ScorpionT

Markku, if you could get me a couple videos of the Evora exhaust you built I know a couple people who would buy them.

Nick Z32

Noooooooo...


their will always be a need for Good welders. You'll never have trouble looking for a job or keeping busy

ForceFed Motorsports

Would have to agree that at least keep your essential fab tools for awhile till the dust settles so to speak. Give it some time behind the desk and you will likely be itching to get back in the garage and play around with some things.

Besides from personal experience you can make very good money doing work on the side. Im sure this new position is financially sound however making a manifold on the side here and there is pretty nice.

Good luck with your new venture and hope all goes well for you. Going to miss the thread updates...

montgoc3

Sorry to hear about the tough times. You've been a huge reason I've decided to go into welding, and am currently attending the Lincoln Electric welding school in Ohio. I'd like to own a shop similar to yours. Best of luck to you with the future job!

If you find that it is time to sell the equipment, please keep me in mind. I am located in Michigan, so I'm relatively close. PM me and I can provide you with my # if that's something your interested in.

GTibunny16v

I'm in the same boat as you, the economy took a dump and so did my business. I tried to hang on for as long as possible but just paying my bills and having no money for anything else sucks. So, I took a job at VW as a tech and kept my shop since rent is cheap. Now I can work on things at my own pace, set the prices the way I want to and make it my hobby again.

I figured if I can make a few extra hundred bucks a month on top of my new job, I'll be pretty happy. Plus, it pays for a place to work on my own **** when I want to.

Funny thing is, as soon as I get a full time job, business is crazy and I'm working 12-14 hour days so I can make some money and pay off all of my bills.

xtremvw

good luck Markku you know where to find me if you ever want to get back in the game. Later

SovXietday

Markku your work is simply amazing. You have natural talent in doing this that many people will simply never have. Like everyone else has said, you should keep your basic fab tools and do side work out of a small garage, and do your full time job to bring in normal money. You will be much happier and the auto work will be fun again.

Whatever you decide to do, best of luck!

redzcstandardhatch

i know many people renting a decent sized 2 car garage for 50-150 dollars a month from an older lady in the neighborhood, etc. or, just put it all in storage until you guys can get a place with a garage...

i wouldnt get rid of your main fab tools...you'll kick yourself.

if you close up shop, i'll be sad, but i'll completely understand!

Fabworx

I know exactly what you mean, things are the same way here, I have recently stepped back and takin a job welding on food processing equipment. Whatever you do... DO NOT SELL YOUR EQUIPMENT!!!, I am currently doing small things on the side to keep the equipment from sitting and to spend time at the shop, lol. But dont lose your love for the hobby, dont let these a&^holes out here kill your passion for cars. You do beautiful work Markku, and no one with your talent should give it up in that fashion. I was having the same thoughts 2 months ago until I personally realized that the jerks that I have dealt with in business should not be the reason for my demise. Good luck with everything you decide and I wish you nothing but the best!!!

Danny

drift2004

Why is everyone against him closing up shop ?? Close it allready. It makes no financial sense if month after month you are losing money or not making money.You could be the best at what you do but if your not making money, well move on . Maybe put it on hold for now. Relocated better area. Save your cash... for later re-think what u need to do ,and do it... But till now you are over stressing yourself with put strains on yourself and your love ones. Mass production of parts is what is killing the small shops, IMO.

russianvr4

i dont see where people are saying dont close it.
most are suggesting to hang on to his main fab equipment, welder, cutters etc, stuff you cant fab anything without.

redzcstandardhatch

seems that we all just want him to keep his equipment so we can see stack-o-dime welds on weird stuff still.

rkeith

Any updates?

HellaFab

Markku,

Sent you an email today for some supplies... hope your still there dude!

havent seen any updates recently, but i was reading over your thread again... since your GF/ her father are involved in the shop (at least in the get go) why dont you get them to do the promotion?

Online promotion on EVERY forum known to man will get you out there and keep it busy!

cheers,
Matt

Agtronic

Hey everyone,

I thought I'd post an update. I got the job in telecom, so there's a big weight off my shoulders. I'm running the shop from 5pm on, but I can't exactly stay up late here 'cause I still have to be sharp at the other job. I'm still in training, but so far so good.

I'm still trying to track down the customer that owes me money, it's proving impossible. I'm pretty pissed about it, and I never get pissed usually.

Meanwhile, I've been trying to finish Guruman's car so that I can move onto new jobs. This one is already pretty much all paid, so I need to get it out the door.

This is my absolute first time working with 321, and so far I love it. I wish I could do this for all my turbo cars.









Matt, I got your email! I normally remote into my work PC from my new job on breaks and take care of emails and such, so expect an email quote tomorrow!

Thanks everyone!

russianvr4

first off, congrats on the job man! i know how you feel about the stress off your back. im also glad to see that you are still doing car stuff on the side, im sure it will be more pleasurable to do it without the worries of making bills etc.

and HOTDAMN that looks FAN ****ING TASTIC!
is that sanitary tubing or just your prep work?

AdReNaLiN

Hi Agtronic,

I sent you an email regarding a 4-1 merge collector for a GT3071R with a Tial housing.
I'm looking to have one pre-made so I can fabricate my own manifold.

Let me know if you are still making these and what kind of timeframe I'd be looking at?

Thanks,
Steve

HellaFab

Glad to hear your still at it dude! I was hoping that would be the case!

Cheers,
Matt

rkeith

914Racer

Good job. Glad you can work it out so you can keep parts of it going with less stress. Keep it going in case you have to go back to doing it full time. I just got laid off and picked back up with the shop work and haven't really taken a big hit. Being able to do so many different things is a great advantage you have over others.

hondaapi

Hej Makku

Congrats to your new job. I read your thread and want to share you my story

Seven years ago I started my business (building entire turbosetups) as a side job beside my job as a mechanic at Porsche here in Germany.

After two years I cancled my main job and started my business as a full time business. But I still had a friendly relationship with my former boss and he told me that I can come back whenever I want.

So I run my new business as 9-5, a year later 13-7 and I had my first employee. We did great work, high quality, and put a lot of R&D into new setups even for the new cars. We started a small serial production of entire turbosetups (included the engine, turbosetup, complete motormanagement, installation).
We spend a lot of money to make our setups 100% streetlegal.
(You have to know that turbocharged Hondas are illegal here in Germany without special allowances form special, independent institutions)
But that means that every setup needs to be indentical.

We became very succesfull here and more and more people thought they can jump onto the train and started to offer builds for cheaper, cheaper and cheaper.
Most of these people had no idea about what they do. Quality was terrible, most cars never run perfect, ripped of there "customers", cars were illegal after the builds and so on and so on

But potential customers did not compare what they would get from these "one day flys" or from us with all our reputation and experiences and former technical backgrounds.
More and more people became crazy, wanted to get everything and pay nothing, did not pay there invoices .....

So after 4 years of running our business as main job we (me, my businesspartner, employee) decided to close our shop and to go back to our former jobs.
It was no problem to go back because we still had good and friendly relationships to our former bosses.

While these 4 years I never had the chance/time to run my own car on the track, could not make hollydays.

We finished all our running projetcs that all people could keep us in mind as fair and honest business people.
In this time we recieved a lot of mental support from kind and intelligent customers that understood our personal decisions.

From this day a lot of pressure fellt off from our shoulders.

But we kept all our equipment and the shop for our hobby.

After I was back in my new/former job I took a "some weeks distance" from my old shop and then I noticed that the "fun" came back.
After some weeks I came back to my shop, opened the door and stood alone therein and looked onto my race car (which i did not drove since more than a year) for a more than an hour. In this moment I felt it was a right decision.

Since that time I only build pure race cars only for real enthusiats and close friends.
These friends respect and honor what I do for them and pay me what my work is worth.
I only build these pure race cars in my free time and only when I want to do something on cars. I only do these build without any deadline!

If I do not want to work on cars I do other thing like going swimming and hanging around with freinds or visit the race tracks with friends.

Now, I can chosse the cars I really like to work on :-)
And I only do 3 or 4 builds per year for friends and use the extra money I earn through this for my own race car. :-)

What I want to say, keep your equipment, keep the shop if you can afford.
Use the shop and equipmet for your free time, your talent and of sure your passion.
Just fabricate things for people that honor your work, experience and your love to detail.
Try to become a little bit "exlusive". Do not fabricate for people that only want to get something for cheap.
Use the extra money for something you ever wanted to have.
You would miss something if you would sell your equipment and then you would regrett it one day.

ROTARD

^ great post

Agtronic, I sent you a small present/guilt trip lep me know if you get it

Fabworx

Beautifully said!!!^^

montgoc3

Any updates with the shop?

BTW, sent ya an email with a few questions.

-Craig

mikesrex

this is a great post