I was wondering about how many 1980's vintage cars are still out there.

Only speaking for my area in the rust belt, not many. Even cars and trucks from the 1990's are getting rare to see on the road.

Also most IAC are controlled by a ECM. The IAC stand alone controller would also need at least a few of the signals that the ECM needs. I can't imagine an owner of an old car, that needs it for transportation, being able to understand how to rewire his car to make it work.

 

Many businesses start with a small niche market, the trick is to keep developing new products after that.

But admittedly that niche has to be viable enough to provide capital.

 

80’s cars

Bob

 

12 opamps and 6 transistors (one of those might be a voltage reference), plus whatever that greenish thing is in the lower right corner. There probably is an integrator or two in there somewhere, which will be tricky in uC code. What does the inductor do, and why is the resistor next to it so hot?

Also, what is the failure mode for this device? IOW, which part usually fails?

ak

 

I was wondering about how many 1980's vintage cars are still out there. This is post #40 and I don't see anybody lining up for a crack at this problem so maybe its time to let this thread go.

There is a big community of people who drive/collect a certain model of 1980's era car. This guy could literally sell dozens of these boards over the next twenty years. I might even buy one in case I eventually end up buying one of those yet-to-be-identified 1980s cars.

 

There is a big community of people who drive/collect a certain model of 1980's era car. This guy could literally sell dozens of these boards over the next twenty years. I might even buy one in case I eventually end up buying one of those yet-to-be-identified 1980s cars.

Assuming he can get the design working and producible. The strategy of "build a few - sell a few" can work if you manage your resources.

 

From the article I previously linked to:

Survivors had special merit — the 1984-89 Corvette C4 is still a marvelous car, and the turbocharged Buick Grand National was collectible from day one.

I am betting on the Corvette.

Bob

 

I already had prototypes made and price estimation.

Well, if the proto is working then what need of an engineer do you have? If you have it down - build. Profit. Don't need to share with us. Heck, what do I know?!

 

Assuming he can get the design working and producible. The strategy of "build a few - sell a few" can work if you manage your resources.

Absolutely. But I'm fairly certain TS has underestimated his costs significantly.

 

Yes, but if the cars he is talking about is Corvettes, we might be underestimating the price he can sell it for.

Bob

 

You determined that by yourself. You don't know what I have or have not done to get the price quote I got.

Sorry but you dont know how the device works, you dont have a design, you dont know if you are going with non digital electronics like with the original design or are going to use a microcontroller, you dont know what components you need or how big the board will be and somehow you have a quote on how much it will cost per board. Basically you have none of the information required to get a quote for a board, if someone gave you a quote with that little information then they have just made up a number.

Then you have the issue that you are designing an important part for a car which if it goes wrong or is used incorrectly then could cause an accident and who is going to be responsible for that accident? I also cant imagine any insurance companies will be happy with someone installing a part made by some random guy on the internet into their car without it being fully tested and approved. If you cant get the simulation working then chances are you dont have enough knowledge to design a product like this, I get that you are looking for an engineer to partner with you but what happens if they leave you with a half complete design or you cant get into contact with them after they have designed it or they do a sub par job, collect their money and leave and you are left with a pile of bulk produced boards that break after a few weeks or fail in much worse ways. Your lack of knowledge also means that you are just taking their word for it that it is well designed and robust when in reality it might be a ticking time bomb before it causes an accident.

Forums mainly used by hobbyists arent really the place to look for business partners. You might have more luck on freelancing sites such as upwork where you might be able to get a qualified engineer to help you.

 

I already had prototypes made and price estimation.

so I know what I'm looking at as far as cost.

So you have now went from having no design and not even understanding how it works to suddenly you have prototypes out of nowhere with a price estimation. I thought the whole point of this thread was so you could find an engineer to do all the design work since you dont know what you are doing?

 

I have my very strong doubts of this making any money since all of the newer cars don't even have an idle air valve any more. Quote, "These days, most new cars have electronic throttle control (ETC), eliminating the need for an IAC." From - https://www.carparts.com/blog/symptoms-of-a-bad-idle-air-control-valve/ Ever since the throttle cable went away so did the IAC so unless people are going to keep driving pre- 2000 cars the need for this item grows smaller every year.

I was wondering about how many 1980's vintage cars are still out there. This is post #40 and I don't see anybody lining up for a crack at this problem so maybe its time to let this thread go.

To answer you and the person above.
It's a 1980 model that is still very popular and unique. The cars exist. There is a huge used parts market. There is a financial potential here and I also had some people contact me.

i am trying to find the right person to work with.

 

Sorry but you dont know how the device works, you dont have a design, you dont know if you are going with non digital electronics like with the original design or are going to use a microcontroller, you dont know what components you need or how big the board will be and somehow you have a quote on how much it will cost per board. Basically you have none of the information required to get a quote for a board, if someone gave you a quote with that little information then they have just made up a number.

Then you have the issue that you are designing an important part for a car which if it goes wrong or is used incorrectly then could cause an accident and who is going to be responsible for that accident? I also cant imagine any insurance companies will be happy with someone installing a part made by some random guy on the internet into their car without it being fully tested and approved. If you cant get the simulation working then chances are you dont have enough knowledge to design a product like this, I get that you are looking for an engineer to partner with you but what happens if they leave you with a half complete design or you cant get into contact with them after they have designed it or they do a sub par job, collect their money and leave and you are left with a pile of bulk produced boards that break after a few weeks or fail in much worse ways. Your lack of knowledge also means that you are just taking their word for it that it is well designed and robust when in reality it might be a ticking time bomb before it causes an accident.

Forums mainly used by hobbyists arent really the place to look for business partners. You might have more luck on freelancing sites such as upwork where you might be able to get a qualified engineer to help you.

I actually know pretty well how this thing works. You guys are making assumptions and I understand you don't know everything I know because I will not disclose everything out in a forum simply because I don't want my idea stolen.

as for safety, we are talking about an air idle valve. It can't raise the RPM more than about 100RPM. That's all it does and the limitation is the air valve itself. Not the control unit. So safety is not Really a concern.

there are several companies making components for this specific cars and obviously other older cars.

the design will obviously be tested before released.

 

Only speaking for my area in the rust belt, not many. Even cars and trucks from the 1990's are getting rare to see on the road.

Also most IAC are controlled by a ECM. The IAC stand alone controller would also need at least a few of the signals that the ECM needs. I can't imagine an owner of an old car, that needs it for transportation, being able to understand how to rewire his car to make it work.

Don't need to rewire anything. It's plug and play as far as connecting it to the car.

also, this specific car is mod heaven. All the owners mod them.

 

So you have now went from having no design and not even understanding how it works to suddenly you have prototypes out of nowhere with a price estimation. I thought the whole point of this thread was so you could find an engineer to do all the design work since you dont know what you are doing?

Again, these are all your words and you making assumptions. I suggest you stop simply because you are wrong on all of them.

like I said, to prevent the idea from being stolen I did not disclose everything.

but yes, I am looking for someone to work with. It does not mean other work was not done before and for a non electronics engineering person, I have a bit of knowledge which is enough to understand how this thing works. Obviously, designing a replacement is beyond my capabilities which is why I need the help.

 

To answer you and the person above.
It's a 1980 model that is still very popular and unique. The cars exist. There is a huge used parts market. There is a financial potential here and I also had some people contact me.

i am trying to find the right person to work with.

Except that your presentation and your attitude are not conducive to finding the person that you need. I agree with @Conor Stewart that this is probably the wrong place to look, for reasons which by this point should be manifestly obvious. I've been on this site for 15 years and I cannot recall even a single instance of this kind of pitch resulting in a successful collaboration. In every single case it comes down to people with technical talent being completely uninterested in working for free. If we wanted to take entrepreneurial risks we would expect to pick up ALL of the marbles. Of course you are more than welcome to continue banging your head against the wall, but I can confidently predict that it will feel a great deal better when you decide to stop.

 

Except that your presentation and your attitude are not conducive to finding the person that you need. I agree with @Conor Stewart that this is probably the wrong place to look, for reasons which by this point should be manifestly obvious. I've been on this site for 15 years and I cannot recall even a single instance of this kind of pitch resulting in a successful collaboration. In every single case it comes down to people with technical talent being completely uninterested in working for free. If we wanted to take entrepreneurial risks we would expect to pick up ALL of the marbles. Of course you are more than welcome to continue banging your head against the wall, but I can confidently predict that it will feel a great deal better when you decide to stop.

Someone invited me to post here.

no one has to take on this project. If anyone is interested they can contact me directly and I can explain the idea and the potential financial gain behind it.

 

High res photo of the bottom side - ?

ak

 

High res photo of the bottom side - ?

ak

attached. Thanks.