Starting the Prelude upgrades...

First is first, get it inspected!

But I don't have a temp tag... so off I went to the local MO DMV. They said I need an inspection first before I get a temp tag. How do I drive without a tag, I asked the lady after waiting for about 15 minutes in line. She said, "Just carry around your title and insurance, you are allowed to for up to 30 days from the date of purchase". Ok, so off I went back home on a hot Monday evening.

Went to see Abg. Ramli to show him (and his family, Dzakiyy included) the car. They all loved it, took them around, hit a couple VTEC moments, pretty cool! Then I noticed that when I turn left, and there's a bump (the driveway, in this case) - the tire would rub the dented LH fender. The dent is from a hit-and-run truck that backed up into the fender a year back, never got fixed... Hmm, I thought - if I was to replace the bald tires (I mean, very bald!) with new ones, it would rub more! I need to replace the fender ASAP too!

So today, I ordered:

- 2 x Fuzion ZRi 205/55/15 Summer tires to match the rears from tirerack.com ($71 ea + $25 S+H). Apparently the guy never rotated his tires, hence the 2 bald tires... *sigh*.

- LH Driver side front fender ($125 + $25 S+H) - primered.

- Genuine Honda spark plug wires for the car at Honda of Tiffany Springs ($76.55).

And soon:

- Oil change at Jiffy Lube (Pennzoil regular 10W-30).

- Genuine Honda oil filter ($8/ea with 10% discount for over 3 purchased).

- Pending: Paint the fender - I was advised that running with primer is not a good idea.

- 4 x NGK Laser Platinum spark plugs - PZFR6F-11.

That's it that I can think of for now - coolant will need to be flushed soon, and I need to figure out how to get the stereo working optimally. Pictures soon.

Just kidding

I was just kidding that I will always wear a mask. I want to follow Wasil and Amin. They are brave enough to not wear a mask.

Finally...

I bought a car.

1994 Honda Prelude VTEC $1800.00

Mileage: 190,000 miles

Excellent mechanical condition, engine does not leak nor burn any oil. Mechanically speaking there are no issues. Body has usual Honda rust, and the front left fender needs replaced (hit and run @ parking lot - a pickup truck backed into it). To-dos: New set of front tires, oil change after 100 miles, and treat the leather!

Specs

- Leather

- Granada Black Pearl NH-503P

- 58% front and 42% rear weight distribution

- 4-wheel power-assisted disc brakes with ABS

- 5-speed manual transmission

- Driver and passenger front airbags

- 7-speaker audio system (stock)

- Directional, nine spoke alloy 15-inch wheels (~15 lbs)

- Electro-luminescent gauge displays

- Suspension: 4-Wheel Upper Wishbone, Lower Control Arm

- Stabilizer Bar (mm, front/rear): 25.4/23.0
- Steering Type: Variable-Assist Power Rack-and-Pinion

- Steering Wheel Turns, Lock-to-Lock: 2.9

- Turning Diameter, Curb-to-Curb (ft.): 35.9

Exterior Dimensions

- Wheelbase (in.): 100.4
- Length (in.): 174.8

- Width (in.): 69.5
- Height (in.): 50.8
- Track (in., front/rear): 60.0/59.6
- Ground Clearance (in.): 5.7
- Curb Weight (lbs., MT): 2932
- Coefficient of Drag (Cd): .33

Engine
- Type: Aluminum-alloy in-line 4

- Displacement: 2157 cc

- EPA Estimate: 22/26 mpg

- Horsepower@rpm (SAE net): 190@6800
- Torque (lb.ft.): 158@5500
- Compression Ratio: 10.0:1
- Valve Train: 16-Valve DOHC VTEC
- Fuel Induction System: PGM-FI
- Ignition System: Electronic

Gear Ratio

1 - 3.307
2 - 1.950
3 - 1.360
4 - 1.071
5 - 0.870
FD 4.266

Interior Dimensions
- Headroom (in., front/rear): 38.0/35.1
- Legroom (in., front/rear): 44.2/28.1
- Shoulder Room (in., front/rear): 54.0/50.6
- Hiproom (in., front/rear): 52.2/41.4
- Cargo Volume (cu. ft.): 7.9
- Interior Volume (cu. ft.): 80.2

Capacities
- Fuel (gal.): 15.9

"Knew Editir"

I must first thank Amin for inviting me to be an editor for this glamorous blog. I have not paid back his generosity by adding some awesome posts to this blog just yet, for I have not had the opportunity to "to waste his [my] time contributing" as my colleague (Amin) has mentioned. I will not wear a mask and a hat to show that I am a editor; I feel entirely confident with my natural look. I don't care if anyone knows my true identity, but I agree that "you can never be to (sic) careful."

~Wasil

Meet Dz

Hey (below), welcome to my little corner! Our new editors should make this blog a bit less boring. Although for sure Wasil will never going to waste his time contributing, I'm sure these new facetious editors will.

Meet Dz, my new adopted brother. Since my brothers are so far away, I need someone here locally to pick on and practice my superiority. Wahahahaha!

I like St. Louis, one of my favorite cities to date. The Gateway St. Louis arch looks like that mysterious planet in Halo. Pretty amazing, definitely one of the 'must-see' landmarks in the USA. Only thing that can top this, so far, is the Niagara Falls and the Petronas Tower. Did I mention there's this shop that has Halal Philly Cheese Steak?! Hell yeah!

Its L-man

Well first I must thank Amin for inviting me to this luxurious blog. I will pay back his generosity by adding some awesome posts to this blog. I will wear a mask and a hat to show that I am a editor. None shall know my true identity! MUWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

New Editer

Hi, I am a new editor for this glamorous blog. First I would like to thank Amin, who invited me to this blog. I will pay you back with my very interesting posts

As you know, I would not want to show my identity to the world, so I will always be wearing a mask. You can never be to careful.

Ok, this is just a heads up. Cool.

Cleaner Air

Do you know that some cars have a cabin air filter? This filter is just for your air circulation and conditioning system in the car. Yes, it's the air you breathe inside the car. It is recommended that the air filter is changed every 7,500 miles or 6 months. It probably lasts much longer and you can tell when it is going bad once you smell the mildew and mold after a wet, humid day. It is also time to change when your windows tend to fog up quicker than normal and your A/C just doesn't seem that cold anymore.

We (Aishah and I) are using two cars. I did some research and what I found is interesting.

The 2007 Subaru Impreza does have one located behind the glove box. It takes about 9 or so screws to expose the filter. A replacement filter is only obtainable through the dealer for an enormous price of $70.

The 2004 Ford Focus has a spot for one, but apparently in the USA it does not come with a filter installed. Oh why does the Europeans get better Fords than the U.S.? The filter however is available OEM for as low as $15 dollars. Now I really wish that I knew about this sooner, it's about 70,000 miles and 6 years too late! It'd serve my dad really well with his 2hr commute...

For the Ford Focus, I bought the replacement filter at Wal-Mart. They don't have the cheaper Purolator $15 part, but they do have a more expensive FRAM with Arm & Hammer odor protection for $30. I figure it is a good investment for a better overall health - and it should help a lot with Aishah's seasonal allergies. Changing the part doesn't require much - about 5 tabs later, the filter area is accessible. Interestingly, in the bay area where the filter is, I found a rat nest! It's about the same size if not bigger than the rat's nest I found on my Prelude in 2004! No wonder the car has been smelling rather 'interestingly' in the past especially when its wet and humid out! My money on the same field rat that was in the Prelude. I sold the prelude to a good friend of mine in 2006, the rat probably needed a new home and moved to the Focus.

For the Subaru Impreza, the car do come with a filter, but wasn't touched until now. It has been about 2 years that the filter hasn't been replaced. As expected, the filter has dusts/mold/junk trapped. Glad we're not breathing that anymore! To replace the stock filter, I did not buy the official filter from the dealer. Instead, as per guides online, I bought a Filtrete 1500 Home Filter to be cut and then used inside the Subaru. It costs $30, but I get 6 filters out of it. That amounts to about 3-4 years worth of supply! Beats spending $70 + labor to have it replaced at the dealership! The filter has the finest pores, even finer than the official ones. Hopefully this will reduce the mildew smell that sometimes present in the car. This is probably because the car is always in the basement garage, used 1-2 times a week. Hopefully this will also help reduce allergies that sometimes bug Aishah after a long trip in the car.

Finally, a step toward a healthier life!

Interesting find...

My Illustrator class back at Penn State...

Before...

After...

Like it?

IHS EV Project (part 2)

Software and Code:

Source codes: ihsEVMain.txt, ihsEVMotor.txt

Specifications: EVcompetitionRules (pdf), arduino-duemilanove-spec (pdf), arduino-duemilanove-schematics (pdf), Hbridge-sn754410-spec (pdf)

Arduino tutorial: I highly suggest you visit this site and spend a couple hours with the activities

Arduino Development Environment Setup:

1. Head to Arduino's download page and get your favorite client (we are demonstrating the Mac OS X 0014 client below)
2. Install/unzip
3. Open the application (Vista users need to run the .bat file)
4. RENAME the first tab to: ihsEVMain
5. Create a new tab and name it: ihsEVMotor
6. in ihsEVMain tab, paste in the code from ihsEVMain.txt
7. in ihsEVMotor tab, paste in the code from ihsEVMotor.txt
8. Click on the play button to verify the code
9. If you see "Binary sketch size: 3756 bytes (of a 14336 byte maximum)", congratulations! If not you need to re-copy/paste the source code.
10. Click on the save button to save your work. This is important to do often!
11. Once the EV is hooked up via USB, you can upload the code
12. HAVE FUN!

IHS EV Circuit here (pdf, quick and dirty Word mock-up)

Hope this helps and will aid in better understanding of the EV car concept in general. The code ihsEVMotor shouldn't be touched, and the only variables that we want to customize is in ihsEVMain. Those variables are int trackLength, and int rollingStop. Remember we not only want a perfect stop distance wise, we want the time of running to be precise also.

BONUS: This video is on the little LED lights counting down to launch, inspired by "The Dragster" in Cedar point. If you look closely, I first pressed the pushbutton on the Arduino micro-controller to reset the board. Then I pressed the pushbutton on the breadboard to start the EV. At the competition, a dowel rod should be used for the 2nd button. Enjoy!