Auto Enthusiasts/gear Heads

[chonabot]

Pepe' heres a question for you.

My latest car is a v nice 1998 Alfa Romeo Spider .

It runs a 2 litre 16v Twin cam engine. Pushes out a reasonable 150 bhp , all standard running gear. What is the best way to increase torque and bhp , short of fitting a supercharger?

Not relevant to Los I agree but when did that stop me?

[KevinN]

Chon, I am not familliar with your engine,but you could maybe retime the cams and also fit a turbo, not as good as a blower but does add a lot of snoose with very little expense.I know that did wonders for my XK 150.

[BigA]

Vehicles from my past!

1964 Chevelle SS, 283 Powerglide

1967 Weiman Jet Boat 427 Ford Lowrise Berkley Jet Drive

1968 Pontiac Firebird 4spd w/ 400 from a Bonneville

1975 Bricklin SV1 351 W

1987 Buick Regal Type T 3.8 SFI Intercooled Turbo

The Buick was by far the fastest

The big knock on the Buicks and why they could never win at Indy is " same same" with the Thai Girls.

"The're fast but they don't last"

[BigA]

deleted

[Pepe']

chonabot,

That's a tough one for me without a turbo.

Supercharger + a cam with a higher lift and increased degree on intake stoke would be, I think, essential.

Also polish and port intake and exhaust manifold should not be to pricey but if you go that far why not go with regrinding larger valve seats and replacing stock valves. Of course at that point do the cam as well.

Rear differential how about a lower gear set up. I would think hard to get a hold of there. I'm not expert on drive train but you could see what would be an easy affordable swap. Differentials in cars like yours should be fairly simple to work on.

Either have the manual or I would sometimes draw pictures, write notes and always lay parts on in a line so I could remember reassemby sequence.. Hard to go wrong that way.

Simplest of course if availible see if you can replace the stock chip, install full headers and whatever kind of "flow through" catalytic converter muffler combo is rated best.

Last thought, can you set up a scoop to just naturally aspirate cold forced air. into the throttle body.

[davethailand]

chon, as pepe says, re-chip the engine (superchips), a performance exhaust system (loose the cat), K&N induction kit, then after that the moneys starts to rise.

[Pepe']

Chip and exhaust are the easiest but it's rare to gain over 15% that way.

[chonabot]

Cheers Pepe'/Kevin/Dave, gives me a few ideas , and keeps this thread alive too! I think a decat is next , followed by a remap/chip , or maybe I'll sell it and buy the 3litre version , nah that would be too easy...

[Pepe']

Here's an idea why not get the 3 liter emodel and put the chip and the headers on that!

[taxexile]

the rear parcel shelf of my 1999 thrustmobile 4 litre thumpomatic is in need of a serious re working.

would you guys recommend the cuddly garfields or should i go for a barbie at either end with a fluffy mickey mouse in the middle.

at the moment i'm running with a battery operated jesus and a couple of kids on board stickers.

[BKKdreaming]

I would think a bobble head doll would work well

dogs were always good , as were LA Dodgers,

Now maybe a water buffalo bobblehead might be a good one for Thailand

ummmm maybe I need to put patent pending on that one

[taxexile]

Now maybe a water buffalo bobblehead might be a good one for Thailand

or a bobblehead bar girl in close proximity to grinning farang.

[Pepe']

I was going to reccomend a bobbel head Barbi but life size like one of those blow up dolls.

[davethailand]

you forgot the gold tissue box.

[Pepe']

No in Thailand it would be a gold toilet paper cover

[taxexile]

you forgot the gold tissue box.

that's kept on the dashboard, it helps keep the bright red nylon dash cover in place,

its the rear parcel shelf that needs the tweaking, and short of buying a second hand honda from a beautician in khorat it's just something that i'll have to work on myself. i've been looking at cushions, but cant find the right shade of lime green.

[Pepe']

You're forgeting tassles and fringe?

[Guest chingy]

this is what you need my friend

[davethailand]

what a waste, mustangs deserve better

[Pepe']

That's too weird duuuuude

[taxexile]

come on , this is serious.

i need some good advice. my revolving jesus is is getting too sun faded, i could re-incarnate him with some paint and a good clean but it wont be enough.

tissue boxes and toilet roll embroidery have been done to death.

help me get out of parcel shelf purgotary and enter into rear window wonderland.

[chonabot]

come on , this is serious.

i need some good advice. my revolving jesus is is getting too sun faded, i could re-incarnate him with some paint and a good clean but it wont be enough.

tissue boxes and toilet roll embroidery have been done to death.

help me get out of parcel shelf purgotary and enter into rear window wonderland.

I recommend driving her down to HuaHin , hiring Erco's wife and Mother to have a world records breaking gangbang , entertaining the forces of Thailand's Navy ( they will be docking late May) obviously the gangbag will take place in the car.

Replace the Jesus with the head of Erco/Goosethai / whoever , use the issues to clean up the ensuing snail trail mess....

<deleted> , just buy a new one,,,,

[Crash999]

I can't get over the prices though 2.2m = about $52,000 here

1.4 = allost $36,000.  I keep wondering if it is worth it to bring a car over.

By sallon car you mean like a 7 series or some thing like that.?

If your up to it you can remove the pads caliper and roter.  Sand down the roter well on both sides, I used an orbital hand sander with medium emry cloth,  and rough up the brake pad as well.  If that doesn't do it it sounds like the caliper piston is not engaging correctly.  That is unless something else in the assembly may be loose.

Hi Pepe,

Worry... I don't read this forum often enough as I'm so far behind on the auto threat!

Unfortunately, importing cars won't get you around the high costs of running a car here as you'll be hit with import duty, excise tax, municipal tax, and VAT! Here's a great site that lets you calculate on your own how much tax you'd be paying on a car you'd bring in: http://www.thai-la.net/legalize/car-impt.htm

It's amazing that a car like a Mazda RX-8, that may cost 1.4m baht fully loaded in the US will fetch 3.6m Baht here!

By saloon car I meant a car with four doors, not a coupe or sports car. If I had around 1.4m to spend again I'd probably go for another used BMW 318 as I think it's the best value right now in terms of a cheaper car with a bit of luxury. Only negative is that there are a lot of them around.

Already replaced the rotors and pads, but the noise/vibration is still there- though not all the time. Might be a problem with the caliper assembly... dunno! When I took it to the dealer he said it's common to all BMWs and showed me another one with the exact same vibration. But it's too much- and now the vibration has a noise- metal to metal contact, so something is obviously amiss.

Cheers!

[Goat Roper]

i wish i can buy a set of Snap-On tool, can't seem to find any, any of you guy seen any in bangkok.

labor is cheap in thailand so most people bring in their car for services, but the problem about mechanics in thailand is that they don't seem to put thing back the way they took it out, certain tool are meant to work with certain part but they use any kind of crap tool they see, a missing wire mean that you did something wrong, for them is if it work who care about the rest of the part. I usually work on my own car, even changing my own oil

There was a Snap-on authorized dealer in Jawaraj (China town Bangkok) a few years back (~6), I was in his shop once, didn't stock much but had BIG catalogs. Maybe check Snapon's URL.

[Goat Roper]

personally i like the mitsibushi strada, the new engine though 2800 turbo intercooler,

i like the tigers but i feel like i'm to close to the windscreen, (i'm 6ft2")

i've looked at all of them and i prefer the mitsibushi, (lovely interior)

i have to say though the isuzu looks really nice with some nice wheels etc

Toyota is coming out with new models I think in August this year, maybe can save a few bucks by taking some leftover old stock.

[Goat Roper]

i wish i can buy a set of Snap-On tool, can't seem to find any, any of you guy seen any in bangkok.

labor is cheap in thailand so most people bring in their car for services, but the problem about mechanics in thailand is that they don't seem to put thing back the way they took it out, certain tool are meant to work with certain part but they use any kind of crap tool they see, a missing wire mean that you did something wrong, for them is if it work who care about the rest of the part. I usually work on my own car, even changing my own oil

There was a Snap-on authorized dealer in Jawaraj (China town Bangkok) a few years back (~6), I was in his shop once, didn't stock much but had BIG catalogs. Maybe check Snapon's URL.

Thailand

Snap-on Tools

International, LTD.

Asia Pacific Division

e-mail: [email protected]

[Guest chingy]

are they in bangkok

[tutsiwarrior]

fukc snap-on...get Sears Craftsman, does the job just as well with the same product guarantee

[Goat Roper]

are they in bangkok

They were about six years ago, send them an email and find out.

[Pepe']

Tutsi,

I don't know that I would fukc snap on because I do love Craftsman, tools that is.

Seriously Craftsman has been my favorite for years and I have a pretty complete set of hand tools and other power tools. Actually can't be beat.

I have had a couple of sets of Sockets and wrenches fron Taiwan. One of them is about twenty years old. I did just break a 17 mm socket this past weekend taking off a lug nut on the M3.

My buddies used to really bust my balls about using these tools years ago.

Last year I bought a beautiful huge set of sockets and wreches from Costco made in China in a tool box. I think the set was $50.

How do they do it. God bless forced slave labor I guess

The interesting thing is now I've heard that most of Craftsmen's stuff is made in Taiwan? and the price of hand tools has gotten much more competitive than they used to be.

Bottom line, unless you doing some very heavy nut busting the cheap sockets are just as good as the more expensive ones. It's only the larger size ones that I've broken over the years.