Charmant’s long awaited service!

Yep, finally my salary is in with the extra performance bonus, which means I finally got some extra cash to spend on my poor Charmant, first thing’s first, Engine oil change!

Getting my Engine Oil changed

Also got my oil filter changed, however, Gearbox and LSD oil will have to wait a couple more months.  While I was there at the workshop, I was trying to look for the Tanabe exhaust that was scattered on the floor but it was no where to be found, I asked the guy and he said it was sold several weeks back, damn!  Guess I was too late.

Although I didn’t get to have the exhaust that I desired, there is another cheaper alternative:

Local made exhaust

Not much info on this exhaust, apart from the fact that it is locally made and was previously fitted on a 4AGE powered AE90, though not as good as the Tanabe exhaust I was looking for, it is still better than my current crappy exhaust, which is causing way too much noise!  This exhaust right here will suit my needs just fine.

I then bought the exhaust at a very cheap price and headed straight to a weld shop to get my exhaust replaced:

Tong Seng Welding Shop

As recommended by my mechanic, I paid a visit to “Tong Seng” Welding Shop to get the job done, fortunately there weren’t many customers around so they started working on my car straightaway.

Measuring

First the welder performed an “agak-agak” style of measurements of the exhaust to be installed…

Old exhaust

Then he cuts the old exhaust off…

Fitting of new exhaust

Welding the new exhaust

The weld... *cough*...

Erm… not so sure about his welding skills though, but at least he got it done…and he’s hardcore for welding with his Sun Glasses on instead of a proper protective mask!

New exhaust finally installed!

Though the new exhaust tip is smaller than my previous one, but at least it now has a proper muffler, my car doesn’t sound as noisy as before, it sounded smoother and way more CIVILIZED!  LOL!  I’m sure my neighbor SuiTuaPui would be glad, LOL!

The new exhaust looks shiny too, I don’t need a bigass exhaust with thundering sounds, hey, I’m only rolling with a stock 4AGE 16v, this exhaust will do the job fine for the time being, now I can finally give my Charmant a lot more gas on the road without worrying of annoying the hell outta other drivers.

4AGE serviced, Exhaust changed, next stop, stocking up spare tires:

Spare tyres

Now I’m all set for more drifting action, bwahahahahahha!!!

Waiting for Cash in!

I’ve been busy doing part time projects to earn some extra cash, but the progress is time consuming, and its slow, worse is that I still haven’t see my money yet, so I’m pretty much tired for all the hard work and time I’ve spent for the past couple of months, when I’m done with this, I seriously need to get some rest.

Since Chinese New Year is just around the corner, even when my money comes in, there wouldn’t be much left either, man… how I wish I can just spend all I want on my Charmant, and speaking of Charmant, it needs an oil change very, very soon.

I’ll need to source some more spare tyres as well, haven’t been drifting for almost a month, I gotta drift soon to release the stress.

Let’s just see if I still have any money left after CNY so I can finally get my exhaust changed.

Busy times, sorry for the lack of updates, not much happening really.

The Surgeon that DRIFTs!

Many..many years ago, when I was still a college student in Sibu, I met up with this doctor named Louis through DCM, at that time he was only driving his white Satria, and if I’m not mistaken, he was into FF drifting too!  During our 1st meet, I’ve showed him what a RWD slide feels like, in my trusty Charmant, when it was still stock, and automatic.  We had a little fun on a small area filled with gravels, I even stalled my car while attempting the slides.  On the other hand, Louis also showed me some of his E-brake FF drifts.  I was extremely impressed on the fact that a doctor like him, would be so enthusiastic about drifting as well, cool!

We only had 1 meet up since then, but we kept in touch in DCM, however, as time flies, we sorta lost touch and I’ve continued my studies in KL for the next couple of years.  In 2006, when I came back to Sibu and started working full time, I’ve also started doing a little bit of tuition business.

1 day, just when I arrived at my student’s house, I’ve noticed a Corolla TE72 parked at the side of the road, first things that I’ve noticed are the sport exhaust, and the different front and rear rim combos, I walked up for a closer inspection and noticed a whole stack of tires squeezed within the car!  First impression?  Pretty obvious, this looks so much like a drift car if you ask me… !  However, I’ve decided not to wander around the car for too long as I might look suspicious to others as a car thief or whatsoever, so I proceeded to the house for my tuition class.

As days gone by, finally, I spotted the owner (whom happens to be Louis himself) by coincidence, and guess what was he doing?  Moving more tires into his car… this dude has gotta be on to something here!  I quickly walked towards Louis and the first thing that came out of my mouth was…

“Hey there, this your car?”

“… er.. Yeah…”

“Just curious, are you a drifter?  Are you drifting with this car?”

“Drifting… what?… sorry nop…” (Hehe, trying to act ignorant eh?)

“Oh sorry to bother… coz I really thought you’re a drifter…erm… nvm… thanks again”

The conversation ended and off I went to my tuition class again, surprisingly, both of us didn’t recognize each other during that conversation, fortunately, Louis had a better memory than me and he sent me a PM in DCM and asked if I were the guy that spoke to him earlier during the day, then that finally made me remembered as well!  It’s the Doctor drifter that I’ve met years ago!

We quickly arranged a meet up, after so many years, we met again, but this time, Louis has upgraded from a FF drifter to a proper FR drifter!

TE72 and Charmant

Apparently, way before I met Louis again, he has been practising drifting alone in his TE72 for quite some time, and I never noticed!  Damn, anyhow, the first thing I did when we met again was to take a very close look on his car, 2nd impression, RUST!  Loads of them, the body needs a heck lot of work to be honest, but who cares when you have TRD spec coilovers, 4AGE 16v and a proper LSD?  And that’s all Louis needed to learn the wonders of DORIFUTO!

For the next couple of months, we have been meeting up regularly on weekends to practise drifting, since I wasn’t able to drift my Charmant back then, instead I was helping out Louis in recording videos, changing tires, giving advices as well sometimes.  Cool thing was that he also lets me drive his TE72, it was definitely a very memorable day as it was my first time ever to have drifted a car with a proper LSD installed, I was dead surprised how EASY it was just to get the tail to slide, continuously!

Unfortunately, a terrible “misunderstanding” between Louis and the local gangsters caused him a wreck on the TE72, for the full story, you can read it HERE.  Since that incident, Louis decided its best to leave Sibu for good, so before he left, he offered me a very good price on the remaining working parts left on his TE72, which surprisingly, 90% of them are still working fine except for the TE72’s body, it was such a generous and awesome offer that I couldn’t refuse, so truth be told, Louis was the one that FULFILLS my drifting dream.  Without him, my Charmant wouldn’t even be at the stage it is right now, so a 120% gratitude to my main man, Dr. Louis!

Louis and his family moved to W.Malaysia, and he has been doing great, he also got himself another 4AGE drifter, a KE70, and he’s been rocking it hard ever since, since there’s lot more legal events and venues in W.Malaysia that he can attend to, his skills has been progressing way faster as compared to the times he spent in Sibu, LOL!

Anyways, to end this post, let me share a few cool pics of him drifting at the recent ‘Saturday Night Drift 16/1/10’:

Louis KE70 Drift

Louis KE70 Drift

Louis KE70 Drift

Way the go, Dr. Louis, keep it up! ^^