Car & Driver

New Cars

2006-03-09T07:07:00.000-08:00

This is the exact reason why i think that Singaporeans are leaning towards continental cars and away from excellent Japanese technology. I present to you Specimen A from Germany...... "Lets hear it for the competitor all the way from frigid Germany BEEEEEMMMMMDOUBLEYUUU ZEE4 M Coupeeeeeeee!"

This baby produces 338 hp and goes from a standstill to 60 mph under 5 seconds!!!! Here's what car and driver said bout this car
"BMW pegs the Z4 M Coupe's weight at 3104 lbs, which is 150 lbs heavier than the 295-hp Porsche Cayman S. If you're counting, that makes the Z4 M Coupe's power-to-weight ratio 8 percent better than the Porsche's. Enthusiasts have complained bitterly about all the technology-for-technology's-sake in recent BMW cars, and somebody at the M division is listening: Like the Z4 M Roadster, the Z4 M Coupe comes with a conventional 6-speed manual transmission, conventional hydraulically assisted steering, and conventional springs and shocks. This is like missionary sex with Jessica Simpson — no bad thing. The Z4 M Coupe will cost approximately $50,000, and for around $10,000 less, there will also be a non-M Z4 coupe with a 255-hp inline-six. "

Finally a car that is sexy, up to date, stylish and on top of that...true blue MANUAL!!!! None of that tiptronic shit andback to how cars are supposed to be made. I so wish to see this car in person and it is definitely rivalling one of my favourite cars out there now...the 6 series.
*Crowd roars in approval*
"Aaaaaanddd heree is our second competitor hailing from the land of the rising sunnnnn The one...the only HOOONNDA CIVIC TYPE-RRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!"

*Crowd is stunned and whispers unapprovingly*
This 07 version of the ever popular civic type R is undoubtedly one of the uuuuugliest things that japanese engineers could have conceived to ship out under the branding of Honda. What were they thinking!?! Not only have they not improved on the already impressive 2.0 197 hp i-VTEC N/A engine, they have completely revamped the hatchback to look like a gigantic SMART car!
The conclusion....although this wasnt exactly comparing apples against apples, I think i get my point across that Japanese styling is simpling and utterly hurting them in competition with the europeans even though the powerplants that the japanese produce are just remarkable. Definitely need some stepping up in my book....

Pics of the new whip

2006-03-07T21:43:00.000-08:00

New addition to the family!!

thats all for now!

Groooooody Fingers

2006-03-07T18:54:00.000-08:00

Polishing a car can seem exciting and meaningful when you are psyched up and all. But after 5 hours you just wanna smash the car with every ounce of strength that can be mustered. I decided to wash the cars we had over the weekend since I really had nothing to do....as usual. So i trooped down to the carpark with my arsenal of buckets, cloths and car cleaning tools all revved up and ready to go. Even discovered a perfect place to tuck the cars into the shade and pull out a hose and wash the cars. First up was my mom's car...a 92 E36 BMW 318is....one of the very few still around town. This workhorse has been faithful to the family but obviously no one appreciates it that much treating it like a dumping ground for shoes, knick knacks and tennis gear. The interior has been reworked 3 or 4 times but it still keeps coming out. But we love the little thing and it's going to be here for another 14 more years. My mom has always wanted a CD player in the car since the only thing she can listen to it right now is FM radio since the tape player doesnt even work. My dad's reasoning is that everything can be serviced. He would rather spend $200 servicing a 10 year old part than buying a new one for $300. Now since the previous owner of the Z4 is generous enough to give us the stock radio from the car on top of the stellar Blaupunkt Woodstock radio, I've decided to swap the stock radio into my mom's car and give her a 'new' radio. The paint on the car was absolutely a chore to deal with. Waxing took me a good hour and a half and cleaning took me another 45 minutes. I was aching to the bone by the time i got done wit her. Alas, even afer waxing the car still didn't feel like it was waxed. Definitely bcos of the years of negligence. Next came the pride and joy of the fleet....the 02' 2.2L BMW Z3. I LOVE washing this car since its so small and the hose can reach every nook and cranny of the car. The paint is as good as it was from the factory albeit some minor paint spots and water flows right off of the body leaving little to dry. The drop top has its blemishes but that will be taken care of when we next bring it back to Performance Motors to have it serviced. After waxing with the new orbital polisher i bought from handifix and a good vacuum...also bought from handifix. The car was gorgeous. I had to go out and buy tyre shine since that has always been my favourite part of cleaning the car. Nothing makes a car look newer than shiny bling bling tyres. 5 hours later...and countless stares from neighbours who had passed me many times through the day...i trooped back up to my humble abode and vegetated on my couch whilst my dirty exhausted body recouped. Today it was my dad's car's turn to get the treatment although not entirely. The orbital polisher's wax applicator pad was still soaked in a bucket of water so polishing that behemoth of a car was outta the question after yesterday's work out. Rita came along and made the process a whole lot faster. Although she did have a Jessica Simpson moment with the vacuum cleaner... putting the hose into the intake of the centrifugal fan as opposed to the intake of the vacuum. The fleet are nice and shiny.....besides the application of leather polish. But what the hell...it can wait a week or so.

I wanna car too!

2006-03-05T01:05:00.000-08:00

Flashback two weeks The location: Marina Square carpark. The vehicle in question: Ben's Honda Integra Type-R. The conclusion: 150kmh from one traffic light to the next with me behind the wheel grinning from ear to ear.

That car is FAST! Although it has the same 2.0 L 240hp engine as the Honda S2000, somehow i think this car is faster than that. After my joy ride a.k.a ben's nightmare came to and end, i was envious of him having such a nice car.

BUT NOW I HAVE MY OWN! ahahahhahahaah. eeehhh not quite.

You see my dad has been wanting a convertible ever since he had to get rid of his RX-7 back in the late eighties when his kids grew up and literally grew outta the back seat. The search had gone on for more than a year now with pitstops with a mx-5 through which my dad forfeited his $400 deposit after deciding that he acted on impulse and countless other Z3 and Z4s. But we finally got a silver 02' BMW Z3 2.2L beauty! Of course I would have definitely loved having a Manual 3.0 L 5.9sec beast but this will do just fine for getting the chicks.

I can't quite call it mine because I'm not the one paying for it. Not with a $400 NS pay at least. Rita is going to get to enjoy the car the most driving it to work and back whilst working for my father but she is also forking out the money to pay for the car. But come October when my elder sister Tira gets back and starts work at whichever hospital, the car is all hers and so are the payments. That leaves little old NS man me. My only hope is to keep topping up the cash card, buying carpark coupons and washing the car in the hopes of getting to even smell it.

The car is such a fun thing to drive! Figuring out how to eliminate beeps coming from the high tech DAB radio was a challenge but after that was figured out, the car is a real pleasure to get into. I just wanna drive the damn thing all over singapore just so i could be in it. The car hugs the road through turns and the tiptronic is definitely alot more fun than driving it auto. The rims and tyres are my favourite part of the car but the roar of the engine and the wind through your hair while the awesome sound system thumps R&B continuously is an experience like no other! And to think that I will get to have this toy sitting there waiting for me to drive it week in week out....well almost. But anyway.... YAYYYYY!

I PASSED!

2006-03-02T18:29:00.000-08:00

YAY!!! Actually the Basic Theory is quite a joke la....was stressing out beforehand cos i hadn't read the book very thoroughly but what can i say...im talented. I love driving tests cos they make me feel smart. Saw a Taoist (i think?) lady monk who was taking the test and I'm not sure what she would need a driving license for but hey I dunno. She ended up standing behind me in line to get her license too and was happily burping away into the back of my head. And I'm not talking bout muted burps. It was the gross kinda coffee shop uncle let one rip burps. Anyhooos.... here I am standing in line with all my documentation ready and I realise I brought my new passport and not the old passport which contained my visa to the states and didn't bring along with me my transcript...sooo i had no way of proving to them i stayed in the states for more than 6 months. Naturally i was turned away.

Next day i stand in line again and i realise i accidentily returned my sisters nets card to her when i needed it to pay for my license. Good thing my dad filled his cashcard with just enough money for me to pay or I would have been PISSED! Now i have a piece of paper until i get the card in and then I have no worries of getting stopped by a cop.

I have my license now...alls i need is a car!

It's bout time.....

2006-02-27T09:42:00.000-08:00

...for a new post.
Been slacking enough to realize that my only excuse to not posting in the past was because I was swamped with work. Now I'm just swamped with nothing to do! :) So maybe i should put more effort into continuing this blog.

Wed March 1st.... Basic Theory Driving Test! Yippee! Although this one looks alot tougher and more anal than the BTT in Indiana. I hope i pass it...if not I will be so ashamed with myself I dunno what I would do! More surprises in store.....

Nostalgia

2005-12-27T06:12:00.000-08:00

As per request, and cos i feel guilty, here is the final post of the year barring another inspirational day. Here is the front lip of my car, better looking but definitely painful when i try going up the slope

Another picture of it from the front with my angel eyes on

This is my last day with my car...snowing and wet and everything! It was a sad day but I was also relieved to sell her at the time i did because she was starting to sloooowwwly break down and I wasnt able to take the time or the money to baby her anymore. I said my last goodbyes on the way to meeting the buyer and maybe it was just me but she was acting cranky that day. Trying to sputter and break down on me. hehe. had to keep the revs above 1k rpm just so she wouldnt break down.

So for the end of the year, here's wishing everybody who bothers to still read this blog a merry christmas and a happy new year! I hope my car (mya) is doing well and time to move on to bigger and better things!

MADE!

2005-10-17T22:22:00.000-07:00

So I know I haven't been the best about updating and everything. But I just had to share my joy with everyone who cares the least bit. This is the October issue of eurotuner.... kick ass tuner magazine for dubs (short for VWs...VeeDubyews...Dubs) and euro cars in general

And this is my car!!!! I can't believe I made it in there! I drove all the way down to the mall just to get not 1 but 2 copies of this baby cos my subscription just happened to run out. 1 for reading, and one for keeping and maybe framing? I was so glad i bothered to make the trip all the way there cos few stores around actually carry it. I'm psyched that they picked my car to be in it and on top of that, look at all the other cars on the same page! They're specs are like waaay outta my league. There are two aspects when it comes to cars, either 'show' or 'go'. Trust me, everyone of those other cars on this page are in the 'go' category and can beat my car up in a snap. At least they didn't ignore the 'show' category eh? Oh and for those who think big deal?! The pictures are hand picked by the editors of the magazine and besides, how many of YOU can say that you have a pic of your car in a publication circulated worldwide! HUH HUH HUH! Go check it out at your nearest mama shop!

Faith

2005-10-03T13:09:00.000-07:00

Just as i was starting to lose faith
http://www.eurotuner.com/web/0502et_readersride/index6.html

now im praying it gets into the printed version :D

Repairs & Recovery

2005-08-29T20:12:00.000-07:00

Had to fix the wiring on my newly installed HIDs this weekend. Took about 4 hours because i had to source the problem and decided to just wire up the turn signals on the headlights as well as the angel eyes at the same time. For the first hour or so i just went back and changed all the crimp style connectors i used to screw on style ones which i must say are very pricey but i think worth the cost considering how much easier they are to work with. I still couldnt get the driver side light to turn on. Thats when i decided to go check the fuse box and see if everything was working. I swear i saw a light on the indicator indicating that the fuse was still ok. But when i pulled it out, it was clearly broken. No idea how that happened. Anyway i put one in....turn on the lights and hear another snap. Another one and another snap. In all i went through 4 fuses before it stopped snapping. I have no clue how or where the circuit is grounding itself but i have a theory that it was the open leads from the turn signals and the angel eyes seeing as how there is one main ground wire and the rest are all power wires.

After all that was done, went over to a friends house and all of a sudden my radio cuts out. Complete silence. I go to the back and the amp light is out. So im sitting there hoping i didnt burn the amp out. Turns out that it was either a lose remote turn on lead behind the radio or a loose ground as well. Either ways , i fiddled with both and everything is fine and dandy now.

I must say though, i am real glad that im selling my car at the end of the year since its really starting to show its age now. A little spot of cancer (rust) is starting to show on the driver side taillight and hopefully it doesnt grow any bigger anytime soon.

Headlight switch is still MIA since they either dont seem to get my emails or are rejecting it. Super hard to find these i tell you...so im pretty much at theyre mercy.

This reminds me....i should go check in on eurotuner and see if i made it in yet. I really hope i do!

Lip service

2005-08-26T09:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, put on my 'new' euro front lip thats been sitting around for a whole semester already. Its essentially bout an inch and a half longer then the stock US spec lip and just gives the car a lower look from the front. Essentially all it took was just pulling off the old lip and putting the new one on just by snapping it in. I realise how the hell the old lip developed a crack... when i was pulling it out...it started to bend right there...and when i took the lip out in its entirety, i saw that the modification needed to fit the euro lip had already been done. SO it just means that the previous owner already had a euro lip on the car but took it off when he sold the car to me. And when he was pulling the stock lip off, he wasnt being careful and ripped it up a little. No surprise there but everytime i discover one of his little 'handyworks' i just wanna shove my foot in his ass.

On the other hand, my senior design project just took another turn. Seems like we're completely scrapping the personal transportation system. Right now we might be doing a hoverboard...as in the kind from Back to the Future! Sounds real cool, but also VERY challenging. Im not sure if my instructor will be as keen on doing it now since i just googled it and pple are already mass producing this kinda idea and selling plans for doing it as well. Essentially the way i see it is as a mini hovercraft with a leafblower engine to inflate the skirt. Im not being a pervert when i say im blowing up a skirt....the rubber part that holds the air to give the craft lift is called a skirt.. just in case someone tries to be a smart ass. Maybe this blog for this sem at least can serve as a update portal for the project. Hopefully ill be able to keep a good photodiary as well. But our first meeting on this project is going to be at Jakes..a local drinking hole...so maybe ill get to have some fun while doin the project too.

Cool balls

2005-08-25T08:28:00.000-07:00

Drank on a weekday...woke up two hours early. But no biggy, got woken up by a guy who works at tmtuning.com and he just placed my order for a euro headlight switch. In the states, theres only two positions for a vw...on and off. In europe/asia there are three positions... off, parking lights only and on. Plus this one is RED...moving closer and closer to a red interior! Now just have to get the gauge guy on the phone and get him to hurry up.

Went by to dave's Custom Tune Up & Dyno to get my AC recharged. Your AC basically works on pressurizing freon which becomes cold under pressure and thus gives you nice cold balls. So like on a hot day, if your aircon is not working too well, but at night when its cooler, its icy cold, you might be a little low on freon whereby the pressure is just not high enough. So recharging your AC is just adding more freon. ANYWAYS, i think ive been having a slow steady leak but he couldnt trace it. So he put half a pound of freon into my baby and set me off on my way. I LOVE the way dave does business. Hes a reverse banana...white on the outside, yellow on the inside. Shouldnt have bought that puny 32oz can of freon for 20 bucks when i could have just gone to dave and been charged at most the same price. All he did was say that i should monitor my AC and if it gives me problems to just go back to him. If not, just keep in touch....he said he would feel bad if he charged me now and it went bad a couple days or weeks later.

I wanna open a mechanic shop when im oldER and hopefully a little richER...tuning shop to be specific. And if i can run a shop the way dave runs his, i think i would be very very happy. Big ups dave!

Long Awaited Update

2005-08-24T11:13:00.000-07:00

Yea so it seems that i only update my blog when im bored. Anyway no one reads it so its all good :D So i came back to my headlightless car and installed the 'new' set of headlights. Not too impressed with it though but im going to have to live wit it. The wiring was as shoddy as advertised. But i din expect there to be two different brands of ballasts...hence the color of each light is slightly different from each other. I was quite impressed with myself when i got the wiring figured out in one try. But now, for some reason my high beam on the driver side refuses to come on even though the passenger side one does. When i feel up to it, i will fix that as well as wire up the angel eyes and the blinker lights. those are going to be a real bitch to fix because i have to reach into different places and tap different wires for that to happen.

Also got my speedometer, odometer and cruise control working but my ABS brakes are shot and its gonna cost me a minimum of $1500 to have it fixed......i think not. Who uses ABS anyways!? Cost me a grand total of $250 but it was worth it. I must say i was pretty good at judging speed solely based off of my revmeter. 3000rpm = 75mph and 400rpm =90mph....its a skill...dont ask me how i know.

And i finally got my switches done...theyre nice and red now...if only the gauge cluster guy can get his act together. Im having a hard time finding a cabriolet switch which is the only red lit stock headlight switch. Either that or pay thru my nose to get a euro red lit switch. People have tried to open up a switch to have it turned to red but it's quite impossible because its not a green lit LED but a white LED shining thru a green film. The film tears easily when youre taking it out so its kinda hard to do.

Also reinstalled my 'old' ECU that has the aftermarket GIAC chip in it. It felt a whole lot better to drive i tell you. ALthough my pocket will not agree because of higher fuel consumption

In other news, i think i might be able to have a decent semester. Just found out that for senior design that im going to be on the drivetrain group which is what i always wanted. So hopefully we have a good enough project.

We had 3 choices.

1. A hybrid car that has to be plugged into the wall so instead of using gas to charge the battery, its going to be completely electrical.

2. A basket of sorts that my teacher is calling a DOG or 'digitally operated gizmo'. You're supposed to be able to put your shit into it like for example when youre in sch...and the thing is supposed to carry it for you whilst walking or rolling behind you without having any user interaction.

3. A 2 man campus transportation system that only required the user to push a button to select the destination and its supposed to run on a predetermined route and stop at the appropriate stop.

The first option is my first choice but might be complicated. Most likely we will be able to get the third choice...it would be extremely fun i think. Ok gotta go to class.

Off Topic

2005-07-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

Alright so i said i wouldn't do this but because i just needed a medium to vent and because cars are related to trains and buses and what not ( trying to justify it), i jus wanted to talk about London 7/7/05. Go buy 4D hurry....ok bad tactless joke.

9/11 never really hit me hard at all. It was shocking because it was the first BIG terrorist hit in my lifetime...or at least since my memory started serving me, but it never hit the spot. Madrid never really hit me cos it was so far away and I've never really had a connection to the place. The tsunami hit just about everyone and myself included because it was so close to home. I was actually on a yacht in open waters at the very exact same time...thank god for sheltered singaporean waters. If i had a couple more weeks of break i wouldve flown there to help out without a doubt. I know people who were hit hard and i know people who narrowly missed being there. Even the later earthquake affected my family directly. My building in singapore apparantly shook pretty violently and got my mom all panicky and wanting to run down the stairs while my dad and younger sis were jus resigned to they're fate seeing as how they were on the 16th floor.

Somehow, London hits the spot even though its probably the least catastrophic. I think it's because i realised that I actually came really close to losing my elder sis. She lives opposite a tube station and very well could have been on one of those trains for one reason or the other. She's safe by the way....good thing she was back in singapore for holidays. See holidays are a double edged sword....it can take lives (Tsunami) or it can save lives (London). I know I know...skewed sense of reasoning. But this bombing has got me really riled up....its these kinda events that make me wanna just grab a gun and join the war.

So to all you terrorists or wannabe terrorists out there.... oh i wish i wish i wish onto you a horrible life of suffering. May your families perish in agony and your livelihood destroyed. You try and kill my sister and you incur my wrath....should i be so priviledged to actually become a pilot, i hope i get a chance to come bomb your asses. Tell your cronies to hide in them paki mountains and hope i don come looking for them. Oh and tell bin laden i said hi.

New and possibly final mods to my car :(

2005-07-05T18:36:00.000-07:00

So i think i finally managed to convince all the people i need to convince to get my interior light switch done. Generally it is going to look like this...almost all red. However, the gauges are gonna be sort of a white and red and look more like an audi interior. Hopefully all goes well

i was actually contemplating white for a while but i wasn't sure how it would turn out to be honest. So i just decided to go with the conventional all red switches. It is going to be a rush to get these all taken outta my car and out the door but i guess ill jus have to hope everythin goes well.

another modification i am adding to the car are these in pro R32 projector lights. These come retrofitted with HIDs off an Audi A6. It came at a pretty good price with me trading my MK4 looks so i decided to go ahead with the trade even though personally i prefer MK4 looks better. But with HIDs must come projectors.....an explanation is found below.

As you can see, the wiring looks a little shoddy so i definitely am going to clean it up and make sure i have everything the way i want it. Plus it gives me a chance to properly wire the lights because i never really took the time to before...also, i am now going to make sure i spend some time adjusting the lights properly so that i don't jus shine aimlessly and blind other drivers. As a sidenote, to those thinking of getting HID kits. Retrofitting is by law illegal....unless there is a variant of the model of your car that comes out of the factory with HIDs preinstalled. Surprisingly, even though these bulbs run waaaay hotter than normal bulbs, they actually draw less current from the battery and hence are more efficient. That is due to the ballast that act as amplifiers...almost like capacitors if you will. And most importantly, without projectors, your HIDs are jus really really bright normal lights. Projectors help focus the light and provide light to where it is really needed. Can't wait to get these puppies installed when i get back here from singapore!

Eurotuner Update

2005-06-28T20:50:00.000-07:00

I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!

Thank you for your readers' rides submission.
We will try to include it in the mag asap, but please be aware there's a bit of a backlog we're trying to clear. However, we will be able to post it on the website within three or four weeks.

regards

Eurotuner bound!!!!

2005-06-27T22:24:00.000-07:00

Alright, i finally decided to take the plunge and send this pic of my car into euro tuner to get my ride featured....im crossing my fingers so tight i hope they don't break...i know now that i forgot to mention the kamei grille...and i know that my hood is slightly ajar but this is the best pic i have of my car yet and i dont think i have an opportunity to take a better one anytime soon. Hopefully they don't reject it because the picture is too small.. anyway wish me luck!

New cars are great

2005-06-23T19:57:00.000-07:00

Ok so my roomie (in detroit) has this friend called deanna. She's not really very pretty to begin with...ok probably the only thing she has going for her is that shes blonde but thats bout it really. Bear with me now..at this point you are probably askin what does this have to do with cars? Well she used to have this old rusty buick that was a piece of shit really. But today, she seems a whole lot more attractive to me...hehe..its called a chrysler crossfire and as paris hilton says, 'Thats Hot!' Man, nothing is a sexier accessory for girls than a kick ass car. Girls who actually read this, I will let you in on a secret. Girl + Good Clothes = Interested , Girl + Gadgets + Sweet car = OMFG YOU ARE A GODDESS! I'm telling you ladies, accessorizing is not only stuff you wear but also the stuff you bring around wit you. Nice clothes wit like lets say a shitty phone...not hot yo. Thousand apologies....i digress.

So i personally am open to all kinds of cars...be it american or german or japanese. I really think that the american cars are gettin the good deal out of the Daimler Chrysler union. With the exception of the PT Cruiser, affectionately known as "The hearst", Chrysler is really coming out with nice cars. Again i digress

The base model , comes with a 3.2L V6 with 215hp and 229 ft-lb torque. However it only comes in black...theone that deanna has is no different just that you pay an extra 4k for a different colour. That is just sweet man. These days, new cars are coming out so cheap and they're base horsepower is already so high that it doesnt make sense to go buy an older car and zheng the shit out of it. But i dunno...older cars have more 'feel' to me as the driver. And to make this car better, this car has a porsche inspired speed sensitive wing that comes up when you reach a certain speed to improve stability and better aerodynamics.

Now, the one that really makes your hair stand and foam at the mouth is the SRT6 coupe... this puppy has the same 3.2 L V6 BUT with the supercharger which puts out 330hp and 310ft-lb of torque. The speedometer goes all the way up to 200mph or 320 kph!!!! how nuts is that! Alright...obviously to rich people, they're sayin i also got...in fact i got more than that. But the beauty is that all this comes for under US$45k....that my friend.....is hot!

*sidenote*
i will address the issue of the classic question. What is the difference between a turbo and a supercharger? But this will be done at a later time.
*sidenote*

Ok enough for now, i leave you wit some photos of this baby beast.

There is a moral behind this one

2005-06-20T20:27:00.000-07:00

Alrighty then...so here you can see that we've just started getting the engine all unhooked. the intake manifold was taken off and all the connections disconnected....all..meaning the plug wires, engine sensors, vacuum hoses.. wiring harnesses the works.

here is a better pic of the engine disassembled wit the valve cover off. The oil had to obviously be drained so that it wouldnt be all over the place. Low and behold, the engine was probably the only part of the car that the previous owner didnt get into. All the bolts and screws were tight as hell and hard to get out...which although is a pain, is also a good sign. The engine was well taken care off though, no sediments in the engine watsoever and everything looked good. on the right you can see the timing chains. engines either run on timing belts or timing chains. Belts are waaay easier to change, they are on the outside of the engine and its almost just a matter of loosening a bolt and slipping it off. Chains on the other hand are a bitch...you have to open the engine and take out the transmission to loosen the tensioners which keep the chains taut and in place.

here is yours truly acting like he's doing something....nooo i did alot ok! i messed up the whole garage wit oil cos the oil drain plug plugged up the oil pan and it overflowed. heh ooops! so anyways, coolant was all over the place too with the transmission coming out. which by the way is pictured on the right of the picture. we used a whole bottle of engine cleaner just to clean some of the sludge off of the tranny...even then, not all of it came off.

it honestly is a bitch doing stuff without the right tools. This install would have definitely gone a whole lot better if we had a car lift... which after telling one of my purdue buddies about our escapades, i found out that he actually had one and wasnt too far away either. oh well, live and learn. Back to the picture...this was the only way to get to the tranny without a lift. had to take off the driver side axle , unbolt all the bolts that connects the tranny to the engine. and out dropped the tranny...technically...we spent half an hr on figuring out why it wouldnt drop out but we just forgot one bolt...so when it was finally ready to drop out, CJ had to lie underneath and we slowly dropped it on him so to speak. you can see the pressure plate and under which lies the clutch. should have also bought a clutch and done a clutch job at the same time since it was coming out anyway. 10 bolts secure the pressure plate down. Using an air tool, we somehow manage to strip some of the bolts which proved to be costly. at this point, its almost 2 in the morning and we're all tired. So we wait till the next day to get the bolts off. Long story short, this was the biggest part of the delay in the installation. again, we didnt have the right tool to align the clutch and just had to hit and hope that it ran. so in the end CJ finally managed to put the clutch back on and pull some spare bolts off of his other car. then put the tranny back on after applying some grease then put the axle back on. fast forward a couple of months and im just driving back to work from lunch and all of a sudden klunk klunk klunk klunk and i cant move. A nice cop stopped by and pushed my car to the nearest gas station and i look under and i see my axle jus popped off. Again, because of not having the right tool, the bolts slowly unbolted themselves and finally the whole thing dropped off. $120 later and this put an end to the whole episode....i hope.
In total, i probably spent the same amount tryin to fix wat we screwed up as i would have if it were done by a shop from the beginning.

Do you know the moral of the story? USE THE RIGHT TOOLS! Do not cut corner with tools and you will save yourself a whole ton of trouble. Thats why im tryin to save up and buy tools to bring home to singapore cos we all know that you cant get proper tools in singapore for a decent price. :)

Random but beautiful

2005-06-16T21:51:00.000-07:00

i was working on the car for a bit and saw this reflective ball in my neighbours yard.... moment of photographic genius i tell you.

this was the final time goin back to west lafayette from terre haute and this just cracked me up. white trash is as white trash does. for those who are clueless...that red van is chopped in half and a metal plate welded and attached to a hitch to use as an extra storage trailer. I had to double take and go off an exit and come back onto the highway again just to take a pic of it...just HAD to. i was laughing so hard!

this is my roomate lionel's car.... its a civic si.. similar to the sir in singapore i think but obviously you don't get two door ones in sg. In total, me and lionel clocked close to 1500 over miles in a week from all the driving up and down from terre haute because of my timing chain fiasco.

as you can tell, i am a fcukin awesome photographer....this was on one of those seemlingly countless trips to and from terre haute....i was so scared my camera was going to drop man. anyway, i understand this was a pretty pointless/unorganized/random post.... but just to keep those fans who are still wit me 'entertained'. will get into the details of our escapades asap

I'm BAAAAACK!

2005-06-14T00:40:00.000-07:00

I am finally back from my long exodus! Just a quick update on my life since the last post. I basically struggled through the last couple weeks of the semester, bummed around for a little bit and fixed up my car then moved up here to detroit where i'm working for a plastics mold making company. So me and my friend CJ down in terre haute decided to undergo the task of changing the timing chains on my car. Call it a mistake on my part or whatever but it certainly turned out to be a HUGE fiasco. I have a ton of pics and stuff from when we did the timing chains and after that. So we'll spread this out over a couple of days or so. At the same time, im going to see if i can change the layout of this blog to be a little more to my liking. Forgive me if it goes wonky for a couple days or so.

This is where all the 'magic' happens. pretty cramp space to work in but it was alright. My roomate lionel decided to follow me to see what we were going to do and it was a good thing too cos he was alot of help. The car on the left is CJ's old car. Its originally from Germany that he shipped back to the US. For all those that don't know, all newer VWs are made in Mexico now...so def a differnt quality as opposed to german made. His car was initally a 2.0 liter which he bored out to a 2.1 and put a beast of a turbo on it. Recently he was going to make it a VR6 with an engine swap but he has since decided that he was tired of the car. And is going to move on to bigger and better things

On the left of this pic is my left driver side wheel...and to the right are the wheels CJ was planning to put on his white jetta. He has since put them on his other car which is supposed to be his wife's car but he dries it most of the time now. Its a 95 GTI as well but its black in colour. Anyway, you couldnt really compare it in the picture but the size of my tires are 205/40/17. Quick tutorial, 205 represents the width of the tread, or the wheel base measure in mm, i.e the part of the wheel that is in contact with the ground. 40 is a little fuzzy to me but my understanding is its aspect ratio which is the percentage of tread width that equals the sidewall height. In csimpler terms, if you look at the wheel from the front, its how thick the tire is from the wheel itself represented as a percentage of the wheel base. 17 is the rim/wheel diameter. As it is, my tires are cutting it close to scraping the inner walls of my car. CJ's wheels are 235/30/16 or something to that effect. that is a HUGE difference from mine and when you install them, they stick out and give the car a nice fatty widebody look. However, in order for the tires not to constantly rub against the inner wheel well, spacers have to be installed on the spindle to so called push the wheel outwards. Only thing is that now its rubbing the outside fender but that is still tolerable. One of the things you could do to overcome that is to 'roll' or 'pull' the fenders. A special tool is used to stretch the fenders outwards to make space for the wheels. anyway, the main point i was trying to get to is that that set of 4 wheels and tires costs more than my car in its entirety. They are worth close to $5k! Bloody expensive i tell you.

Here's a pretty shot of my baby, i just wished i closed the hood properly before i took the pictures. I think I'm going to try my luck and send this into eurotuner....cross my fingers and hope they like it as much as i do!

This is CJ's 95 GTI, Schnell means faster in german for those who were wondering. He has one of those eurolips that i have yet to put on the car. Just looks so sexy i say. He did a jetta front end swap which means that he switched out the headlights and the hood. His car is slammed to the ground with his coilovers. Just look at how much the back wheel is tucking into the wheel well! Those wheels are Audi TT polished wheels and he's already sold them off for close to 700.. by the way this car is fast as hell, it has a vortech v1 supercharger in it and it can absolutely throw you back in your seat. One thing i din like was the fact that he had a TON of scratches on the body...but recently he sent his car in for detailing and it looks good as new now. It really was a night and day difference. OK so more to come in the next couple days. Will be showing pics of the engine and all that good stuff. peace out!

2005-04-22T20:09:00.000-07:00

Here is the technology that michelin is developing. Its called the tweel. Contraction of the words tire and wheel. It looks damn bloody cool i think. Thats a pretty sexy tread pattern too!

heres the working prototype running on an A4. Imagine my car could be an everyday stair climber man....although thinking bout it, not only could they potentially make the car waay lighter, but also wit low profile wheels, they could adjust the dampning of the tire struts to provide a less harsh ride such as the one im experiencing now wit my low profile tires

maaan as soon as this come out and if i have a car by then...im definitely getting a set...just because of the shock factor. Imagine rolling on a set of these in singapore! youll get on every freakin car magazine just cos of them man!

here is the science...so theres the deformable wheel, and your flexible spokes which combine to be a very good damper in my opinion. Depending on the composition of the rubber, you could tweak it to be real hard or real soft...the tread concerns me because i would think if the tread band is thin, michelin might get lots of money from pple having to change it really often. Not so sure how this would handle a hard turn. thats alot of shear force right there man. In terms of flat spotting on the tire, which would make a hell of a lot of noise and a bad ride, its apparantly not much more than 5% differnce from conventional tires. speed loss due to increased friction is also real small at 5%, and the most important factor is gas efficiency. Wit softer tires and more surface area in contact wit the road, you need more gas to push off and stuff. that apparantly is not a factor either...very interesting stuff. I WANT!

Wheeling and Dealing

2005-04-18T23:39:00.000-07:00

Here are my choices of potential steering wheels should i eventually decide to get one.Here's the momo champion...simple looking, but maybe a little too simple

slightly better i think, i like the sleek gun metal center which looks much nicer

heres the xavion...looks interesting but a little too flashy for me i think... expensive too

cheap (relatively) momo race wheel, same theme as the first two, again, a little too simple

heres the net air metal wheel. not sure if i like it or not...cant really decide. definitely dont like the stitched momo at the top but the chrome accents look pretty decent IMO

this is the millenium evo, looks real nice, a little better than the xavion i think, has the stylish feel to it..but probably could do better

this millenium is the wheel im leaning to right now. Can't ignore the bling bling. Although between this and the millenium evo, i think its a hard choice. Also need to get the quick release hub adapter but that also means that i have no horn. And no horn is hell for me...so i should decide what i really want. I might and might not get it. Coming soon will be a post on a revolutionary new technology that michelin is introducing soon.

Revenge of the Clones

2005-04-12T20:54:00.000-07:00

Today, i will display clones of my car. This right here is a mish mash of stuff together. To me, not a thought out process but it still looks really good. That suspension drop is really nice but waaay too low for driving in Indiana. Those are audi wheels...A6 i believe. Red sidemarkers are a first for me but she should change the fogs to something else. That is the euro lip that im planning on puttin on my car. Looks good dunnit? Also, i love how she had the door handles painted to match the rest of the body. Looks nicer than black handles IMO.

this pic is off of a manufacturer's site. I think they do the body kits. I for one love the boser, makes the car look real mean and all. Not a big fan of the bumper though. Note the removed rear antennae, the mirrors were also changed and so were the skirts. I believe those are the same fogs as mine. Also loving the deep dish wheels with some obvious use of spacers to bring the wheels farther out for clearance issues wit the massive drop. Overall, still a really nice car

pretty much stock but for the polished TT wheels. Lots of pple rock them but im not so sure i would. Again, a pretty drastic drop

alright so its got a supercharger...wheels arent very nice, i don't like the whole bumper grille and sideskirt combination so this car doesnt do it for me. C-

the only thing i like bout the car is the porsche wheels and brake upgrades...the extra fender pulls and the bumper just over does it a little i think. C+

this is alot better than the previous two. smoked mk4 looks are matched wit smoked euro fogs. The bumper looks more in line with the car too. this time, this baby is sporting m3 side mirrors

same car side profile. Loving the whole red and black scheme. i spy red calipers with a brake upgrade behind those gunmetal wheels. Notice how dumped this car is..you can barely fit a hand under the car!

another common mod is the jetta/golf front end swap. Jetta has the squarish look that i am not really a fan of. the breather gills at the side are not really to my liking but it doesnt do much to break the flow of the car. polished porsche wheels are dope along with a body kit. CHECK OUT THAT INTAKE MANIFOLD!! i want mine as shiny as that man! i saw yesterday on the tex another guys polishing work and i was jealous. He does waaay better work than the one that i have right now. But i think if i could find someone wit a orbital wheel and just use 800 grit sand paper i should be able to make it really blingin

this is another really nice car i think. Looks similar to mine besides the rear wing, painted mirror caps, kamei eyelids and the other stock vw wheels. A+

another well done car. sticking with the black and red scheme, black badges and smoked lights all around, black wheels wit the polished lip and for once, someone has been able to make an ABT grille look good.

Bryan's Car Part Deux

2005-04-11T01:34:00.000-07:00

not very many mods at all on this car. It came stock with pretty sweet stuff. His exhaust always had extra detonation sounds and it sounded pretty cool. Probably from having removed his cat (catalytic converter for those still learning) the rear spoiler was the coolest part of the car. Like most porsches, it had a speed activated spoiler. i believe once you hit 45, it would automatically rise up. Some people have tried integrating this into other VWs but i doubt it wouldve looked good

first signs of ageing from the car. I was surprised the new owners didn't haggle more seeing as how this rust spot would be hella hard to fix. Definitely wouldve required taking the glass out and welding the body again..maybe they just wanted to do a full respray of the car. The hood also had quite a bit of hail damage, didnt look too good at all i must say.

the interior was just money man. the leather was so well conditioned and taken care of, that mustve been the selling point. Momo pedal covers are sported along with the customary radar detector. the cable shifter was a first for me, it felt kinda weird but definitely made shifting very very fast.

basically a completely stock interior. He had a freakin glove box and i didnt...unfair! The radio is also stock and the coolest thing is that he had an oil gauge and battery voltmeter in the center console infront of the shifter (the white thingee in the picture) that came stock with the car. Amazingly, the battery hadnt been changed since the car was bought brand new off the dealers lot.

theres the vr beauty in all her glory. same engine as mine, different car. Sounded very much more tame just because of the stock airbox. Never really raced him though to see the diff in our motors....probably shouldve. His engine bay was def alot cleaner than mine is right now

just thought id show this...this was a pretty sick setup with the polished runners and powdercoated oilcover...fully chromed supercharger just looks sick. I wish i could make my engine bay that nice but it might take too much time and money...both of which are a rarity to me these days

this is another pretty nice interior besides the stupid silver buttons i just hate...note the silver faced gauge cluster, i so wanted that in my car but think im goin another route now. Also, the nice tv install in the center console along with the autometer gauge beside the radio. It kinda hit me today that ill be in detriot over the summer. So i think i might get a momo removable wheel (excuse i know) That way, if any thug tries to steal my baby, hes gonna have a mr bean moment. Not sure which one to get, but once i narrow it down, ill show it to you guys..prob nothing too flashy...Not sure if i should beef up the security on the car at all...hoping the stock alarm would hold up

this is a sample pic of an LED swap i was talking about. I really wanted to get all white bulbs for the interior but the light switch is unmodifiyable and it will only be red...so i mgiht have to go wit all red and white back lit cluster which i dont think would look half bad and would make my blue radio light fit in a little better. All right, thats it for today! comments are always welcome on what i can do to make this a better blog!

Bryan's Car Part 1

2005-04-11T01:29:00.000-07:00

First of all, let me apologize for not posting for a week, hopefully i didnt lose too many customers. This was bryan's car. It is a 93 Corrado SLC, the second year of the revolutionary VR6 engine for VW. This was marketed as the ideal VW enthusiasts car. It had basically everything that people wanted at the time. The paint wasnt in the best condition, but for a 93 it looked pretty sharp. I believe those are euro spec headlights which run at a higher voltage and thus extra blinding to other drivers but who cares! note the stock vw steelies that came with the car. This is the car in winterized mode. In the summer, he ran stock speedlines wrapped in Falken Azenis that absolutely made the car pirouette in the slightest bit of water and stick like glue when it was nice and hot

Mods Mods Mods

2005-03-30T15:06:00.000-08:00

Here is my extremely dirty engine bay. Nothing special. Neuspeed P flo intake, Neuspeed plug wires, NHK spark plugs neuspeed strut bar. looks very plain and boring but as soon as summer comes, that will all change!

This polished valve cover is going to go on the car

And so is this polished intake manifold....courtesy of a guy i met on the vortex. The installation will all be done whilst the front end of the car is out this summer. The reason is because i have to change my timing chains before they snap on me and make me a very unhappy camper. I'm quite a few miles overdue so ive tried not to run the car so hard. which reminds me that i need to do an oil change soon too...i wish i had time

This is a euro spec front bumper lip. It is about an inch and a half longer/wider than the stock one and goes on easily with minor modification to the bumper. Definitely makes the car look like its dumped lower than it really is. In the vw world, everyone loves euro parts. Makes sense right? a euro car would look better with euro stuff....well the europeans themselves think some of the features on the american( actually mexican) made VWs are real nice... for example, american cars have cupholders in the center console...alot of the pple here go to great lengths to get the euro consoles without the cup holders and vice versa... anyway this is all i really have to say bout my car. Future mods im planning are really minor...hoping to change the gauge faces and interior light swap from green to red and white to look more like the audi interior...also planning on painting the brake calipers red. But again that is gonna happen only over the summer. Next up would be a feature of another vw...the corrado that bryan owned. Bryan has since moved back to singapore and had his dad buy him a Mk4 gti 1.8T which apparantly is pretty sweet...i have yet to see it or hear anything from the horses mouth so maybe i should soon. If anyone of you (aka...my buddies) would be willing to send me some pics and a spec/mod list of what you have done to your car...it would be my pleasure to post it up and show it for all to see.. OH!!! before i leave america, i HAVE to get a pic of my car in eurotuner...thats my new goal...so once all my mods are done, im gonna take a real nice picture and hope i see it in the magazine soon! *cross fingers*

Interior Pics!

2005-03-28T19:09:00.000-08:00

Here are pics i took today when it was finally sunny and decently warm. this is her bad side...you cant see it but some arse put two big ol dents on the front fender...need to get them pulled out. Found a paintless dent remover person here in town who apparantly does good work so i will try him out when i can afford not to have a car. Forgot to mention last time about the brake upgrade with zimmerman cross drilled brakes with mintex red box pads... shouldve gotten stainless steel brake lines and dot 4 brake fluid but the brakes were already a big hole in my pocket

Here's my new headunit after the fire. Panasonic CQ-C9700U....70Wx4 with pre amp outputs, auxiliary and sub outputs too...good stuff...even managed to put some porn on there to personalize the car :) Those are the stock knobs i replaced the ugly silver ones with. Up above is the Escort 8500 radar detector...cant say its saved me from anything yet but it sure has been useful

Ugly ass 'party' seats as vw affectionately calls them...swapped out the flat black door pulls for the mk3.5 cabrolet polished metal ones that really add a classy touch to the interior.

Aftermarket R line shift knob with custom center console. Had to trim the center console to fit the silver bezel holding the boot in place. took a while and got myself really dirty but i think it was well worth it. A dieselgeek short shift kit adds to the joys of shifting. top left corner you see my shoe resting on audi TT pedals that look real nice.

Besides installation of the headunit and fitment of the rear speakers, all the audio stuff was done by yours truly with the help of master solder and new found audiophile lionel. These are the front speakers...they are MB Quart 6.5" PCE 216s.. had to cut a hole in the door to fit the tweeter where it currently is and used some hot glue to hold it down...imaging is a bit of a problem but it certainly looks good there... the tweeters are a little bright, as MB Quart tweeters are known to be so i had to fade the sound to the back a little so the highs and mids weren't so piercing. The woofers fit right into the stock position. now i just have to find stock grilles from somewhere and slap em on. Wiring from the doors through the door grommet was a real pain in the neck with me having to contort myself into weird positions to get to places and having to drill holes in sockets to get the 16 gage speaker wire to fitnot the most fun in the world but do it once and do it good

These are my rear speakers... they are Polk/MOMO MM6 6.75" components. Definitely not MB Quart standard but good enough for being a good filler. Front speakers are always more important than rears unless youre trying for a surround sound effect which takes alot of calculation , time and imaging. Plus these speakers look really good in my opinion. Crossovers for both front and rear speakers are placed under the rear foldable seat cushions and all wiring is also hidden there. Definitely needs some tidying up but it really isnt a priority right now.

see what i mean by messy? im having a whine with increasing rpm in my left speaker right now...classic case of bad grounding either by the headunit or the amp...its most likely my amp grounding so i will have to fix that as soon as i can. which might only be in the summer. All power cables were run along the driver side and all rca cables were run along the passenger side...not sure if i shouldve taken more time and run the left speaker wires all the way over to the passenger side but i figured it was a little overkill...

here is my amp, mounted it in a very ghetto fashion but it would have to do. basically just tapped around for a solid point and drilled them on. This is a Soundstream Van Gogh VGA800.5 5 channel amp. Definitely makes the install a whole lot cleaner than a 4 ch bridged to a 2 ch. probably shouldve done a better job of hiding the wires by using a mdf board and mounting to that instead. Maybe overthe summer i could get someones help. 4 gage Monster cable powers the amp and monster cable 2ch and 4 channel RCA cables link up to the headunit speaker and subwoofer preouts. I know monster cable is probably waay too overpriced but i couldnt keep myself away from the "bling" brand of wires

this is the subwoofer i am rocking...its Polk/MOMO MM12 subs which is factory enclosed. This is a pic of another install which i think looks much much cleaner than mine. need to find out how he carpeted the amp board and the sub board and how he attached them too. I figured for my sub board to just cut a piece of MDF board to the size of my trunk and just carpet it and slide it in...no need for screwing it down since its fitted and wont be shifting around a whole lot. then just screw the sub right onto it. Again, this probably would only be done over the summer when i have lots more time. Tomorrow, engine pics and a list of mods still to come!

2005-03-27T10:26:00.000-08:00

first thing that had to go were these butt as ugly silver buttons

as a comparison, this was the dash from my old car...isnt that so much better and less tacky?

since im pushed for time, im just going to do exterior mods today.... next i got monte carlo stock vw wheels wrapped in fusion zri 205/40/17 tires that absolutely stick to the ground...best buy i made on the car yet!

headlights, foglights and sidemarkers were all changed to have a clear look matching the rear taillights. the headlights are euro spec mk4 looks that needed some modification, the fogs are fk and i think so are the indicators.

exhaust was changed to a 2.25 Eurosport catback system with a JOM muffler....initially bought for my 2.slo but i managed to have it modified a little to fit my gti....2.25 is the same piping size as the stock exhaust system hence not a big improvement and not much change in intonation. euro spec bumper out back that has yet to be fitted properly and with no rebar underneath....dangerous i know but thats my middle name :) actually no its not... but i wont disclose it. The big GTI badges were swapped out for a more classy looking gti badge and the ugly red painted vw badge was also swapped out for a blue and white one... it took me a while to get used to it...i was thinkin of maybe jsut goin back to the stock badge but its grown on me a little. Shorty antennae of f of ebay replaces the stock busted up whip antennae.

paint still as clean as ever...although ihave to get this fender resprayed at the bottom...if you look closely ..right as the wheel overlaps the fender you can see some paint chipped off from sliding into a curb...alright more updates to come!

2005-03-25T16:06:00.000-08:00

This is Mya! she's my first car and although very very slow, is very reliable. Why do i call her mya you might ask? Because she's MYa CAR....i know...cheesy but best i could come up with at the time. She's a 95 VW GTI manual with a 2.0L or (2.slo) engine... Basically bone stock besides a radio and 'surbo'. Surbo is basically a fan put in your intake that generates turbulent air to promote more efficient combustion and hence save you gas. It also really felt a bit like a turbo because there was some lag until 3000rpm.

she came with ugly ass seats that really looked quite bad....

Big ol rust spot that only got bigger and bigger over the one winter i had her

Faded bumper from not being taken care of by the two previous owners... this car came with relatively low mileage because all the owners only drove it to and from work and a car was just a car to them

bubbling side skirt that eventually rusted enough and expanded enough that when you got outta the car it would jsut be kicked off. after a while i got tired of putting it back and just ripped it off. As can be expected, i soon grew tired of the slow 110bhp engine and looked for something better

This car was for sale not far from me in detroit and was going for 6000...i HAD to have it! it looks exactly the same to the untrained observer but a true dubber would note the 5 lug as opposed to a 4 lug setup for the 2.0L gti. Also, those taillights were just what i wanted on the car.

as you can see, the paint was what really attracted me to the car. The guy had gotten it resprayed a couple months back due to a minor mishap wit a truck. The kamei grille in the front was also a nice addition. So i decided to drive up to detroit, braving eight mile and all...and took the car for a spin. The moment i thumped on the accelerator, i was hooked. Due to pure low end torque, the 175hp 178torque vr6 engine let off a low rumbling growl.....it was unbelievably sexy. Even bryan woo (who's car i will feature at a later time) thought it sounded so good...the only difference from his car being that it had a cone filter instead of a stock air box and filter panel. So a couple weeks later i went back up there and bought her

This was the mileage she came with..and since then..its gone up to 105,600 miles...when i went up to buy her, the owner was being a real asshole, checkin every bill i gave him and shit....really uncool. i just wanted to take the car and go.

we got back to purdue in one piece...and she drove perfect...but one thing that really bugged me was the radio..it kept goin on and off and when i pulled it out i saw all the ghetto rigged wiring work the previous owner did...first sign of trouble.. note the ugly red vw badge... had to get rid of that asap

another monstrosity that came along with the car is this shift knob....its a TT shift knob that just was really uncomfortable when shifting... along wit it came this crappy boot... also note the cup holders and teh "carbon fibre" looking thing at the end...thats jus some canvas covering a whole....ghetto rigged part 2

loved the evil look kamei eyebrows too....theres something called a boser for vws that just makes the car look oh so evil

this is what happened a couple weeks later.. i was driving down to town from school and all of a sudden my dash just starts spewing smoke that jus smelt like someone was burning a bucket.... i just pulled over to the side and turned off the engine and waited for the smoke to clear...i called bryan and he came to my rescue...low and behold i managed to start the car...which was amazing...it was the shoddy wiring ....some of the black tape fell off and short circuited and burned all the way to the key cylinder... i was pissed and shitting my pants havin to tell my parents wat happened

thats the key cylinder and all the burnt wiring.... all $1600 bucks worth of it...took a long time for the stealership to get it done but i was just happy to be able to drive my car again. She gave me lots of trouble after that...goin into the shop almost every other week..but i still love her

i decided to tear thru the whole car to see what else this guy messed up and was horrified to see that he basically went into every nook and cranny in the car...prying and leaving marks, breaking tabs, losing screws...i was pissed. on top of that. this wire was found connected to my battery and going all the way to my back seat..at that time i had no idea what it was for but now i realise that it was a 2 gauge power wire meant for a sub....he left it connected to the battery and laying with bare wire under the seat..i couldve died if it grounded itself to the chasis...

he even broke a tab off the abs controller....among other things.... but after the whole debacle was over, i got down to the main business of modifying the car to how i really wanted it. Stay tuned tomorrow to see my car as she stands now

2005-03-24T17:49:00.000-08:00

This is my girl....her name is Karen and she's wonderful. We've been together for almost three years now and its been great. She goes to Perth which is apparantly a god forsaken place but its cool cos so is Indiana.

These were my fishies from last year that i have no idea what happened to them. Eujin must have ate them i think....k realised i shouldve put the pics in order of importance...so we'll go back to the important people

This is my dad. He sleeps anywhere.. but its ok cos he works really hard to make the business and our family better. He's my daddy! MINE!

I realise i don't have a pic of my mom on my computer...so sorry mummy. ill take a good one with you next time ok? These are the three rascals ( my elder sis Tira, myself and my younger sis Rita**(wear a skirt next time you go driving test ok?)**) with Pe Noi. Pe Noi has been with us for more than 15 years and is much an influence in our lives as is our parents. Along with Uncle chan who brought me to school and alot of other places for all these years.

Darling pinky, she's the doll of the family. Fat and chubby and full of love....getting her was the best idea my elder sis ever came up wit. Everyone loves her...even Pe Noi! she's so much easier to handle than nicky was (R.I.P)

i love this pic...she honestly sleeps like that sometimes....must run in the family

shes too cute not to put in here...so ill sneak her in...this is sasha...she's my FAVORITE niece! see those dimples?! don't you just wanna eat her up!

these are my ghim moh buddies from back in the day... from top left (evelyn, jennifer, xiaoling, samantha) from bottom left (andreas, mingjun, myself, kelvin, chenqing and tianli). It's amazing how we still meet up as regularly as we do. Its been yonkers since secondary school and these are my closest buddies. OK so thats my life in a nutshell.....tomorrow, comes the good stuff...my baby mya! Stay tuned...

About Myself

2005-03-24T17:35:00.000-08:00

Alright, so i guess blogging isnt as idiot proof as i expected it to be....but being the engineer that i am supposed to be, i think i've got it licked. This site will definitely show improvements when i have the time to. For now, this will have to do.

This is myself...... Im in Purdue studying Mech. Engineering. I'm 20 and i hate the cold. I have a problem.....I like cars! Thats not neccesarily a good thing, being a form of distraction and all. Especially with my major. I'm not too sure as of yet what i wanna do in life, but i have a few alternatives i'm currently looking into. Eventually, i would love to make enough money to buy over a mechanics shop and work on cars until im old and gray. Stay tuned...tomorrow, part 2.

Up and Running....i hope

2005-03-23T15:24:00.000-08:00

Test test..... *clears throat* Where's my frappachino! I asked for a fucking frappachino! heheh
Alright so i thought i would finally try my hand at the art of blogging. Don't wanna miss out on all the fun now do i. Hopefully, ill be able to keep this up seeing as how i usually am non-commital and very lazy. I'm sure many will attest to that. In my first couple posts, i might just do an introduction into my life, who i am, who and what is important in my life...etc. But, the driving catalyst for this blog focuses on the machining marvel of mankind known as CARS! This is going to be an outlet for me and my friends to discuss, learn about, showcase and simply ogle over these sexy machines. American, German, Japanese, Alien, you name it, we've got it! So let the fun times begin and I promise to keep this as fun as possible!