90k kms service

With the car’s mileage approaching 90k kms, another major service is imminent. This time around, the refreshment job was ‘contracted out’ to two of my regular workshops 1) Auto World Service & Repair; and 2) Ever Auto. Both are good in their own way and among the very few that I can leave Pocong without worries. Here’re the breakdowns of my bitter pills:

Engine Oil: Liqui Moly Top Tech 5w40 RM275.00
Oil Filter: VW 1.8T (06A 115 561 B) RM35.00
Labour: Engine Oil, Oil Filter & Spark Plugs RM80.00
Bushing: ECS Rear Axle Bushing Kit RM252.64
Brake Pads: ECS Red Stuff (Front) RM0.00
Brake Pads: ECS Red Stuff (Rear) RM205.91
Spark Plug: NGK Platinum V-Power BKR7E RM50.00
Coolant: Redline Water Wetter RM55.00
Brake Fluid: Motul Dot 4 RM44.00
Thermostat: Wahle 82 Deg Thermostat RM61.59
Labour: Axle Bushing Pump RM25.00
Labour: Installing Radiator Thermostat RM45.00
Labour: Skimming Brake Rotors RM50.00
Labour: Installing Rear Axle Bushings RM280.00
Labour: Installing Brake Pads & Brake Bleeding RM80.00

Total RM1,585.06

And that’s going to be the end because I’ve found out that the SuperSport dampers are getting weaker by the day. So coilovers are inevitable and now I’m at cross road between BC V1 or H&R Monotube Coilovers. Come to think of it, I should have went for it in the first place back then….sigh…oh well

DC Trip - Part 2

DC Trip Part 2:)

The closest I can get to White House

Apple Store in Tyson's Galleria

Welcome to Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum!

Immediately greeted by "hanging" P-40 Warhawk

One of the very main reasons why I come to DC....Lockheed SR-71. No reconnaissance aircraft in history has operated globally in more hostile airspace or with such complete impunity than the SR-71, the world's fastest jet-propelled aircraft



MiG-21 F13 Fishbed

Grumman A-6E Intruder

Lockheed X35B

Sikorsky UH-34D Seahorse

Bell UH-1H Iroquois "Huey" Smokey III


Northrop N-M1

Boeing 707

At Overvation Deck overseeing Dulles Airport

Concorde

Recently completed Dulles's terminal train service

Dulles Airport is much more modern now

DC Trip - Part 1

Just want to take a break from blogging about cars for a bit. My last trip to DC was in 93 and it's been awhile. And this time around, I truly had an awesome time especially in Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum besides Dulles Airport. It's just like Disneyland for Aviators :)

So enjoy the part 1 :)

A bit of exercise work for the Fiesta

Transit in Amsterdam Airport

Spotted A380 in Dulles Airport

Residence Inn Marriott next to my principal's office

No fancy restaurants but the environment of this place is just inviting

Shopping time at Leesburg Factory Outlet

I swipped my credit card as far as it can takes lol

Washington Monument at night

Walking at night feels awkwardly safe in US

I kinda like this picture, don't know why :)

Gathering Parts for 90k kms Refreshment Buffet

Anticipating that I'll be in DC for a week, I intend to make full use of it by getting some stuffs for upcoming 90k kms refreshment buffet for Pocong. So few days before my arrival, a quick chat with the guys at Ohio easily landed these at hotel for a meagre USD10 courier cost via FedEx:

- ECS PU Rear Axle Bushing Kit USD79.95
- EBC Red Stuff Rear Pads USD65.16
- Wahler 80 deg Thermostat USD19.49

On top of that, I've had already purchased VW genuine front and rear wiper blades (RM100) and Lemforder front top mounts (RM110). Another 6k kms to go, gathering parts still continues :)

Received this package on Wednesday

ECS PU Rear Axle Bushing Kit

ECS Red Stuff for the rear to compliment the earlier unused gathered front pads

Wiper refills and Lemforder top mounts. Bought the top mounts because it's cheap, RM55 per piece. Proton's kinda price :)

Wahler 80deg Thermostat

Dodge Caliber

I was in DC on a business trip for a week recently. With an exception of say New York, anywhere else, you need a car to move around. A quick ring to Enterprise Rent-A-Cara company did get me this, Dodge Caliber 2.0(A). Starting rent rate is quite cheap honestly speaking at USD40 but the moment I added up basic insurance, gps and sales tax, the rate per day is USD82. Oh well…

The Caliber to me is a typical American kinda design with bold looks, tall and high ground clearance. Treat it as scaled down and baby Dodge Charger with a meager 2.0 litre engine mated with CVT gearbox. Pretty cool considering at that time Dodge Charger is not available for rent. The engine, if I can recalled correctly derived from joint venture between Chrysler, Mitsubishi, and Hyundai; is relatively brisk for entry level 2.0 NA. Still I got left behind 10 tiangs on traffic light drag with an old school Passat 1.8T. That’s about the only pluses I can say about the car.

The steering feel is non-existence through the turns like an SUV than a hatchback and body control is poor. Straight “As” flop. That’s probably the reason why I won’t bother in illustrating any further like other cars I’ve reviewed.

It’s far too crude and coarse inside out to be genuine rival to Focus, Golf or even Corolla. But for aunties who own small SUVs and not clearly educated on driving quality, this Caliber might make a weird kind of sense.

Not Alpinestar Unfortunately :(

I'm diverting some attention away from Pocong at the moment, been trying out GT5 in PS3 only sold it two weeks after due to adrenalin of 100cc kart. Considering my gear is already nudging 4-5 years of age, it's high time for change. Not Alpinestar kit unfortunately, but Sparco stuffs:

- Sparco Slalom SLX-3
- Sparco Coolmax socks
- Sparco XCool balaclava
- Sparco XPro gloves

After this, got to wait till money grown enough on my trees to scout for:

- Arai GP5 or Bell Classic full face helmet
- Kevlar based rib protector
- Karting suit

New Stuffs

Just got my hands on the new stock of BKR7E plugs and new Red Stuff pads. Time to peram :)

Being a newbie to photography

Having my brother bringing in his Olympus E-PL1 camera to hometown for Raya, I've decided to give this a try :)

Starving No More

As you all know Pocong is suffering of fuel starvation disease at high revs lately, but there’s a light after the tunnel after all. The original plans of getting Turbosmart 800 FPR with custom adapter and remap to Stg 2 didn’t materialised after AR have been pretty much put my car at bottom of its priority, ahh oh well. Then came a long a new friend of mine, Kenneth driving a Passat 1.8T on steroids graciously in handed me his old original Bosch 4 bar FPR. Installation is really plug & play. Couple with freshly cleaned injectors, the power delivery is much smoother from 3.5k till 6kr rpm. True enough upon handing the keys to Thomas of GT Auto, the Pocong AFR runs healthy at high revs 12.6-12.8 from 5k onwards. The only downside is it now registers a meager 205whp/305nm on their dyno treadmill. Say hello to sunday drive :)

Report Card Day!

The new result figures have left me somewhat bittersweet feelings. On one hand it scores 216.40whp/326.97nm and no indication of any lag after shoving AH’s custom FMIC as the boost comes in earlier at 2.4k rpm instead of 3k rpm. But yeah a very critical but….the AF is running lean and because of this fuel starvation, the delivery is not smoothly clean as before. Obviously I’m worried!

There’s no other workaround except to go for stage 2 maps. So I straightaway send a request for customized stage 2 mapping from Mike Z of Unitronic CA. Hopefully, he can come out with some mojo to fix this issue which the Pocong can download it through the net rather than having the man to come here and do it manually. Here’s hoping …. Very!

Still difficult to spot the FMIC

Pretty stealthy against human naked eyes :)

Some say it's not worth changing the muffler for gains because there's isn't any....

After the remap, I'm seriously thinking of H&R monotube coilovers to harness all the increased of horsies

Lean....lean....lean.....lean..... :(