. How ard would it be for a fab shop to make a bunch of brackets based on a designated rack? this would be the way to go, especially with a group purchase. You could just buy the bracket and get the rest of the parts as time/money allows. My .02

 

[BigGuy]

Get the ball rolling!

Okay, let's get on it!
I have heard that the TCP rack is the same as was used on many mid-to-late eighties GM cars: Cavalier, Baretta, Cutlass, Cimarron, and many others. I still have to confirm it though. Maybe this weekend I will crawl under my girlfriend's Cimarron and take some measurements. Anyways, this rack is REAL common (if it is the GM one), and you can buy a new power rack for $190 on carparts.com or for dirt at a salvage yard. Other than that you need some brackets (four of them- two bolt to the lower control arm mount and two to the crossmember mounts), Some sort of a lower steering shaft bearing, and some U joints for the steering linkage. As far as I know that's it.

You might need to fabricate the centerlink, which would be easy. So say the brackets take $200 at a local machine shop (I made up that number, could be less), and you pick up the U-joints at a salvage yard for $10, it shouldn't cost you more than $500 for the exact same setup.

So the only thing preventing this are the brackets. Two choices: Buy a manual rack and measure the brackets to reproduce (which is probably against copyright laws or something), or engineer it ourselvs. Engineering it is easy if we have an accurate drawing of the Mustang's suspension geometry. If anyone has that please send it to me.

At the worse, why not buy the manual rack form TCP and buy the power from carparts.com and just change all the hardware over and have the power rack setup for much cheaper?

Sorry this is long.

Cheers,
Dave

1964 1/2 Mustang, 289, etc...

 

[xoxbxfx]

a power rack and pinion would be really nice. I would definately do the swap if we can get some brackets mounted. Someone with the unit should disassemble it and measure everything.

 

[corpse]

ok, who around here has the TCP unit installed - either manual or power it doesn't matter - I KNOW someone around here has it! Don't be worried if TCP is watching - there's nothing illegal or wrong with obtaining their mounting design specs - or taking pictures of it and posting them here for a group discussion

 

[Bullitt]

i have the manual rack.

won't be able to do any reverse engineering until next week though (spring break).

what would you boys prefer? AutoCAD 2000 files or SolidWorks?

i'm just going to take a look at the mounting brackets, cause that's what we're interested in right now, correct?

 

[xoxbxfx]

autocad would be great...but Im guessing Corpse is the main decider