Month: September 2020

WARNING: Woke all inclusive maawain bleeding heart snowflake scum can stop reading now.

“How’s business for you guys during the pandemic?” Is a question everyone seems to be asking me eve since we opened shop last May 18, 2020. To be honest I was a bit tepid on how it would turn out, Will there actually be people who will go to the shop, with all the “strict” quarantine passes needed and all? What about my people? How will they get to work?

Well turns out things have a nice way of resolving themselves. Most of my people have motorbikes and the primary and key people that I need, have had cars literally land on our lap.

As for customer, well everyone that has a car is as anxious as I am to go out because of the following:

This is a once in a lifetime event where EDSA is deserted and driving is AMAZING. Granted this post is a few months late but if own a car, and like driving, this is a dream come true. So this is the perfect moment to unleash the power of your car and apparently the customers want more, hence why we have a slew of power upgrades done to all sorts of cars, from Montero to Suzuki’s.

As for all the “hardships” you keep hearing on the news, get real bitches. NO ONE DIES OF HUNGER in the Philippines, NO ONE. Even the poorest of the poor beggar doesn’t die from no food.

With that out of the way, it’s very simple. If you have a car, and high chances are it’s more than one, you are:

1. Not starving to death or have a lack of food.

2. Have a sturdy roof over your heads.

3. Your kids and family are enjoying the bonding time cooking at home and eating together.

4. You have internet. Lots of time to use it.

5. Your monthly expense have actually gone down. Lower fuel cost, no going out, no eating out, no gimik nights, no shopping, no movies, no extra curricular, etc etc

6. You look online what to Gastos.

7. Financially you’re well off and once again, not starving to death.

So that means that the market I cater to, isn’t affected at all. I live near the Megamall Podium area and on the day where the mall shops have opened, I have seen people walk out with a big ass TV, a Dyson vacuum cleaner, and a Rolex watch. So the poor and begging are definitely not people who need and want what I have so sell.

So yes, business has been good so far.

Some companies that I thought of as traditional have appeared lately in my FB feed as ads, like Edmel, one of the best engine machine shops in the country. I guess they are now embracing micro advertisements because yes, they work.

And there are the usual car parts importers and once again FB is great for your social and friends stuff but terrible for accurate information. Like the people importing and selling BRD aluminum turbo pipes. I’m pretty sure that the Thai parent company won’t make such a blatantly false claim. You would think that they would be very honest on what their product can and cannot do. But no, this is blatantly wrong false.

These look good and are obviously more durable than rubber BUT, they DO NOT add any power nor does it lower intake temperatures.

Here’s why. Boost pressure from the turbocharger is the same irregardless of the pipe diameter size, it’s one a per square inch measurement. So it doesn’t matter if the pipe is 3″ or 3mm. The pressure is constant and doesn’t change. Changing to from rubber to aluminum doesn’t change the amount of boost the turbo makes, that is just physically impossible.

It also doesn’t make the air any cooler. The primary source of hot air is the turbocharger itself and it’s physics that when air is compressed, it heats up. And that air exiting the turbo is easily 70-80 degrees. And this air doesn’t exactly sit around the pipe waiting to get heated up either. So there is no way in hell that changing the pipe from rubber to aluminum lowers the air temperature.

So BRD importer, just be honest about selling your stuff because it’s durable and looks pretty, don’t claim that it has performance benefits when it clearly doesn’t.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, Facebook groups and comments are the dumbest place to get information and research. It’s the blind leading the blind and you, the ordinary guy, are no wiser. Like the following comment that I accidentally came across on of the various car groups.

This comment is almost certainly referring to our Dynapack dyno. And for most people that read it, chances are they will believe what he said because he said it with so much conviction and certainty. I immediately called him out on it and how he’s incorrect and he promptly deleted it, but not before I manage to screen cap it.

It’s this form of downright ignorance and talking about stuff that you obviously have no knowledge off that pisses me off.

First off I will address and refute his point about Dynapack hub dynos, where you take the wheels off, are the wrong kind of dyno.

Given his premise, Mishimoto, a well known performance brand has been giving us BS numbers because they use a Dynapack.

Bisimoto, builder of several SEMA wonders and 1,000hp Honda’s and Hyundais are also coughing up fake numbers. Other well known Dynapack users are Hondata, Titan Motorsports, Apexi and many many more. All of them, according to Rodj are all wrong and inaccurate.

His second assertion is that Dynapack numbers are not correct because the wheel HP we get on some cars are close to or equal to the published HP.

I guess he’s hiding under a rock and doesn’t know that the latest Supras make more power on the dyno than what’s advertised, on both Dynapack AND Roller dynos like Dynojet.

By extension, publications like Honda Tuning and Road & Track also churn out false and inaccurate numbers because they feature cars on Dynapack Dynos.

So according Rodj Q. Dicen, all of us around the world have foolishly spent $125,000 on hub dynos and are just giving people inaccurate readings.

So let us all believe the great marine engineer Rodj Q. Dicen, when it comes to dyno tuning cars and making power, because he’s most absolutely undeniable right, and we who actually tune cars for a living are all wrong.

The more information available out the, the lazier people get when doing true research. Call me jaded and cynical but I roll my eyes when people say “sige research muna ako” fact is, you the normal person, can never research as well as me and will never be as knowledgeable as me when it comes to cars.

Facebook groups are the absolute worse when it comes to this and groups are the absolute dumbest place to do research. It’s the blind leading the equally blind. Just look at this post

Looks like he did his research alright, and came up with supercharger problem. To which my first thoughts are “Do you not know what you just bought?!?!!?” With any high value purchase like a car or a watch or the latest iPhone, the default would be you will memorize the specs and each and every detail of your purchase. Well he did ask for peoples thoughts and what followed was obviously a bunch of laughing faces and “turbocharger boss” So not only did the guy not get any answers and people now know he kinda stupid.

With the wealth of information there how could you not know your truck is turbocharged? Did you not see it before you bought it? Did the agent not tell what engine it has? Did you not read and listen to reviews about it? And which brings back to the “I will research” statement. You can do all the research you want BUT do you even understand what you’re actually reading? Especially when it comes to technical matters. Most likely you did do the “research” but nothing got absorbed.

Take the unending 4-2-1 vs 4-1 debate, which every single person who asks this of me fails to read that this particular discussion takes place in a Honda related page, specifically B SERIES engine related. Not Corollas, not Kias, not Lancers, not Geelys. So that alone tells me your researching skills are definitely sub par. More so when people who have the 1.8 civic or 1.3-1.5 Jazz/city ask which is better, not knowing that it’s not applicable to them as they have a 1-1. But hey at least it’s Honda related.

Granted you’re not all knowing but the fact that you came across the 4-2-1 vs 4-1 debate means you did some “research” and didn’t comprehend what you’re reading.

I actually like when people I talk to acknowledge that they don’t know much about cars, which means they know that they need to learn and ask questions, but I appreciate it even more when the answers I give them actually sink in and they have that AHA moment, which does happen. And on the other end, after an hour of explanation, there are the “in one ear, out the other”

Here’s a cute example.

Q: If I change my muffler only, 2″ inlet, will it lose power?

A: No, any size shape brand style muffler you change to will not lose power

Q: What if I change to a 2.5″ inlet and 4″ outlet, will it lose power?

Geeee last I checked, 2.5″ and 4″ definitely false under the any size category. Asking the question again in a different way will not change the answer.

Friends and ka tropa are the next stupidest way to do research. Even if he is the “car guy” because:

1. He doesn’t drive what you drive

2. All he has is second hand heresy information, the kind that’s “ito nangyari sa bayaw ng pinsan ng manugang ko”

3. He doesn’t fix cars for a living.

4. It’s not his car or his money that’s on the line. So there is no consequence for him if things go wrong.

So given all of that, how do you do correct research and who to ask for help? Well obviously I will say me (it is my blog after all)

On a more practical note, here’s a few guidelines:

1. Know the context. Obviously do not search for stuff about your Toyota in a Hyundai forum/article/group

2. Type in your google search in English and with correct spelling. As dumb as it sounds, yes people are that dumb. Sparkflug, chik enjin, rubber boshing, oyel sel. That’s just parts names.

3. Videos aren’t helpful. I’ve seen people post videos with the most minimal of information, usually just “what’s wrong sirs?” You’ll have 50 people with 20 different answers. And no, it’s not a matter of consensus. This is the part where it really has to be heard in person and you bring to the shop.

4. Describing your problem also doesn’t help. One of the things I hate most is that people lie, unintentionally or otherwise. They’ll describe a problem and I’ll give a best guess answer on what’s wrong, only to find out later as the conversation continues that this and that detail has been left out and will this change the diagnosis. The same way that a doctor will never diagnose you over the phone, he will tell you to go the hospital.

5. Bring your wife/girlfriend along. If the shop can satisfactorily explain you then and make them understand the problem and what needs to be done, then they know what they’re talking about. Women have natural bullshit detectors and it’s pretty foolproof as they regard men and all their proclivity for all things tech with suspicion by nature.

6. Watch my YouTube videos where I explain the hows and whys without delving into too much math or engineering jargon.

7. Be as descriptive as possible without being repetitive. As where you went, where you came from while driving isn’t relevant. And despite being as thorough and descriptive, 95% of the time my answer will be “bring it to the shop”