[V8] V8 5spd conversion...

[Ed Kellock]

I'll chime in on this as well.  My views are basically the same as Bill's and Steve B's.  

This particular job is a specialized one and the "process" can easily be considered proprietary.  It's up to the guy who figures it out to decide how much he wants to share, just like a secret family recipe.

If it's pure DIY, then share or not, it's your call.

If you paid a pro or got help from a pro to do it, and especially if he's asked you not to share, then don't share.  The final result is yours but not the know-how of doing it.

This is just what made sense to me when I started reading this thread.

Ed

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From: "William Gutierrez" <lundabo at msn.com>
Date: 2004/03/04 Thu PM 01:16:49 MST
To: v8 at audifans.com
Subject: RE: [V8] V8 5spd conversion...


Perhaps my training as an attorney biases me, but I see this issue rather 
simply.  The conversion work Keith does is trade secret and he is entitled 
to keep it that way, i.e., share it with a few under the condition they do 
not widely disseminate it, in order to maintain the value he has created by 
learning how to do the job.  It would be totally improper for anyone to 
broadly disseminate valuable information they received under condition they 
not disseminate it.

That said, any one else is free to learn how to do it themselves and to 
freely broadcast the information they learn if they choose.  They have no 
need or obligation to preserve the value of information they derive 
independently.  The business world operates on these principles daily.

I suspect in this case, even if someone were able to figure out how to do 
the swap, few were undertake it for fear of botching the job--as someone 
told me recently on another matter:  "It is one thing to tell someone how to 
do brain surgery, it's quite another to do it."   With the clear knowledge 
Keith displays on this list on a regular basis, I suspect his client base is 
secure.

Cheers.

Bill

>From: "Coleman, David" <David.Coleman at blackrock.com>
>To: <v8 at audifans.com>
>Subject: RE: [V8] V8 5spd conversion...
>Date: Thu, 4 Mar 2004 14:04:42 -0500
>
>60 hours UNBILLED...  it can't be that easy.
>
>By the time the next person actually hikes his panties up enough to 
>undertake a V8 5-speed swap himself, this and every related thread will be 
>buried deep in the archives.  No two of these swaps will likely ever be the 
>same, so a how-to is probably moot anyway.   And just as he has in the 
>past, Keith and Co. will try to offer as much advice as reasonable & 
>prudent -- far more than any local BMW master tech could.
>
>Not to kiss his butt (it's of questionable hygiene anyway), but Keith 
>offers up more publicly than I would, and I pray it continues.  But, in 
>line with Steve B's (the other Steve B, not the '93 mit 5-speed Steve B) 
>comment, their generosity probably contributes to the business they earn.
>
>Further, I have received much-needed repair advice offlist from AC in the 
>past, and at times I have provided (insultingly low) remuneration, either 
>to them directly or at their suggestion, to Dan in their name.
>
>So if the conversion were done by a lister and local electric fan repairman 
>on the side (who would likely pay to never do one again), then I say bring 
>on the soup-to-nuts how-to.  It'd probably be enough to make potential 
>DIY'ers think 2x anyway, and go where the experience is.   The only thing 
>more I'd toss out there is that, if it were me, I'd have credited AC from 
>the git-go and suggested specific questions be routed there, and let them 
>filter out the perverbial tire-kickers.
>
>-DaveC.
>'91 5-speed, 205k miles, willing to trade for '93 w/ low miles.  I keep my 
>trans and IC.
>
>:-]
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Send posts to: mailto:V8 at audifans.com
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Have an Audi V8 question?  Check the Audifans Knowledgebase!
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