[hondadude]

Phew! This should be a must read for anyone and everyone who wants to mod their cars.

[ScarySkulls]

Rahul. I feel so bad after reading all this.
You are very right when you say you need to do you homework first, and need to go to someone who knows his ****.

I'll be honest with you when I say this. People like me who live so far from Bangalore simple curse our luck for not being there. Simply because of the brilliance of one wise old man.
All I can do is send a DD and order parts for my bike n car from him. Never gone further than that.

You are in Bangalore and you still missed seeing the obvious logic. Cant understand why. Honestly.
Did you have too much money to waste on experiments?

I, for one, would go to only someone who can prove his tuning skills and reliability an examining HIS OWN bike/car.

[mclaren1885]

Originally Posted by v1p3r

I think the word you're looking for here is responsibility.

True that. If listening to your friends who have some technical knowledge about engines and carrying out mods is being irresponsible, yes i am irresponsible.. If letting friends drive your car to let them have some fun is being irresponsible, yes i am.. If considering oneself being in good hands is being irresponsible, yes i am.. If trusting my tunner's workmanship and not subjecting him to cross-questioning is being irresponsible, yes i am..
If giving an honest feedback which was never paid heed to and which most of the times is laughed off due to my not-so-technical knowledge is being irresponsible,yes i am.. if you wish to say something say it directly rather than beating around the bush.

JFYI, the penultimate service carried out on my car was done with the engine oil left over from all the boxes i had collected in the last three months. So kindly check your facts before you post something.

[Jaggu]

that was a hell lot of experience, hope you got your car back to stock (signature) and she is running well.

now, take one step at a time, gather your info, and decide what you will do if you want more performance.

these are costly lessons, learn and move forward.

all the best.

cheers
Jaggu

[paras211]

after all this i wouldnt even think of any more mods let alone a turbo

you really are brave .

[Harrie]

Originally Posted by mclaren1885

1. It is my driving. Pedal to metal. Engine can't take it. I can vouch that during the period of the first two rebuilds the car was driven hard for about 500kms in total. Pune-Bombay expressway, Nandi Hills drive.

Thatz why we mod the car or buy a modded car right? To drive pedal to the metal?

4. High compression is not the way to get max power on a NA engine. Its the least reliable way.

NA High Compression

6. Never do any mods, that you don't understand.

9. A.S.S is very important in the art of modding your car too. Without it, you life is HELL!

When you have a modded car I guess its up to you to make sure the work is done properly. I personally supervise even water wash after the little oil ficaso.

Rahul I have learnt after the last track day that NA high comp high revving engines drink oil almost as fast as they drink fuel. I had to pour 1 lit of Mobil 1 after the last track day alone.

[JayD]

Hey rahul, i appreciate your spirit(and bravery!) fow wanting a tc setup after all this!! also, hats off to your dad for supporting you(especially financially) through all this. Most people would be on the street car and all, if they did this to the family car!!!

[flipsyde]

sorry about your car rahul...... looks like you bumped and scraped thru all the obstacles and finally hit the wall!!

dunno how true this holds but when you plan to mod your car to the max you have to pay the price for it. (yeah you paid quite a bit)

when i got ICE installed in the scorpio a while back i understood what professionalism runs in the after-market car industry....... it was a sad and bitter experience.

like ananth kamath said..... if you want to do something right...... do it yourself. worked well for me!!

[rider60]

well Mr.merc i am so sorry for the losses you suffered, and the total modding not being successful to your expectations, man this is the kind of obsession seen in the most successful business men, scientists and the people on top today and i have deep respect for that!

i too wanted to mod my unicorn to increase it power from 13.5bhp stock to 17+bhp and now i have realized that no matter what i do i should never mess with the engine's head and the piston thanks for the moral.

i will only get a free flow exhaust, get sprocket set changed, get a k&n and up size the jets but will not bore the engine to higher capacity as planed earlier and enjoy what ever the increase in power is! will stick to the second category of people who are happy with minimal mods!

[ajrage]

The write up is nice and is a sad story. You are right mclaren,a driver will always trust his tuner and it does not make a difference even if he has technical knowledge or not. As i m a doc i relate cars and tuners as patients and doctors.
tc dude.

[redrage]

Originally Posted by Shan2nu

Despite all temptations, he's left the internals of his engine, untouched.

Shan2nu

Can definetly vouch for that one , without using forgerd parts / performance cam what not , wolfies car is something else.

[GTO]

Mac, really sorry to hear about your ordeal. An unreliable car can cause a lot of heartburn as is evident in your case. I have yet to see a *reliable* heavily modified car....atleast in Bombay. My Jeep episode alone was a fiasco with money down the drain. Hopefully in 2008, I should have it running on a stock diesel setup.

This is precisely why I have become averse to stage three grade modifications; atleast if the car is to be used on a daily basis. You want a fast car? Then buy a stock car that is fast from day one and put some marginal mods on it (e.g. the Skoda RS). I am really enjoying my Vtec right now, what with the minimal mods boosting driving pleasure as well as maintaining the reliability.

However, I will reserve my judgement on your case until both sides of the story are told.

[rks]

Originally Posted by GTO

I have yet to see a *reliable* heavily modified car....atleast in Bombay. [...]
This is precisely why I have become averse to stage three grade modifications; atleast if the car is to be used on a daily basis.

Hyundai is supposed to have test-driven the Santro for over 100000 kms on Indian roads before introducing it into the Indian market. All that goes out the window the moment modifications are done. I do not think any systematic study of the reliability of various modifications has ever been done, in the sense that we do not know the long-term harmful effects on engine, suspension, steering etc.

In my case I fitted alloy wheels at 44800 kms. The offset of these alloys is 20 mm lower than that of stock (stock offset = 46 mm). At 58000 kms, the shocks and steering components were rapidly failing and the car's high-speed handling around corners became dangerously bad. Now shocks have been replaced along with some steering components and the orginal reliable handling has been restored. I have a doubt as to what role the lower offset alloys played in this somewhat premature failure of suspension/steering components, as opposed to my enthusiastic driving style.

Edit: I am now worried about the wheel bearings; these have done over 15000 kms since the switch to low-offset alloys, which, I am told, put more stress on the wheel bearings. Upon specifically asking the Hyundai authorized service stations at both Mumbai and Pune to check these bearings, I get the reply that "You will know when the bearings are failing, no need to check". And further, they are alleging that the wheel bearings have to be replaced once they are dismantled. The poor quality of A.S.S. adds to the worries about unexpected failure of vital components, and modifications will only worsen this scenario.

My friend who owns a Getz (2005, 1.3 lit) tells me that the Getz manual advises not to use premium petrol, with the explanation that the additives used to improve engine performance will harm the engine in the long run. My Santro manual says no such thing and I am now using Speed 97 and there is a noticeable increase in pickup/smoothness. But is it harming the engine in the long term? I don't think so, but not too sure about it.

My point is that even very minor mods can have ill effects in the long term, and I doubt if any systematic study has ever been done, as compared to the way the manufacturers test their car before releasing it into the market.

[flipsyde]

Originally Posted by rider60

i too wanted to mod my unicorn to increase it power from 13.5bhp stock to 17+bhp and now i have realized that no matter what i do i should never mess with the engine's head and the piston thanks for the moral.

now hang on there..... i think this thread is starting to paint a very wrong picture. i'm pretty sure rahul's intent was not to discourage people from modifying their cars..... jus for them to understand the kind of compromise they'l be making by going over-board.

and rahul i'm sure you didn't expect your car to be as friendly as its stock counterparts. just that things went terrible wrong for you.

as RKS pointed out..... car makers spend so much time and money towards R&D and thats to give its consumers the best compromise between reliability and performance..... when we start fiddling around with whats physically and mechanically possible we're asking for trouble.

[faithless_1984]

Nice write up Mcl....this should act as an eye opener for people who trust there tuners blindly.