Turtle Dreams

The drive up Cameron Highlands from the foothills was quiet and not filled with cars as it sometimes is. worse...buses and lorries going at 10kmh...

so my drive up was quite fast, averaging 50kmh or more...

family inside so cannot go TDF... too damn fast hahahaha...

but there was this van in front of me doing 35kmh... and taking the racing line no less... while i was trying to overtake him... apparantly, he did not check his rear mirrors for the longest time when I was hanging back, waiting for my opportunity... so when i moved to pass, he suddenly turned out too (there was a bloody slow vios in front driven by a young malay lady... yeah... 35kmh) and started to 'overtake' the vios at 37kmh...

i had to swerve to be safe, and luckily, it was uphill, and my brakes quite good... no e-stop but youknow what i mean lor... close shave... i din even bother to horn la... just fall back and wait again... but he knew i was there leow... becos he 'jumped' to see my car almost beside him after he swerve out... without warning.


so at the next available opening, i horned him and flash my lights before going forward... on 1st gear hahaha, and both the vios and van vanished forever from my rear mirror ( i was doing 60 to 65 then... even my passengers were quiet i.e. no disapproval of my speed) we were going SO DAMN SLOW for almost 10 minutes!!


to be continued...

The air was cool, 18 degrees C... nice and breezy at nite... fantastic for me... Car leh... Turtle had to do a bit more time to warm up during morning starts... lucky i did not do the throttle bypass...

Anyway, went to the Boh Palas Gardens to tour the plantation. Quite an interesting drive further UP the mountain!! but the damn road had so many high humps... and me with full load - 3 adults and 1 pre teenager... and on lowered springs... I was cussing all the way...

but ... the Eibachs... they did not bottom out! And they did not scrape the humps!!!!! went tru all quite smoothly!! albeit a tad slow when crossing humps... must have crossed 20 or so humps going up there...

the view, magnificent!

the rest of the trip, equally enjoyable.


The way home was down the other side for a short lunch at Ipoh...

and driving home after lunch... well, just open up becos the roads were so deserted... dunno why... it was a Tuesday, and school term was still on in Malaysia... must be the reason... the only place heavy traffic was roadworks on some stretches, and in the KL area...

we left Ipoh at around 1.45pm, drove 500+km and reached JB at 7.00pm

re-topped petrol and crossed home after a short dinner.

the tyres held up well after the repatch of the puncture... but it was always a spectre at the back of my mind on stretched where speeds invariably went up to dangerous levels...

Finally got sick of my limited performance Greddy Full Function Auto Timer. Not meant for our cars la... boring sia... 11 functions only use 2 or 3...

so, off to GT Auto for the popular pen-lite Apexi timer. traded in the greddy which he took... and cleaned up the wiring in the dashboard...

hmmm... dun quite like the bright light in the instrument cluster... will have to relocate soon.


but function wise, very very happy with this timer... and can arm the alarm while car is still counting down... no issue... just great.

finally changed my rims and tyres... they were getting... unsuitable... i needed to downsize to 15 inch to use the tyres i want, and not pay too much more...

wanted the Toyo Proxies R1Rs... but my good friend din have them... he offered me the Falken RT615s... not bad price i suppose...

looked at the traction rating ... it's A
looked at the temperature rating it's also A
looked at the wear rate number - 200

normal tyres wear rate is 380 to 460...

i was instantly reminded of the other 200 rating tyre i'd seen and driven and smiled non stop for an hour... the Continental Contisport Contact 2... those tyres were sticky! and so are the 615s... ok lor... jiak!

said my goodbyes to the very very nice rims... i bot... original RPF01... with the centre cap some more... but i guess it needed to make way for the 15 inch rims... this time, replicas... can't afford the originals... TE37 lookalikes... quite light too... ok la... it's the tyres that count now... no longer interested in the 'bling' factor...


after scrubbing in... about 300 km... went for a sprint with a good friend... first try, let go at 2,500 rpm... he was faster...
2nd try let go at 4,000 rpm... hey! no wheel spin! you know what that means?? haha... was quicker to the top speed by more than 2 car lengths... interesting... what grippy tyres can do... ok ok... the tuner also need to be praised... he really brought my piggyback and car to life...


overall look to the car... I'd say... nice...

in the course of the past weeks, a few things happened... first during a dark and cloudy nite on the expressway, my front wheel hit a piece of brick/log fallen from some truck (used to chock up the wheel if on a slope and loading things) saw it coming but going too fast, and too poor visibility in advance to take evasive action... loud crack sound as i hit.. and steering became vibratory at highway speeds...

damn... i tot the alignment had gone... later discover that the wheel was dented! damn it... new rims!!!!! it's beyond repair this one... so had to order in a new replacement. and just before track day too... double damn... there goes the run up to Sepang on 30th...


and opportunity came to get 15 inch rpf... and so i did... hahaha almost without hesitation... i know i can sell off the TE37 replicas easily... as soon as i got the replacement rim (it would be MINT condition...) shucks!


haha so now, back on RPF01 rims... and yes, compared to the TE37 replicas... they are much lighter... my friend at the shop took out the bathroomscale and popped the rim on... too light la... so he put two on... haha better... the TE37 replicas was less than 12 kg just a little more than 11kg ... so it's around 5.5kg each. The RPFs? a pair of them weighed less than 9kg... er... yeah... I knew those rims are light... but wow... to see it with my own eyes... hmmm... nice indeed...


one more thing i discovered... The SMT6 has a second map... and can be switched... haha... nice... now I can have a conservative tuning for normal road drivings/NS highway driving, and a more aggressive map for short sprints and light tracking... have to monitor the oil/water temperatures carefully here of course... it tends to run hotter than normal by around 5-10 degrees ... still within normal range ba... even for oil temp... less than 80 degrees there... and water around 85 degrees...

the meters may be inaccurate in the exact temp, but i just need to monitor the 'normal' and the heightened to know they do run hotter... and keep a lookout if they go up by a lot during track... to rest and cool it down...

damn this rainy weather... it's causing havoc on the car... especially when it has to brave tru flooded roads... and flooded sections of the highway... no hydroplaning, but the sound of charging water on the lower chasis is quite irritating, and have to keep 110% alert for immediate action to counter loss of traction, or grip...

Just did own polish today too... just a quick job of .. you guessed it! Turtle WAX!!! hahaha... just to replace that which was washed off in all the days running tru the heavy rains...

Shud be OK ba...


end for now...

It's been a week since the last blog entry... suffice it to say, nothing significant happened... or did it??

Friday saw a huge turnout at the Punggol 600s Kopitiam for Team ES meetup... where brudders regular and new turned up for a chit chat session, and grew into a part 2 at Changi Village and an exciting drive home. Turtle wasn't part of part 2... had to leave by 10.45 to bring food home to wifey...


Saturday was more exciting... Had to play taxi for wifey to the airport in the morning and back again in the evening... the much planned and anticipated PG trip vapourised...


Met Jolvin for the first time on Saturday... does a bang-up job on my car... but the excitement was when a 'neighbour' came back and wanted to park his usual spot but didn't dare say it openly becos it is public car park... so he said, car park is for parking car... hahahahah... read full story in the road story folder... damn...


Turns out the PG trip that did not happen was a blessing in disguise... the track never opened that night. A few brudders went in on their own to discover that sad news... and had to settle for a bit of street racing onthe way back... turned out to be an all night affair for one of the brudders... suffice it to say... the law bumped into him... but no worries, everyone's safe home.


Sunday was even more eventful. Actually, the event started on Saturday...

I played consultant to a brudder on some mods... over the phone... and walla... Sunday came problems!! so i had to go connect the tested and tried sources who CAN solve the problem... and after being a good husband to cook, clean and be with family the whole day, move out to help solve the problem... and solve my own outstandings as well...

My projects were completed well... took long enough... cleaning them visors off the foam mounting tapes were hell... so now it's up... so are the switches and relocation of the NA timer...

Had the luck to get a set of Hot Bits Coilovers... but one rear coil is leaking a little... anyway i will bring the whole lot to speedworks JB to get it revalved and swapped in if possible this week...

or next...

anyway, the brudder's problem couldn't be fixed after 3 hours of tuning... wow... I tot tune until fly leow... the look on the Master's face... was worth the trip, and the wait... and the attitude, priceless. Managed to eliminate the base car's problem and narrow it to connection problem... you see... having too sophisticted a system to mate with a less sophisticted system requires downstepping a little from the 'superior' setup...

Anyway, that theory will be tested tonite... Alas, i dun think i will be there to see it... but I will sms to kapo the outcome...


YAWN..... so sleepy today... had less than 2 hours sleep becos of being 'concerned' - concerned becos i recommended, and things din go as expected... at least now it's being properly addressed...

another week has passed.... started a sister blog so much of the happenings were recorded there... like having a second child in the family leh...

all eyes focus on the new baby and the Turtle was left alone in the weekend. not to worry... I'd bot it suspensions, steering wheel, etc suspensions waiting for servicing before install...

but that one got to go into Johor Jaya area... will prolly do that after pay day, and after CNY ba... unless strike lottery...

damn...

CNY is coming already and we have yet to do spring cleaning at home... damn... even the Christmas Tree is still up wif all the lights ! it's the 60th day of Christmas already for goodness sake... hahaha...no la.... not that long... but it's way past the 12th day by a month leow... hahaha... tonite must take it down by hook and crook ...

The Turtle is doing well... now less stressed, and becos travelling less, less fuel is consumed...
but office hours sucks... what takes 20 minutes in the evening wud take 45 minutes and above during office 'rush hour'...


got to watch the tyre pressure tho... park at one spot for too long, tyre pressure will be affected.

<>

Turtle came down with an interesting bug recently. The Air-bag warning light came on and stayed on....

I was worried if the DC5 steering was having problems... and dismantled it to double check, as well as the fuse for the airbag...

Installed the original steering... still same problem...

couldn't find the damn fuse from under the steering column! the mess of wires down there... damn... got to go find Ah Tiong leow...

Right about then, a thread from SHC came up - same problem... stock steering some more... haha so I asked bro andyfung who replied that he has the diagnostic tool to check... went to his workshop... wow... nice and professional... another place to go to for help leow...

his man (same name as me well, same one of the characters of our chinese name la) was MOST helpful... did the diagnostic... and identified the problem. Could be expensive to fix if car is out of warranty! Not the steering wheel ... phew... else my DC5 wheel out the windown leow... and not the fuse...

so ...

Called the Jln A Ibrahim KM workshop Mr Wong... told him my problem...
since my car only serviced there a few weeks ago... after full diagnostics no problem... went down, did the diagnostics officially, and identify the same problem... he is a good one this Mr Wong... helping me to claim warranty... but no parts available in Sgp... ordering from Japan... he will call me to go replace when it arrives in Sgp.

now driving around with the airbag warning light on... hahaha Mr Wong told me 'safe' - SRS won't anyhow deploy one... i was worried suddenly get punched in the face for nothing.....

for the record, it wasn't the driver side system malfunction...it's the passenger side... hahaha how come? I tot I too heavy cause damage to the driver side system... no... it's the driver's side airbag system detected a malfunction.

Let's see how it goes when parts come in. Looking forward...

.

Damn... come across a nice proposition ... Tien Monoflex shocks...

Turtle... you want these?

.........

damn...

ok... note to myself:

in the market for

(a) PS2 $150
(b) eRam $
(c) rotors/brakes/inserts
(d) monos n cambers
(e) 5 in 1 meter
(f) clutch
(g) shud I do bushings?


damn...

Ok clutch update... changed leow...

4 puck type with twin fin pressure plate.




For ES model - need to replace the stock flywheel to fit. the original flywheel and clutch
contact area is smaller. got a suitable
flywheel ready...





Replacable ceramic composite pads. Twin fin pressure plate is the hard
type, wheel spin on first second and third gear on stock gear box.




Brand? RDP... initial feel... like in a gym doing a workout! hahaha...
there was some feedback that it felt better than the Excedy clutches... but that remains to be seen...

but after an hour in the car park... I think I getting the hang of it leow...

run in distance - 400km... after that see whether can launch or not... kekeke but bite is already there...

kept the full set of original clutch just in case... haha... but if the ceremic pugs are replaceable... ooo... nice....


Next... rotors and brake pads... phew...

I just transferred the 'old' clutch set to the storeroom... wa... din know it was SO FUGGING HEAVY!!! goddamnit..... bloody hell.......

anyways... the clutch in the car is working well... and got lots to relearn to use it properly... especially controlling half clutch... damn.... it's so hard it shudders the whole car if you do it wrong... haha... damn...

rotors and pads are in now... slotted Brembo Sports... and Project Miu 0-800 degree pads... (although I suspect it's not 0 degrees la... actually needs warm up one... but at least when cold, still has grip... i tot become grease when you step brake in the cold...)

Engine Inserts are in.. damn... I'm either shaving off more or taking them out totally... can't bear to see Turtle shudde so badly during engine idle... but I must say, when in motion, quite a different feeling... definitely shaving off more. shits....


Also gonna do the power bushings too... the car hit 100,000 km leow... everything's becoming lose leow may as well change the bushings too... these are gems... according to those who are on it... including sifu... so can't be wrong la... already invoiced for it leow... when the other stuff gone onto the car...

haha found an engine strut bar... also in leow...

and the E-Ram Electric Supercharger... haha will go in soon too...

And the Dynomax DNX Exhaust... damn... just looking at it made me steam..... but I think will not mount on till after showing the others la... hate them humps at YD... serkalee they scratch my pipe.... I will be so heartache .... will wait till the coils go in and i adjust the height back to 3 fingers rear, and remove the rear lip... (back to stock!!) as well as the super heavy 'spoiler' damn... Spoil the boot hinges man... humph....

dunno what's a dynomax exhaust???? hahaha... it's alright... no need for you to know... it's for me to know... and for you to find out...


Opportunity to spend more money came in the offering of a set of 6 white faced defi meters (NA setup) wif controller and sensors for $1k.... 3 meters are 52mm the other 3 are 60mm... wow... just nice for my current setup replacement!!!!!!! god damn.... den how to get the monoflex?????? not enough $$$$$$ leow...... or shud I just use the hotbits coils, and forget the mono?

decisions, decisions, decisions..... hot damn.....



Turtle also kena 'challenged' to benchmark performance leow... by an old friend... hahaha have to wait till the clutch and brakes run in la... just topped up the tank tonite... will finish this tank before any true hard core launch/braking can be 'tried'.... hopefully by then, the coils and bushings and tuning is done up leow...... sigh... wishful thinking..... but something to look forward to right?

hahahaha...


and last bit of shit..... my subs dun seem to be working... after replacing the seat belt set (warranty item... to address the air bag warning light)

could be the cables kena accidentally cut... or really , the amp really died of old age, or the connection broken becos so many open close all over recently.... sigh... need experts to check leow...

.

OK... SUBS ... amp blew a fuse ... simple solution.,.. now up and booming again...

Bushings... in... wow... car lowered by another half finger! rear is completely inside the arch leow... really look like speedboat ...

Sent the Hotbits to the speedworks in JB for servicing... hahaa interesting... went to the place in the morning... 9 plus... not open so we go around look for breakfast... past HV Racing... so this is where my good friend zhng his car... they look damn busy... (yeah open leow,... working leow....)

and so we stopped at the nearby coffee shop for breakfast.

and called speedworks at around 10.15 am... yup opened at 10. orr... ok lor... so we drove back ... the shop was manned by two malay bros... sweeping floor, setting up shop etc... so we asked where the boss was... they say wait a while... still upstairs... (sleeping) damn.... waited till 11.15 before he appeared still thick wif sleep... wa... must be shagged quite a few chicks the nite before...

here's the best part... I put the coils down to be serviced... NO reciept. they can recognise me one they say... fark... if I cant' go back to collect i just get any to say it's mine, can take..... wow... nice leh.... how funny... speedworks leh... got branch in sgp, jb, kL, and a few other parts of malaysia... so like that one meh???

first, really like big boss... open late... den items no reciept.. I felt so safe leaving my things there... boss says now no spare parts... prolly next week... by monday or tuesday ok leow...

I called on Tuesday late afternoon ard 4... malay worker answered... no spares, waiting for spares... prolly next week... huh???

I was wondering if i would get my coils serviced, installed and aligned in time to go April 11 track... every time next week... coils still with them... sigh...


now my only hope is they go a good job servicing them... and i won't have to see them again for another 3 years...

mwtang wrote:

bro i am really sorry and wish to apologize on TEAM ES behalf as the team is really in the mess right now...
i guess we have to forgo the whole thing.

Well, I guess that's it then for the Sepang Trip on April 29th.

Lucky I was working on a local photoshoot - and a final recce tmr nite shud confirm the place and make announcement for Apr 29th shoot.

And lucky there is open track day in April, albeit on 11th. boh pian lor... take leave to go up as a sign of commitment to this ... but I am looking forward to this.

sigh... all the months of anticipation, preparation, etc. at least the cosmetic part of the planned mods I can now hang up... heh heh... nothing to bling for leow...

I'd locked the money up in a time deposit and only will mature in april... so got to delay payment back to the brudders who paid in advance... this is another point to be pai seh about... yeah I locked up a big sum in anticipation of the event too... now cannot open before April 15 else i have to pay penalty... and no 'spare cash' leow as well.. sad...

this is quite a setback... lucky there are 'alternatives' to offer to the members here... May track day may be on a sunday... so it shud be fun going up again after april's track day...

photoshoot, must get a good photographer to help out leow... I wonder if jeryl would be able to... I will ask him next time i meet him. I wonder who else will have good digital SLRs to avail that day... hmmm... i could ask my friend... see how first this part. worse come to worse, use my little digital camera lor... the lens is good enough anyway, even for such a small thing.

sigh...

Had to swap out the rear Eibachs for stock springs... simply too damn low leow... and causing the rear wheels to really camber out big time...

so they are out now... and the wheels look only slightly negative camber... the fronts are still eibach... and the rears... now look stock ... becos they are stock... hahaha but becos or the bushing, it is a little lower by 1 finger..... so it's 3 fingers rear, 2 fingers front... nice.. look like a funnycar... heh heh...

can't bloody wait for my coils to complete the service/parts.

OK... NO more mods after this... damn...

just wondering out loud... now on Motul 5W-30 V300 oil... can it survive a few laps at Sepang? someone immediately commented that it's a little thin... shud i drain out and fill wif 5W-40 for the sepang trip, and drain that out and refill with the motul after coming back?? sort of a waste of oil isn't it? but 40 wt oil confirm safe for my engine... dare i try new technology that has a stable 30 wt rating?

perhaps i shud.... we will see how it goes, got to monitor the oil temp very carefully then...


sigh.. if worse come to worse, no coils, i will swap back the eibach rear springs and align before going on track... current front rear setup good only for street driving, without high speed cornerings...

damn.....

Cost Tyre/Goodyear

This shop has a few branches, went to two of them, one their HQ at Kallang
Way3, and next to their AMK Autopoint one at #01-

both places are good for those in a hurry... NOBODY there.

for a reason...

the Kallang Way shop.. this 50s uncle came out, and I ask got do electronic wheel alignment or not? He says yes $67 bucks, I said ok...

I asked next qn. you got to camber kit or not... he look at my car... your car not fast... no need to do... hahaha... ok... next he drive my car... told him my clutch is heavy... gaveme that fu.ck face look when he try...

try to drive onto the ramp... i shouted at him "cannot leow..." becos he aim wrong place... bashed my front bumper at the lower frame... KNN... come down, look and tell me he can't do it becos my car too low, tells me AMK one can becos the ramp is lower... says he will give me 10% discount at AMK.

Turtle was really angry... but the bumper looked fine although i suspect a clip or two has snapped leow... but it still looked 'ok' from the outside.

sigh... ok drove to AMK... every shop busy except CostTyre... It really looked like it's a shop front for money laundering business... SO anyway i go in to ask... oh ok says the mech folding up his newspaper... drive in, fix on and try to get the thing to work, I wasn't gonna look forever at him setting up so i went for lunch...

Come back... still trying to set!@!!

I asked what's wrong, sensor problem... can't get it to come on line and so cannot read alignment.. hahaha... 2 hours leow!!! ask me come back another day...

prolly another lifetime ba?

I drove up to Kenny's at level 4. Knowing that Kenny is super busy and actually has an appointment list 3 days in advance... I asked his help.

He took a look at my ride... wa... how come open so big at the rear? takes torch light to go take a closer look...haha aiyoh., you put bushing ar?? Alec one right? bingo...

can leave your car here? i very busy, but will do for you if you leave your car here - come back 6 pm... must exchange your original camber for mine, etc. you know the drill... and i so busy thenext set is actually not ready so i will do it up for you oil and spray properly before it bolt in...

haha can i say no? er... I oso got this pair of front camber bolts... can help me to put in? .... Alec one rite? ok la... you drive sports ar? play corner? you going PG? .. no... sepang.. orr.. sepang! i did one blue ES damn fast on sepang... hahaha... ((my sifu).... yes I know him well... ok ok i align and open yours can run sepang leow... orr... thank you hor... no need to be so fierce as the blue civic... i drive at sepang only a few times a year... and not as fast, and he laughed... ok ok...



so i took a cab home... there is a good ending to an otherwise awful day.

did my family thing, had a late late lunch, and went back to workshop at 5.30. One of my wheels were off, looks like it's gonna be a lot later than 6... nvm... Kenny's work, I trust 100%

haha guess who showed up... sifu!!

he came in to check that his alighment is OK before going in on Wed...

so we chatted and watch movie at the 'waiting room' becos still got 4 more cars before our turn... and he made appt to come.....

wow... my Turtle ass look damn high man... almost 4 fingers!!!!!! when properly cambered and aligned... can put back eibach leow la.... too high for track !!

sigh... more money to be spent.... but must do unless i wanna die... such a high tail cannot drive safely at high speeds one...


but as it is it can take the DNX pipe with ease... good ground clearance leow... hahaha... will definitely bring it in to swap ... or shud i just mount it and drive in leow?? it's a big decision... becos the pipe is totally illegal hahaha...

damn....

maybe i swop out after driving TO sepang... bring the stock one to change...

hmmm that's an idea......


.

Finally did a local swap to the DNX pipe as i did not want to be 'tax' by customs for having a 'spare' exhaust set in the car. did run with the 30W motul - and would watch the oil temp carefully.

Track day - the drive up was quite fun. Had XTrader come ride shotgun wif me...

Pumped full tank of Shell 98 locally, with engine systems cleaner from STP poured in. Intended to drive the tank in Sepang dry... hahaha... on 98 octane fuel with engine cleaner and octane booster plus 2 litres of Platinium to wash it down.

The track was 'deserted'.... only around 15 cars! and it was totally fun...

Ok... track details... this stupid forum didn't upload my detailed post... so now re writing... in short form

track was wet, rain, ran 4 laps with xtrader riding shotgun... he was participative, and car slide abit during hard cornering... wet ma... 615s are good...

came back go rest. shared with sifu who slide out twice. he described that he let go everything and let the car slide out so nothing is overstrained...

out we went again, this time xtrader sat in sifu's car... me solo...

on a 3rd to 4th gear s curve, i lost it and slide out in 'slow motion'

remembered sifu's description of what he did... 'let fly' in sailing terms... did same thing... nicely settled down and restarted after car stopped completely... and continued. no damage after stop in pit for inspection...

stop and rest after another few laps...rain stopped, track dried... still lots of sliding in hairpin corners... very shiok.

by 3pm track was dry leow... and recheck tyre pressures, and went out some more... no more powerslides... but car held well... sliding predictably during hard corners ...very shiok...

final lap after stop time...

came down and saw the tyres..... hahaha...












let cars rest and cool down, and pack up, and went home...

Xtrader so lucky.... got to see sifu drive...hahaha....

what was most fun for me was the fact that my brakes did not fade the entire time I was on track...

this combination of 800 degree pads, high carbon rotors, SS hose, and dot4/600 brake fluids... limit leow... no need for more until i can have a higher terminal speed, and lower lap times, and drive like sifu does...

can shelf the nice to look at 4 pot calipers for now....

oh yeah... the DNX pipe? SWEET on track.... but on highway... the noise drowns my ICE's clarity... next time will bring spare pipe there to change man..... shucks! hahahahah

i had almost forgotten about the HotBits coils i'd left at Speedworks JB for servicing... finally got a call from them this morning... ready leow... (after so many days delay)

dun feel like getting them anymore... but what the hell... it's a good price lor...revalved at RM$84 per piece... all 4 pcs... for a total of RM$366. Swapping them shud be ok at Speedworks itself... and charges shud not be too high...

need to make appt wif kenny to re-check alignment and camber again... especially after that big and slow 180 degree powerslide at Sepang...


see which day got time to go in ba... prolly take half a day leave in the afternoon and go in all the way to dinner leow...

.

Sigh... my Turtle was hit by a flying fallen tree branch, courtesy of a white Mazda3 going at full speed among the debris... flying debris cannot claim 3rd party just as you can't claim flying stone crack your windscreen...


Damage: Right side mirror broken... Right side A pillar dented...


maybe it's time to change to those motorcycle style rear view mirrors eh?

damnit.....

of course, everything was fixed up before meetup day... courtesy of o0o... great job done too.

After collecting car, was inspecting the Twister Wipers... *scold bad words*... the passenger side wiper was wobbly... on closer inspection, the mounting plastic had self destruct... dried up and crackled away...

sigh... gonna claim Twister for a new set man,.... the driver side shudders irritatingly most of the time... including in heavy downpour... lucky I always keep a spare set in my boot... and in went the spare set... NWBs... can la... till i either replace the Twisters, or get a new set.


Now my front speakers act up... could it be that the car shudders now during idle? sigh... i hope it's just connections... and not the head unit nor the Class A amp... that would be a big loss... oh nothing serious at the moment... just that the front speakers are soft in volume... usually by volume 15 it's disco level sound... now 15 is just 'comfortably loud' and when I twiddled the connections from my amp, the sound comes back in FULL BLAST... and sometimes by itself, the speakers crackled loudly and settled back on being moderately loud... scared leow... hope it is just the connectors a bit lose...


Steering Wheel... finally convinced to let go the dc5 steering to a bro here for a small loss. I was eyeing the S2000 steering that Pete(joon) was letting go... went to see it today... very nice. even has the cruise control switch bolted on...

The cc was not connected of course, but joon says can be connected to the HU to control volume from there... na... just leave it or attach to the other steering wheel for Edix to use on a real cruise control.. maybe...

Looking forward to mounting the S2000 steering wheel on my Turtle... quite unique...

./

Swopping of the Steering wheels was soon after i gotten the S2000 steering wheel. It was a fun nite at the MSCP... mine was swopped in about 10 minutes taking time and getting it done slow and relaxed...

The other car had a hard time as his steering was 'virgin'... i.e. never been opened before... the central nut needed a lot more torque than my small size 14 bolt wrench could handle. and we spent a merry hour there trying to get an extension to the wrench...

of course we finally succeeded...


both parties happy... hahaha


long after that i changed out my oil (yes - the Motul V300 lasted a whole 10,000 km before being swapped out...) to the Elf Excellium 5W-40...

the reason was that I was thinking to go on PG track the next week... so better have new and 'thicker' oil to protect my engine as it would be a second-third gear track except for one stretch where you might go to 4th for a second or two...


as it turned out, never had the chance to go out to PG that day... had to prepare to conduct a seminar... sigh... and Turtle was downcast all day... that it did not get the chance to go stretch its legs...

hahaha... as things turned out, Turtle got left at home for the past few days... left at home to dream and rest... as the Blackbox was taken out to stretch her legs, finally, up on the East Coast trunk roads, all the way up to Cheriting, 100 km past Mersing...for a few days...


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Time passes so quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it's been a while leow since the last post.

Turtle is averaging one tank a week now... a sure sign that the owner is losing his momentum in driving all over the country... he now just commutes to work, and goes home... good thing he now gets the season ticket... uses it enough to make the 90 bucks worth it leow... where in the past, out before 7 and back after midnite... no need for season parking...

The parking attendants are now working harder. they come at least 3 times a day, and the most dastardly timing... 5.45 am... bloody hell... anyone who try to 'makan a bit' sure kena one... just a matter of time before these people get replaced by the electronic gantry... and nobody get's away with it at the MSCP where I park.

I heard of a new mod to inject foam into the chasis to stiffen it, as well as spot welding all the joints to strengthen it further still.

I wonder if i can put so much more into my Turtle.... in my limited way - Turtle got it's kicks now and then when i open her up when there is opportunity... and practicing downshifting and heeling and toeing too into a corner... well, my bone structure dun really allow the real heel and toe, but my foot's big enough to big toe the brake pedal while little toeing the throttle to blip it as i shift down in a high speed slowdown into a corner... interesting effects and still room to improve... of course, the speed is nowhere near the first turn of the Sepang F1 track... that will be the acid test...

too bad the track day is now 'closed' officially... i can now only hope that they will 'open it up' on 19th anyway to allow us to run in the newly repaved track on the last minute... now just keep praying...

else it will be at year end the next official open track day appears...

heard that traction circle is having a track day in september but you need to be members... and the cost is in singapore dollars... $200 bucks... i dun think i will join in such expensive thing unless there is a few ES kaki to go along...

well... must see how it goes for this one... not extremely keen.


and damn... bro jeryl let me drive his base WRX... shucks... it rocks man... so how? hahaha... no la... i still like the NA car although it could really do with more power now compared to the WRX at WOT pickup... time to look at serious mods leow... and relearning how to control it in the corners, and braking from the new limits... damn.. might need bigger caliper brake kit after all... but that will be after the serious mods... if they ever get done.

dream on...

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