Breaking a Virgin : Part Deux

Referring to the previous post “Breaking A Virgin : Gentle or Hard + Fast?”, I am posting some comments by fellow ‘experienced’ reader Eric, which I think readers will find useful in the process of deflowering a virgin and ensuring smooth, well-oiled performance throughout.

Here goes nothing:

ERIC says
Thanks for the URL. Me along with some of my motor-friends will be looking into this.

I read through it but I must say, I am not too sure this is really applicable. For a start our Protons Satria are 12 years old design cars… from engine to body work. The web site says this break in procedure came about due to the new technologies that car manufacturers are using…Quote “The biggest factor is that engine manufacturers now use a much finer honing pattern in the cylinders than they once did. This in turn changes the break-in requirements, because as you’re about to learn, the window of opportunity for achieving an exceptional ring seal is much smaller with
newer engines than it was with the older “rough honed” engines.”

And; Quote “Due to the vastly improved metal casting and machining technologies which are now used, tight parts in new engines are not normal. A manufacturing mistake causing a tight clearance is an extremely rare occurrence these days. But, if there is something wrong with the engine clearances from the factory, no amount of gentle running will fix the problem.”

He could be right if say you were buying a brand new Merc, NSX, Porsche, etc… car built in 2004 with new manufacturing technology. But what are we buying? Engine 4G93 from the early 90’s. Somehow I don’t think the hard-run it is advisable. Better to stick to the OLD method of Gentle run-in but that’s my $0.02 worth. Its your ‘babe’ and you are free to try what ever you want.

Point to consider. I am sure hardly many people will use the Gentle break in methodology on their long awaited GTi. Most will use the hard-run in courtesy of Proton Service Center technicians as Motorman put it, “adrenaline crazed set – up mechanic”. Yet we have numerous emails in forums who complain their car power is down, engine rough, not so good… etc. If the engine was hard run in, then by logic, we all should be driving around in super set engines.

I have run-in my cars from the 80’s according to the Gentle approach and when done, those cars seemed to have the best engine response when old especially in the mid to high-end. The ones that I never got a chance to do, they were usually of average or below average in performance.

Anyway just for the record, here is my usual break-in.
1km to 1000km: Take it easy. No Full Open throttle on 1st and 2nd gear. Max revs, 2/3 of Redline rpm. Use varying speeds and gears so highway driving is out.

1000km: Change engine oil and filter. Get rids of all metal bits. I do this at this point because I once read that car manufacturers used to put in some additives into the oil when new. So that’s why I used the original oil for 1000km. At change, Mobil 1 goes in and remains the choice of oil from that day forwards.

1001km to 3000km: generally increase the throttle opening for all gears but never rev above 2/3rpm of the red line. I.e. red line is 6000, I keep to about 4000 (roughly). Use the time to get to know my car well.

3000km: Bin oil and filter. Fresh blood of Mobil 1.

3001km to 5000km: The fun begins…. Like when you are with a virgin the first time. Everything comes in stages and the waiting is worth all the tries, for the anticipation only heightens your excitement to levels never imaginable. 
Now I will increase the rpm in 500 bands. So it’s up to 4500rpm for a week. Then up to 5000rpm, then 5500rpm.. and so on. Next thing you know the car will be doing the red line in all gears.

5000km: Oil change and filter. Mobil 1 goes in. Gearbox oil is changed. Next Oil service will be at 10,000 km. I service my cars every 10,000km… sorry let me rephrase that. I service my protons every 10,000km by using synthetic oils. Other cars these days that you buy the service period is extended due to better building technology. …(if I am not mistaken, the Volvo S40 T4 calls for an oil service every 12,000 MILES or roughly equal to 19,000km and we are taking of using normal engine oils). Its all about easy ownership and spending less time and money at a service centre.

So there, that’s what I tend to use. I am sure its hog-wash to lots of people but like I said, its my view, my method and I like it. I am sure lots of people will disagree with it but hey, it worked for me and I like it. Each man to his own. 

Anyone wants to knock it, .. go ahead but its not going to change my mindset at this time and a few pictures of pistons are not going to alter it at all either. Motorbikes revs are very high as compared to our cars. Yes I am sceptical about Motorman’s procedure. For me, why change what ain’t broken..!

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My Reply
Hey Eric,

I thought the URL might give you a different perspective of running-in a car, regardless of what’s the norm or advised by a car manufacturer. I remain a skeptic of Motorman’s methods, due to the fact that he has “used the methods on over 300 engines”. 300 engines? That’s worrying.

In any case, I would have to agree with you on your comments that newer, modern engines are applicable, not our dear old 4G93Ps, even though I’m sure over the 12 years, they have improved the cast iron block somehow. :/

I will be using Q8 Oils which I am confortable and confident in at 1000km. And of course at the 3000 + 5000 intervals. I usually service with full-syn at less than 10,000kms, mostly at 5-6000kms actually.

Thanks for the advise. Appreciate it. Cheers.

—–

I appreciate the URL you gave. Its always great to be able to pull in more information from any source/s even though I may agree or disagree.

Actually after I read Motorman’s advice, I did a few key searches on his advice and there are people who are disagreeing with motorman. Most are questioning the figures ie pressure that will help seal the rings in and that information is devoid at motorman’s site.

So I would be a bit careful cause maybe we don’t really need to ram the engine when new plus we have to also make sure the gearbox sets in beautifully and also the temperature of the engine which can effect the internals too. So its not just as simple as turn key in car and full throttle all the way.

Based on that, I will not do it to any car I have until everyone (ie majority) start advising the same as Motorman. call me a chicken, a coward.. but after spending my life saving on a car (expensive in malaysia), I am going to make sure anything I do to it, must be tried and proven. No hearsay bullcrap for me.

Man you look after your car better than me. I service my car once every 10,000km using mobil 1. You do it every 5-6000km. Good stuff!. I just don’t have the time to spend taking my car for frequent servicing.

In UK I used to put only about 12,000 miles on my car and using the car service indicator, that used to be ONCE a year service for me. More time on the road and off. I hate when the car has frequent visits to the service place. It reflects badly on car ownership and the quality. What about you? Do you mind wasting your precious hours at PESC just for the simplest of jobs.

What irritates me is the pace they work at. Even a sloth will be jealous that there is another animal out there thats even slower than itself. This one time, the guys were working on cars ever so slowly and another guy brings in goreng pisang. One by one they took their share, walked over to the cars they were working on and ate, then continued to work on the cars. Now we know why when we go to pick the car up at 5:30pm, the seats are dirty, the steering wheel is oily, etc. Best part is, the service manager was one of the participants in sharing in this local delight in front of his subordinates.

Got to run. We are waiting anxiously with you for your R3. So much of anticipation.

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ERIC says
Maybe we should cut & paste our previous discussion on this ‘virgin’ issue which is on a different topic heading and put it here for reference.

But for the record, i like to break my ‘babe’ nice and slow. Let ‘her’ get well oiled up, holes tight and snug, compression at 100%.

Once its all working like clockwork, let the mayhem begin and the satisfaction of knowing I was the first one to break my brand spanking new engine in. A virgin no more but the pleasure was all mine.

Yo… I paid top dollar mah. Why should some jerk at the service centre take that away from me??

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Got a virgin break-in secret? Post it here!

Us Against The Numbers –> -3.7% interest, 50 sen on ATM, RM1.00 per month

-3.7% on interest per year. 50 sen on every 5th ATM transaction. RM1.00 per month subscription fee.

What’s going on? To accept the fact that it is YOUR bank who gives you 0.3% in interest per year on your savings balance is catastrophic enough. I wonder why they call it a ‘Savings’ account when your hard-earned money is actually eroding gradually due to inflation each year, which in case you weren’t aware – a number that hovers around 4%. Each year. Bloody hell. And if you could cough out RM1,000 for a fixed deposit, you’d reduce the damage of capital erossion due to inflation to about 1%. But still its 1% against you. Not in favour of.

Swell.

Not only do they throw in a paltry 0.3% interest in your savings, they also (bloody hell) charge your for ATM withdrawals. 50 sen for every 5 transactions. Why is that? Imagine this, your home bank, nothing to do with MEPS or withdrawal through a common interbank network.

To top it all off, they will be introducing a ’subscription fee’ effective 20 December 2004. A subscription fee? For what?

“Since the launch of Maybank2u.com in June 2000, we have provided a wide range of services to enable you to enjoy security and convenience in online banking. Our goal is that you, as a valued customer, will always receive quality products and services. This access to Maybank2u.com has been made available to you on a complimentary basis. “

In this day and age, I would assume that online banking IS part and parcel of banking service, complementing existing conventional banking. Not an ‘optional’ feature. And definitely not an extra. Especially not a paid, subscription-based one. That’s dispicable. Shameful almost. Is this how you repay your so-called ‘valued customer’? The billions you make each year from your customers still warrants charging them for ‘infrastructure’?

“Should you choose not to subscribe to Maybank2u.com, you can alternatively use our other delivery channels, such as our Kawanku ATMs, Kawanku Phone Banking or visit our branches for your banking and bill payment transactions. However, we trust that you would continue to use Maybank2u.com for a nominal fee to enjoy the many services and time-saving conveniences available.”

Wow, thanks for the choice, buddy. And also thanks for telling your customers. There was no official announcement to your customers via mail, email, phone, or whatever channel left to not be chargeable, about the subscription fee except through Maybank2U.com. Was fortunate that a friend had highlighted it to me, for I would have missed it otherwise.

Talking about banks – I was at Citibank to help a friend pay for his credit card bill. When he dropped me off at the Citibank branch on Jalan Ampang I was shocked to see the amount of people queueing to make payment at the Cash Deposit machines. So this is how ‘convenient’ modern day banking is huh? How about giving customers you so aggresively give credit cards to better service? More machines? More branches? It took me 30 minutes before it was my turn. Plus no air-conditioning. Great. 100 inpatient, annoyed and sweaty people, in very long lines. Really nice. And some slow-pokes who either don’t read very well or are virgin ATM users. I am so glad I am not a Citibank customer. Really. I am.

So my dear friends, how is YOUR bank treating ya?

Breaking a Virgin : Gentle or Hard + Fast?

There seems a dearth of literature on proper ways to break-in or run-in a new engine, whether for a virgin car or motorbike. Car manufacturers recommend a gentle break-in, especially from 0km – 3,000kms. Motoman, a tuner based in the States, however, seems to think otherwise.

The controversial MotoMan wrote “Break-in Secrets” after applying his methods on over 300 new engines. He claims that by using his methods, engines would experience a dramatic increase in power over all RPMs, internals remaining cleaner and more efficient overall. His principles and examples apply to all 4-stroke engines – motorbikes, cars, airplanes, snow mobiles, lawn mowers!

So really, how true is this?

What’s the best way to break-in a new engine? MotoMan says: RUN IT HARD!

As pointed out by new acquaintance and knowledgeable car enthusiast Eric, MotoMan’s methods may be applicable only to newer, more modern engines, developed using newer methods and materials. Applying his unproven methods on our 15-year old Proton engines may not produce *ahem* favourable results. Besides, our friendly salesmen at Proton Edar and EON usually would have done that favour for you – revving your brand new car to kingdom come while delivering to you.

Hard or gentle? What’s your break-in secret?

Ex Cue Me, You Speak Mandawin?

I just realised how bad my Mandarin was yesterday. It isn’t exactly my mother tongue (actually none of the Chinese dialects can be considered my mother tongue since I speak so little!), but I’ve always scraped through in conversations – whether in Cantonese or Mandarin, whichever is better at the time.

So there I was, alighted from the monorail at Titiwangsa, buzzing through the gate. Then a Chinese lady, obviously from the mainland or perhaps Taiwan (couldn’t tell), started speaking to me in Mandarin. She was polite to ask me if I understand or spoke Mandarin first. Confident fart-face me said yes. She was with a party of a dozen others – Mandarin-speaking obviously. What she wanted to know was to where the happening shopping places were, accessible by the monorail route.

I told her to wait as I pointed out the destination on the route map. Then she started talking again. Non comprende. Erm, say again? Pardon? Oh… still don’t get it. Just take the train to Bukit Bintang. You can also walk to Imbi where Times Square is. No problem. Very good, I said. My vocabulary mysteriously reduced itself to about 3 words. Pay RM2.10.

Be polite. Smile Pretend that you understand, nod and say goodbye.

She proceeded to usher the rest to the counter, as she collectively paid the fares. Phew, I thought. Thank God she didn’t ask me anymore, because despite understanding most of it, not only did my brain starting lagging in Mandarin mode, my speech ability started to suffer major retardation as well.

So much for Mandarin. For yesterday and today at least. Classes anyone? Cute Mandarin tutor anywhere?

The Street Shootout is back!

The popular drift and time attack challenge organised by Proton is making a comeback at Sepang on the 4th-5th December 2004. Held in conjuction with the Proton Track Carnival Sepang 2004, the 4th SSO in the series will be the last for the year.

The Time Attack challenge will see the Pre-Viagra class (below 1300cc) reintroduced into the series along with Eat Me (below 1600cc), Hung (below 2000cc) and Rocco (above 2000cc or Sports Cars). Sub-categories would include BSD Team Trophy, Old Skool and Honeyz (for the racer babes!).

Entry fees will be RM80.00 for either the Drift Challenge or Time Attack.

So what are you waiting for? Sign up! Click here for details. To register, click here.

I will be attempting to improve my previous 14th-15th position (driving my the only 1.8 Wira in my class). Hopefully I will get my Satria R3 by then. Would be nice to see what times I can set at Sepang!

Casting Curses + Casting for Infomercial

Yesterday evening was an eventful day to sum it all up. Was called up to attend a casting session for a Chinese infomercial (Chinese of all things!) at a production company – people who happen to know my famous copywriter brother Vincent, which evidently which was why I was called up in the first place. Without sounding too complicated, I would need to act out a scenario, with Cantonese dialogue. Aiya. Vely the bad. I know for a fact that I speak Cantonese like a gwailo trying to speak Cantonese and therefore I was a nervous wreck an hour before I even got there.

Casting : The Curses
Speaking of which – I had a nice little argument with the taxi driver who picked me up from Jalan Ipoh, where my office is located. After I got into the cab, the driver proceeded to take me places I’ve never been before – figuratively speaking. I mean, common sense would tell you that from Jalan Ipoh, you either take Jalan Kuching or Jalan Mahameru to where I was heading, which was Mid Valley Megamall, just 7 clicks from my office. But oh no, this Chinese dude had other ideas. Not very bright I think, or perhaps he thought I was stupid, or…whatever. Of all roads in the world, he took the turning which read “Ipoh, Kepong, Jalan Duta”! Realising he took a wrong turn, he made a U-turn at the Jalan Duta/Segambut roundabout, back down to Jalan Kuching. Just when I thought all was well, once he got onto Jalan Travers and Jalan Bangsar, he turned into Brickfields. Talk about snaky!

Driving right into the a jam at the famous Brickfields stretch (yes, where all the banana leaf restaurants are), I closed my eyes in exasperation. Proceeding to use the backlanes (Seputeh) to Mid Valley, he was sighing and what-naught all the way. Beats me why, but he did, much to my annoyance.

Anyways, finally reaching the designated stop, I asked for a discount because he took the wrong way. The fare was RM9.70. He was baffled, or at least appeared to be, then became angry. He said this isn’t a vegetable market where you give discounts. I fired back and told him that he took the wrong route and he openly admitted so earlier. He refused to admit his error. I explained that he could have either used Jalan Mahameru or Jalan Kuching to get to MV, those being the most obvious and shortest routes. I would pay RM7 at most, and that was being generous, I told him. He still refused to admit and became defensive. Then he uttered something about “if you can’t pay, don’t take a cab in future”. Being absolutely red-faced already, I replied “its not that I don’t have money to pay you. If you are fair, I will pay you. But you have not been fair by taking such a long route. I will pay you RM7, nothing more.”

So he said, “If you’re not going to pay in full, then don’t pay at all. Get out. Fuck you.”

Fine. “Fuck you!”, returning the favour whilst giving him a nice finger then slamming the door. The other cabbie was looking at the little heated argument we had.

Well, thank you. It was quite dumb come to think of it. He gave me a free ride, his blood pressure went up by 30%, he’s still an idiot, he’s still a Chinaman and he’s still driving a rotten cab. Sheesh.

What’s it take to have a little honesty in our lives eh? Is it that hard to be sincere and honest? What happened to courtesy too? None was shown. None exchanged.

Casting : The Infomercial
On a lighter note, made my way up to the production company, introduced myself and met Jeff and Mi Yee (director and producer), whom I know through my brother. There were a couple of cute chicks and two young chaps there awaiting their turn. Filled in the usual form and had a peep at the storyboard. It was in Chinese. Characters which are just pictures to me. Hahah. Funny. The assistant there had to explain the dialogue to me (in Cantonese) and I had to recite it several times. It was a casual casting, Jeff on camera and talent whatever outlined in the script and storyboard. As I was going through the storyboard, guess who popped in? Why, the famous Alvin Wong the actor of course! Haven’t seen him in ages except in sitcoms and commercials but a big hug followed! He was casting for the same role as I was, calm as ever. A couple more guys appeared, one or two pretty familiar (most likely from ads). Girls, hear me, they were good-looking, so you missed the chance! ehehhe…

Anyways, my turn then came. Fumbled my lines on the first attempt. Couldn’t remember shit. Had to readjust my brain to Cantonese mode, which has a 3 word vocabulary. My role? A professional photographer snapping sheep in the meadows (???) or at least that’s what I understood. After snapping a couple of pics, I would then say the camera memory is full. My imaginary assistant would then ask me if there was still sufficient battery power and I would reply yes. And then get him to transfer the images onto a hard drive. Easy peasy? Not quite hard. Not quite easy. The lines were difficult to muster since I’m a banana who hardly speaks Cantonese. But I scrapped through unscathed (methinks). And was all done by the 2nd take. Thanks Alvin, who pretended to be my assistance during take 2. It was fun. The other dude fumbled with his lines all the way, I think he doesn’t speak Cantonese at all.

I asked Alvin how I did and he said I did ok. My Cantonese was passable, he commented, and that I sounded like a Shanghai dude speaking Cantonese. Gee, thanks Alvin!

All in all it was fun. Enjoyed the experience. And if I get selected, I would need to keep 2 days free at the end of the month for the actual shoot. Keeping my fingers crossed

Diwali : The Feasting + The Aftermath

Vanakam! Happy Diwali! Had quite a feast last night at my pal’s Suria’s place for Diwali open house. From the word go, we hogged the dining table and in all sloppiness and gluttony, feasted with five fingers and palm, on the truly delicious chicken varuvel, mutton curry, acar, kurma, dhal, tandoori and naan. I wish I had brought a camera to take some pics of the glorious food, but my apologies as we were just too busy stuffing ourselves.

Having gobbled down container-loads of the delectable and famous achi muruku Suria’s mom handmakes, I was reduced to a bloated 85-kilo couch potato, watching a re-run of the flop ‘Terminator 3′ on cable. Was not a pretty sight, me on the couch with Halle Berry.

Did I say Halle Belly? Pardon. It should really be Hairy Belly. Hehehe. My best friend Adeline coined the term when she caught a glimpse of my protruding belly earlier on in the day. Go ahead. Laugh. *Pffft*

Achi Muruku + Varuvel Here I Come Macha!

In exactly 4.5 hours, the Festival of Lights will dawn on us, just like a good plate of koli varuvel and puri! I look forward to visiting my pal Suria in Klang for the yearly feasting. We are guaranteed the best ever achi muruku the planet has ever known, made by Suria’s mom (such a darling!). Every year she prepares a 10-tonne container for me coz in the first year I visited, they had to beat me with a stick to loosen my grip on that container of goodies. They are so addictive, almost like nicotine, or ganja, if you so wish. That tinge of sweatness and lingering ghee in your mouth. Damn!

Can’t wait.

To all my Indian friends and fellow Indian Malaysians – Happy Deepavali! Peace be to all! May the feasting begin!

Mac OS X Lagfest

If you haven’t downloaded and installed it already, the Mac OS X 10.3.6 client and server updates are available for download from Apple servers. Released yesterday, noted improvements and changes are:

- network volumes are now available in the Finder sidebar and Desktop for convenient access
- improved file sharing and directory services for Mac (AFP), UNIX (NFS) PC (SMB/CIFS), PPTP, and wireless networks
- improved support for NTFS formatted volumes
- improved reliability of user logins, mounting of home directories in a networked environment, and launch of network applications
- improved PostScript and USB printing
- improved font management
- improved disc burning and recording functionality
- improved Bluetooth compatibility for Apple Wireless Keyboard and Mouse and Bluetooth phones.
- iPods connected via USB 2.0 are now recognized by iTunes and iSync
- improved Open GL technology and updated ATI and NVIDIA graphics drivers
- updated Address Book, Calculator, Disk Utility, DVD Player, Image Capture, Mail, Safari, Stickies, and QuickTime applications
- improved compatibility for third party applications
- additional support for FireWire and USB devices
- FileVault, FireWire 800 and WebDAV improvements from Update 10.3.1
- previous standalone security updates and Bluetooth Update 1.5.1

Important note:
Apple has identified an issue with external FireWire hard drives using the Oxford 922 bridge chip-set with firmware version 1.02 that can result in the loss of data stored on the disk drive. Even with the improvements available in this update, Apple recommends you update the firmware on your FireWire drive. Please contact your drive manufacturer for more information.

The update is available via Software Update, or you can download the 92MB standalone update (which I usually recommend for bigger updates like this).

Updated life so far…
Initially all was good. No notable difference. No crashes. No new bugs. But later in the day I got some puzzling display anomalies never before seen on my G5 or my Sony 21″ CRT. Horizontal lines appeared intermittently, flashing on an off randomly on screen. Restarted the comp to see if that helped. Nope. Still there. Could be the updated display drivers which came with the combo update. Or could it be the display finally giving way?

Dunno. But today it has behaved. However, I feel the G5 is sluggish. Some tasks lag especially in Photoshop. Switching apps too. I’ll do an update_prebinding to see if that helps.

Bad at Maths, so I became a designer

Are designers really bad at Maths? Go figure. I dunno. Just out of observation. But any way you look at it, if designers were good at math, then they wouldn’t be designers right? We’d be physicists, chemists, microbiologists, accountants, engineers!

Some light-heartedness to start the morn.