Some update on our beloved 'Pug'... Two days ago, our 'Pug' is officially out of warranty coverage!!! Isn't it fast that our 'Pug' is already three years old... And it is officially not a virgin anymore when it comes to 'Genting'!!! I drove it up this morning but too bad the condition is not ideal as it was raining cats and dogs... So I tone down my driving a little bit but I'm really impressed at the grip that it produced (tyres play an important role as well)... Really confident with the way it handles... Definitely much more powerful when compared to my ex-daily driver which is none other than my trustee 'Proton Gen2 MME Edition'... Although much more powerful, the thrill or driving it compare to my 'Gen2' is like night and day difference!!! 'Gen2' is so much nicer in terms of handling!!! So what about comparing it to 'FrankenBenz'??? Frankly the 'Pug' feels super slow now!!! The last time I drove 'FrankenBenz' up 'Genting', I'm using only one gear... Gear three all the way up!!! Although much more powerful, I don't find it entertaining as well as 'FrankenBenz' is way too heavy for this kind of driving... 

Since the warranty coverage is over, I must take extra care on our 'Pug' starting from now... And you know what, it decided to give me a heart attack moment this morning when I drove it up 'Genting'... I'm using the tiptronic all the way up changing gears manually... When I was about to reach 'Genting', the gearbox decided to go in neutral but the display says that it was in gear three!!! Step on the accelerator and the car's not moving... Shifted it back to auto and still it won't move until I heard a loud 'clunk' sound (my heart almost stop moving), and 'Pug' was moving again!!! I can't imagine what might happen if I really abuse it this morning... Luckily it was raining and hopefully no damages done to the gearbox!!!

I've been running 'Gummy' custom 'Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS)' ROM for a while and it has been great!!! But the urge to move on is really unbearable!!! I've been thinking of upgrading my ROM to the newest 'Jelly Bean' which is of course custom as well (not going to run the official 'Jelly Bean' ROM)!!! The only thing holding me back is the trouble and not forgetting stability of the new ROM...

Don't want my phone to encounter any problem and causes it to malfunction... I've tested 'Jelly Bean' on my friend 'Galaxy SII' and it is superb!!! No lag and buttery smooth... Besides that, there are a few upgrade that are worth upgrading for... Tempting!!! Very tempting... Guess I will put this on hold first till I decide which custom ROM to upgrade to!!! Will do some survey on which is the best Jelly Bean ROM out there now!!! Till then...

Finally managed to get a used good condition rear parcel shelf for 'FrankenBenz'!!! I've been looking high and low for this item ever since I decided to start 'Project FrankenBenz'!!! This is the only part that betrays the age of 'FrankenBenz' and I can't wait to get rid of it...

The first aid compartment is in very good condition... Everything is still intact...

This rear parcel shelf is from a newer model and it is slightly different compare to the one on 'FrankenBenz'...

As you can see from this pic, the speaker cover is in dire state... Notice the different in design??? The new one is definitely better looking!!!

Last time, the mechanic relocate the speaker because the original place can only fit in a 5" speaker while the new one is 6" (better sounding and much easier to source!!!)... This time I insist that the speaker must be in the original place but the magnet can't go through it!!! With some brute force and the help of a plier and hammer, we manage to bend the metal surrounding the speaker area and make the hole just big enough for the magnet to go through... Use some extremely sticky tape and tape the speaker in place... Viola very clean and nice looking rear parcel shelf!!!

To be continue...

OMG I can't believe it as I'm going to all the baby fair that I knew... In fact I just came back from 'IBEX' which stands for 'International Baby Expo' and I'm pretty disappointed with it... No doubt it was much nicer to walk compared to the one in 'Mid Valley' a fortnight ago (Mid Valley one was cramped and all of us looked like packed sardines!!!)... But the problem is, almost all the exhibitionist are the same... So there are nothing much for us to buy...

We were interested in stem cell storing and wanted to have some in-depth understanding hence we approached two of the companies... One of them is 'Cyrocord' and the other is 'Cellsafe'... The most famous one is absent from this fair!!! After hearing both out, both of us are getting really confuse on which to choose... Both have their pros and cons... So we ended up leaving without signing up with either one... Since we still have time, we decided to do more research on this... Whoever have experience on this please feel free to leave some comments!!! 

Okay I admit that after watching 'The Dark Knight Rises', I have no expectation from 'The Amazing Spiderman' because I know how hard it is to better the former (i still can't get over 'The Dark Knight Rises'!!! it is just awesome to the max)... And you know what, that's the correct things to do as 'Spidey' is as predictable as 'RTM1' (you will only know this if you live in 'Malaysia') which is boring all the way... 

If compare apple to apple, this new version of 'Spidey' is in fact much better compare to the older version... The reason for this is simple... More humorous and better looking chicks!!! If they are planning to film 'Spidey 2', lot of works need to be done especially the storyline which is lacking in almost all superheroes movie...

Did I talked about the screeching sound emitting from 'FrankenBenz' in my previous post??? I did talked about the inability for it to rev pass 4000rpm occasionally... Before this happened, 'FrankenBenz' started to have some really strange noise and it only occurred occasionally... So I did not pay much attention to it... Bad idea!!! Really bad idea as I found it the hard way...

I was on my way back from work and I stopped by a petrol station to feed my hungry 'FrankenBenz' (which is always hungry for petrol!!!) and everything went fine until I started my car... I heard a loud 'klong' sound and my voltmeter reading drop from the usual 14.++ to around 11.++... I quickly stopped my car and pop the hood... To my horror, the whole alternator sits on the radiator piping!!!

There, the alternator rest on top of the bottom radiator piping!!! How the hell the alternator managed to drop is beyond me... But after some inspection I found the culprit!!! Culprit for the screeching sound as well as why the alternator managed to come loose... The screeching sound came from the belt turning the waterpump, aircond compressor, crank shaft pulley, alternator as well as power steering... As the alternator came loose, it's position is off and it cause the belt to slip and screech... 

As for why the alternator drop is really simple... The alternator is screw to a bracket from the waterpump and the bracket decided to snap and this cause the alternator to drop... So in order to fix the alternator back, I will first need to replace my waterpump which is still in very good condition!!!

Luckily I was at the petrol station when this happened!!! And I'm really lucky as the petrol station attendant gave me a foreman number (my foreman refuse to come to my aid as I'm too far away and he told me to tow my car back to his workshop!!!) and I got nothing to lose and gave the number a call... After explaining it to him, he said that he was able to help me... Luckily this does not happen a day later as I'm going outstation the very next day!!! 

This foreman have no prior experience with 'Toyota 1JZ-GTE' engine but he have vast experience on 'BMW'... In order to take out the waterpump, basically the whole front part of the engine needs to be dismantle!!! Everything including the radiator up till the cam pulley!!! I don't know what the 'Japanese' is thinking when they designed the '1JZ-GTE' as the amount of work needed to take out the waterpump is mind boggling!!! I really appreciate this foreman that came to my aid as the amount of work needed would definitely put a lot of people off... If I'm the foreman, I will definitely ask it to be tow as this is not a job that can be finish in an hour time... But the foreman is professional enough to finish the task at the side of the petrol station!!! 

It took the foreman more than five hours to finish the job!!! By the time I reach home, it was already 12am in the midnight!!! I'm really grateful for the foreman as he did an excellent job reviving my 'FrankenBenz'!!! Now 'FrankenBenz' is back boosting happily...  

The last of the trilogy that talks about the 'Dark Knight' of 'Gotham City' is something you must experience in order to understand how awesome it is... Truly a masterpiece in my humble opinion... It is totally different from all the predictable superhero movies that screened before... Less action and more on storyline which is something I really like!!! 

If you ask me between this movie and 'The Avengers' I really can't give you an answer right now (and this shows how awesome 'The Dark Knight Rises' is) because both are incredible movies... The difference is the way the story is being told... In order to understand 'The Dark Knight Rises' fully, one will need to watch the first two movies although the first one is kind of boring... 

No amount of words can do this movie justice... My only advise is "watch it to believe it"!!! This is a certified 'kick-ass' movie!!! By the way, 'Anne Hathaway' is freaking hot!!!

Shit!!! FrankenBenz is getting temperamental again... Notice something wrong with it today... Normal driving she's behaving rather nicely... But when I tried to ask more from her, she started to protest... Don't know what is wrong with her but it seems like it can't rev pass 4000rpm on third gear... I tried pedal to the metal on 1st and 2nd gear and everything seems fine... 

When cruising normally and stepping on the gas then I encountered this problem... When it kicked down to 3rd gear, the rev stayed at 4000rpm and it just won't go pass it... If I kept my foot down, it cut off the fuel just like hitting boost cut!!! And worst still I heard bells ringing and I can't pinpoint the location...  I can see that the fuel consumption is getting from bad to worse these few days!!! I'm thinking about 'ECU' problem which is something quite normal for '1JZ-GTE' engine especially from 'JZZ30 Soarer' which happens to be the donor for my 'FrankenBenz' heart!!! Might be spark plug as well as the time for changing is just around the corner... Hopefully nothing serious... Damn she's been behaving very nicely nowadays and shit happened!!! 

The sound of this beast is just awesome!!! You need to heard it to believe it...

Saw this insane 'Nissan GTR' at 'GT Auto' the other day... So what is so special about this particular car... It looks ordinary enough just like any other 'GTR' on the road... You can spot some visual difference such as the carbon fiber spoiler and different tail pipe... Nothing more... But I was told that this car is having a full engine built from 'AMS Performance' which is famous for tuning 'GTR' to insane power... This particular car is fitted with the 'Alpha 10' package which enable it to have more than 1000whp!!! When I was there, they are running in the engine and it was putting out more than 600whp...

And now the car is ready and it churns out an official power of 1070whp!!! Crazy!!! And what is the cost of this??? According to 'AMS Performance' site, it cost from USD64,000 for this conversion... A lot of money for sure but much less compare to buying a 'Ferrari/Lamborghini' but you can smoke them for breakfast, lunch, dinner and even supper... Another crazy thing is this car spot a 'Thai' registration plate and they send it all the way from 'Thailand' just to get it mod and tune!!!