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Top Gear Live coming to Malaysia(Probably)

YAY!!! The moment I'm waiting for is finally here

Basically in this website you can leave your comment about price and what you like to see in Top Gear Live IF it ever comes to Malaysia.

So what are you waiting for? Leave a comment here and lets get cracking.

Fuel Saving Driving Style and Maintenance Tips

Today someone asked me how to "make the car use less petrol".

Jokingly I told him to remove the engine, that'l solve the problem.

Anyway, virtually every radio network in Malaysia is running some kind of fuel saving tips or tricks.

While I agree with most of them, I'm gonna throw in afew of mine. 

If your car is a manual, you're in luck, cause some of the tips I'm sharing is through my own experimentation

BRAKE WISELY

Try pressing the brake pedal progressively, or smoothly instead of jamming into it to stop. That way you don't have to accelerate hard to pick up the speed you lost, and it helps save the brakes

DOWNSHIFTING - RECOMMENDED MANUAL TRANSMISION

To be honest this doesn't save much fuel, but if you time your downshifting right, you don't need to brake at high speed, which saves your brake pad. And the brake pads are expensive.

Also, if you downshift well(by well it means that the car doesn't jerk when you go down the gears, if it does, you have FAILED, practise makes perfect) it will lessen the load on powertrain, and your timing belt.

Best not do this if your car is using auto gearbox because:

It slows your car down, but its breaking the 'box at the same time. And the box is expensive

Downshifting in auto car is not even fun, its stupid and you made everyone uncomfortable.

UPSHIFT AT THE RIGHT TIME AND SPEED

Downshifting deals with slowing your car down and getting in the power zone(when you need it). Upshift deals with smooth transition to faster speed.

Unless you decide to kill your engine by repeatingly banging on the redline. Upshift:

2000-3000rpm = Relaxed driving style, save fuel and sanity

3000-4000rpm = sporty driving style, use fuel

5000-more = racy driving style, use fuel

banging on redline = complete A-hole

Of course for cars with auto gearbox, your car's computer automatically change up for you, but its not impossible to be an A-hole if you want =D

DEVELOPE A PREDICTIVE/ANTICIPATION DRIVING STYLE/SENSE

As the title said, you predict how the traffic is going to turn out within 500m or 1km. That means you have to:

- pay close attention to how fast you're doing, and cars on other lane.

- try to look further than the car in front of you to get a picture of upcoming traffic condition

-know that road inside out(hardest and best way, because it became spontaneous instead of going through your brain to be processed)

Predictive/anticipation driving style works wonder with downshifting, from my personal experience, you drive faster(not going fast, but you can feel it), able to adapt to sudden traffic change in an instance, get to appropriate lane, and best of all, being in the right gear at the right time

ACCELERATE SMOOTHLY, AND KEEP THE SPEED YOU ACHIEVE

Its an ultra simple idea/skill thats so hard to achieve. Upshift at the right point to carry over the power and keep your feet away from the brake pedal.

Brake when necessary, don't do sudden acceleration and sudden braking. You use more fuel, stress your engine and gearbox, burn your brake.

Downshifting works wonder. Practise.

PUT GEARBOX IN NEUTRAL - FOR AUTO GEARBOX

This doesn't save fuel, but it save your gearbox and driveshaft and bearing, which are more expensive than a full tank of fuel. Repeated stress on this part will definitely cost you your precious time and money when it went into workshop

PUT YOUR CAR THROUGH WEIGHT LOSS PROGRAMME

Those accesories sure looks nice/cutesy/cool, but it puts on weight to your car. Your engine will need to work harder to proppel the car because its heavier. Why do you think your car feels sluggish when its fully loaded with stuffs/people

I don't mind if you remove more stuff from your car(like carpet or sound insulation), but you are responsible for whatever outcome you'll encounter(unbearable road and wind noise)

AIR CONDITIONER - AIRCON

This is the tricky part. Turning on the aircon actually put more load on your engine, because the compressor takes power from engine. But no aircon = wet turkey.

If you're:

Cruising at low speed = Wind down the window slightly on both side, just enough that you can feel the wind blowing you

Cruising at high speed = Leave the aircon on, and try to maintain a stable speed. DON'T LEAVE THE WINDOWS OPEN, because that'll create drag, which slows the car down, and use more fuel.

TIRE PRESSURE

Always check them once a week, and pump in the correct tire pressure according to tire manufacturer/car manual. Because:

Too low pressure = more surface contact between rubber and road = more tire wear = more money spend to renew tire

And by the way, get a high quality tire pressure gauge. The dial one works fine.

For the lazy/poor, wake up early when the air is cool and tire is cold. Drive slowly to the nearest petrol station to your house and use the air pump there.  

I recommend this step because you just need to setup how much pressure for your tire, and just plug it in. If the pressure if enough then you'll hear a beep, if its not enough the machine will pump it to the designated pressure. This is a fail-safe method, unless the machine starts acting up.

General Science = that if air is hot(inside the tire) it will expand, hence you're not getting the right reading. If you have a pressure gauge, try to take the reading after a drive home, and comapre it to the pressure reading you take in the morning.

CHANGE ENGINE OIL AT DESIGNATEDTIME

Your car manual comes with a graph of table showing when to send your car for a simple service(oil change). Follow that guide, old engine oil collected dirts and particles within the engine, and because they've went though so many times of temperature change, they might get sticky, hence increase friction.

Increase friction = harder to move = use more fuel to get the same power

SHUT OFF THE ENGINE WHEN NOT IN USE

This has been mention so many times I got sick of it. If you know the person you're waiting is going to take long, let your engine rest. It also let your wallet take a short break =)

Car Modifying 106 - Trash Course

Welcome to Car Modifying 106. Today's topic is:

Clearing out unnecessary rubbish

Yes, today I'll teach you how to take out trash. From your car. Bear in mind this guide goes from practical to simply insane. Continue at your own risk.

The reason I'm doing this is because, for each extra weight, the engine have to use more power to pull the car. This is best felt if the car is front wheel drive, as the car feels like it was struggling to go. Less weight means the engine doesn't have to work that hard, that means you're improving car response, acceleration and braking performance, and fuel economy.

And this is what we want the car to end up looking like, if we're super anti-social:

Lets begin the spring cleaning!

Car audio system and other entertainment crap? OUT! (saves 5KG-50KG, if your system looks like above)

Air-cond system? OUT!(Saves engine power and 10KG altogether)

Babies? OUT!( You'll save 1-2Kg here)

Family or Friends? OUT!(Save 60-200kg)

Spare tyre? OUT!(Save 1-5kg)

Portable toolbox? OUT!(Save 500g to 1KG)

Standard seats? OUT! (Saves 5-10KG)

Carpets and interior linings, plastic, all the crap? OUT! (Save around 50KG)

Standard metal hood? OUT!(Saves 3-5KG)

Carbon-Fibre hood? IN!(Weight almost O.OKG)

Racing seat? IN! (Doesn't weight alot, and might make you more popular with the girls)

Carbon fibre roof? IN!(Same reason as carbon fibre hood)

I think we've established that, there's no end or how extreme you can be to throw/remove stuff to save weight. I hope this idea can get to you. Thanks for reading.

Car Modifying 105 - Brakes

Welcome to Car Modifying 105. Today's topic is:

Brake /Slow vehicle down without other human intervention other than driver

Ahaha, what a funny picture. Anyway, thats just the motorcycle, imagine whats gonna happen to a 1 tonne(1000kg) car moving at 60KMph?

Braking work by having the brake caliper + pad(the thing that clamp the disc) contact with the rotor, the big disc thingie. The friction created will cause energy conversion(kinetic/potential energy to heat energy, brakes gets hot if you use them alot), hence slowing down. Bigger caliper result in larger contact area, hence more energy conversion.

If you pay close attention I haven even got to increase more power. Because its extremely dangerous having a 500HP monster engine and milk bottle cover to stop your car. So before we venture any deeper, we must have more stopping power than rocket thrust.

This is a normal front brake system you'll find on passenger car.(below)

If you're planing to go far(like...live longer) with the engine power max out, you'll need one of these:

These are performance brake, or  racing brake. They are lighter, and some constructed out of exotic material that will prevent brake fade(but thats abit too far if you just want to go fast on normal road). Most importantly, they shave speed like nothing else.

Good one like Brembo is going to cost you. But decide which is best for your vehicle. You certainly don't need racing brake if your car is going to spend the rest of its life doing a max speed of 60KMph, or in the traffic jam scenario, not moving. 

Once you've done this properly, treat yourself to this:

Glowing ring of intensity

Enjoy.

Car Modifying 104 - Tires

Welcome to Car Modifying 104. Today's topic is:

Tyre / Rubber

You've found your perfect rim, but you wouldn't want it to be the first thing to kiss the road, so you need some rubber.

There is a time when wheels are made out from wood/metal and rubber isn't even gaining popularity with condom industry yet. 

Anyway, if you have a car you will notice the tires and wheels are ROUND. When your car is moving, the tire doesn't changes shape in to SQUARE, which means theres only a small part of the tire is in contact with the road AT ALL TIME.

And it is that small stripe of rubber thats going to determine whether you can brake, or you'll go through the Pearly Gates with bits of car stuck in you. Like:

Don't really fancy ending up this way, thank you

That is why you don't drive fast in rain, or when your car have poor grip on road. This is also a phenomenon known as Aquaplanning, google it to find out more.

The only reason you can cruise smoothly at 150KMph and still able to steer the vehicle is because of grip. If you can't steer the car, or you feel the car is wobbly, step on brake slowly. You certainly don't want to upset the balance(which its suffering to gain) and sent everyone spiraling to Heaven/Hell/ Automotive gaveyard.

Because I'm a little lazy, I'll recommend you take a read at Christopher J Longhurst's CarBible on Wheels and Tyres.

I hope you have a good read. Till then. 

Car Modifying 103 - Wheels

Welcome to Car Modifying 103: Today's topic is:

Wheel / Rim

The equivalent of wearing a "I f**ked your boyfriend/girlfriend" T-Shirt. Very flashy sometimes, and useless mostly. A good set of wheels will set you back quite alot, and if they're aluminium alloy, they're even costly.

But you'd still want one of these shiny babies. For aesthetic reason of course

In the older days wheels are made from machine-pressed steel, which is heavy, and not good looking, and not good when dissapating heat. Only the top of the breed sports car have the alloys, but back then its not very good either, just abit better.

Fast forward to modern day, cheap passenger cars are already fitted with aluminium alloy wheels, but sometimes, it isn't cool enough to show that you're young and rebellious. Like our Sarawakian young men demonstrate(picture below):

Dis' zis ma rad(ride)muthaf**ka

Scientifically speaking, your engine turns the wheel, the less weight it has to push/lug/force to move, the better your car's performance, and it may save some precious black gold(petrol).

I don't recommend the most expensive alloy wheels in the market, simply because it isn't worth it, and they're quite fragile. C'mon, if you can lift the rim with one finger and no effort, you think this can withstand Malaysian PotHole(TM) ?

Anyway, pick the one you like the most, and if possible, lighter than the standard one, if possible. 

Look around for deals, before you know it you'll have a nice set of sporty, rebelious looking rim, with no rubber, which is going to be covered in Car Modifying 104

To Be Continued....in seconds/minutes/hours/days/weeks/months/years/centuries/mellenium

Car Modifying 102 - Exhaust System

Welcome to Car Modifying 102, today's topic is:

EXHAUST SYSTEM

You've increase breathing/intake, now its time to enhance exhaling/exhaust. You can't just take in without farting out(?)

What normal people would do is change to straight pipe and a bigger muffler for added sound, but no go. Yes straight pipe makes air exit faster, but where did it start?

Stock exhaust manifold is design with noise control and fuel economy in mind, hence not very good with performance. 

Performance exhaust manifold is like a well connected highway(with no toll), with easing the jam(reduce backpressure) as its sole goal. In modern days, computers were involve in designing the manifold to ensure that the gasses will "join" or merge perfectly and exit quickly. Like F1's exhaust manifold(look below):

Because F1 engine eat(intake) as fast as it shit(exhaust), the exhaust system cannot afford to have any sound deadening stuff or catalyst to restrict airflow, hence the insanely loud noise and firework.

But your car is not F1. Anyway we're trying to keep it realistic. A simple 4-2-1 manifold plus straight pipe, plus high flow catalyst(you still need this to pass emmision tests), plus low restriction muffler(easier gas flow, and louder), is guaranteed to make your engine just a little more competitive than stock cars of same model.

If you're tight on cash, forgo the manifold, have the entire pipe starting from after the manifold, like this(look below), you'll still feel enhancement, namely the noise level.

"Stock pipe" vs. "High flow pipe system"

Decide well. Always remember:

MORE POWER = MORE FUEL CONSUMPTION

Theres no 2 way for this

Car Modifying 101 - Air Filter

Welcome to Car Modifying 101. Today's Topic is:

AIR FILTER(INTAKE SYSTEM)

This is the basic of the basic, don't even think of doing anything else before modifying your intake system, or air filter for that matter.

Your engine is like your body, and the air filter is your lung. If your lung is clogged, you can't breate well, hence suffering oxygen deprivation, and your heart rate will go, then you die(exxagerating). Same goes for your air filter. A clogged filter means the engine can't breathe properly, hence the ECU will inject more fuel, resulting in poor fuel economy just because you're too lazy to clean your air filter. 

Spot the similarities between the dirty filter and dirty lung?

Also, long intake piping increase low end torque, and mediocre high speed performance. Short intake pipe will affect vehicle pickup, but when your vehicle speed is higher(speed and rev), thats when it really shines. Kinda like our biological reproduction really, long = slow, short = fast

Decide well. Always remember:

MORE POWER = MORE FUEL CONSUMPTION

Theres no 2 way for this