I am leaning towards getting the materials/equipment (compressor, gun/hopper, blast media (walnut shells), and intake manifold adapter) doing the job on my own critter (and wife's HRV) and then selling a mobile service. I would go to their shop/garage, after they have made the patient ready (pull intake manifold & sundries), doing the blast and leaving them to reassemble. I don't see this mobile service anywhere near me and think it might be a good gig. There are so many GDI cars/trucks out there it could be lucrative. And all the gear could fit in the Fit.
I see photos of the head w/o the intake, ready for the procedure- can anyone that has their intake manifold off forward some dimensions on the oval opening, please? This will help me buy the "less mess" vacuum/blast adapter. Total width, height and maybe the length of the top and bottom horizontal straight section, before the oval end radius, so I don't have to pull mine just yet as it is my commuter. Know all about the indexing the crank to close the valves, etc...and have wrenching on cars since the 70's. The chemical cleaning only works so well and I feel this is the way to properly perform the de-carbon knock-down.
Aside from the intake port dimensions I seek, thots?
Thanks,
Huff
2009 Base

 

While in spirit that's a fantastic idea, it needs some smoothing which I will cover for you.

First, most customers won't be pulling their intake manifolds; you have only a certain number of people that would be willing to use your service, and even less who would be able to work on their own cars. I'm a mobile mechanic of over 2.7 years now and so trust me when I say what I say. Or don't, it's your time you'll be wasting.

Second, your manifold itself should only take an hour or so max to peel off. That's not a lot of work... Seriously. Get comfortable with it for goodness sake. Don't be lazy.

Third, if you're willing to offer that service, be willing to add in other services as well. Most people will turn down services due to the fact that they'd rather just go to one place than dealing with multiple outfits for their vehicle. It's ease of access and people are willing to pay more for that even; i.e. they will stay with their shop due to it being more capable, instead of just going with you because it's cheaper, or whatever. Relationship is everything.

In order for you to be successful, I'd heavily suggest targeted advertising; most lower income earners will avoid it as they don't care or generally think they know better or don't have the resources to perform it. Secondly, pull the manifold yourself, add in labor for that, but ultimately on a good bit of vehicles this isn't bad. 2.0T and 1.8T VAG vehicles are a bit of a pain though, bear that in mind (good market for it however). Additionally, learn how to advertise and create in customer's mind a need. Don't lie, but show the damage done in different data points (about 30% or less customers work on pure logic, the rest are often sold on emotion, communal factors, and a number of other angles). Next show how it will save them money in the long run, and find an angle or a number of angles for selling the service. Sales is a matter of giving data to the customer, proximating where they are and how they operate, and going off of that information. Not very hard.

That being said, you could easily charge 2-300 for this service, however I'd suggest staying in the 40-70% range of what a shop charges. This will help attract more customers, and like I said, don't be surprised when customers want you to do more down the road. The biggest limiting factor in most folks life I find to be arrogance, laziness, or a general lack of understanding. Use this to your advantage, and like I said, depending on how much you want to make from it, really think of where to find customers. I like to look at it sort of like hunting or fishing. I wish you well.

 

All very good points and insights. I like the way you try to help not unlike a fellow ___________(fill in the blank- boater, pilot,etc...) whereas it is easier to make an effort to help, up front, to save grief by sharing lessons learned, to be a good sort and to save on having to help them later.
I don't think I will pursue this mobile biz, as most of the guys that get that far will just buck up for some walnut shell, a blast gun and a hopper since they have a compressor, as is, most likely, then they get to be thorough on their own time and dime. I maybe would go so far as doing the manifold removal, etc...but that opens up, no pun intended, a lot of prospective problems.
There is an expression a friend used and it stuck- "I am glad I don't have the job I wish I hadn't gotten!" In other words- be glad you didn't get the work that you initially wanted as it turns out it would have been a bad idea. Not unlike the be careful for what you wish for syndrome. My father had a mobile cleaning service, doing exhaust systems in restaurants (read "greasy") and he did well because he was personable, educated his customers and offered a service that not many want or can do. That being said, it was a $hitty job.
Thanks for offering your experience and opinion.
(I will be posting this portion in the original thread w/pics) In my case, as it turns out, after removing the upper & lower intake manifolds, and accessing the intake ports- they are clean! I don't have GDI, but port injection! Will not do the walnut shell blast and just scrub with with sundry cleaning solutions and brushes, reassemble and be done with it. I am returning many of the unused tools/materials until it comes time to do the wife's HR-V (which I think is GDI). If am am still between jobs I may pursue offering the service to others.
Did quite a bit of disassembly (throttle body, fuel rail- having the upper intake manifold out of the way made for quick work of replacing the injectors) What I did find, aside from minimal junk inside the ports, was # 2 spark plug has a faulty electrode! Don't think it was fried off, as no indication of excessive or big heat/spark, so I probably installed a flawed plug, as was. Can't say for sure, but am hoping it solves my CEL-at-freeway-speed issue. It coincides with the # 2 cylinder misfire code. I still believe the OEM fuel pump module is helping, as the codes are becoming minimized/specific, after changing out the knockoff module.
Hope to have all back together in a few days and will follow-up with test results.
Thanks, again.