Touge-less-ness!!! *wtf*

Hungry ghost festival is almost over now... *waiting in anticipation* And my vow of pausing touge action is almost at an end! My "touge-less-ness" is coming to an end... The cure is just a few days away!!!

For the fervent readers of my blog, you'll also know that I somewhat broke that vow in a Wira GSR 1st week into the month *blek* :P

I'm gonna be going day after day after day after... You get what I mean :P

So who's up for a run? Anyone?

Down but not out... Yet!

Hi all! I'm sorry for the lack of posts the past week.. I've been down (but not out) with massive flu and am still coughing up loads of phlegm... Not many activities to attend since its rainy season and I can't afford getting caught in it.

I lost my beautiful *ahem* voice on Tuesday and by Wednesday my throat felt as if Vanessa Mae was playing on it with a hacksaw.

I hope all will be better this weekend or next week so I can get up and run about again.

See you guys next post ;)

Water bane and soggy pistons

In these times of erratic weather, I'm glad that our fair land is blessed with a monsoon season every third quarter. There are those however that dread this season of heavenly cool and shower. One such person is Tommy of Tommax stickers.

You see, Tommy had mounted a direct cold air intake from his throttle body right down to the bumper. So you can imagine the catastrophe when monsoon comes and he runs over a puddle! This exact scenario was enacted last Tuesday and Tommy had successfully blown/drowned his 4G15 :(
However, not one to be discouraged, he gave the thumbs-up for a rebuild by Wednesday and work commenced throughout the weekend with much sweat and grime.
Yesterday was the unveiling of his new, improved and super clean engine. Chris (Fer Fer) as usual, did some final adjustments to the tappets (rocker arms for you automotive types out there) and we were ready to rumble... But it poured on us, so we went for a slow drive and eventual dinner.

Check out his super-duper clean engine, the engine oil had been running in (whilst testing) for 2 days and it still looks crystal clear!
Close-up pic of the rocker arms.

Congrats Tommy on the great rebuild and we'll see you at the touge soon ;)

p.s. Readers : Chinese 7th month almost over liao! Can't bear my excitement~!!!

Love is in the... Front and rear?!?!?!

I know... The title sounds suggestive, but heck... Check out what I saw at a shopping mall carpark just a little while ago :P

There is a HUGE pink heart planted on the front bumper.

There's one out back as well...And the piece-de-resistance...
There are heart shapes cut out from the rims! *wtf*?!?!?!
This fellow is obviously obsessed with hearts or a massive case of queen control!

Why would anyone defile a properly cute, albeit fuel-sipping, car with such atrocities? Anyone got any clue... Just drop me a comment ^_^

Virgin encounter - Premiere Class!

Ben and I went for lunch at 600cc in Gurney last Saturday... We didn't have much planned for the afternoon so we thought we'd catch a movie. As the escalator moved up, we came in full view of the Saturday afternoon mass trying to get a good seat at the next show. We queued up and (im)patiently waited for our turn... Our shifty eyes sighted "The Clone Wars" showing in Premiere class and there was NO QUEUE! We hurried over to purchase our tickets and thus attained full access to the Premiere class lounge :P
It was my first time being in there and the weird murals were fairly interesting. Take a closer look and you'll see Ben lazing on the far right.
There were "stars" on the roof on our way in. I love the lens flare, although done unintentionally :P
Beaut Premiere Class signange on the wall and super big and comfy seats... Reclinable too!
"Shut off handphones" ad came on... And that's exactly what I did... So no more pics :(
The Clone Wars was a great movie and brought out the child in me. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie experience in Premiere Class, it was also a first for Ben and I to have beer and stout in the cinema.

6 Japs and 2 M'sians

I got a very interesting invitation from my pal Johnson (EP3) to go touge with the Type-R's of Penang... And who was I to refuse :P

I met up with Johnson (EP3), Timmy (DC5), Faidzal (DC5), Uncle Martin (DC5), NOSkill (Celica-almost-GT4), an-unknown-to-me dude (but really friendly - Gen.2 supercharged), and Victor (FC). We were waiting for another EP3 from Seberang (or BM as he prefers) but sadly, he could not make it due to logistics issues.

We proceeded to Tg. Tokong Caltex station to refuel and check our tire pressures, self-relieving rituals and etc. before making our way up to the TB Dam. It was requested of me to take the lead car as I'm more familiar with the route, so I humbly accepted *devillish grin*

We blasted through the Vale of Tempe (Chui Di Lor) and Batu Feringghi, all the way through Teluk Bahang till we arrived at the dam. Slowing down for traffic and populated areas, especially where there are junctions (we are pemandu "berhemat" ma :P)... Needless to say, peering eyes could not be avoided, with so many beaut machines (excluding mine) on the road.

We parked our cars and had a photo op... Chilling for a while, took in some nicotine and decided to take the Teluk Bahang to Balik Pulau route home. I was again asked to take lead through the tightest twisties in Penang... Fun!

Fighter's jet... Powah powaaaah!!!
Our dedicated photographers (Vic & Zechs) :*sorry for the terribly dark pics, taken with my HP*

I was just wreaking havoc on my Kumho Solus tires that night (my shoulder blocks are shiny clean now) and I'm sorry if I was a bad lead car. I'd like to apologize to the entire convoy that night. Please forgive me, I was just too exhilirated with the adrenaline... It's been a long time since I'd drove like that.

I'd like to thank the Integras and Type-R's for the night of fun and laughter, great drive and especially getting to know you guys.

Audio and gearknobs.

I had an impromptu TT with the 4GTuner community yesterday evening. I arrived at Tommy's shop to find that Kong (Super_White) had already arrived and was at Chris' place to fix up some alignment woes on his Wira MIVEC. We chatted a bit and Kong had to meet up with a friend before the TT, so he'd left and I went to pick up my pal's audio car from his shop for some listening pleasure and further tuning (Chris can tune anything that's on a car).

I walked opposite to Smart Tint to pick up the car and as Kiong handed me the keys, he told me to beware of hard-hitting bass! Dang! I was soooo excited...

This is Kiong's ride and soon-to-be Smart Tint audio car!

Vanity shot, but heck... It's my blog... So humor me :P

(L-R) Sanjev's red monster, old man's van, Kiong's Persona, Chris' Wira VR4, some unknown cars and at the bottom of the pic is Kong's Wira MIVEC.
(L-R) Audiophile, Touge-phile :P , and Wangan-phile... Bwahahaha... Just more vanity shots... Dang I love holding a camera.
Lookit what's peeping out from the trunk.
It's a rearward mounted monster sub.
The location and enclosure is still in the making, but we couldn't wait to fire it up!
Interior is well stripped to lay down wiring and controls.
The infamous Chris you'd all been hearing me rave about. This fella can tune anything related to cars! Suspension, engine, audio... You name it! *Thanks bro for all the help over the years*
Powering the speakers and subs are the trinity of amps located in the trunk space.
A monster Rodek amp to get the sub pumping.
Gold emblem... Oooh.... Shiny...And two Autocraft amps to run the speakers. One for front stage, and one for the rears.
Can't really see ler... I was using Kong's flash and my camera for combo effect :P
The owner Kiong (Left) with the tuner Chris (Right) in front of the would-be-demo-car. Sorry for the poor lighting, both of them wanted to stay "slightly anonymous".
All of us parted ways to bathe and freshen up. Then we met up again around 11p.m. at Tommy's shop for a gearknob TT. We were either changing, swapping, or polishing our knobs (pun not intended). We had much banter and eventually "yum cha" until 1a.m. I got sleepy and we all left for home.

Dinner and dance ;)

Tuesday was just gruesome at the office and seeing that one of our colleague's birthday is on Wednesday, we'd all decided to celebrate it earlier and let off some steam with a dinner function.

We went down to Golden BBQ Steamboat Restaurant (http://www.goldenbbqpg.com/), located at 38,40, & 42, Jalan Nagore 10050 Penang. Yes! It's three whole shoplots, this place was huge...

I'd arrived at 6.30p.m. followed closely by my boss and his would-be bride. My driving that evening was quite enthused... I even met a black Vios and Raymond (Golf GTi) on the way down, but let's leave that for another time.

Our party started immediately and my boss and I enjoyed our food first and taking in the cool breeze with a couple of self-wrapped ciggies. Aaahhh.... Good stuff.

Then our party arrived totalling 13persons and all hell broke loose! We ate, we drank, we chatted, we sang, and we laughed heartily to the post office personas of our supposedly "gentle" ladies :P

I went to meet up and have a chat with the boss, Mr. Joseph (joseph@goldenbbqpg.com), whom was kind enough to sponsor us a trickle of Chinese wine for our clear soup steamboat. It tasted soooo good.... The sweetness of chicken and the robust flavor of wine was just a winning combo.

Believe it or not, I was the smaller sized guy to the right.. This just goes to show that men of stature love food :P

It was time to cut the cake, and as usual, my boss was his jovial self and was dancing around the B'day girl.
As we complete the B'day song in multiple languages (don't you just love Malaysia), it was time for the lady of the hour to blow out the candles and remove the candles with her teeth.

Now watch my boss' hand...

Then watch the pretty B'day girls face! Bwahahaha....
We stood around chatting and just making merry before ending the event with many smiles and we bade each other farewell... Another day of work tomorrow.
BUT! The night didn't end there for me. A friend of mine had called up just as we were about to end and asked me if I'd wanna meet up for a couple of drinks over some automotive banter. Gladly, I'd made my way to the location and there was another party there.. Of touge and drag kakis. We talked the night away and as people crawl home and the night market dimmed its lights, Akihito (Edison) asked if we'd like to touge. Dang right we would!

Sanjev offered me to touge in his drag car and who was I to refuse, I was actually begging him to, so I jumped into the driver seat to find that his pedals were unmatched in height and he told me I can only climb to 4000RPM as he was still running in his monsta engine. Oh heck, I love a challenge!

We made great progress up the touge and I learnt how to handle a softly sprung, under inflated, and over powered drag machine! It was so much fun, rope in the fact that I was entering corners 1-2 gears higher due to the RPM limit, and the car handled fine... Sliding from corner to corner, dancing as if a skater on high octane steroids!

We all went home tired but happy around 2a.m. for a good night's rest... See y'all next post.

5/7 Doctor and a high protein diet!

It was a hectic couple of days for me at work... Sorry for the lack in posts, but let's see if I can make it up yea ;)

Last Saturday, my best pal from high school called up to book a lunch meeting with me. We went out for a casual movie and came out starving like wolves. Seeing that we were in Gurney and our gastronomic situation, we turned to Seoul Garden for lunch. They serve steamboat and BBQ style buffet meals at a reasonable cost (about RM20+/person).

We'd started off with chicken and stir fried some onions to go along.
Here's Ben, the 5/7 doctor from Ukraine, happily lapping up all we'd cooked.
Eventually, our target was set dead on seafood. Lookit all dat squid and prawns...
Prawns and squid well cooked... Time to dig in.. *slurp*
We got a little numb after the last platter and went back to having chicken and onions while we whet our appetite with sour lime sauce... *I'm salivating already* Finally, the piece-de-resistance... We had 2 final platters of prawns to call it a day... And yet, the soup was untouched.. We had to pour in soup just to keep the pot from drying up, that's about as much action as the soup was getting :P
Watch for the amount of shells we each had....
It was piled high...
Close up... How can you imagine something so ugly tastes so good...
I definitely wanna go again... Dang... I love food... Anyone wanna come along? ;)

Broken vow!

I'm so sorry dear readers, as I'd broken my vow to stop touge for this month. I was presented with a golden opportunity by a good friend of mine to test out a Wira GSR (1.8 turbo) at the Batu Feringghi touge... Seeing that it will be my virgin touge in a high RPM turbo vehicle, I just couldn't pass up the chance.

I'd have to say that the GSR engine is no slouch and boost comes in early in the lower gears and a little later in third which is just perfect for touge. At stock, it doesn't boost much and you don't get that sudden kick in the behind like VR4s do, another plus point. The piece de resistance is that this little firecracker of an engine revs all the way to 7500RPM!

So my friend Ah Soon and I met up in town to watch a "ge tai" (stage show performed during occasions), which incidentally my GFs sis was performing at, and to park my car at a safe location. We then boarded Soon's Wira GSR and off we went to Tg. Bunga Caltex to meet up with Akihito, Sanjev and Bigshow (Sim). We each had our fill of premium unleaded and off we went.

I took it slow initially into Chui Di Lor, and got a feel of the GSR's powerband and whatever grip I could muster from the 195/55/15 Duro tires. After the short touge, I came to find that even without an LSD, the GSR had a sweet spot where there's enough pull from the engine to engage maximum grip from the tires.

We then waited for the others (as they were blocked by traffic) for the Batu Feringghi touge run. I decided to take lead so that I could take the GSRs paces unhindered and what a pace it ran that night. Dang! I was amazed and honestly, shocked at how a FWD turbo performed at the twisties.
Although, be warned that driving a force inducted FWD on our local (Penang) touge requires quite a bit of concentration and precise throttle control as I was about to learn. I entered the first double apex too hot and I lifted to get the tail going, after which, I stomped on the throttle to catch the tail as I would an NA. Unfortunately, all I did was spin the fronts and understeered. Luckily, I still remember a few moves from my younger days and continued to feather the throttle while I reined the car in. Phew!

We descended from Teluk Bahang to meet up with Daniel and his friends for TT. It turned out that Daniel had visitors from from KL and the younger of the two was dying to find out how the Penang touge looks and feels like. So we went up AGAIN! I was blasting and popping the blow off valve like corn on a hot plate. Dang I love this engine.

Everyone parted with smiles, especially yours truly, of having the experience of a Wira GSR on the touge!

Much thanks to my good pal Ah Soon for the chance to try out this fantastic machine and I hope my feedback would help you along your maintenance/tuning journey.

Next, I've booked a VR4 to drive up the touge. We'll see how it performs once the owner is free for the trials :P

Rest assured, another fervent write up will be in store. Stay tuned :P