I got Stiffer...

Adjustables that is... What were you dirty lot thinking? Believe it or not, these are my first set of proper shock & spring combo. I've always ran on cut springs, aftermarket springs and chopped absorbers, although I advise all others not to do so (I'm too cheap not to!).
Anyways, regards to Hyper Racing and HWL for kitting Silver with these awesome uprights!Fer fitted them in with the initial settings at mediocre everything and I went for a drive, but came back unappeased... So we (actually Fer did all the work whilst I blabbed away) readjusted and went for another test.

Was I satisfied? Look at the pic below and tell me what you think...

Off it all came and readjustments were warranted... We must've done this same process at least a billion times, bringing the system lower, higher, stiffer and softer... I know... I'm a real pain when it comes to stiffies but what else is there in a car?

I finally settled on what I felt is the best compromise for muar, and it was already late into the night so we bade farewell... And more adjustments after work today! Yay for me!

Silver banana goes stag!

Staggered fitments look great especially with some fat rubber and kickin' up some dust in the touge.

Looks like a kindergartener's asymmetrical drawing but I kid you not, these tires are just awesome! Sidewall is stiff as heck (should grip like mad when corner carving) and on road manners (noise) is completely bearable.

I got these awesome pups courtesy of the guys over at Hyper Racing. These are the rare Bridgestone Potenza RE070s (standard kit on the R35 and FD2R).This is the maximum size that'll fit under Silver's fenders. All geometrical movement is unhindered.

I'm still pending a set of suspension components then off I go for the tire test... Read back here for the report.

Northern Touge Mega Gathering

Daniel and Soon were just sitting around chatting when Dan was struck with the idea of having a huge gathering of all touge kakis in Penang under the Northern Touge banner. A couple of SMS flew around and lo and behold. We had a mega gathering on our hands.
We all met up at the Balik Pulau Kassim, which we love coz got lotsa parking space, where friendly banter and chatter took place whilst more and more friends continued to arrive.
We managed to book 6 tables for all attendees and yet, our table was overflowing. We literally breached into the surrounding tables.
We did a little touge action and ended up at TB dam area where we cooled off to the excellent night breeze. Organizers Daniel and Soon can be seen laying back after the successful event.

Here are a couple of other members standing under the light having a chat and some automotive banter. There were many more in the shadows... You know us nocturnal types :P

Me Silver Banana posing with the most expensive touge car to date, a Merc CLS350.

Compliments to Patrick for this excellent shot of my Silver Banana with super bright HID backlighting. Thanks a lot for the great shots of our outing dude.

We concluded the evening's festivities with a cruise down to Gurney for a drink and off to bed we went!

Thanks a million to all the members that had showed up and for all that didn't... You missed out. Hah! But it's ok, there's always next time aye? You can be sure there'll be round 2, stick around.

Cuore Sostituzione

I had the title inspired by Alfa Romeo's "Cuore Sportivo", because a 155 drove by just as I was cracking my head for the title. It means, replacement heart, if you were just to wonder.

Anyway, the Silver Banana had been having heart problems since last year and it was just financially unfeasible to do anything at then until things eventually got worst and its now failing on me. Sadly, the SOHC 4G63 in the Silver Banana is a faithful and strong workhorse that lugged me to and through many places and faces that its sad replacing it.

But on the other hand, change, like death is just imminent and inevitable and I guess I'll just have to embrace it for what it is. My Silver Steed will no longer be the same once the transplant is complete, but like every change, I can only hope for the better and hope all's well.

If you're wondering, initially I planned on dumping a 4G63 DOHC "kosong" into Silver's bay. Targets and aims for this little project will be durability, efficiency (in hopes of fuel conservation - I know y'all need more, so I'm saving up :P) and improved driveability.

I'm hoping to hit at least 2 out of 3 of these targets. Wish me luck!

A Pavilion to work and play

With the PC fair in town and everyone who's anyone in this IT driven world will be attending to get the latest deals and hottest parts in town. I took a dive and went straight to visit an old pal at Swisspac resources for a laptop which I'd been dying to get for some time now. With my specifications in place and some work requirements thrown in, Ryan recommended to me the HP Pavilion dv3500 as an all rounder, complete with entertainment and work rolled in.

I slowly unpacked my new toy and read all the instructions inside and out before even putting on the battery. There are lots of functions in electronic items that we are unaware of simply because we chose to neglect the instruction booklet.

Right out of the box and it looked beautiful, it looked like MY computer, it looked right... It looked personal! And that's what HP aims to do, to make the computer "personal again".What I loved most about the booting up process was the thumb reader whereby I could just swipe my thumb and the computer will recognise who I am and log on for me. Sweet!
As I'm really not a gamer buff, the latest game I had was the NFSU Underground 2 which I'd installed immediately to test out the graphics and it was to no dissapointment.

Thanks a lot to Ryan for the RM600 rebate and awesome suggestion.

Clearvue - A screen replacement story

My old and battered windscreen (as much as I'd loved it) was just too beaten and had finally given way to the forces of granite impacts. I called up my agent and had him arrange the paperwork for a speedy replacement.
So Scav paid a visit to Yan Kee in Jln P. Ramlee for the works, they're the most acclaimed (super fast and clean install) "glass people" (they deal in any automotive glass replacement) there is in Penang.

A look at the shop with contact details clearly written on the signboard. I was the first one there and since there was not many customers around, the boss had time to chat and clarify my doubts on windscreen care and other urban myths.

His well trained staff only took half an hour to remove and re-install my windscreen. As seen in pic, work was done with care and precaution.

The new windscreen looks awesome. I have no words to explain how much the night driving experience has improved.

Since I got a new windscreen and all, I went all out to replace the old (never replaced since I got the car, but still working fine) wipers for a smashing new set of silicone blades. These babies need to be give a couple of dry wipes to coat your glass in a thin layer of silicone and all else is history.

Dragon70 and Leaning Wheels

The Dragon70 was kickin' up a sandstorm upon its completion and a carefree use of tires were warranted to dramatize the driving experience! A change was imminent and Leng felt it right to just bling up the old lady a bit so he got a couple of 17s and slapped them on.

Check out how it looks sitting right outside RPM Autoworks. The fronts will be going 17 too once the spacers are completed.

The massive rears are just impeccable when driving. The grip from Continental's Sportcontact was just immense and unless one kicks the clutch mid-corner, it's near impossible to throw the rear before you slide the fronts off course.

I then took a peep at my own set of whels and realized how nice camber looks when viewed at any angle!
I run massive camber on all my wheels to avoid uneven tire wear. The low speed and super twisty Penang touge commands this if your tires are to survive any longer than 3 months! Even with lots of normal driving and the occasional cruises uphill, these Kumho Solus tires are my fav set so far, and I've tried lots of tires (believe me you).

At least my last set of Kumho Solus lasted close to a year before it shone clean like a Kojak convention. These are my second set and things still look deeply threaded and with very even wear. I love my camber!

Fat lady on Tun Sardon

Let me kick things off with a touge recap. I did a high speed touge with WH in his immaculate 350Z. It was truly a commanding sight to watch the fat-lady (which is a name I call all Z cars from the Z32 onwards) in action. Pure NA thrills from the torquey VQ35DE is just commendable but the Z's heft shows and ever so slightly creeps into understeer mode no matter how hard the suspension setup tries to mask this.
We arrived at the Balik Pulau market area for a chat (where WH's car turned quite a few heads) and some self-relieving from the adrenaline rush.

I just couldn't resist the camhwhore moment in the fat-lady's presence.

Trying to outrun this on the high speed Tun Sardon route is just mind blowing. The torque this bugger delivers is just awesome. Thanks for letting me have the chance to cruise in the Z, WH. It is truly something else.

After which we decided to part ways as it'd been a couple of hours and the sun was right above us, but still... A camwhore moment is inevitable.

It was a fantastic experience going up the touge with a torque monster on my heels. We have to do it again soon WH. Once my operation is complete... Hopefully in time for your departure.

Psst... Readers : Northern Touge members had another run later that week with WH, you can read more about it at WH's blog.

Birthday, Pits, and Revelry!

It is the 9th day of the Lunar Calendar and the entire team was invited over to RPM Autoworks to celebrate Ah Peow's (air-cond man) girlfriend's 21st birthday! We were all ponna excited and I was, as usual, too early :P Anyway, Chun arrived slightly after and gradually, so did the rest of the team and all invited guests.

It was a fantastic evening of festivities and revelry with much fellowship, food and drinks aplenty, and everyone just having a ball of a time!
Well, as you can see, there's not many at the dining area since we were all a "helpful bunch".... Here's what most of us were doing. We actually have 6 cooks! 4 at the pits and 2 prepping the skewers :)

Whilst a bunch of us were.. Er... "Discussing" and "planning" over some drinks and a cig. Told you we were a helpful bunch didn't I? :P

A tribute pic to all the hardworking cooks whom constantly had the pits on full burn and full capacity!

We ended the night at 1a.m. to a cheery crowd, and what seemed like never ending revelry, but here I am in the office again!

Cheers fellas, see you guys tonight... I'm sure there are lots to clean up still!

Of stiff sticks and soft bounces!

It was on the 7th day of CNY and I was just having a lazy rested day in preparation for the working year ahead. I'm sure we'll all have to be as tough, hardworking and persevere as the Ox to survive the current financial plight :(

I got a call from Fer some time after lunch time and the Norther Touge fellows all met up at Tommax for a cock-and-bull session :) During which, Daniel had wanted to re-adjust his damping for some time now and I'd needed to take a look at some of the wirings on the Silver Banana. So we decided to grab the keys to RPM Autoworks and have a little DIY session with our guru Fer on the watch.

We arrived to a brimming workshop full of cars so since Daniel had the hardest task, his car was fully parked inside, and the Silver Banana was parked halfway rearwards in since I only had to look in the rear half. The supervisor-for-the-day of course, had his monster machine parked just outside.
Low and it's all show, no go! I was parked on a ramp... Just took the pic to check out how it looks if I invested in a set of pneumatic shocks.

Daniel set off to work on removing his dampers slowly but surely seeing that this would be his technical debut! He never DIY'd on his mechanicals before. Great effort bro!

As with all learners or first timers, supervision is warranted and I was only there to prop things up and to aid installation :P *I'm also the inpromptu camera-man mah!* (self redemption rocks!)

After a lengthy process and Fer working his magic on the new settings the car was lowered off the tripods and lo and behold! The Civic is a whole new machine...

Getting low is the theme of the day. If you're thinking wheel to fender clearance, its non-existant!

Of course, this warranted a touge run, so we proceeded to meet at a fav car wash since Daniel wanted to ge this car washed (to look clean and mean) where seatings were allocated and Fer was riding with Daniel to get feedback on the new settings whilst Mark sat with me for a little Touge 101. We blasted up the touge full on (since we'd been MIA since before the CNY) without a worry in mind and its enlightening how the drive through Penang's fav touge route clears ones mind!

I had a fantastic run, and Daniel was extremely happy with the new damper settings. His new settings were stiff enough to avoid unnecessary roll whilst keeping the bumps and dips in check. Mark had also improved a lot in the past few months, he was even able to point out to me the 2 mistakes I made on the way up!

Watch out world, Northern Touge is coming out yo!

Of Phillip, paint and plaster!

In the previous installment, we'd seen Phillip's car going for body parts installation after a year's scavenging for parts and upon completion, all's left was for paint.

We met up about a week ago and he was beaming with pride, riding in his pristine condition Corolla LE.

Excellent paint job...
Which shone in the lazy weekend sun!

AE92 rear with hidden muffler. Watch out guys, this beauty has a beast within!

Beaut item for quick access or removal of its attachment.

I just had to get a vanity shot of it with the Silver Banana. Note the side marker lights.
Phillip will be ready to touge with us pending a tire change! Cheers fella!

Wide throated White Wave

It has been a fantastic week, although work was just dreadful, but wonderfully eventful and nostalgic one.

Recently I just had a touge session with Billy in his Iswara. Being a carbureted version, the revs were light and peaky. A point of note for this particular Iswara, is that it’s running on the Weber DCNF scavenged from yours truly’s initial exploits into the automotive world. I told you it had been a nostalgic week right? My mint DCNF residing in his clean bay. Proud of your advancements bro. Cheers!

Billy had just revised his front suspension and DIY'd a custom built strut bar, and wanted to further test out his dampers before proceeding to revise his rear damping so I, the ever willing driver, is always the perfect accomplice!

See the "ponna" thick bar? It has padding on it to ensure minimal knocking of my DCNF. Webers are a gem in this high pressure fuel injected world.
We headed up to the Teluk Bahang “test route” and lo and behold, the frontal grip was amazing even if only running on 15” A520 street tires (an old series before the Neova era). The rear was still rolling in the bends and squatting on acceleration but that has never stopped me from having fun en route.

Billy did me proud, he polished the cover 'till it shone!

Billy experienced a controlled manner of FWD oversteer with the front end biting with the rear slipping, and just treading its wider slip angle. We were having so much fun sliding the “White Wave” (white is the car’s color and wave is cause its rear handles like one.. Hah!) throughout Teluk Bahang and Batu Feringghi.

We ended the evening with birdwatching at Gurney drive’s Mc Donald’s, a Coke and a smoke for the perfect snappy evening! Thanks Billy for the pleasure of driving your “White Wave”~! Catch you again soon.