I have let you down! I used to be fairly good about sharing the inner workings of BenzForce and where we were with certain products. There were a couple of things that sidelined the regular blogging. The biggest of course is that COVID brought the world to a stop. Ironically, sales were really good through that time but there wasn’t any manufacturing or product development really going on. After the world started opening up I simply failed to pick blogging back up. I will *try* to do this monthly and call it the Development Update series.
Almost daily people ask me for “common” products that we don’t have made yet so I thought I would share a short list of products in the pipeline. These have no ETA and I will do my best to report on them until they are formal offerings. By now, people that have followed my personal build or other blogs should know that I share things that work and things that do not. I will not put out a product that I know is sub-par for the sake of making a buck.
Right now we have the following products in prototype, preproduction, or development:
- KKK to T3 Adapter. They are on the way and solid stainless steel!
- 102mm Holset Outlet. We have our prototype being machined for the 102mm Holset exhausts. This adapter will accommodate both a 3” and 3.5” exhaust tube.
- 6R80 Adapter. We need another revision of the bell housing adapter as the alignment of the engine and transmission are a bit off.
- CD009 Adapter. Two versions of the flywheel are fully modeled. One uses the stock flex plate and one I had manufactured uses a 3-piece custom wheel designed by us. IT IS AWESOME but I think it will be too expensive for most, so we are investigating alternatives. The bell housing adapter is also modeled but no prototype produced yet. This will not pick up until after the 6R80. All adapters allow you to change your starter without taking out the transmission :)
- 716 SMF. Our own Mercedes 6 Speed single mass flywheel. Modeling is done but not sure its worth the effort given availability of other kits. Using a multiple piece fly wheel I can support the om60x and Mercedes gas 6 speed customers
- Om617 Adapter. After the dyno car’s MB4x4 kit had caused issues, we started a kit using the om617 mid-plate and flex plate. This will allow the use of stock diesel starter and eliminate balancing issues. This may also be something we put on the shelf because there are a lot of adapters, but none are a decent solution for the 617 in my opinion.
- Filter Relocation Plates. We are on revision 2 of these for both the om60x and the om617. I decided not to release our first revision due to design issues I didn’t catch on the prototype
- om617 Throttle Linkage. We are on revision 3 of this and have played around with a couple of TPS models.
- om617 Oil Pressure Sensor. I needed this for the dyno car! We have a banjo adapter that will bolt to the filter housing and accept a 1/8” NPT sensor. This was just 3D printed yesterday so it will be a bit before it's produced
- om606 Throttle Linkage. This is a low priority, but I will need something for the dyno car once the 606 goes in so it will pick back up as that time approaches.
- M112 Intake. Intake runners have been modeled and after the M112 is running and tested we may move forward with the creation of an air to water intercooled intake. We hope to run turbos on the M112, not a supercharger
- M112 Engine Plates. Fully modeled. I need to get a little motivation to finish the EMU Black (ECU Master) wiring so we can get this in the 240sx.
- om606 Water Fitting. I've had this modeled and prototyped for quite some time. Its a fitting and hold down that fit into the om606 head and has a hose barb. I am not convinced there is enough demand to warrant a production run
- Hydraulic lines? That's right, I am thinking of purchasing the equipment to crimp fittings to offer our own oil lines. Other vendors sell lines but they are way too pricey in my opinion. My only concern is that it could be a distraction from other initiatives (like pump building).
- Wicked Injection. This is still on the plate. We have all tooling, [overkill] parts washer, test bench, etc to build pumps. It's a matter of available hours in a day at this point. I thought I found the perfect person to run that business unit but it didn't work out, so I am still searching.
We have a ton of other parts that have been modeled for a long time, sometime years, but not produced yet. Believe it or not, this is the "short list" containing items I feel comfortable sharing with competitors. Once the current w123 build leaves the garage, the plan is to acquire a w123 for prototyping brake, suspension and steering parts.