Car appreciation... the aesthetics, the engineering, etc

You think it’s suspiciously cheap? We did wonder about that. GT3 oil pump is over three grand.

We priced in below the other dual stage pump offerings in the end.

I would want to know:
Body material
Internal material(s) - possibly name supplier of impellers/etc
Elastomer type(s)
Output pressure vs original (a pump curve isn’t necessary but what does ‘dual stage’ mean to the layperson?)

A technical drawing might be nice, at least for external dims.

was also gonna say this, contact page has the same issue

There is not much information on the site in general.
I would perhaps add a "who we are" "what we do" section, and set up Socials accounts and link them.

The product page should have text as well as image.
Some of your pictures are redundantly similar - eg 6 and 8. 6 is better.
On the contacts page, the image shows a white (prototype?) version of your product. Which is fine I guess.

but what does ‘dual stage’ mean to the layperson?

Two pumps stacked on one output drive from the exhaust cam, first stage scavenges the rear of the head, second stage scavenges the front of the head.

Under low load conditions the second stage is going to be returning very little to nothing- under heavy braking and/or turning left it’s going to be working hard. The second stage is absent on the standard (single stage) design, and you are on your own with the oil pooling issue.

I’m not sure that dual-stage is the correct terminology (although that may be what Porsche use) - it sounds as if you have a parallel setup (2 suction, 2 discharge) whereas multi stage is series, to obtain higher pressures at the output.

It’s what Porsche call it. The pump in our application has two intakes and a single exhaust (back to the sump)

So your bit of bling is a direct replacement for a Porsche part and at 1/3 the cost? That's pretty good.

I'm not the target audience for this at all but I wonder how important the webpage is; presumably a lot of your customers would know the part before they order one. Maybe listing the Porsche part number that it replaces would be useful for google searches and the like.

^ This.

Definitely need to up your SEO game. Assume sales may come from forums but you’ve got to assume some people will arrive via search.

Think about how you might search for these parts (part numbers, specific or general terms etc) and build these into your descriptions (including image names etc). Also follow the same process for your ‘about’ pages etc.

Definitely need to up your SEO game

Or just pay Google innit

I guess but that's not sustainable for a small business over a long period of time. Much easier to put some effort into each new page built and think about your SEO strategy.

PPC also requires effort as you'll be penalised for using irrelevant or loosely relevant terms over a longer period of time and the high bounce rate from a high cost product will naturally penalise your search ranking.

Heh - penalise

So your bit of bling is a direct replacement for a Porsche part and at 1/3 the cost? That's pretty good.

When the Porsche version was for sale (it’s NLA) it was around £1,500 plus vat. This was years ago so (given how Porsche prices rise over time) I’d expect between 2-3k if it were still produced.

I’ll find the original parts Porsche part number and add it- good idea.

Giving money to Google and/or Facebook to help you 'grow' is a total nonsense.

Change of circumstance means car is needed. Summat small and reliable to do orbital journeys in.

Anyone selling anything? Recommend something?

Polo/Aygo/Mini etc etc

My mate mentioned a website that helps you compare quality of non-oem vs oem parts by manufacturer. Anyone have any idea what it is?

I need to replace the front left speed sensor on the e46 according to my scanner, but I have no idea which make to buy. Going from the names I know it's between Hitatchi, Bosch and Febi Bilstein - with the latter being twice the price of the former, so I'd be keen to know if there was a resource I could reference in future because there's always about 50 different manufacturers of non-OEM parts and I have no idea what to go for (other than sticking to the handful of brands I know), and apparently even the bigger names like Febi Bilstein are only good for certain things, and they pretty much just slap their names on other parts despite not actually being made by them.

Also, does anyone know of any helpful guides for using a scanner (Foxwell NT680), I've had a quick play and found out the info I was after (which corner was generating the ABS fault), but it seems there are other faults present but I'm struggling to make much sense of them beyond doing a quick google. @Fixedwheelnut (sorry to be tagging you, again(!)).

My experience is that pattern parts are a false economy, but you can do ok by finding the original manufacturer and buying direct- Brembo make my brakes for example and it’s much cheaper buying the Brembo version than it is either the Porsche or Mercedes marked versions.

Does the speed sensor have the original manufacturers name on it anywhere?

I would say in my experience of German spares, Febi are fine, but a lot of Bosch stuff seems to be Chinese shite nowadays, and I would avoid.

My experience is that pattern parts are a false economy

Uhhhhh, aren’t you technically flogging a pattern part yourself, lol.

I’ve not actually had the sensor off yet, but I’m not sure our maintenance schedules are that comparable - just want to keep my lovely shitbox on the road and passing MOTs.

A bit of sleuthing suggests that ATE are the manufacturers of the original part, but it's £55. Hmm.

Uhhhhh, aren’t you technically flogging a pattern part yourself, lol.

I guess so, but I submit that we've not built this down to a price, we've built it and then worked out what the price needs to be.

I was just being silly, but it did make me chuckle!

Ah, they make the original brakes for Mercedes. Quality stuff.

Honda Jazz is the forum favourite. Well priced, super practical, and reliable.

Mini would be more fun and has a much better quality feel to it. Much less practical if that matters.

Other than Mini I'd probably avoid German cars based on your listed requirements. The Aygo is the same as the equivalent Pug and Citroën - so worth checking if they are noticeably cheaper/better value.

what are the downsides to buying an import?
Is insurance more expensive, or is it just availability of parts?