Car Audio upgrade! Do we buy what we really need?

I have written a lot about car audio upgrade and advised my blog readers with the right equipment. But there seems to be inconvenience to many who plan to upgrade and that is handling the vendors/installers.

You have a friendly neighborhood installer and you trust him to do your install and finally end up with a system that does not suit your need or listening style. What do you do?

There are very good installers in few cities in our country and most importantly people who understands the technology and customer requirements with the ability to recommend or install kit/hardware that match the customer's listening style and the type of music based on some basic inputs that the customer share with the vendor/installer. In Chennai there are at least 3 vendors I know who are capable of handling customers better and yes with technical expertise in the domain.

Though we have good installers do we really have to turn ourselves in to the hands of some self proclaimed experts or even the genuine guys? Its time we pulled our socks up and apply some mind, time and energy to research and read reviews of different products and not blindly go with some local vendors who has little knowledge about car audio acoustics.

To start with finalize on what you really want from a car stereo.

When you drive you want a car audio system because:

1. Some music to break the silence when you are alone and quality does not matter

2. You are a serious music buff and would love precise and perfect note from the system

3. Show Off, loud music/sound is the way you want it. Have many heads turn and look at you

Depending on one out of the three requirements as listed above, the hardware needs to decided upon and install the same. Remember have a budget in mind before you start deciding on anything.

For many years we have heard of Pioneer, JBL, Blaupunkt, Polk Audio and recently some of the well known brands in the USA and Europe like Rockford Fosgate, Kicker, Morel, Infinity, Boston Acoustics, Rainbow a brand totally unknown to us many years ago are becoming household names. We as a market are now maturing and expanding our spatial need for quality music.

A friend of mine Aravind Sagar who owns a Chevy UVA had been telling me that he heard a system in a car owned by his friend that costed around 1.5 lakhs and it was not that impressive as he expected it to be. With popular brand speakers, fancy headunit that plays DVD as well it still did not have the punch and quality that one would want out of an expensive system. What we have to learn from this is that expensive system does not mean you get quality music or sound.

Aravind Sagar upgraded his system recently and he is very happy with the Rs.45000/ kit he had installed in his Chevy which he feels is a whole lot better than the expensive system that he had heard in his friend’s car.

Enjoy your music and install wisely.

Boston Accoustics speaker deals!

Grab a good deal on Boston Accoustics car audio systems from entry level to high end speakers, subwoofers and amps are available at 15% discount. Boston Accoustics have been installed on cars here in Chennai and it performs well for the price tag it carries.

The Z6 components are high performing speakers one of the best speakers in the product line and there are more on the product list. Please mail me at s.vicky@gmail.com for the speakers that you want and I shall help you with good discounts on the product.

Super Cars need elegant treatment!

Who says super cars are not meant for third world countries. There used to be a time, atleast during my young days I never got to see a Ferrari on my city streets. Some of our Indian film stars owned a Lotus, Porsches etc but a rare occassion to catch a glimpse of these cars atleast here in Chennai. Times have changed sometime, last year I see a Ferrari fly past me on IT highway, a Lambo prowling in the busy streets of Chennai and a Bentley on ECR(East Cost Road) cruising at high speeds flaunting its glorious size and having people gawking at its beauty.

Now I drool on the roads looking at these beauties for real than on a TV or a poster, I meant the cars ofcourse, unless some of you peverted minds thought otherwise. We dreamt of super cars on our streets and now it has become a reality but how do we treat these cars with all respect. Hmm! respect!, its all about maintainence, we would love to keep our cars as good as new and when it comes to an imported super car you need that extra attention. Here we have this store that has upgraded its facility to cater to the demanding needs of a super car when it needs a tire change.

Siremull Hirachand's Tyrestore in Chennai introduces the next generation tyre fitting equipment specifically designed for Runflat, Low/Ultra Low profile tyres. No nerve cracking moments from now on, dont have to worry about bead breaking, sidewall damage, damage to the sides of the alloy wheels and other pain areas that we usually face while changing rims or tyres. A new concept and with this machine no human effort is required to mount or un-mount any type of tyres and all this without the help of a bead removing lever.

The machine is controlled with a joystick that directs the robotic tool arm a wonderful thing to happen in our country.

Hope to see more interesting progress in this segement and wish to see more genuine tuners with sophisticated electronics to soup up our cars. Watch this space for more.

Camshafts that make a difference

Performance cams to boost your engine performance. Now how do we go about doing that? First, to identify the right configuration of the cam that would best match your car to get that perfect mod completed. Before we directly hit on performance, let us try to understand why car manufacturers never thought of using the cams that we upgrade to generate the same power. Performane mods and cam upgrades are possible in India. We have very few engine tuners in India and some of them are very very good. Read on.

Manufacturers are not ignorant of the technology or technical specifications of their engines to boost that extra power out of the block that we crave for, but there is a sacrifice need to be done that most of us would not find it impressing. When we talk about cam upgrade its 20 to 25bhp+ increase in power but at higher rpm, around 6000 to 7000rpm. Ideally we will not have our engines rev at such high rpm but yes it is nice to have that reserve power when we hit the highway or a friendly drag.

Sacrifce! sounds like a big thing, let me discect this word and explain it in detail. With the upgrade, at 2500 to 3000 rpm we will loose a good 5 to 10bhp of power which does not sound good. This means that everytime we accelerate through low rpm we have loss in power. Is there an alternate to this you may wonder!

The right cam for the right application, for the right engine. Start with a mild cam and increase power by 10bhp at low rpm. We are looking at an increase in power through lower rpm of 2000 to 3500.

There are cams for different applications in relation to engine configuration, they would list out like this:

Phase1 - Does not require any modification to install, this cam is meant for regular city drive which has a smooth tick-over, which increase power within the low mid-range. Any additional mod to the engine would enhance the cam's performance.

Phase2  - Here the cam is configured for better mid-range performance of the engine that does not compromise on low end torque. The tick over is noticeable when compared to the stock engine. A modification on the engine cylinder head and an upgraded fuel management system will have increase in performance and get the best out of the cam.
 
Phase3(in between Rally spec) - This cam will defenitely require better fuel management system and as the name of this phase reads, this cam can manage daily drive to work but little pain areas for the driver.

Phase4 - Generally used for race events only and its called as a race cam. A Cam configuration that is ideal for competetion races can again live up to your tamed driving on the streets as well and again with a sacrifice of comfort that you get from a stock spec car. This cam performs at high RPMs ranging from 6000RPM and above and this means there is loss of power at 3500RPM power-band. Here again with some add-on modifications and upgrades on the exhaust system and cylinder head of the engine, we could look at some serious power.

Phase5 - Finally we have a full Race camshaft which is only used for race. You really would not want to try this one to drive around in traffic.

Upgrades lined up for the Lancer!

The Lancer is geared up for the next set of upgrades, it has nothing to do with performance at the moment but got gauges to monitor the current status of the car. The Red Racer gauges are from Defi, the best gauges the motoring world has to offer. Oil Pressure and Water Temperature gauges have dropped in, got the tap and the sender to install the oil pressure gauge.

The crave to increase performance of the car, I have two choices up for grabs:

1. Overbore the engine and upgrade with second size pistons but with slight increase in the displacement of the cubic capacity of the engine
   
   
2. Replace the current head with a 4 valve head for more power. A mod at this level, I will have to piggyback a custom ECU for better fuel management and map for the new setup.
   
   
3. Get a GSR 1.8 ltr engine and then mod it further, this is a good option but works out expensive as the engine cost and the additional modding cost is not very invtiting
   
   
4. The great MIVEC engine swap, good power but I still have second thoughts on this upgrade does not excite me much, though could be a good investment

Counting the number of Horses?

An engineer, James Watt came up with the term horsepower and that’s when it all began. More horses is equal to more pulling power and man’s requirements for power never ended from the old ages of bull cart to the sophisticated cars of our time.


Tweak the ECU(Engine Computer Unit):
There are many aftermarket ECU that you can buy off the shelf. A remap of the ECU could give you some increase in performance giving an edge over the stock engines of the other cars of the same model on the street. We can also piggy back a secondary ECU to toggle between street and sport mode as seen on some of the high-end luxury sports cars. We have Racedynamics in India who does professional install.

Cold Air intake:
Improved airflow with the use of an Cold Air Intake system helps increase low end torque a little bit. This contraption will introduce cooler air into the combustion chamber of an engine which directly increases the power of the engine.


Free flow exhaust:
One of the components thats quick and ready to improve a car performance would be an upgrade of the Headers. The header makes it easier for the engine to push the combustion gases out. The engine pumps out its power through the back pressure created during the exhaust stroke. The valves open during the exhaust strokes and the pistons thrust the exhaust out of the cylinder and if there is any resistance to the piston then there is loss of power. Here is where an extra valve and larger one would help to increase and improve the flow of the gases.

Upgrade Engine head and cams:
The engine head and cams are one of the important component that influence the performance of a car. Overbore and sports spec cams can do a whole lot lot difference to the performance of the car. An overbore is where the diameter of the cylinder is increased based on the type of car and the engine’s cubic capacity. A larger size piston is replaced to match the new modified cylinder. This would increase compression of the engine which will churn out more power and you will find significant difference in performance having this mod done.

Pedders suspension upgrade

You are on a highway topping around 160kmph and there is a curve up ahead. What are you going to do? Tempted to step on the gas pedal and make the curve like Kitt from the Knight Rider show? I guess not! Our cars are not sophisticated enough to handle such a beating or rather challenging forces of speed.

A few weeks ago I was driving on a highway at cruising speed of 100 – 120kmph the stock suspension of the car was giving away while take a 70 degree curve bends at classified speeds(Gulp!). That’s when I decided its about time I got better hold on the car and went onto place my order for the sports suspension from Pedders(Australia).

Expensive, but worth every penny, having a sophisticated suspension system. My feedback in one word after the upgrade is “Fabulous”. The car just sticks to the road while cornering and road holding is just unbelievable. What makes this system effective you may wonder and there is a whole lot of research and innovation behind this suspension system.













The unique VRD(Velocity Responsive Dampening System) is the key to my cool experience with the Pedders suspension kit. Pedders developed the VRD valve that has a micro orifice located in the shock absorber piston through which the oil flow is regulated or controlled resulting in progressive shock response rate. The narrow passage opens up for free flow of oil at low shock speeds but restricting the flow at higher speed rates when oil velocity increases. The end result is a very accurate and responsive shocks giving you solid control of the car at high speeds and cornering.









The kit that I have on my car is as follows:
Front: Pedders Comfort gas CRD (re-valved to sports ryder specfication)
Rear: Pedders Sports Ryder

Camber your way through corners!

I always wanted to lower my car by installing lowering springs and upgrade the dampening system as well to compliment the springs to perform some amount of shock absorption to give a comfortable ride. While doing such a mod the camber angle of the wheels changes and this leads to greater wear and tear and more stress on the tires and directly affecting the handling of the car. So in case you want better handling you might not want lower the car at all unless you want just style.

The camber adjustment kits alter the angle of the vertical axis of the wheels. What does this contraption do to a car you may wonder? The camber assists and improves handling of a car with better traction and road holding capabilities of the wheels. The camber angles are of two types Negative camber and Positive camber. Its like this, when you look at the wheels facing the front side of the car and if you see the bottom part of the wheel angled to be pushed out further than the top point of the wheel then its negative camber and positive camber when the top portion of the tyre is pushed out. In simple words the wheel when its slanting with the top portion of the tyre near the edge of the wheel arch go outward its negative camber and vice versa.

If you drive a car on a track or a hill where there is more right turns then its idle to have a camber specification configured to handle the right turns effortlessly with less body roll and very good road handling.

The camber adjustment is measured in metrics calculated in degrees. So instead of having the entire rubber make contact of the road, the car will ride on the edge of the tyres with appropriate adjustment and the end result is very responsive handling of the car on corners at high speed.

When the car requires more straight line speed then better traction is achieved when the tyres are a perfect 0 degree shift, that is a perfect 90 degree angle of the tire with complete usage of all the flat area of the tires.

Motorheader Reader's Contribution!

Its summer time and we need some excitement while being at home and Motorheader invites its readers to share information of your car with mods and upgrades that has gone into it. This can cover anything from the Car Audio upgrade, Performance Upgrade, Bodykits anything that you think is unique and can beat any car in India.

So you got something on your car that will blow minds of Motorheader blog readers? If yes then drop in a mail with all the information of the car and your experience with it. The entries will be reviewed and the best mod will be published here on Motorheader, wait no more, send us your entries on word document or through mail right away at s.vicky@gmail.com.

Wait! there is more, the contributor's entry that will be published also gets a free Motorheader T shirt as a complimentary gift. We are doing this purely to bring the people from the mod car community together who can share their thoughts and experiences with one another.

Radio controlled race cars in Chennai

Who says you cant be a race driver without a racer’s license? Ever dreamt of driving a race car at high speeds on a race track, well! Its not a dream anymore. Chennai will soon see people driving petrol engine driven sophisticated Radio Controlled race cars. These are scale model high performance race cars that can reach speeds upto 100kmph and you the people of Chennai and around the country can lay your hands on the remote control to drive these little beasts.

Shivakumar Kamallakharan, the man behind this unique concept shares some information on the cars, the Nitro GP cars are capable of running 100+ kmph so are the buggys and the electric GP cars are capable of running at around 80+kmph. The cars are 1/10 scale with four wheel drive, individual suspension with oil filled shock absorbers with carbon fibre disc brakes. The car shods slick tires and also comes with wet weather tires for wet weather racing. So guys zip up and get ready for all the action.

These are very expensive and sophisticated RC toy cars with so much detailing, you have adjustable suspension and so on. Shivkumar also says that its not restricted to just guest who visit his venue but there are packages for Corporates as well with yearly membership system and it also extends itself by allowing corporate to advertise their brand on the cars for a price.

There are cars callipered to only Drift on the track, if there are 2 drivers competing each other then no problem at all, there are 2 cars of the same specification for racers to compete against each other with no advantage over each other. The same for other racing category.

The Dirt Track is almost ready and the GP track is under construction. The venue will have air conditioned tents a canteen to keep you fresh while the race is on. Watch this space for more updates on this front.