Life in the Eyes of John

A blog on life, love, people, cars, and everything I can think about...

Saturday, February 26, 2005

Driving Frankenstein, Part Two

After an afternoon road trip to Galleria with my kuya (he paid for gas) and regaining tire traction after driving for 10 kilometers (I put tire black -- you know, the stuff that makes your tires shiny -- on all four tires, including the threads; stupid me, it's oil-based), I headed for the office.

On my way, at Mufflerworld in Tomas Morato, I saw a white '89 Lancer with its muffler being removed. It wasn't just any Lancer, it's Jerric's Frankenstein. So I pulled over, parked, and had a chat.

Just to refresh your memory (in case you've been reading), Jerric's Lancer featured a 4G63 swap (same engine as a Galant), giving the car a sporty, I'm-sucking-into-my-seat acceleration feeling, thanks to generous servings of torque from Mitsubishi's star powerplant. Aside from the torque, it also can produce 160 horsepower from the 2-liter 4-cylinder.

After he connected the muffler, he asked me if I could accompany him to Banawe. He had a catch phrase that came along with it, too.

"Gusto mo, ikaw mag-drive?"

I never say "no" to that.

Like my first drive, Frankenstein's power-to-weight makes acceleration effortless. In fact, with two passengers, I could shift easily before I hit 2000 revs. It was pure pleasure, but not without a price. He said he's been doing 6 km/L on gas (versus "my" car's 9 km/L). The new muffler he installed is also excellent; it uncorks power, but remains quiet even if you rip it beyond 4000 revs. Now that's a muffler!

We saw an open road somewhere in Quezon City, and launched the car like a rocketship. The experience was both thrilling and frightening! Last time, I rev-limited myself to 4000 revs. This time around, I allowed it to run to 6000 revs. F***, man! It tugs you to your seat, and it awakened my senses (I only had two lanes; one for me, and one for opposing traffic).

Reaching 100 km/h was instantaneous. In fact, I was surprised that it was that soon, and I was in third gear, ripping at 5000 revs! Hmm... must be the close-ratio gearing Jerric put in the car.

Afterwards, Jerric thanked me for test-driving his car. He mentioned that he needed to fix the suspension (it did feel wobbly when we reached the top of a hill).

Damn... he's going to spend on his car again?

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