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yea, it's so hard to buy USA anymore, and when you finally do find something that's USA made...it's 2-3 times the cost. We the consumers keep saying "we need to buy American and support our own economy" but why can't the American producers say "gee, what can we do to make it less painful on the wallets of the American people?"

I mean...seriously...OK, so they use a jig to make collectors, and they tig weld them instead of mig weld them. who cares what kind of weld is on it. it's exhaust pipe, not a roll cage thats protecting your noggin! if I can buy the materials to make a collector for about $50, and weld them together in about 2 hours WITHOUT getting the "discount" for buying so much material at one time, plus the use of a jig to make it faster and easier without having to double ensure squareness... why the nearly $400 price tag?



didn't you just answer your own question? go build or lease a building, get the lights, water and phone hooked up, hire an employee or two or three and pay them a decent wage, supply them some uniforms, pay for the materials, buy the equipment, jigs, dies and tools required, and by the way, don't forget to pay your business taxes, especially the county and state for all that equipment you just bought. pay for your advertising to let people know you are in business. oops, better hire someone for quality control while your at it. i've left out a lot but you get the idea.
Voila, you now have a merge collector. don't forget to price it cheap enough so the retailer can make a few bucks too.
now how much did that collector cost to build ???

machine shop owner and engine builder