2011 Raya Goodies - Part 3

So, how do you turn your fugly looking gear knob like this.............
  

Into this..??

Easy, just buy a new one..Hehee. On a serious note, there's no way I could remove all the scratches on the knob. It has been like that since I got the car. I guess the previous owner in Japan was wearing a ring on his left hand. That might result to the scratches but well, who cares. I've got a replacement OEM DC5R knob for a good price! (Which means other aftermarket knobs I've scouted to be put on hold) :)

Oh yeah I have also installed the custom shift extender last few months. It's 4" long and  inspired by Circuit Hero's 5" extender. The reason our friend Andrew made it an inch shorter is because the 5" will hit the head unit when you upshift to 3rd or 5th gear. LOL. Shifting never felt better with this extender cause you can reach the knob faster from your steering wheel!

How it looked like from the passenger view.

This is going to be the last update as tomorrow will be Raya. There's few more stuff that couldn't be installed/picked-up on time (Header, fender bar etc) so it's gonna be the next coming weeks then. I'll be dropping Mamba's gearbox the next few days for some overhaulin' so hopefully everything will go smoothly. You guys drive safe on the road ok? Eid Mubarak for all my muslim blog visitors!

2011 Raya Goodies - Part 2

Just to make Mamba more stealthier during Hari Raya I bought these Rays Extended Nuts. And it's in black.

Cost:
1. RM450 - Online.

Wheel Bearings and Such

It's time of the year again for the much waiting long festive leave. Before I could go back to JB in peace, I discovered that something is not right with the front wheel arrangement. There was this humming sound coming from in front and it gets louder and annoying after a while. Not wanting my long journey to be disrupted, I went to my trusted mechanic John to get it checked..

After a brief 5 mins checking, it turns out my front right wheel bearing has gone. The left side is also heading the same way as the other, just matter of time. I bet the bearings were never changed before. Furthermore 6mm spacers I use might hasten the lifespan of the bearings. Either way I decided it's best if both sides are changed..

Knuckle being taken out and sent to machine shop for pressing to remove and install the bearings.

Looks really old here.

Mamba helpless on the jack.

I also took the liberty to change the oils for Mamba. This time I had to settle with Cusco oil (5W-40) as the Greddy F4 Pro is no longer in production. It's kinda funny how this motor oil is being produced and distributed and discontinued by the big brands; firs it was Blitz, then it was replaced by Greddy. Now both are no longer available. The other thing that puzzled me was there's another version of Cusco engine oil that has 'low friction formula'. The cans look the same but price is different by RM100. Hmm....

The 2 years + old Trust Airinx filter is due for replacement and it was being replaced with the authentic HKS 3 layer super filter.

Latest engine shot of Black Mamba. It is still showroom-condition clean.....hehehehe..



Costs:

1. Cusco engine oil = RM150/can (4 liters) – N1 Racing, Sunway
2. Redline LWSP gear oil = RM55/bottle (2 bottles) – N1 Racing, Sunway
3. HKS Super Filter = RM100 - N1 Racing, Sunway
4. OEM Honda front wheel bearings = RM200/side (both left & right changed)
5. Labor by Hiper Racing = +-RM200

2011 Raya Goodies - Part 1

After 2 years of waiting, I finally got my hands on this pair of discontinued Ganador aero mirrors for DC5. This awesome mirrors are motorized and it's a direct fit to DC5. It's also flexible in and out to protect it from extensive damage if being hit by motorbikes. LOL. I just had to repaint the mirrors with Nighthawk Black Pearl to match the color of the body. My previous Spoon mirrors are sold to a fellow DC5 owner in East Malaysia.

Oh yeah, my custom header has also been completely fabricated. Seriously I hope I could pick it up and install this weekend before going for a long Raya leave.

Brotherly Luv

A good ol' friend of mine had just purchased a mint DC2 GSR recently. Having no luck with Adlan's EP3 previously, he unreluctantly traded in his Kenari for this car. This black DC2 was obtained from a used car dealer at a very good price and the best part is the car has all the basic Type-R conversion done, including the venerable B18CR engine.

Just after couple of weeks of owning it, he has already converted to Type-R 5 lugs together with mean green 16 inch Volk TE37 and also a lot more handling stuffs from Ultra Racing, ASR, Hardrace etc. Had a good time rolling with him last weekend and it seems that he's enjoying revving the car till 8000rpm hehe. Welcome to the VTEC world buddy, now it's time to bring her to Pasir Gudang! :)

Shaving The Rod

This post is about the simplest and cheapest form of mod you can do to your DC5 Type-R's handling. For those who doesn't know, DC5 suspension department comes in the form of MacPherson strut. Unlike the previous Civic and Integra generation where the Double wishbone suspension are easily tuned, the McPherson layout is totally a different ball game.

I first encountered this issue when I first went to Era Maju to change the wheels back in 2009. The standard camber setting for my car was about -1 front and -2 at the back. Since my Teins come with front adjustable pillow mounts, I guess why not tweak the front further to -2 (or more) to compensate the naturally 'kangkang' rear. Also by having more negative camber at the front, it will give me more grip during corner and reduce the tendency for understeer. Unfortunate for me when the front camber was adjusted to -2.5, the toe-in become so great at +3 on both sides it will be impossible for me to drive. The effect of the positive toe is due to the limited adjustability of the stock tie rods. Frustratedly I had to go back on the normal setting until the tie rod is being fixed, either by shortening it or replace it with aftermarket rods and inverted tie rods (as per the T1R link on the side of this blog).

So after 2 years of not doing anything (HAHAH!) I decided the best way to solve this problem is to meet John of HiperRacing and let him sort it for me...

Check out how 'skema' the front camber all this while..sheesh!

For those who asked what is tie rod, this is it. The gold colored steel.

Ready to be shaved.

John measures the tie rod before proceeding to shorten the tie rods.

John uses a special tool to shorten and rethread the tie rod at the same time. There's no need to take the tie rod off the car and send it to machine shop to shorten it. This would save a lot of time for both customer and mechanic.

Ta-da! It's done! The tie rods were shorten by 10mm in less than 45 mins. Oh in case you're using Tein, 10mm is the most suitable length to shorten the tie rods.

Alignment was done @ Craftmotorsport, Sunway. Front camber now is around -2.5 and rear is almost similar (Need to get the adjustable rear camber kits if I wanna adjust it). Front toe is now at around -1 on each sides.

Looks nice from this angle although the inner tires are crying.

 

Hellaflush? Not quite, but almost there. Hehe.

Black Mamba can grip better in corners, and looks even sexier now!

 

Post Installation Comments:

1. Guess I do not have to elaborate how fun it is taking corners with the new alignment setup. I can accelerate faster in corners without having much understeer like before.

2. The only downside of running negative cambers is that the tires wear faster. Let's see how long does it take for me to change new set of rubbers after this lol.

Costs:

1. RM150 to shorten the rods @ HiperRacing Sunway and RM100+ for alignment and camber adjustment @ Craftmotorsport Sunway.