2 years on

happy to say that the car is still relatively stock, except for the RSM and much heavier gear knob and short shifter, which were all done earlier in 2012. a lot more $$ went into regular maintenance in 2013. im glad that i didnt take the plunge for the 335, the doubled installment would have killed me. maybe in future. still very happy with this car, except the noise/bumpyness that the family have to live with. just that creaking which im living with, and i think the front suspension will be due sometime down the road. not driving the car as much, so not spending the $$ changing these, yet. sprayed the front left bottom of the bumper, after scraping it on a kerb near newton. there was a slight crack there anyway, probably from the spins in JC. now it looks good, still comtemplating spraying my rims. cj has 2 pieces of Wedssport SA-67R, but i cant find the other 2 pieces needed. oh well. 8.23kg for 18x8 is light.

i found out that the CL7R had 1 thing better than the FD2R. front double wishbones. pity the age and weight and lack of Brembos, though it has Momo, Recaros, and is more comfortable. as i grow older, i realise there is no perfection in life, only pros and cons.

47451km, 25-Nov-2008, 92k
R-07175, platinum silver NH-704MX
1270kg, 4540mm x 1770mm x 1430mm
1998cc K20A 4 cylinder 16 valve DOHC i-VTEC, 8400rpm rev cut, 5800rpm VTEC
225hp @ 8000rpm, 215nm @ 6100rpm
bore x stroke: 86mm x 86mm
compression ratio: 11.7
close ratio 6MT with 140g gearknob
1st: 3.266
2nd: 2.130
3rd: 1.517
4th: 1.147
5th: 0.921
6th: 0.738
reverse: 3.583
final gear ratio: 5.062
no Recaros, comes with alcantara buckets instead
no Momo
Brembo 4 piston aluminium caliper 320x25mm ventilated disc front, 282x9mm solid disc rear
Torsen Helical LSD
HID
18x7.5 5x114.3 ET60 64.1mm Enkei J2 kaiser silver NH-546M 10.5kg
225/40 R18 Bridgestone Potenza RE070
F4.8kg/mm Macpherson strut R6.5kg/mm reactive link double wishbone
turning radius: 5.9m

J's Racing front lip
J's Racing FX60RS
K&N drop-in filter with CAI
JVC KW-AVX716 with reverse camera and Sony Xplod coaxials front
visors
Cool N Lite
HEL SSBH
silicon hoses

changes:
225/40 R18 Pirelli P Zero Rosso
Wave coaxials rear, LED strip in boot
45Ah Motolite Gold
550g gearknob
Selenia 20K 10w40, Millers RBF DOT4, Honda MTF-III
Apexi RSM, Pivot shift lamp, buzzer
Comptech short shifter
Selenia 20K 10w40, 225/45 R18 Dunlop Direzza Sport Z1 Starspec
removed J's Racing front lip
Revol Prestigious
Revol Prestigious
cabin aircon filter
Bosch 26" & 24" wipers
Selenia 20K 10w40, Honda MTF-III, Ferodo DS2500 FCP1561H, fan belt, tensioner, water pump, rotation
Koni Yellow 8041 1360 Sport
rear left wheel bearing
rear right brake light bulb, aircon gas/oil/clutch
Bardahl Power Booster
Revol Prestigious
front left lower ball joint
Vicovation Vico Marcus 1
Bardahl Knock Out Octane Booster
Racetech Design 52mm oil temp/pres with Mocal sandwich plate adapter
Alpinestars balaclava
Bardahl SynPulsar-Racing 0w30, Bardahl DOT4, throttle body cleaning, rotation, HAMP filter, Bardahl Acura/Honda PSF top-up
Sabelt 3" 4-point
48Ah Lichpower
Bardahl Honda/Acura PSF
front left signal bulb, Akebono rear pads, 225/40 R18 Nexen N9000, alignment
PIAA 26" silicon
Bardahl SynPulsar-N 5w40, HAMP filter, rear right wheel bearing, Denso IK22G
Bardahl Ultra Concentrated Octane Booster
Bardahl Maxtran5000 80w90 GL5, Bardahl gear oil additive, magnetic drain plug
N-Brake NA-P

my biggest day








J's lip removed. lighter for sure. looks better?












first time i set my eyes on SR3:

2013 CNY

happy prosperous snake year! hope will tio TOTO big BIG!!

no im not gonna talk about me giving out angbaos. or the food i had during cny. or what i did.

suffice to say, my current dream car is no longer a BMW. this IS the reason im updating this blog. lol. non car fans, u can stop reading now. yes i was eagerly anticipating BMW's N20 2 litre engine. the engine that ensures BMW finally catches up with vw, audi, merc, even volvo! so the F30 328 arrived, 245hp, 350nm, 6.1s, everything looked good. well, except that coe is 90k now. enuff said.

BUT! i just read official news today that mercedes is launching the A45 AMG and then the CLA45 AMG. 2 litre as well. uh huh. but 360hp, 450nm, 4.6s. that is incredible! in fact, its unbelievable!! but yeah, now im waiting for coe to drop to a more reasonable level. forget the 335, 135, 1M, M3, M135 with their 3 or 4 litre engines. omg im excited! even more than when waiting for the BMW F30 3 series. im a sucker for smaller engine cc cars outperforming larger cc ones. e.g. the vw twincharged and the 2 litre evo/sti (which i sadly will never own due to tracy reasons)

meanwhile. back to reality. did i keep my jap car stock as promised a year ago? pretty much, yes. just a weighted knob, short shifter and rsm done shortly after i got the car a year ago. thereafter, i did only maintenance, no mods. zilch. nada. big fat zero. in fact, i took out the J's Racing lip which i cracked. so the car looks stock now. except the J's Racing exhaust, which is actually quite discreet in my opinion. im happy with the car. so much so that i aint tempted by the 328. 335/M3 pricing is crazy so it aint possible. in fact the 328 is impossible as well, so yeah. but i can safely say my passengers arent. still debating whether to replace the rear absorbers which had leaked from day 1. well i dun sit in the rear. thats why im still debating. major servicing coming up though. front brake pads, water pump, belt and accompanying stuff, usual eo and mtf, spark plugs, rotation. im also debating whether to change the bushings/end links to remove the weird sounds that have developed. probably not. im aslo thinking whether to change to slotted rotors when the rotors are due. or just replace with stock ones. well, let me decide when they are due. so yeah i spent the least on mods for this car compared to the earlier 2. its a very engaging car, brings back memories of summer rain version 1. just faster, bumpier, noisier. do i miss the jetta? yes and no. i miss the comfort, the ease of DSG, the low end torque. but i dun miss the workshop visits. and the workshop visits. and yes, the cibic is also faster.

anyway. back to dreamland. heres the cla250. nice? i rather liked the cls. this is its smaller sibling. well i like the c63 as well but thats just too crazy. oh yeah i like the new 6 series as well. but the 3 litre engine there just pales in comparison.

heres the A45 AMG