ER34 revisits Cameron Highlands

Pic 1: The winding road beckons in Cameron Highlands

Well this Cameron Highlands drive was supposed to be the next Drive It Like You Stole It (DILYSI) but many aren't able to make it thus the ER34 went up by itself. Oh well......

I departed early Saturday morning onto the North South Expressway heading down South from Kuala Lumpur. After travelling on the mundane highway for an hour or so, I exited at the Tapah exit. Now this is where the car is in it's elements. The way up to Cameron Highlands via Tapah is the kind of roads that I love. Short straights, tight corners and shuffling between 2nd and 3rd gear most of the way.

Pic 2: My kinda roads

Luckily, it was a relatively quiet morning. There were little cars and overtaking them was not much of a problem. Err....except for one crazy overtaking manoeuvre that involves overtaking 3 vehicle at one go; a 16 wheeler truck ferrying an excavator, a petroleum tanker and a pickup. Mad move indeed. Hehehe :P

Passing Lata Iskandar waterfall and then Ringlet I reached Tanah Rata. Tanah Rata is situated 1,400 metres above sea level. The temperature here gets a wee bit colder. Great to get away from the bilstering hot Kuala Lumpur! After Tanah Rata, the drive uphill continues till I reach my accommodation of the night at Hotel Equatorial. The great thing is I got to park at the lobby. Safety guaranteed. Woohoo!!!

Pic 3: The view from my hotel room

The next morning, the downhill run begins via Tringkap, Kuala Terla, Kampung Raja and down Cameron Highlands via the Simpang Pulai route. I don't particularly like this route as fast sweeping bends aren't exactly my cup of tea. Anyway, I took it easy downhill and came across a couple of groups of bikers and a trio of Lotus Elise as well. A Ferrari F355 Spider was also spotted.

All in I clocked in 500km from Kuala Lumpur to Tapah and down via Simpang Pulai back to Kuala Lumpur. A great way to spend the weekend away from the stresses of the city. Hopefully, the next drive the regulars can make it...... *wink*

Here are some of the pictures from my drive.....

Pic 4: Beautiful roads eh?

Pic 5: Charging uphill via Tapah

Pic 6: Warning!! Winding roads.....

Pic 7: Uphill via Tapah

Pic 8: Shopping at Kea Farm

Pic 9: Veggies!!

Pic 10: Downhill via Simpang Pulai route

Pic 11: Glorious bends!!

Pic 12: And more corners!!

Pic 13: King of the Road in Cameron Higlands

Redline MT-90 Tranny Fluid and Engine Oil change

Pic 1: Redline MT-90 75W 90

I have trouble going into 1st gear recently which prompted me to search around for a better transmission fluid to see how much it will help. The Redline MT-90 75W 90 was decided upon and I poured it in over the weekend. These fluids need to be run in over a period to properly gauge the difference in improvements. Thus far after 2 weeks of usage, the notchy 1st gear engagement is no longer there. I hope this will stay on for good.....

Since the ER34 is already up on a hoist, I changed the engine oil and oil filter at the same time. Not really to save labour cost but rather just to save my time going to the workshop. Been pretty busy of late. :(

According to the marketing talk, the Redline MT-90 are designed to provide excellent protection and improved shiftability for manual transmissions. It allows proper shifting over the entire temperature range which the transmission will experience. The synthetic base oils used have a very high viscosity index which provides relatively constant viscosity as temperature changes.

In summary, it provides excellent protection of gears and synchronizers and its balanced slipperiness provides a perfect coefficient of friction, allowing easier shifting.

The prices are steep but thus far worth it........

Pic 2: Filling up the Redline MT-90 75W 90 into the transmission

Painted metallic blue engine cover

Pic 1: Painted RB25DET NEO engine cover

The engine bay kind of look a bit on the plain side of things and it struck me that I have to do something to spruce it up a bit. I explored 2 options:-

1) Paint the engine cover
2) Paint the engine block cover (and ditch the engine cover!!)

Exploring around I found someone in Japan selling painted RB25DET engine block cover in custom blue colour with thick metallic flakes. The paint is one of a kind as it's from the House of Kolor. Interesting indeed but I reckon I'll have to remove the TCS and do a custom plenum (ala RB26DETT) for it to look really good.

In the end I decided to go with the cheaper option of just painting the engine cover. Afraid that I'll mess up mine, I got a spare set in from Japan. All in it's not too cheap to courier the engine cover in. :(

Pic 2: Here comes the RB25DET NEO engine cover

Pic 3: Thankfully it's nicely bubble wrapped

Once I got the engine cover in, I sent it to my painters with my idea of colouring it blue with white accents. Why blue? Well it matches the same blue on my brake callipers. :P

It was stashed in my painters place for a couple of weeks as I was not in a hurry and he's doing it in his spare time. Initially I would have thought that the whole engine cover would have been painted in blue; and then white accents and letterings would have been painted in via masking off the edges around it. Boy, was I wrong.....

Instead, the whole engine cover was painted in white first. Then, the coat of blue was laid on. The white accents were then revealed upon removal of the blue paint on top of it. Lest to say, it's one hell of a time consuming and difficult job to do.

The end results were amazingly beautiful. Here are the pics of the finished product.

So what do you think?

Pic 4: RB25DET NEO engine cover in its original state

Pic 5: Painted in white

Pic 6: How it looks when it is done

Pic 7: Comparing a before and after side by side

V•Sixers Tour de Malaysia: 50th Years Of Independence

What does V•Sixers: Perdana V6 Club has to do with this blog?? Well, the club holds a very dear place in my heart and I can't resist blogging about their latest excursion for the year 2007. The club is creating a new Record Run for Malaysia Book of Record. They will be convoying a minimum of 50 units of the Proton Perdana around Malaysia crossing 10 Peninsular States with approximately 1800km for 4 days & 3 nights.

This event is held on Merdeka Eve to Celebrate 50th Years of Independence, hence the 50 units of Proton Perdana in convoy. The event will begin on the 31st August 2007 until the 3rd September 2007. The convoy will journey through the below route:-

Kuala Lumpur - Penang - Terengganu - Johor Bahru - Kuala Lumpur

I was at the flag off event, and it's a joy to see members from all walks of life working together in full camaraderie towards realising the clubs' dream of securing a place in the Malaysia Book of Record.

In line, with the Visit Malaysia Year 2007, it also serves as a promotion on behalf of the Tourism Board of Malaysia. With all the cars fully "stickered-up" with decals from generous sponsors it's really a sight to behold. All of the vehicles are equipped with communication devices; from rigs to handies to simple FRS radios.

Below is the video I took during the flag off session. A total of 54 cars were flagged off from the Malaysian Tourism Centre in Jalan Ampang, Kuala Lumpur.

I'm very proud of the club, the committee and the members. Let the sprit be alive and the flame of togetherness be of equal if not greater proportions since the inception of the club in 2001.

V•Sixers Rocks!!!!

Pic 1: Zero car at the flag off

Pic 2: Some of the participants

Pic 3: Isma in the Control car