Somebody forwarded this email to me today where this new company, Titek, was promoting their magnetic drain plugs for an engine’s oil pan. While the concept is somewhat novel, it’s application is kind of dumb. A magnetic drain plug (mdp) has its place in a transmission with steel gears or a rear end with steel gears and metallic clutches where bits of steel can actually float around in the oil. However, a mdp actually has no place in an engine’s crankcase if you really think about it. In the remote possibility that your engine’s cams are gear driven, an mdp might have a place, but chances are if you are reading this blog your engine does not have gear driven cams.

Let’s think about what’s inside of an engine block for a second here: a crankshaft, bearings, rods, pistons, wrist pins, pin clips, and piston rings. The crank, rods, and pins are all riding on films of oil. The pin clips hold the wrist pins in place and the piston rings are held in place by the piston’s ring lands and neither bits of clips or rings can come out unless a catastrophic failure occurs. In the head, you have cams, followers, springs,retainers, and locks. If any of these components fail, the last thing you need to be worrying about is catching bits of steel at the very bottom of an oil pan with a mdp.

So in a healthy engine, what’s the purpose of having a mdp? The only components that can wear are the bearings and at that point your engine has become unhealthy probably due to a cracked oil pump rotor, oil pickup tube, lack of oil or pump cavitation and is living on borrowed time anyway. Bearings consist of lead, tin, copper, and sometimes babbit and/or aluminum. The last time I checked, none of these elements were magnetic because they are non ferrous. If the steel components break (crank, rods, pins, clips, or rings) or chip, the last thing you need to be worry about again is catching bits of steel at the very bottom of the oil pan with a mdp. You will more likely be either on the side of the road or track with a hole in your engine block and waiting for a tow truck. No mdp no matter how strong it’s magnet is, is going to save the day.

While technically it cannot hurt to use an mdp on your engine’s oil pan, it has no merit either. I’m not bagging on Titek since I know nothing about their products and I’m sure there are other companies that make mdps. I’m just making a point that mdps are useless. Some companies like to make products to increase sales so you can spend your hard earned money. That’s ok, but spend it on something that’s worth a shit.

Pointless magnetism…

I’m back from the land of plenty finally (1.32 billion population) and suffering from severe jet lag. It is now 4:26am and it is my third day of not being able to sleep normally. It sucks ass to be a living zombie. The day after I wrote my previous post I suffered from a severe case of the runs. I guess my stomach wasn’t so strong after all. We went to a pharmacy and the guy behind the counter said in Chinese, “You need this. It’s a mixture of western medicine and Chinese herbs.” I took 3 tablets and it immediately put a cork in my ass. I guess a country with sanitation issues should have the best medicine for the runs…

Earlier this morning, my buddy Phi-Masta of JDM sent me a link to this guys blog: The Best Page in the Universe. Maddox is the author and the site is hella funny to read. He’s kind of like Damessenjah from the Datruth, but he writes about mainstream subjects. Phi likened it to my writing style, but if I wrote like Maddox about the tuning scene, I would get shot with all the sensitive bitches on the forums. As much as I speak my mind, I’m sure I already have haters out there. That’s ok, screw them (or you if you’re a hater). I don’t even think I’m a shit talker. I just write about how things are in reality. Some dumb asses don’t like reality though. They want to live in their “mail in your ECU and we’ll flash it for a $49 perfect tune” world. BTW, a future post is coming on this bullshit with the help of Rich at Livid Macing. Anyhow, The Best Page in the Universe is definitely worth checking out.

I like this one: Fashion Tips for women from a guy who knows dick about fashion. Scroll to the bottom and you’ll definitely agree about “This makes you look pregnant.” I hate it when chicks wear that style of shirt/blouse or whatever a female top is called…

I’ve been in Shanghai since last week enjoying the city. My buddy Daniel opened a factory several years ago over here that does all sorts of metal working. His factory currently does work for some of the larger OEM vehicle manufacturers throughout the world and is ISO 9001 certified. So Daniel invited me to check it out to see if he could solicit some business from me. I figure that I talk all this crap about Chinamen companies so it was time to see for myself at a high end factory. Those of you who have been reading my blog know how I feel about manufacturers in China. To be honest though, I really went because it was an all expenses paid trip. Who in their right mind would pass that up? Despite the weak ass US Dollar, the $ still goes a long way in China so I knew I could act like a baller for a week or so.

I told Daniel before already that I didn’t think it would work out, but he was insistent on showing me anyway. It turns out that the factory isn’t capable of cranking out parts acceptable for high end/racing components. OEM quality is one thing. Top of the line, high end high performance and racing quality is another. Complex castings, billet machined aluminum with no surface imperfections, tube bending with zero tube crimping, etc. is actually far beyond OEM quality. Some believe OEM quality is top notch, but actually it isn’t. OEM tolerances are great, but OEM parts are designed to be easy to manufacture, do not need to perform 100%, and simply do not need to look perfect. Next time pop the hood on a stock car and you will see simple castings with tooling and die marks all over them, machined aluminum with no anodizing or surface treatments, bent tubing with small crimps and matte finishes, etc. It’s actually easier to manufacture OEM quality parts and much more difficult to manufacture a high end aftermarket part. Imagine if you opened the box of your $1000+ intake manifold and you saw a rough surface finish with tool and die marks all over it and core shift with ports that do not match. Wouldn’t you be pissed? Well that’s how your OEM part comes on your stock engine. Why do OEM intake manifolds need to be ported? Because the ports do not match. Why do people polish intake manifolds? Becuase they look like shit when stock with tool and die marks all over the place. Why do people replace OEM intercooler piping (even the hard tubes) because they look like shit and are too small. You probably catch my drift now: you expect your high dollar top of the line high performance or racing part to be bad ass out of the box. What does this mean? This means that the machines, procedures, and designs must be better than OEM. This also means that manufacturing top of the line high performance racing quality parts cannot be done in China for now. Although Daniel’s factory is top notch for China (it really is), the machines and procedures aren’t good enough for high end high performance and racing components. However, parts for second and third tier manufacturers can be made in China although these guys will not use a factory even as good as Daniel’s. The factories these guys use make lawn chairs, pothole covers, copied Cannondale bike frames, and then copied car parts. You already know the companies that I bag on so I’ll leave it at that. You can read earlier posts and make the connections yourself.

I could write a book on this subject alone. Basically companies like HKS, Cosworth, or Tial would have to open a factory in _________ (fill blank with third world country name) and set up machines, procedures, and staff to make the manufacturing of high end racing components happen properly. HKS has done this in Thailand and Garrett has done this in Mexico. Garrett intercooler cores still look like shit right out of the box by the way. I don’t think any other company in our market has done this yet so before you consider purchasing a new part, find out where it’s made. It really is important unless you are in the market for a low end part. See here for what I mean by low end and important.

Anyhow, Shanghai is great. Parts of it is up to par with large cities in the Western world. Parts of it seem stuck in the 1940’s pre-cultural revolution. You might be walking down the street in an older part of town and you swear it smells like you are walking through a sewer. Then about 15 feet away, there are people cutting and preparing meat right outside the front of a restaurant. I have a pretty buff stomach so it hasn’t affected me yet luckily, but I could see how a westerner would come here and suffer profusely from food poisoning. Shanghai is also a smoker’s paradise because I really think there are more people that smoke than don’t smoke. You can light up virtually anywhere and not have to give a shit.

$40/night 4 star hotels, $11 60 minute foot massages, $25 90 minute full body messages (legit, no happy endings at $25), and big $3 lunches can be had daily if you stay out of the tourist areas. The night life is pretty amazing too if you know where to go. This is especially true for men since this is a male dominant society (freakin awesome). Lucky for me I have guides to show me around. Just like Tokyo, you can have just about any kind of entertainment you want except it costs about 1/3 of Tokyo. I believe that Shanghai has more high rise buildings than New York City. Shanghai is definitely grand. There are some good looking chicks in the city areas, but I think the average rating will go up in 5 years time. The city is growing FAST and the size of the middle class is growing with it. This means the chick rating average will go up too. It’s a whole different story at night though. As Whodini said, “The freaks come out at night.” Good times…

Food kicks ass here. Most of it is organically and locally grown.

“Peeing shrimp” are good. This is the first time I’ve had them.

You like fresh seafood? Pick it live and have it at your table in minutes.

They have higher octane fuel than we do. 97 octane costs about US$2.75/gallon. Yes, we are getting jacked in the states at $4.10/gallon for 91 octane.

Feel like taking a break? Exit the toll gates and pull over just like everybody else. The cops won’t stop you. Also, people drive crazy and pedestrians DO NOT have the right of way.

This is the extent of tuning. There aren’t many tuned cars at all.

Walking throughout the city, you see rabbits, mice, crickets, chickens, etc. for sale. The crazy part is that it’s all on the sidewalk. Walk around enough and you’ll find just about everything for sale on the sidewalks and small stores all over the city.

Parts of the city are new, clean, and well kept. If you took away all the crap Chinese market cars and replaced them with Japanese cars and trucks and took away the silly red inflated columns, you wouldn’t think twice if I told you this was Tokyo.

I have discovered the UTK. While killing time and checking out Jeff’s blog, he mentioned chickipedia. As Jeff said, why didn’t somebody think of this sooner?

Ultimate MILF - Monica Bellucci

Stephen Quinn who used to help out here and there at XS several years ago sent me an email telling me about a photo shoot he saw going on at Cal Poly Pomona (he’s going for his ME degree I think). Just outside the quad at the CLA building, was a photo shoot of the new Lancer OZ Ralliart something or other. I think it’s supposed to compete with the WRX and not the STI. Anyhow, here are some excerpts from Stephen’s email:

“…We THINK this is the new Lancer OZ Rally edition because my friend swears he saw that through the lens of his camera on the back of the car. I did not get any rear views of it so I cannot say…The car looked like an Evo X to me from a distance but I immediately noticed its lack of Brembo’s both front and rear. The wheels were also different than those of the Evo’s. They seem to be some sort of gunmetal version of the stock Lancer wheels. The thing that shocked me was the fact that the car had an intercooler. Mitsubishi’s previous excuses for the “Lancer OZ Rally” seemed to me like stiffer springs, bigger wheels, and a few badges here and there. If this thing does have the Evo X motor, Mitsubishi has REALLY stepped up their game. The car does not have the wider front fenders like the Evo but does have an identical hood to it. The front facia looks a mixture of the Evo’s agressive lip with the stock look of the Lancer bumper. Car looked pretty sweet. Let me know what you think!”

It looks like an EVO X from far. Just like some chicks: good from far, but far from good. I’m sure the press will beat the crap out of the car and tell us what they think.

What do I think Stephen? Personally I think it looks a bit too close to a EVO X. I’d be pretty pissed if I bought an EVO X for $38k and some kid rolls up with the same looking car for $25k. When you look at a WRX and STi you can clearly see the difference in levels of trim. I hope we’ll be able to tell the difference with the EVO X and the OZ Rally.

Ed Loh from Motortrend Magazine tells me this car is the Lancer Ralliart edition. No OZ, not rally, just Ralliart.

Told you so:

Jesse sent me a link to a local forum in Orlando where a Neon clutch decided to blow itself up at 8000rpm. Oh sorry, I meant SRT-4. Same shit. Should you be surprised? No, because you are a dedicated reader of my kick ass blog. Na, for real though: heed my warning and get yourself a multi-plate clutch if you’re trying to make big power. This guy probably didn’t know any better and went for the discount $500 clutch that the manufacturer promised would do the job. Guess what? He’s going to spend well over $4000 for the repairs now. What makes anybody think they can spend $10k on horsepower and $500 for clutch? Beats the shit out of me…For more pics of the destruction, check out this link: Orlando Forums.

Cruising the web, I googled ‘Cosworth’. On the first page, ‘Mahle Powertrain’ popped up. I clicked it and looked under history and there is a fairly detailed time line on Cosworth’s history. For those of you who don’t know, Cosworth Engineering was the company that Mike Costin and Keith Duckworth started back in 1958. There were many parties who bought and sold Cosworth throughout the years, but Audi purchased the entire Cosworth company back in 1998 and sold Cosworth Racing to Ford. The engineering, castings, and manufacturing units continued operating as Cosworth Technologies. In 2005 Cosworth Technologies was purchased by Mahle Powertrain. The division that we all know and love for the Subaru, Mitsu, and Nissan parts is Cosworth Racing. It is also where I report for duty everyday.

If you have some spare time, and you probably do if you’re reading this, check these links out:

1929-1979

1980-1999

2000+

If you have lived in the forest for the last 30 years, have no idea why a Subaru long block costs $17,000 from Cosworth, or are just too young to know, then you should read this book: Cosworth: The Search for Power. I read this book cover to cover when I first started working for Cosworth. If you are a genuine car nut then you’ll enjoy the read about Cosworth’s illustrious history. If you’re not a genuine car nut, then go back to reading Performance Auto Sound or HCI magazine.

This may be old news to some of ya’ll, but a buddy of mine’s just sent me the link to this today. I’m not up to date in kiddyland (evo forums). AMS (the real one), the EVO tuners in the USA based out of Chicago, IL, has got their drag EVO 8 up to 1130whp on a Garrett GT42 @ 51psi of boost (I was told…ask AMS for details). I have no idea what kind of fuel that’s on, but the tuner was wearing a gas mask which tells me they might be using methanol. Regardless, 1130whp out of a 4 cylinder is pretty buff. Martin and crew know their shit.

Edit 5/6/08: Mark from AMS tells me they are using only VP Import fuel.

I have always been a firm believer in multi-plate clutches, but of course it will always depend on the application. I noticed there seems to be a general lack of clutch knowledge. Here’s a quick primer on clutch selection in the form of some Q&A’s:

1. How high of an RPM will you be turning the engine?
OEM style factory replacement high performance clutches do have their place. Generally, OEM style stamped steel cover clutches are designed for just that: OEM applications. They are heavy, flexible, and are manufactured less precisely with larger tolerances. Because they are flexible, heavy, and tend to disengage slowly, they usually cannot slow the input shaft down fast enough for you to slam the next gear. What happens? You grind gears and break clutch parts because of this. Lightweight, unsprung hub copper discs can help in this department, but you will often get chatter and super small engagement point which makes street driving a bitch. Clutch companies modify the fulcrum point of the diaphragm to increase leverage. This creates a higher pressure for less pedal effort, but then the stamped steel cover starts to flex more. If your engine is going to be making slightly more power, but with only a minor increase in RPM, then an OEM style replacement high performance clutch is probably ok for you. For the OEM style factory replacement high performance clutches, I always use ACT clutches. Dirk makes the best OEM style clutches hands down.

2. I will be turning 9000rpm, but my stock redline is 7000rpm. Will an OEM style replacement clutch work for me?
The short answer is no. Don’t be a fucking tight ass. If you spent the money to be making power up at 9000rpm, you’ve obviously spent some serious money. Get yourself an HKS, OS Giken, Exedy, or Tilton (if you can afford one).

3. The clutch company says their clutch will handle 850whp. Everybody’s doing it, why can’t I?
Just because Tom jumps off the bridge doesn’t mean you should too. The simple reality is that OEM style high performance clutches just are not designed for this kind of power. See pictures below of a failure due to high power and high rpm. Don’t believe the hype people.

4. Why is a multi-plate clutch better?
Multiple plates mean more friction surfaces. A twin plate has twice the friction, a triple plate has triple the friction, and so on. This huge increase in friction is with minimal expense in pedal pressure also. Remember the last time you drove your buddy’s Supra with the double throwdown 3600lb pressure plate? Did you also notice your buddy’s Popeye left leg? Sure, the clutch grabs harder, but your left calf is fucked, the cover is flexing, the hydraulics will fail sooner, the thrust bearings in the engine can fail sooner, etc. There’s nothing but negatives. Don’t be a fucking tight ass and get a multi-plate please.

5. V-8 guys have been running stamped steel covers with 800ft-lbs of torque for the last 30 years! You’re full of shit. Why should I listen to you?
Don’t listen to me you dumb pile of shit. Built V-8’s have relatively low redlines compared to small ass Japanese engines. A hot small block revs to what, 7000rpm? A hot big block revs to maybe 6000rpm? Even the V-8 guys who rev high are smart and either get multi-plates, automatics, or planetary geared drag transmissions like a Lenco and they use slipper clutches. It’s rare for high power, high revving V-8’s outside of NASCAR to run manual transmissions because most of them are drag fanatics. And guess what kind of clutch NASCARs run? You got it: multi-plates.

6. Why do they seem to only have multi-plate clutches for heavier 4WD cars?
This one’s pretty obvious: because it’s harder on the clutch. With a Skyline GT-R that weighs 3600lbs and makes 600whp, try dropping the clutch at 8000rpm next time and tell me what happens to your SPEC brand OEM style clutch? You got it: you’ll fry the living shit out of it if you don’t break something else shifting. The new generation of heavy 4WD cars like the STI, EVO, and GT-Rs (ex. R35) will require multi-plate clutches if you want any serious results.

Before 8200rpm and 800whp. See that thin ass strap trying to hold the stamped steel cover to that big ass piece of iron? There are only 3 of those mass produced, manufactured by some 60 year old grandma in some desolate factory town in some third world country standing in front of a giant hydraulic press that is trying to keep things together. Mass production and old ladies equal only mediocre quality control. That’s ok for 260whp though.

What happened to grandma’s strap? After two shifts at 8200rpm and 800whp a rivet gave up and/or the strap failed. I’m not going to mention any brand names though. You can see that the transmission case is cracked. It’s a fucking damn good thing that pieces of clutch and flywheel didn’t go through the trans case, floor pan and chop off my fucking legs.

Generally, I’d say an OEM style replacement clutch is good for about +100whp and another 500rpm beyond factory redline and that’s even pushing it a bit. Anything beyond this kind of power or RPM, get a multi-plate and save yourself a transmission, left calf, engine, hydraulics, and/or even maybe a leg. Remember high quality car parts are not cheap. Be sure to always pick the right part for the job even if it costs you an arm and a leg (pun not intended).

My buddy Yasu wrote a feature in this month’s Carboy Magazine on Edwin Konishi - otherwise known as EDMATIC. Back in 1997 (if I remember correctly) Jerry from Pacific Rim asked me, “Hey, do you need anybody to help out at XS? I know a guy who went to high school with you, but he’s like 3 or 4 years younger.” This was only a year after Troy and I started XS and for our first year it was only Troy, Peter, and myself working nearly 7 days a week and somewhere between 12-16 hours a day. XS was growing and we did indeed need more help. Edmatic came on board in late 1997 or early 1998 (I don’t remember exactly) and worked at XS for about 7 years while attending Cal Poly Pomona and getting his degree. Edmatic was a hard worker and he definitely contributed to the team. He was especially good at changing rod bearings, sealing oil pans, and drilling flanges. After graduating with his Mechanical Engineering degree at Cal Poly and trying to figure out what to do for a short while, he got a job at Cosworth working in Champ Car track support. About a year ago, Eddie moved in to the engineering department here at Cosworth USA and is designing engine dyno installs and dry sump oiling systems at the moment. From high school kid, to all around mechanic/helper/builder at XS Engineering, to Cosworth Champ Car track support, and finally Cosworth engineer: good job Eddie.


Eddie is also well versed in SR20 wiring, race car telemetry, general wrenching and Unigraphics CAD software.

Eddie even autographed this page for me. Superstar!