You should just do it then, seriously. I don't know the full back story behind all of this but in business people screw each other all the time. If you think that is happening to you and you do nothing to stop it or fight back then you have no one but yourself to blame. Design and manufacture functional louvers for the miata and get them to market first and you will likely capture a lot of sales since you would have the first to market advantage. I would probably hold off on the mudslinging though because it reflects badly on you whether you are right or not.

Something tells me that no one in this thread were the first people to have the idea to water jet some louvers in sheet metal to be bent.

I must be missing something here. ThePass is copying your design because you make louvers? There's a lot of people who can make a louver. He does not appear to have copied any of your designs, just looked at the pressure spots and designed around that.

Just because you want to step in and be a partner with him doesn't give you right to show up and bully when told no. If you want to make specific miata louvers, step up and do it. Otherwise its not worth running your mouth.

I just want my damned louvers so I can destroy my hood, get aggravated and flip tables.

Welcome to the forum VRaptor, action speaks louder than complaining.

Man, get the fuck out of here.

You have Miata louver panels on your site with these same exact shapes? No?

Ok, go away.

You guys kill me. This guy (Shane) obviously had an interesting and original design. It wasn't a game changer, but it WAS different. Shane says, "Hey, these were my idea. How about you guys respect my intellectual property," and even offers to do them for CHEAPER by cutting out the manufacturing mark up, and you guys bash HIM?!


This would be like Emilio offering to sell you 6ULs for cheaper, instead of suing the knockoff companies.

No, it wouldn't be like that at all.

It'd be like Emilio seeing that someone else is making a wheel that's square, bitching about it, then offering to sell you a square wheel for cheaper.

Your analogy is weak. Google 'Hood Louvers' and you'll see several dozen stamped panels, and a handful of these:

Hood Louvers Are In! (And Other Available Parts!) - FFCars.com : Factory Five Racing Discussion Forum


His design is original. Ryan's is a blatant, shameless knockoff. Ryan is taking money out of Shane's pocket.

I wait for someone to make some lovers for a miata. so far i don't see any. :/

Going on the assumption that Shane was in fact the first person to ever make this type of louver the manufacturing process would have been patentable unless the patent office deemed it to an obvious action to someone skilled in the arts of metal working based on prior processes. The actual flat cut and bent louvers with the brace would be a patented process, or would need to be kept as a trade secret (not possible in this case) for Ryan to be at fault here. Unless Shane already posses the Intellectual Property for the exact design for NA and NB miata louvers. Then it would be an IP case similar to someone making a direct knockoff of the 6UL. Right now you guys are in a huff because shane sells flow formed wheels that fit S2000s and factory 5s and Ryan wants to make flow formed wheels that fit miatas, to continue the wheel analogy.

Exactly. It is a car part designed specifically for an entirely different car. Ford doesn't sue GM because their cars came with hoods first.

me three

This.

Since Shane didn't mention a patent, I don't think he has one. Also, I don't think this is a copied design, although it is similar. This is why when you bring something to market, just think "Would I care if someone ripped this design off?" If the answer is yes, then get a patent, and don't bring it to market until you do. If it's not patentable, then your not getting ripped off if someone makes something similar.

Shane, if you don't like this, just send your team to develop and produce a louver in a day, sounds easy enough, right?

By the way, my hood is down to bare metal, and it would be really cool to not have to respray. Get them shits to market quit so concealer and I can get together and buttsecks cut holes in it. :ky:

https://www.miataturbo.net/attachmen...ine=1406649327
Miata Hood Louver Gallery | Hood Louvers | RunCool | Hood Vents For Your Vehicle -Hood Louvers | RunCool | Hood Vents For Your Vehicle -

i found these guys that seem to make some.

In for thepass louvers. Not vraper or whoever that is.

I'm pretty slick with cutting holes in things.

Please Ryan hurry up. I may not have the Miata much longer.

Just to clear things up, VR contacted me asking if I would be interested in having him do the cutting for my design. Despite already having my own local sources for waterjetting, production, etc. we (Sean and I) were open to the idea and discussed the possibility of outsourcing the cutting through VR. Because we were really busy last week with prepping for a track event, I emailed VR back and said we were open to the idea, and we'd like to discuss it further next week (this week). Then, before we had a chance to do so, VR came into our thread and threatened to beat us to the punch and undercut our efforts. Based on that behavior, I sent him an email last night politely informing him that "it's disappointingly become clear that we do not wish to develop a working relationship with you".
My idea is certainly neither the first hood louver concept to be applied to a car, or the first option that could fit on a miata, I just think I can offer some key features to set my design apart from other more universal options out there and make something that will work very nicely for our cars.
And that's that. :violin:

I'll be continuing to work on this project and will keep everyone updated :)

In other news, I'm now a vendor! :yippee:
MT.net has always been my favorite forum, with the best people and resources, and I've enjoyed being involved in the community for years. I'm really excited to begin contributing now in a new way as well by offering our community some parts tailored to our needs. :riaa:

Test pieces for the hood louvers just came in, so I'm playing with those and adjusting things as necessary.

-Ryan

Shane sounds pretty classy.

Yeah? Please explain your prior posts. Let me refresh your memory. Those are the posts in which you bitched and moaned about someone stealing a non-patented design, of which you don't provide in the shapes being specified in this thread by this approved and registered vendor.

Then you proceeded to make a thinly veiled threat about how you could be making this product within about 6 hours and could probably do it for cheaper.

Nobody here likes to do business your way, which is why you're not really getting any support. Nobody here likes crybabies and mudslingers.

Make sense?

See the irony?





You're either delusional or can't into mathmatics.

Are you aware how many days are in a week?

If so, then please direct your browser to the very first post in this thread. Please do note that the thread was created before "last week."

Nobody honestly cares about your dealings in the background. You're doing nothing but making yourself look whiny and shady. Your original hope was that you'd just be making them in the background, Ryan would still be selling them.

Go back to being in the background. Nobody likes noise.