The Black Mamba

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Usual stuff, Unusual stuff.

Patience pays. That’s what I told my friends who’s been bugging me with remarks like “Woi bila nak update blog woi” and “I think I saw spider webs on your blog brooo”. So today with this post I hope it’ll clear all the doubts you have. Black Mamba is still..ALIVE..and she has received some well deserve (and rare) pampering from me. Be prepared with your food and drinks as this will be a very long post.....haha.

Considering the fact that Mamba needs to do some major stuffs, I decided to drive down from East Coast to Sunway to get the items and get it fixed by my mechanic John of Hiper Racing. Reached Sunway tad early but lucky I have a CL7 Euro-R friend of mine around. Had breakfast and good chat with him before heading off to few shops to invest my savings on the needed parts. Haha.

Shareil’s well done CL7. Matte TC105N with Wilwood 4-pot callipers make this rare sedan outstanding from others.

So then I went to two places, N1 Racing and Samurai Racing (Formerly known as SS Racing) to buy these things:

1. Greddy F4 Pro engine oil

As you have read on my previous posts (under maintenance tab), I used Blitz engine oil for the car. But since N1 Racing has no longer brought in the oil, it was replaced by Greddy F4 Pro oil. The viscosity is similar to Blitz and I have used it for a few oil changes without any issues. Thanks to the robust iVTEC engine that doesn’t need to be lubricated by expensive oil.

2. OEM Honda MTF-III gear oil

The decision to change the gear oil came when some friends told me that the Redline Lightweight Shockproof gear oil I’ve been using ever since can create sludge residue in between the gears. The prolonged usage can cause the gears to be ‘sticky’ and it can damage the synchros over time. Not wanting to take any chances for disaster to happen to my gearbox, I opted to get the OEM recommended gear oil – the Honda MTF-III. One can is 4-liters. Good for two changes. Thank you Desmond for helping me to get this from Exceptional Auto. Let's see what will happen to my gears with this oil.

3. Endless SSS 500deg brake pads

Having driven the car for almost two years without changing the brake pads, I decided to get the same brake pads that came with the car – Endless SSS (Super Street Sport) with the maximum temperature of 500degrees. Pretty happy with this brand as the wear rate is very slow. 23 months with 60,000km on the mileage coupled with few track days doesn’t stop the pads to perform at its best. And there are some leftovers too. Rear pads are still good though, so I guess it will only be changed next time.

This pads can be fitted on Fairlady Z33's Brembo as well.

Macam pad cap ayam je???

Perfectly placed in between the worn out Brembo callipers. Hehe.

Old pads. Still usable..well, for few hundred kms perhaps?

4. Skunk2 rear lower control arm

This is one of the item I’ve been drooling since I got the car and after months of contemplating, I finally made up my mind to get this. Apart from being the ‘bling factor’, the purchase is justified as when the OEM rear control arms were taken out, I found out that the bushes are already torn. Gold was chosen from other colours (including the stealthy black limited edition version) as it appear more visible from other drivers view (drool factor)..hahaha. Took John less than 20 minutes to install this and as soon as it was done I took the car out for powersliding. Nah just kidding. Well upon installation I could feel that the rear doesn’t ‘bump’ as it used to be. Probably due to the harden bush on the Skunk2 arms.

What do you get inside.

The hardware. I farking love the embossed ‘S2’ logo on the bolts.

Say goodbye to the stock control arm. Your service is no longer required haha.

Sifu John at work..Rambut makin kurang dei..

Stock vs S2. Worlds apart. Period.

S2 is thicker but it’s lighter. Senyum sampai telinga.

One side in, one more to go.

All set! Looks damn ganas with the S2 tie bar and Cusco ARB. Rear end mods completo!

Hensem tahap cipan!

Costs:

1. Greddy F4 Pro = RM135/can (4 liters) – N1 Racing, Sunway
2. Honda MTF-III = RM 180/can (4 liters) – Exceptional Auto, Glenmarie
3. Endless SSS pads = RM500/set – Samurai Racing, Sunway
4. Skunk2 rear control arm = RM7XX after discount from RM850 – N1 Racing, Sunway (Must nego till you cry then only you’ll get the discount)

Once everything is done, I took the liberty to snap some spy pics around Sunway....this might be at Hazry’s interest. Hahahaha

John ‘korekking’ a Skunk2 intake manifold for a 300whp K24 project on a.......Civic ES! :D

Remember Aloysius who helped me with the CV joint issue? This is his daily driven 2003 C-West DC5 on dyno. Using full slick tires at the rear. Bastard. Hizam was eyeing at the GT-wing as if it's a naked chick with big boobs. hahahah!

I do not understand why Aloysius, who’s a Mugen freak used C-West bodykits on his car instead of Mugen. Nevertheless, this Mugen MF10 wheels are hard to come by these days and looks effin killer with the Wilwood 6-pot brake kit. Just to make things more interesting, his interior is fully equipped by Mugen! You the man Aloy!

Neo Synthetics gear oil from United States. Highly recommended by Aloy. Might give it a try next time.

This is perfect for Prasath’s 250whp DC5! haha

Last but not least.......Saw this black cat while having my lunch @ the food court. Maybe I should really think of what it said to me..

I'm going for a run now. Till the next mod. :)

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Fun Factor - 250whp K20A

This is Prasath driving in Sepang with his newly built K20A. The engine is pumping 250whp thanks to the extra 0.5mm forged pistons, strengthen internals, Skunk2 stage 2 cams + valvetrain and a perfectly tuned Hondata. Listen to the wild vtec engangement sound and how revvy the engine is. Most of us will think the final drive has been changed with FD2R's 5.0. But the truth is the gearbox is untouched except for a set of Toda clutch and flywheel. With the current power I don't it's wise for Prasath to put in the 5.0 final drive. Ha ha ha.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Hmmmm...

The recent crash at Karak really attracted petrolheads to google about it eh? Check out the keywords below that lead to my blog. Sorry guys, but the pics were already removed. Let's move on..

Monday, September 20, 2010

Mustakim Rides

Mus is a good friend of mine. I met Mus in a forum few years back when both of us were driving Civic EF at that time and we shared mutual love with the car. The friendship grows stronger even after both of us have sold our cars and coincidently, he has also picked up running & cycling earlier this year (Almost every weekend we run together haha).

Few years after the EF, Mus went low..until recently when he had 'the calling' I wish I could have...He decided to get a BMW FG650 motorcycle and soon enough will engage in an adventure of his life. While I'm settling down in couple of weeks, Mus is about to embark on his first INDOCHINA trip with his beloved conti bike..How cool is that.

So here's the link to his blog. Make sure you have chips and soda while you read as Mus' journey will be very interesting and inspiring. Enjoy..

http://mustakimrides.blogspot.com/

Back To Black!

Sold of my Advan RZ last Saturday and temporarily replaced Mamba's shoes with matte 17" SSR Type-F. Not quite the right spec that I wanted but this will do for now. Wedding's 20 days away! :D

By the way what do you guys think of Enkei PF01? The design looks kinda like a cross breed between Advan RZ and Work Emotion. Too bad there ain't no 17 x 8JJ available..

Friday, September 17, 2010

RIP brother..

I was very shocked. To receive the news that one of our DC5 Type-R friend passed away in a crash early morning yesterday in Karak was very saddening especially during this festive season. I didn't expect that the boys' normal cruising routine to Genting will be the last to Shazwan. He was ahead of the others but it was very unlucky for him to hit the back of a Scania trailer after the Genting-Sempah tunnel (KL bound). He was sent to ICU but didn't survive after few hours of intensive care. Al-Fatihah and RIP to you Shazwan. You're in a better place now.

P/S: Apparently there a lot of crashes involving DC5 Type-R lately. Indeed the car is fast and fun to drive but whatever it is, RESPECT THE SPEED. Drive safe guys.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Pasir Gudang Revisited 2010

So it's been 2 months since my last post. I'm glad to let you guys know that I have lost 13kgs with the running and diet. I'm very proud of what I have achieved over the past few months but sadly to say nothing's changed on Black Mamba...Yet. Haha. Funds for Black Mamba were channeled to my running gears now. LOL. I have been rather passive on the forum as well but recently when the boys proposed to have a visit to Johor Circuit, I knew that Black Mamba will be there (or "must be there" is more suitable? :P) and screaming with the other Type-Rs on the track.

A date was set and on 17th July the boys came down from KL to meet few of us in JB. Adlan and Farhan drove down together while Azri, Farouk, Ali and myself came the night before. We headed down to Tung Chun to fix few things, had lunch and head off to the track around 1pm. We registered for an hour session which costs RM70 (RM150 if you take 3 hours!) and drove in the pit to get ready. Did nothing much on the car except for adjusting my Tein Flex to the hardest setting and checked the tire pressure. The post-rain weather was beautiful to race so right at 2.30pm we hit the rough tarmac of Johor Circuit.

Did my warm up lap and enjoyed the car about 6-7 laps before cooling down. I notice that the Kumho Ecstas were performing extremely well when it's warmed up and this was proven on T3 where previously when I was using the Eagle RS Sport, the car tend to undeersteer. But with this Ecstas all I need to do was to drop on 3rd gear after the car sliding out from T2 and control the throttle. The grip level did not allow the car to enter understeer mode so it was easy for me to manouvre the steering. I was smiling and laughing as if I was running on semi-slicks..haha. Second round marked Black Mamba's best performance after almost a year hibernating...together with an unexpected thing happened during the battle. All of us went out together and I managed to hold the lead for 4 laps (not bad for a stock car eh? haha) until I heard a loud bang came from the bottom of the car. A good friend of mine was my passenger and he noticed that as well. The thought of something had broken made me slow down and let Adlan, Ali, Farouk and the rest took over and I entered the pit. I check every thing underneath the car and found nothing at all. Everything was in its place. Strange. So I went to pop the hood to cool down the engine and then I had the biggest surprise of the day..the billet Skunk2 oil cap is gone! The oil was all over the engine so I had to get a rag to replace the cap and that's it, retirement for Black Mamba. Only Farouk continued to run another hour and I had the chance to be in his semi-track DC5. Way out of Black Mamba's league..hahaha..

We all ended up the day by having the famous Tepian Tebrau ikan bakar and headed for an impromptu movie later at night. What a way to spend a Saturday with your friends! Enjoy the photos from my camera and two videos from one of the spectators..too bad my friend have not yet uploaded the onboard videos of my run :)

John's 2005 DC5 with complete Modulo Kit and Advan RS