Side & Rear Window Louvers

[captspillane]

My long term goals for SX4 rear window louvers:
1) Infrastructure in place to produce 20 louver kits in a single 10 hour day at a labor cost of $20 per hour. That translates to an average of 1/2 hour per kit or $10 of labor cost to each kit. Initially I will be happy if I can keep the labor average below 5 hours per kit ($100 of labor cost per kit.)

2) Secure flat rate shipping cost at or below $50 per assembled kit.

3) Reduce material cost at or below $100 per kit.. It currently costs between $120 and $150.

4) Maintain at least 5 prepared kits in stock for immediate shipping upon request. I will be producing them in serialized sets of 20. As I improve and change the design the serial number will help document and provide maintenance and repair support. I will charge a fraction of my rent in overhead to store the tooling, templates, and stock in my garage equal to the footprint of space utilized. I expect that cost to average $20 per kit.

5) An immediate goal is to reduce the individual kit price to $200. Realistically the first set I put up for sale will be more than that. I would eventually like the total installation cost to be below $200, which demands the production costs to sum to less than $150. By meeting these goals I'll get there eventually.  

[Inraged]

This is great! I would definitely buy a set for an SX4 even if it was right around 250. I understand how much work you're putting into this.

[amc1989]

I would be interested in buying 2, one for my SX4 and one for a spirit, once you get going!

[captspillane]

A local company about 15 minutes from my home does laser cutting at dirt cheap prices. I'm converting my prototype dimensions into CAD files and preparing to use them for this project. That's the only economical and realistic way to accurately and efficiently make these.

My goal is to have sets prepared for sale within 6 months.

Realize that my first child will be born in June, so it may be much sooner. I set that goal, however, because it's likely that my life will be devoted to the efforts of being a father for most of that time.

[JustinS]

I believe I may have said it before, but you can put my name down on the list for a set.

[vj318]

Whatever happened  to the louvers

[vangremlin]

captspillane, who was going to fabricate the louvers, has been missing from this site and in general for a long time.  Many members have tried to contact him as he was working on their cars but have had no success .

[dleberfinger]

To those interested in the rear window louver for the SX4, I finally have my Eagle in my shop. I have a CNC plasma table and am in the process of designing a set of a louvers for my car. Mine will not match the originals as I don't have access to an original set nor do I have the funds to buy one.

My biggest issue right now with it is trying to figure out how to mount it to the rear hatch. I've see some odd looking clips that look like they just slide under the rubber window seal, but that seems pretty sketchy to me. If I make them they make end up just being bolted to the rear hatch.

If anyone in PA is willing to let me look at them to make a set, please contact me ASAP.

Feel free to call or text me at 570 317 3464, message me on here, or email at [email protected].

[ChickenFarmer3]

pm me when you figure it out.  Those will be amazing.

[Treedupfromtheseedup]

Id also be extremely interested in this! id love to put a hatch louver on my sx/4

[txjeeptx]

This is a fun topic to bring back up.  I also have a CNC plasma cutter, and a set of plastic louvers from Maverick, but I seem to have mismanaged my time over the last few years.

[Ace2600]

What happened to these? Are they still available?