Does the kit come with new boots? Stuff like that. Some of mine are dry rotted from no moisture out here. If yes I will pop for a kit also. I'm too lazy to reinvent the wheel I mean clamp
Dave...I thought you did not have an answer.....i thought someone else would. I will re read if I missed something.
Patent pending, if legit, means that one has filed a provisional or non- provisional patent application. The person filing has the right to keep the application private if they choose (this is what I do with mine). If they allow the application to be public, it will become public after 18 months, regardless if the patent office has even looked at it or not. For strategic reasons, I keep mine private. A patent must have a minimum of 1 claim and can have many, the more the better (within reason) A claim is the backbone. Since it's been stated that Dave's applications are private, I have no idea what he is claiming so it's hard to tell if the application has merit or not. Based on what I know, I really can't see him getting a patent for this idea because nothing has been invented. I could reach out to my attorney and see when the application was filed, my guess is he has abandoned the pursuit. If the application has been abandoned, it's no longer legal to state "patent pending" even though people do it all the time.
Fascinating, but one of these posters knows more than FNA and I am sure more than VAG, yet he cannot produce his credentials other than he works on his own cars. Pity that Luca has not hired him yet to turn around our beloved scuderia and finally put that Newey guy back in his place and provide Alonso the car he deserves.
LMAO! "It is obvious that the naysayers have an agenda to destroy and discredit SRI. They complaint about a technical detail as if the world revolved around it. They complain about SRI hoses which are not part of this discussion. They call SRI's body of work marketing hype. They complain about the SRI fee for its products. These people are not about finding answers or solving problems or making our cars better. I recommend those who know technical details resist the urge to help them out as they will twist and destroy. Nothing can be gained by giving out additional information that they could use in competition or as means to front their destructive agenda." Now we can add...They think the patent(s) is suspect! Anything else you don't like about SRI? You guys are hysterical. What is next bad breath?
Don't bother Howie. You are "only" a professional technician with years of experience like Dave. These guys no more than you.
For that price I would expect crimp tools which are manufactured by AMP or Molex and have precision machined dies (I would not use anything else on my own car). All the bodies and boots of the connectors. The cost of the actual connectors would be tiny and gold-flashed contacts are only slightly higher cost then tin, a few cents each. Knowing what connectors to source is valuable IP and automotive connectors are not always available generally from suppliers such as Digikey so sourcing is a valuable task. On the other hand if the price quoted above includes a cheap Chinese-made crimp tool then it is too high and would also invalidate the claims of the kit to being a top-quality product since the result is only as good as the quality of the crimps. If on the other hand it includes quality branded crimp tools it would be fair since these start at $300 upwards in general. I would have thought the best approach would be loaning out quality crimp tools with a returnable deposit.
My only agenda was to investigate the validity of this product to see if it was something I found valuable to purchase and implement on my car. I have no agenda to destroy or discredit SRI or Dave Helms, sorry you can't see that.
Keep hacking on the kit! You guys are amazing. There is a very important reason that each owner should own his own tools. You do not understand the very important reason why. Your gold/tin argument is running out of steam. What's next attack the number of included cleaning brushes?
And the reason would be what? Please enlighten us why we need the crimping tool after the install is complete. I thought the GCK was supposed to solve all current and future problems. Thus the connector issue need never be revisited. I guess you really can't believe everything you read on the internet.
Fbb. Instead of getting defensive and emotional, it would help the discussion if we just focus on the technical merits of tin + tin vs. tin + gold. If you can find documentation that tin + gold is better, please post it so we can evaluate. My mind is open on the subject matter and if I can find documentation that gold + tin is ok, I would be more than willing to change my mind. Out of all the documentation Ive read, I have been unable to find any evidence of it. I did find a single paper where gold + tin was ok but the parameters were so narrow, I didnt find it worthy to post. The test showed that mating one specific type of gold connector to one specific type of tin connector designed for dissimilar metal, fretting was minimal for the duration of the test (approximately 40 days). Unfortunately, the test is irrelevant in this case since the special connectors are not used in the kit/car.
Many of us will have other cars in the future and like to have tools. I have found these tools useful. The tin + gold argument has been made. Your helpfulness is appreciated. Let's move on in whatever direction we choose. Perhaps in the future, someone will take the initiative to produce a kit to your specifications.
I read the entire writeup and it states things most of us already knew (fretting and corrosion with similar and dissimilar metals). I also see lots of maybes, mights, could haves too. I don't know SRIs secret formula for his kit and most of us don't care. He uses gold for a reason and it works, which by now even you will agree with. I read things like "buildup" but that's a relative term. How much buildup is needed and how long will it take to realize that buildup before failure. But we don't know that and neither do they because everything is relative. Strong clamping reduces fretting greatly, living in a dry climate is better than living in a wet one (automotive wise), and on and on. These kits will long outlive most of us on this board. If you don't believe that don't buy one. Nothing lasts forever so when one kit at some point way down the line has some type of failure you can jump up and down say "I told you so, I told you so". Who knows you might still be alive my then and still be able to jump up and down. Maybe. And that image you presented about the fuel line failure on the F16, didn't need an electron micrograph to see that did you, very plain to see with just your non-magnified eyesight. Maybe someone should ask why these very important connections were not checked more often, if they were checked at all. Now I'm taking FBB's advice and going on a long reliable drive.
I am sorry but I will not. Your minds are fixated and closed on tin/gold connections and belittling the product. You are stuck in first gear.
You are funny! My OMG was to the suggestion that we are gold kit subvendors. You bring back up tin/gold. Keep hatcheting . Is that all you got?
unless he has a secret periodic chart that no one else on earth has, gold is still AU and tin is still SN. i would imagine the under layer would be industry standard but who knows, maybe he found that elusive mix. 100% true. fretting is a product of clamping force and material. dry conditions also help I sure hope so. that's an extreme example right there. fretting has been shown to cause resistance to failure issues long before it's visible to the naked eye. have a safe drive.. it's apparent that minds will not be changed with this discussion. i guess we'll all have to agree to disagree. i do wish the inventor would chime in and give his rebuttal on why he chose gold, after all, he's the one with the most to gain here. and by rebuttal, i mean science, research documents, and the maybe some input from the "jaw dropping" team he assembled for this project. i guess that's asking a little too much?
hello gerry, glad to see you came back. i did some reading on bill henderson. wow, this guy is a total quack and should be arrested.
I actually have photographic evidence in my safe of FBB donning his tin hat. It even has horns or maybe they are just curvilinear conductive enhancers. It is possible that they may have actually overdrawn current from the air based on his sometime odd behavior and choices... But he's a fellow Stooge and lovable just the same.
The Initial kits included at least 3 loaner tools that were supposed to be passed around from installer to installer. Guess what, they all eventually went MIA. I know it doesn't say much about some in the so called brother-hood but it happened. That is the reason the tools had to be made and included in the kit.
