The Fast And Furious 3

Folks, it'll be out on June 16.

The third installation of the mega-hit movie. I loved the first one, thought the 2nd was a bit lame (but the cars were great) and I have high hopes for the 3rd. This time it's all about drifting, something that was showcase in another movie - Initial D.

This time its not how fast the car goes, it's how well you keep it in control.

Official Site: http://www.thefastandthefurious3.com/

Cell Phone Car Key

Not quite Michael Knight talking to a car with William Daniel’s voice, but Sarah Dodge, age 18, has a patent pending for starting up your car via your cellphone. It works by calling your car from the phone and entering in a 3 digit number to start up the car. Your ‘82 beater even calls you back and lets you know the engine is running.

News Article: Gizmodo

Telco's would love this invention.

Sparco Fighter

If I had extra money this is going into my ride: Sparco Fighter.

Advise taken...Header and Piping System

I have been advised against setting up a SAFC in my Honda. Why? The value for money issue.

The SAFC will set me back about USD400, the amount of time taken to configure the unit to best match my B16A engine and my driving style will run into the months. This will in fact cost me in fuel money and milage. I need to run the car for long periods just to get the most optimum setting on the SAFC.

Another alternative that I can apply is to take that USD400 and focus on improving the header, exhaust piping and adjustable cam pulleys. The results are instant, with improvement to the horse power and fuel efficiency. It is a direct tweak to the engine rather then to route it through the electronics. I am taking this advice seriously and am now looking around for the type of header that would be suited to the Honda.

I have a choice of a 4-2-1 or 4-1 configuration for the header. If fuel is my main focus then the 4-2-1 configuration is the one I will install. If I want better speed and race capabilities then the 4-1 configuration is the one I should go for. The 4-1 will cost me in terms of fuel but the power gain from it would warrant the lost on fuel.

The piping suggested was 2 or 3 inches depending on what I really want to focus on. A 3 inch coupled with a 4-1 header would blow my gas allowance through the roof but I can smoke a lot of people on the roads.

The adjustable cam pulleys give you the opportunity to tailor the valve timing to suit the particular engine or camshafts. Using adjustable cam pulleys I can tweak the low RPM. The rule of thumb is that for every degree of change on the adjustable cam pulleys means a change of 200 RPMs to the power band.

Having these three upgrades to the engine for my Honda would allow me the chance to smoke any turbo-charge car on the street. With the big VTEC of the Honda B16A there is no need for a turbo upgrade, all I need to do now is to make sure that the other components of my engine setup help push out extra horse power.

Apexi ® Super VTEC AFC-2

I am seriously thinking about adding this into my current side setup. The Apexi ® Super VTEC AFC-2 is a piggy back system that hacks into the ECU allowing you to manipulate the amount of fuel intake and the VTEC setting of any Honda or Acura car. Currently the default VTEC setting for my Honda EG9 is at 4800rpms. With the Apexi ® Super VTEC AFC-2 I can set it as low as 3000 rpms. This means that the VTEC can kick in at about 3rd gear or 2nd gear (if I stretch it a bit).

Having the cam shift at 3000 rpms means lower fuel consumption for more horsepower. For long distance driving this is a good thing. It allows you to hit higher straight line speeds at a fraction of the fuel burn. The possible drawback is that you get all your settings screwed up. A piggy back system requires trial and error. You will need to experiment a lot with in order to get the best setup for your car.

This involves testing at (ideally) all shift ranges. Really for the tune-head but worth the money. It retails for roughly USD339 which is RM1200. A lot of money for a rather high-end toy.

Honda Build Up: the gadgets

The car is moving along well. I really happy with the pickup and the straight line speed that I am getting. Eventually I will need to replace the fly-wheel with a manual one. I am still using the fly-wheel from the automatic gear-box. I head that the one for manual gearboxes are lighter and would encourage higher straight line speed.

Anyway, I've fitted an APEX-i Auto Timer and a PIVOT Speed Meter. Thanks to my younger brother who traded in a set of white 15" rims, the auto timer and the speed meter for my iPod Mini. Yup, we barter traded the stuff. In Asia we still do that.

Both units are imported from Japan and are both top-notch gadgets. They give you the ability to read what your engine is doing and help you tune your car the way you would want it.

The instructions are all in Japanese but thankfully I have a friend who has the schematics to install the two items into my Honda. The APEX-i Auto Timer returns readings for Air/Fuel (A/F) ratio, O2 reading, Voltmeter and a turbo timer. While the PIVOT Speed Meter is just as the name implies. It tells speed.

Simply put, you'll need the A/F readings to tell whether your engine is running rich or lean. Rich is when you are pumping too much fuel into the engine (higher fuel consumption - bad) and lean, when too much air is going in (engine will die - bad). Car-geeks like me need to know whether too much fuel or air is being pumped into the engine simply so we tweak the engine for the most optimum condition. With high fuel prices, knowing that you are the most from the fuel you pump in is a bonus.

The O2 reading is tied into your A/F reading. The O2 sensor sends an electrical (Voltage) signal into the engine management computer (EMC) which in turn determines that amount of fuel to pump in and amount of air to pull into the engine. A/F and O2 run together on the auto timer and it generally helps you see whether your engine is efficiently burning its fuel.

The voltmeter gives you a reading for the strength of your battery. It also helps you see whether your alternator in the engine is really doing its job. The battery is used during start-up and when the car is on the move the alternator kicks in to supply electrical energy to the car. Some cars come with the volt-meter built in but most newer cars don't. I think that all cars should come with one built in. Since all new cars are now Electronic Fuel Injection (EFI) having a voltmeter is compulsory. The drain on the battery is massive even so when you consider a full sound system which puts further strain on your battery.

The turbo timer basically is a count down timer that helps shut down your car. The idea is when you turn off the engine their is still residue oil on the pistons and other moving parts of the engine. The turbo timer allows you to set a time that you feel is sufficient to allow the oil and what-nots to settle before the engine turns off. The engine is kept running even when the key is taken out. I set mine to 10 seconds. Cars that have turbo units on them must have a turbo timer. It helps "cool down" the turbo unit before the engine shuts down. For NA cars the turbo timer is just a cool gadget to have. You don't really need it.

I am actually looking at installing an APEX-i SAFC with VTEC Controls for my Honda. It will make both the turbo timer and speed meter redundant since it incorporates all the features of the two. The SAFC would give me more control on how the engine behaves right down to the gear ratio level. It is a lay-man tuning device. Tuning it right would give my Honda that extra boost when I need it. The SAFC unit intercepts signals to the EMC and sends in another set of signal that you set. Thus, you are hacking the car's onboard computer in order to make it do what you want it to do. I've been asking around for this and I am looking at a cost of RM1,000. A 2nd hand unit is hard to come by in Malaysia but among car-buffs I am sure I can find one.

Next up would be to work on the interior deco of the car. I'm thinking leather seats and fittings.

Honda Build Up : the sound system

My Honda EG9 has been back with me for about a week. Total build up cost amounted to roughly RM3,000. This includes inspection of the welds, rewelding work and installation of a manual gear box in place of the automatic box.

The results include better ride comfortability and fuel efficiency. Not to mention the car having better pick-up and top speed. For a drive around car it has a lot to offer under the hood. Too much to offer in fact.

I've finally had the time to fit in my sound-system which is the topic of this posting today.

Essentially I am using a MoHawk Component Sound system for the front portion with a (cheap) pre-amp and 2 SONY 2-Way power amps. One amp is directly routed to my 10 inch SONY sub-woofer and the other to the MoHawk system. My head unit is a SONY.

All the sound system came from my previous car the Malaysian made Kenari - the Malaysian version of the Japanese Daihatsu MOVE. It was suited for that car but as I discovered may not be well suited to the Honda.

In my Kenari the sound system was super-fly but in the Honda it is lacking. Basically the shape of the car is problem. The Honda is a saloon car, rectangular in shape. The Kenari was boxy-shaped and smaller in size.

In a saloon car, sound travels further and you will notice that there would be a "dead-sound" area down the middle of the car. "Dead-sound" is a funny thing. You hear sound but its mono in a stereo environment. Hard to explain, you need to hear it to know what it means.

Basically what happens is that the right and left speakers cancel each other out towards the middle in my Honda. One solution is to have a middle mid-range speaker situated in the middle of the dash-board. This would feed the empty middle area with sound. This middle speaker would also be a magnet for car-thieves.

Another solution is to have a head unit with sound-staging capabilities. SONY has this technology but it can cost you. If you just want to listen to music on your way to work, the extra cost is not really viable. So rather then changing my head unit, I might add on a middle speaker but I need to hide it somewhere in the middle area of my dashboard.

But fitting in an extra speaker may mean I need to get a better pre-amp or a 4 way power amp. I have been looking around for the SONY 444W 4-way power amp. This is an affordable unit from SONY and hard to come by. Practically every other audio-phile knows this unit is worth the money which explains why finding one in my city is akin to finding the Malaysian Bigfoot.

My 10 inch SONY sub woofer is also causing problems. It's not powerful enough. What was good enough for my Kenari is now not sufficient with my Honda. I may need to upgrade it to a 12 inch. Either that or I merely up the bass volume on both my head unit and the pre-amp. I like music where you can "feel" the bass thumping away.

In my next phase I will be fitting in some electronics to give me better readings from the engine. Will update you all on that once I get them fitted in.

Honda Build Up

In the past week my Honda was returned to me. For the past two years the car was in the possession of a certain individual whom was paying the monthly installment. It was my bit for society to help a fellow citizen own a car.

In January he stop paying citing that the car requires major repair which he felt he should not bear. Not suprisingly I was upset. So managed to pay off all the arrears and I took back the car.

I have since been able to find a buyer for my little Perodua Kenari. Letting it go is a hard thing for me but it is something that I need to do, I cannot support payment for two cars.

The Honda EG9 is an interesting car. It sports one of the most powerful engines around.

A tuner's wet dream. The B16a VTEC engine is the heart of my Honda EG9. It's a limited edition engine of sorts, a one off thing that Honda dreamed off probably under the influence of weed.

It's configured for racing and that gives ample room for tuners to rev it up. I've heard a tuner in Canada achieving 420hp with a B16a engine. Introduced in 1991, its a veteran on the roads but one that can kick your teeth out. Under stock configuration it spurts out 155-160hp which is comparable to a 2006 1.8cc car. It's a four seater meaning there are in fact four bucket seats in the car. Not a family car, its a racing car.

The B16 line (B16a, B16a1, B16a2 and B16a3) ended in 1997 with the introduction of the B16b. Ending the emphasis on racing tuned engines for the more market-friendly family car engines. There has not been a specific racing tuned engine eventhough the other engines after the B16a are bigger capacity with higher hp output.

My immediate plan now is putting on Kayaba front absorbers to replace the current TEIN adjustable absorbers.

Next in line will be replacing the automatic gear box with a manual setup. A move to conserve fuel and also because the automatic gear box is showing wear and tear.

Thirdly, full bodywork. Welds need to be check and rusty areas fixed. Then a full respray can be done. The interior will need to be done up too. Recarpeting and probably new bucket seats for the front. There are plenty of after-market stuff to choose from and reconditioned parts available for this car so I am not too worried.

Somehow, I will need to source out the financing. I'll need to line up some projects and start collecting from those that owe me money.

At least I have a project that will help me de-stress and maintain my sanity because these next few months will be eventful.

Watch out for additional postings as I build this car up and also postings for all things concerning tweaking your ride.