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December 2008 + March 2009
Make it known that Sixth Speed Magazine does not in ANY WAY endorse irresponsibe driving; if you engage in this pratice then you need to take stock of yourself and definitely come again. The purpose of this magazine is to give you PROPER automotive information first and foremost, as well as help you to enjoy your car RESPONSIBLY, not to mention document history and make you laugh. The prices are RECOMMENDED & do not reflect/ include Shipping or Sales tax or Additional Charges: USD $3.50 | EC$10:00 | TT$20.00 | BDS $10.00
The Caribbean’s Premier
One
Underground Tuner Magazine
SIXTH SPEED TOP 10 christmas wishes for ‘08
very, very,
Bitter Escort
and jolly old Santa had better deliver or there will be trouble
FORD
Back to our Original Formula with 4 Sick cars we have for your viewing pleasure: + Hakim’s Escort + Brian’s Insanely Gallus Mitsubish EVO 5 + The first SR16 March to Carve men aside + Terry’s B11 Sunny under breathers
FREE DYNO PULL at the MAS Tuning with Sixth Speed 8 Call 636.0822 to make an appointment
WIN in The Castrol/ Sixth Speed Hamper Giveaway. Just text “oil dong” to 476.3220
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Getting better brakes in a one
Getting proper brakes is very important and we give you the pratical ways on how to do it.
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Finally, the reality on Fuel Octane!
Alot of people have the wrong idea about gas, how it works and whether or not Premium is the better gas. We solve that and then some.
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New Section: DIY adjusting headlights
Coming under BRAND new; we give you the full scoop on how to adjust you headlight so you can see better in the night and runover that manicou.
Join the Underground:TEXT IN 476-3220 or 347-2633 | E-mail | send a pigeon or link up on www.facebook.com. Don’t Stick.
So you want to Represent; Well, good for you. Tuner tees .shirts available at: QwkWhip, Garvin’s Performance Shop, Sheriff’s Auto Supplies and from the Sixth
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Editor: Linzi Jeremiah Writers: Khaleel Ali, Khayam Ali, Five Forward Contributors: Marvyn Howard Design & Layout: Sev7nth Interactive Media Accounting & Financial: Monique Jones Linguistical & Proof Support: Emmanuel Singh Brent Alleyne, Dwight Titus, #9 Ramnarine Avenue, St. Magaret’s Village Claxton Bay, Trinidad W.I
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The Editorials: We always encourage contibutions to
the magazine, BUT as much as we endorse individual expression, we can’t publish everything; so we reserve the right to use submitted material and editorials as we see fit. All credit will be given where applicable to respective content contributors. Also the views expressed are those of the writers and NOT the magazine.
The Disclaimer: As much as we here at Sixth Speed
try our best to gurantee that the information in these pages are correct as can be, we cannot and will not be held responsible if you decide to try anything and things go wrong.Any damages to persons and property is not our fault; that burden of responsibility rest upon you shoulders. Don’t say we didn’t tell you pappy.
04:The Carshaft:
because we simply like to talk about car ting
Car.nal Lust:
Sixth Speed 10.
The Honda CIVIC MUGEN RR They only made 300 people
Christmas Wishes for 2008
As any Honda fan(addict) will tell you, the Type-R is among the best names in the industry when it comes to fast, stylish, and fun to drive front wheel drive cars. Now you might be saying how can they improve on the unimprovable; well, add in the name Mugen, copy in another R and what you have Kiddies, IS – a car that will scale plum tree, jump branches and get to the good ones on top before the birds; all the while man at the bottom beggin’ you to throw down some. A step above the Type R, Mugen took the icon car and revved it up a notch; too, oh say, 240 horsepower and 161 pound-feet of tarmac scraping, Vaseline on the knees rubbing torque from the already potent DOHC 2.0-liter i-VTEC four-cylinder. With only 300 in existence it’s much easier for you to ketch a cramp in you la puerta that own one of these outright. Better than changes on the outside start with a wider body kit, a new carbon fiber rear spoiler are as much for good looks as for downforce, hood air ducts, a carbon front grille sporting the Mugen logo, new front spoiler, 18” Black wheels, and specially designed Potenza RE070 (225 / 40R18 88Y) tires that makes gripping the road as pleasurable as, well, eating bake and a sweet, nesty, warm saltfish. More Taliban moments consist of NO radio, whose slot was stormed by oil temperature, water temperature, and pressure gages; carbon bucket seats and modified aluminum pedals. Not stopping there the RR got improved brakes, retuned suspension, a dual exhaust system PLUS it threw off 15kg; making it a breezy 2700lbs that playing fiddle with the power to weight ratio. Now 99% of the people figure getting a car faster equals more power, but remember this car is FWD and in the case of FWD where the wheels both steer AND support the power of the engine traction becomes harder, so it’s a good thing Mugen decided to focus on aerodynamics and chassis remapping to make FULL use of the power already there, so whilst there isn’t insane clout; there is grip to skip and a lot of responsiveness. Kids this is the car that will have you diving over gate and skating down hill just to get a glimpse of the cherry red glaze as it picants out over the road from your classroom.
Two Face:1983MitsubishiLancervs1800GSRTurbo
Everybody knows that this is the time of year when all that you ask for, gets hand delivered to your door by the overweight, man in the snowcone suit. He passed us las’ year BUT waiting with two pot hound and a 3 line for him this time ‘round.
1. All cars came with a motorized “I’m sorry” sign for honest mistakes made and a motorized middle finger that would pop up when people doing titanic boo-har-har on the road. 2. Boost and Big power was treated like standard items on a car. It should be just like power steering and seatbelts. 3. Everybody knew how to drive properly 4. The Licensing Office would be computerized or lightening strike and BUN it dong as well as the Transport Ministry ‘cause they doing madness 5. Sports Car insurance would be easier to get; since, when you check it, sports cars are safer to drive and seldom crash as much. 6. When somebody pull off a sorf kurma bad drive their car beeps for five seconds and self destructs. This will help plenty for maxi taxi drivers, people on cell phones, people who stop in the middle of the road to talk and for hire cars. 7. Local car companies would stop importing underpowered vehicles and start to bring in the good stuff for a decent price – that way when going up hills you won’t see so much people dropping out and the driver telling them “Meet me at the top!” 8. Cars with no redeeming high performance qualities WHATSOEVER would honestly stop trying to be fast – if the bobo foot car dead like cobeaux belly then it dead.
We got (Trinidad): Windup windows, hard seats, (4) 13 rim with skinback tires and a tired like red brick 4G32 what we got was outright disgusting. Yes the car had an iron block and a sea blast proof body that look kinda good but with about 81HP on a good day, hard driving in a car like this was almost impossible
The Big Question? Is there really “cheap speed”?
They got (Worldwide): namely Europe, the Lancer EX which was a turbocharged 1800 L 4–cylinder aka the 4G62 pumping out 168HP all over the street. Not stopping there we have a sick Bodykit, 5 speed manual, 4 wheel disc brakes ,550 cc injectors, independent suspension and a LSD. Kids this is what the EVO was built from.
9. C16 would flow from directly from the pumps at gas stations. 10. Smoking Tires would be finally recognised as therapeutic and local hospitals would recommend it to those who are under plenty pressure and restless insomniacs.
Tracy: There is no such thing as cheap speed BUT it is very rewarding once you respect the process
and make sure and do it properly the first time; as opposed to those who always fixing mistakes made by incompetent mechanics or buying cheap parts..
Kevin: Who cares, once I could rip tires and enjoy myself; remember doctors expensive and stress is
kill people. Honestly, going fast and building projects helps me to cope with life and really appreciate what it means to be free.
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05:TRU J SPEC Sports Car History:
Article by: Khaleel Ali
TheTOYOTASTARLET
and back and yellow fog lights, some models even had yellow headlights. In 1993-94 it got a facelift with double circle lights and variant backlights.
The moonlight glistened on the front mounted aluminum intercooler of Ugly Man’s blue as he lined up at the lights against Thirsty Man in his green…. Ugly man recently upgraded his Toyota Starlet, so he felt he had the confidence, the right to win this race. It was 11:30pm that night and the race of the Starlets was going to determine who was the fastest Starlet in the land, but waiting on the sidelines ready to take the Starlet crown was Rasta man in Green, Bread Man in White and Red Man in Yellow, they all wanted the crown so bad. But lurking in the shadows was another red Starlet. TON just smiled, for he had a secret weapon under his hood, that will decimate all. The race started with a screech of front tires accelerating into the darkness ahead…. In 1978, the Toyota Starlet was initially released as a compact 2 or 4 door hatch to get somewhere not too fast with little fuel used. This model or KP60 (60 Series) was RWD using a carb 1.3 SOHC engine called the 4K-C and 4K-E running about 58HP/67lb-ft torque @ 4200 RPM. In 1984, the Starlet (70 Series) was made a FWD to aid better snow traction and less weight. Somewhere along the line, in Japan, the Starlet was given another heritage, as quick, light cars affordable for the young speed enthusiast. In 1987 the EP71 Starlet turbo S was introduced with a 1.3L turbocharged 2T-TELU SOHC fuel injected engine pelting out 110HP/ 110 lb-ft TORQUE. With this turbocharged power and only weighing in at 1738lbs this was a feisty little car on the streets on Japan. The EP71 ran from 1987 to 1990 but with the growing demand from other competition on this unique market, the revamped EP82 was born. The EP82(80 Series) was the most well known out of all the Starlet models, running from an impressive 5 years up to 1995. The 2T-TELU SOHC engine was replaced with the ever known 4E-FTE, a 1300 DOHC fuel injected engine barking out 133HP, 115lb-ft TORQUE @6400 RPM. With this turbocharged power and little weight, the EP82 licked out a 0-100ft in 7seconds. The 4E-FTE came with a top mounted intercooler and is easily identified by the scoop neatly mounted in the center of the bonnet. The Toyota CT-9 turbocharger was designed for quick spool and an electronic 2-stage boost setting with a boost gauge in the instrument panel. This small turbo was set at 0.8 bar with the stock MAP sensor able to handle 1.2 bar. Compression Ratio was a nice, low 8.2:1 to accommodate for forced induction. The EP82 Starlet GT came standard with ventilated front disc brakes and solid discs to the rear. Suspension was a mild system using a trailing bar at the rear, also a front strut tower. A GT spec can be seen with a full body kit with GT badging on the doors, grill
There was 2 limited edition EP82 Starlets called the GT Advance and GT Limited with little changes such as steering wheels, gear shift knobs, rear strut bar and most importantly an optional factory LSD was available with the C153 transaxle. Ok go run out in the garage and check to see what model Starlet you have ppl! In 1996, the Starlet was renamed the Starlet Glanza V with chassis code EP91 (90 Series), with doing more than a name change, but a whole new look, new image for the late 90’s. The car was physically heavier but with the turbo given another blade for better spoolup and torque it helped even out the extra weight. In June 1999 Toyota replaced the Starlet with the Yaris for the car in front is a Yaris. It was TON’s time at the lights, all the other Starlet owners gathered around, they did not hear a turbo but something else, and they could not deceiver what is was. He
ran Ugly Man…licks made pretty, he ran Thirsty Man…licks like water , he ran Rasta Man…dread locks licks , he ran Bread Man licks like stale hops, he even ran Red man… licks turned blue. Real Licks, hospital licks… When TON took his crown he popped his bonnet, the 4E-FTE was just not enough for him and replaced it with a 4A-GZE 1600cc supercharged monster with a 50 shot of laughing gas… He said nothing, closed his bonnet and drove into the night, reflecting streetlights off his hood as he passed them by.
15:ORGANISE BetterBrakes
TuningTechnica:
It never ceases to amaze me that when it comes to stopping a vehicle aka car; how most people always seem to overlook that part of their ride that’s kinda; weeeeeeeeeelll; IMPORTANT. Going fast is nice but a lot of people fail to realize that the FASTER you go the harder it or rather the longer it takes to stop and that’s LIFE, deal with it. Hence the reason why no matter if you’re in a normal passenger car or a beefed up curtain masher, having proper stopping power is ESSENTIAL to; your life, your family and the insurance company as well as the police. Because getting buttered in jail while owing the bank because insurance not coughing up since the accident was your fault is HARD. If you read issue 2 (don’t have it, tough luck) we went thru ALL the components of an average braking system and now we given you all the juice on making it all better; so, forget what you herd, clear your mind of ALL the promiscuous garbage ever spewed upon you by your padna and get schooled son.
Many ah goodly folk make the mistake of thinking that in order to make your brakes better your have to put on bigger brakes – that not necessarily true since in instances before, we have said bigger isn’t always better. Another thing we want you to realize and this will change the way you think is that BRAKES are not meant to stop your car – they’re meant to SLOW DOWN your car to a halt; when making that upgrade step to slow down faster, you have to take into to account the kinda driving you REALLY do, how powerful your car REALLY is, how efficient are the brakes you have now and how deep your pocket REALLY goes? Hence the reason we are going to give you this thing in STAGES just like with the suspension article in issue 7 (Got it? No? oh ohhhhhhhhh!). There are upgrades you can do for FREE, yes free and there are those that will cost you your first born – at the end it’s your choice but remember to base that choice on common sense and practicality as it’s your life as well as the lives of the people you may take when things get really dark, Cah-peeche!
FOR FREEBrakes: Here you don’t pay ONE MICROSCOPIC CENT The easiest way to make your car stop better is too simply drive smarter and become more aware of your environment, your car and your driving skill, see simple. This means taking the time out to know what are the limits of your current braking system, how it works among other things and driving within those limits. If you are one of those who like to ride man bumper but too cheap to do proper car maintenance, why not chili the stones, reduce your speed and leave more braking distance between you and the man in front. If your car has ABS/ TCS/ ESP (we explained this one in issue 7, so don’t scratch your head!) then pumping the brakes like in the old escort will only INCREASE your stopping distance. People, it’s your car, don’t be afraid to LEARN about it; go in an empty open area and practice acceleration and rapid deceleration and see how things
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pan out and how it feels; also there is SOLODEX. That way if an emergency ever arises you won’t be caught off guard and will understand what your car will and will not do. Another thing you can do for free besides using your common sense and buying a car (preferably manual) with a good braking system in the first place is to reduce the amount of weight in the car. We explained this already (issue 5,6 & 7) but for the sake of hard hops and mouldy cheese; the more dead weight your car has overall, the more weight will be transferred when you try to stop. The more weight that’s transferred to the front, the more effort the brakes has to put into stopping. The more effort it has to put in, the harder stuff has to work to get the job done, the harder they work, the faster they wear out depending on the setup. Don’t believe us huh? Okay, go get 4 partners and a car. Accelerate to 80 and mash a brakes by yourself; then do it with the battalion inside. You would have realized one of two things; you either have to mash the brakes harder to stop in the same distance; OR, you took longer to stop than before. So;
seeing that more weight means more work, more work means more effort, more effort means greater friction; greater friction means more heat which ultimately leads to brake fade in a normal consumer car, stop the domino effect by reducing weight. This may mean skipping those terrible, ghastly looking chrome rims aka crims for a set of light weight sport rims or forgoing on a boot full of hard pong for something simple and acoustically pleasant; or even clearing out the scrap yard in your trunk. In addition to all that we said above, you can slow down faster using the handbrake or by employing the factory manual recommended technique of Engine Braking. Aye, don’t pretend; you don’t know – say you don’t know. Engine braking uses the compression stroke of the engine to dissipate energy and ultimately slow down your vehicle and usually works BEST in manual cars; BUT, you can do it an automatic too. The process is simple – Say you happen to see a cow last minute. Merely gear down one gear, to a lower gear i.e if you are in 5th go to 4th, then 3rd and so on; in an automatic go from D to 2 to 1. Both techniques can save a life, but if you do it incorrectly as in pull up the handbrakes too fast, or you gear down too quick from a high RPM, you can break something or lockup the wheels and initiate a skid; worse yet if your tires are bad. Kiddies, DON’T play hero and try to go from 180km/h in 5th gear @ 7500rpm to 2nd gear jus’ so.
Stage1:SMALL MONEYBRAKES You have to spend something budfoot: Average Motorist. So the freeness done and you still want more. Fine, then open the wallet and spend some good money. When thinking about beefing up the braking system you have to look at the areas that cause brakes to fail in the first place and those areas are 1. Heat – too much and you will boil fluid and get fade, 2. Weight – too much will cause your setup to work harder, 3. Friction – too much or too little and the calipers won’t hold properly 4. Lack of Common Sense as in pure human dotishness; probably the most important one here overwrites 1,2 &3. Each one of these play a role in stopping your car and now that you know, lets begin spending and keep in mind that brakes slow down not STOP! 1. Keep your vehicle in proper working order – it might sound basic but keeping your vehicle in a gear is the single best way to get proper braking. When you skimp on routine maintenance you’re basically telling your car to haul the maid’s curtain rods thereby putting your life and others on the line. Making sure that your vehicle is working champion in the first place is the single best way to be sure that when time comes to stop, your vehicle can do so effectively. This thing not hard; if you know that you can’t afford to keep up on the maintenance of your car then; A. get a car you can afford to maintain properly, B. take your time and adjust your driving style to suit your vehicle’s limits or C. take public transportation – nothing is wrong with leaving your car home and taking a bus because you can’t afford to put on good tires. Trust us, it’s better home than in an accident with somebody who have no party insurance. Now, a lot of people look here and there but the most common culprits for disgusting brakes are beat-up parts and poor maintenance. If your pads and discs are worn down you will not stop; if you use the pads you find in the scrap yard you will not stop; if the fluid is old you will not stop and so on. So before pelting out on expensive aftermarket parts ask yourself what condition the current parts are in first. It might be a laugh but in reality you may find that the most cost-effective way to improve stopping power is simply to refresh what you already have.
Stage2:SOME MONEYBRAKES Not as cheap as before but well worth it: Driving Enthusiasts+Taxi Drivers
1.Upgrade your Suspension: we covered suspension in-depth in issue 7 so you have to read
that issue to get a deep understanding. Suspen. plays an ORGASMICALLY VITAL role in how well and how fast you stop. Your overall braking power is only as good as your suspension, so if this is jacked then all the mods in the world wouldn’t mean squit. First step here is to stiffen up the ride a bit by installing a good set of performance lowering springs and shocks (coilovers are nice but….); this aids the cause by reducing the amount of weight transferred to the front especially under hard braking thus reducing the amount of effort the brakes have to exert to slow down the vehicle – remember more weight transfer equals more effort, especially if you’re going fast. Second step is to get better tires; tires are HELLA IMPORTANT in that this is the part that really “stops” your vehicle; smooth tires ain’t spit and hard compound tires don’t grip as well. When you mash brakes, your tires rub against the road and produces
THE EVOLUTIONof Excitement
Article by: Khaleel Ali
It was 10pm in the night; the mature couple had recently rolled out of Jenny’s in their silver Nissan Almera and was heading home. They slowed at the soon to be red traffic light, playing their favorite TDK cassette……Air Supply……….the Greatest Hits. Coming to a halt to the left of them was this bright yellow thing resembling a car - it was weird; white wheels, strange metal thingies sticking out the front bumper, a peculiar black bonnet with a big hump and an unusual wing where the trunk was supposed to be. The couple never saw anything like that, for a car to them was to go from point A to point B; bout’ 60km/h for the most. They watched the contraption in wonder and amusement, trying to figure out what exactly it was. What was it making that bubbling sound causing their car to shake and vibrate; it was so different to anything they have ever known; to them it looked so wrong but somehow they couldn’t seem keep their eyes off it… Brian and Collette sat in their 476 horsepower 2000 Mitsubishi Evolution V watching the old couple staring at them. Ah mean, if somebody was staring at you, you stare back. They too were now returning home from dinner. Collette was Brian’s support system in the drive to modify this Evo. Brian had bought this Evo V after fedup of fighting for traction in his Front wheel drive Nissan Primera. The Evolution V is a standard AWD sedan using the beefy cast iron block 4G63T 2000cc DOHC turbocharged engine. Using the stock 2.0 strong bottom end it was further reinforced using JE forged pistons, Scat Connecting Rods, Ralliart Bearings and Upgraded oil pump, but otherwise stock crankshaft. An ARP head stud kit strapped the head to the block squeezing a HKS head gasket into place. This head was custom ported by Jason Chen to use Firerra Oversized valves, Tomei valve springs and titanium valve retainers. Lashing the valves is a streetable HKS 260º cam causing a slight rough idle and for fine ignition timing adjustment, AEM cam gears. Air Fuel mixture had increased flow by replacing the stock intake manifold with a Magnus high flow manifold and KU big bore throttle body.
The stock turbo was thrown out in favour of a man drooling .60 Compressor, .87 Turbine HKS 3240 full turbo kit
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MARQUE of aMANIAC
Having been through this before; if you are any kinda of Sixth Speed diehard you would know that we always say, next to a Jouvay morning crapaud, the K12 Nissan March is one of the ghastliest cars of all time. Fan-tas-mically feo, this thing looks like a closed rum shop amphibian on four wheels under heavy runnings. When we heard through the underground that somebody rest down a bitter 13 somebody on the strip we originally though it was a K10 super turbo, afterall it’s the only fass March under boost, but when we hear it was a K12 we was like NAH!!! For any sane person to attempt to touch this car you have to have plenty Buh-donk-kass and more foresight than a primary school chile with thick glasses. Under these two criteria it’s no surprise that when Marque Cavalho bought a K12, he alone saw the framework of a project of questionable mind and unsound body but one that will be totally different. As soon as Marque got hold of a 2003 K12 in two two’s the car was scrapped and a game plan drawn up on how to take an uninspired 1.5 L HR15DE putting out 90 something HP to the wheels to a mover that punishes and enslaves. In fact during the strip fest his petite daughter, after seeing the car all over the place took a curious stance by asking what happened to Herbie’s eyes when the headlights were out. Folks, when a seven year old can take interest in your project that’s when you know when you are onto something nasty. With the HR15 out the question was what to put in; not wanting to go SR20DE or DET as that is a common place thing Marque opted for a manual NA beast in the SR16 Neo VVL. The 16 slipped in the engine bay like a glove, so it’s only obvious that the next step was to squeeze out all the power possible and REALLY get things working tuner style. First order of business in modification was the Nissan N1 camshaft found in the limited edition N1 Pulsar VZR together with Ti Retainers and BC Springs (G-Spec). With the valves opening higher and longer you get more breathing but remember with NA your revs will be through the roof so anything you can do to prevent valve float you do or else cha-ching. With the N1 inside, Marque then installed a Sportman 80 shot 4 fogger system on some modified Keihn 41mm FCR-H Side Draught Carbeurators mounted on a custom intake manifold with 70mm Ram Pipes. On the exhaust side of life Marque slapped on a heat wrapped set of Hotshot Gen6 headers that flows old air through 4 into 1 extractors and out a 2.5in exhaust done by Imraj Brothers. Wait; back up, carbeurators? Wasn’t the SR16 fuel injected? Well yes it was but wanting to be different as well as enjoying the free spirit nature of carburetion, Marque ditched the injection for some good old fashion sore throats just like the old school. With a better flow than the Webers, the Keihns, together with the 4000rpm activated Direct Port Wet shot had this 2300 pounder
16:UNDERSTANDINGOCTANE
TuningTechnica:
Now before we start this article, we pretty much figure that you are under the guided guild that you know everything about gas. Well, we know for a fact that you don’t know jack so here’s what we want you to do before reading on; close your eyes, take a deep one and empty your cabeza (head in Spanish) of EVERYTHING you have ever heard about fuel; from EVERYBODY & EVERYTHING you have ever come in contact with during your lifetime; especially TV, newspapers, politicians, mechanics, family, cousins, the green man in your dreams, the pink woman in your fantasy, the dog that barks the alphabet in patois (pah-toir)…….. we mean everybody. Kids we know it’s a lot of brown jelly with nuts you have to get out so we’ll give you a minute….go on, we’ll wait.
The BEGINning: Nice, if you read issue 1 (don’t have it
huh; tough!) you would know that a car makes power by a series of controlled explosions in the engine block. Honestly, we don’t really want to go through this again but since issue one is rarer than wealthy people who actually give back to the community meaningfully we’re going to do this briefly. Your engine operates on the suck, squish, bang, blow basis and yes it sounds like a randy mixture of sweat and primal urges, but really its how your car makes. The engine sucks in air into the cylinders; a piston moves up and compresseses it; some fuel/ gas is thrown in the mix with a spark and then BANG; . The multiple up/down motion of the pistons turns a crankshaft, which in turn rotates a couple other things to finally get them 22’s you have moving. Gas comes into play in the most critical part of the cycle and that’s the bang part or the power stroke. The power in your car comes from the engines ability to efficiently harness the
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energy produced by a series of very controlled explosion. In normal engine operations, the fuel/air mixture is ignited by the spark plug and the resulting flame spreads through the combustion chamber and gives a smooth release of heat energy. Now, there are times when due to the explosion there’s a BIG rise in chamber pressure and temperature that causes the remaining fuel/air mixture to self-ignite or blow itself up before the right time causing a SUDDEN increase in pressure and temperature even more. This out of time release of energy is what causes the thing you know as Knock (take a marble, not necessarily a tanto, put it in a can and shake it – knock sounds like that – a repulsive rattle); it’s essentially your engine blowing itself up to death and that jus’ so rise in pressure and temperature can cause cataclysmic damage to pistons and head gaskets, among other engine components. This knock phenomenon is even more dramatic in high compression instances and boosted applications, where internal temperatures are already high. The higher the compression the less gas you’ll effectively consume while still allowing the engine to extract as much energy as possible because of the better mixing of air & fuel together with the spark. With boost it’s just a matter of force feeding as much air into the cylinders as possible. Either way the better mix means that the engine can efficiently do more work within a given period of time with less raw materials; but, there is a downside and that’s knock. Car makers try to combat this by either finding a balance where knock resistance and performance can coexist and that bring us to the:
OCTANEThing: Remember we talked about your engine crucifying itself due to work; well, in an effort to preserve the life of the engine, manufacturers design & sell cars to work within the existing fuel framework across any number of markets. Here
is where octane comes into play; Octane or rather the rating (in T&T we use RON) is a fuel’s ability to resist knock; think of it as somebody barking you some hard slap and the amount of time it takes for you to either cry or pelt back two. It’s your tolerance level - it is most NOT a measure of how good the gas is. A higher rating DOES NOT mean that the gas is of choice quality, it means that the gas can take more pressure before it spontaneously combusts in the cylinders. Now, if your car requires 92 according to the manufacturer, then putting 95 makes no sense as the engine already works efficiently within the 92 range. Even if you put in 89; you maybe in a spot of trouble but you may also get away with it and here’s why:
KNOCKThing: Cars have gotten better over
the years and when carburetion went out, fuel injection came into play together with ECUs and some lethargically rational thinking. Manufacturers said “Hey! We tired; let’s take away all this guessing; why not drop in a mini computer so everything can work more efficienty!” With the computer came a thingy called a knock sensor. It’s basically a microphone that listens for that same rattle in the cylinders whenever you’re driving your car. Like we said, cars have gotten smarter to compensate for drivers lacking in sense. So when knock occurs, this sensor sends a signal to the ECU saying “Aye, it have some knocking here, do something fast; mechanic close today and this man broken.” The ECU will then self adjust itself to eliminate the detected knock by doing one of two things; adding more fuel to the groove OR retarding the engine timing i.e delaying when the spark actually occurs. When the ECU pulls the timing in a minor case there will be a budfoot loss in power and the car will get a bit slower BUT here’s the thing, due to the engine design among other factors you’ll never really feel it as everything happens in a fraction of a second. Now, there are instances where the knock is really bad and the ECU can pull/ retard timing only so much before you start to hear the rattle. In a
ANDYCLARKE
28YEARSriding | ownerMINICITIvaplark
Previous Bikes: Kawasaki ZX11, Suzuki GS750, Suzuki 1100 Katana, Suzuki GS500
KAWASAKIZX14
MODIFICATIONS: Muzzy 4-2-1 exhaust, Power Commander, MSD Ignition
Okay Andy, what’s the prognosis here, how did you find yourself getting into this life of a biker thing? When I was a kid, i think I was about 7, I was an avid cyclist and there was this guy who used to pass thru the area where I lived on a bike. That bike had an exhaust system that used to boil my blood, after that I knew I had to get one. Later on a friend got a mini bike that became everybody’s mini bike. First ride and that was it. Whoa you bled this thing when you were really young, who taught you to ride and influenced you along? Peter Bovell who was known as the wheelie king back then and Barry Rostant, who was a legend at that time. At 16/17 I had moved close to wallerfield and on hearing the bikes I asked my brother to carry me since I couldn’t legally drive. Barry lent me his Yamaha DT175 and encouraged me on the dirt track. Honestly he was one of those riders who had natural talent. If you were 16 when you learned, and normally you get a licence at 17 then I guess offically getting your first bike was probably around the corner for you! Yup, I bought my first bike when I was working at the Neal & Massy Assembly plant in Santa Rosa. It was a Suzuki 550 from the company since they were the dealers. ......and what did you parent’s have to ‘bout this mister? Well I got the usual resistance but I was able to convince my dad by telling him if I had the bike he didn’t have to drop me to school anymore. I think he though about it, was convinced and HE helped me sorfen up my mom.
From then to now how has the scene changed as you see? Back then you had less bikes & cars. So you really had a lot more fun with a lot less danger. Based on your experience as a rider where is the righteous place for a bottomline novice like me and others out there to get started? You can start by reading some magazines to get an idea of where you want to start, as well as talking to some of the guys in it, if fact you can come to my store (Miniciti) and talk to me if you/ they want. The thing is to get as much information as possible before hand As far a a biker from the old to the new school goes what is it that people get wong about bikers? That they are all bad people and of the shady type. There are many normal people who ride from doctors to policemen to laywers to judges. So to me people who make those kind of statements are unjustified. What’s THE LESSON that you had to learn the hard way? LOL, to slow down.....but I’m not too sure I have learn’t it as yet. In all you really have to be aware of the hazards around you and ride accordingly. Okay check this, I have a bet going on with a partner - Who pulls more attention at any give time car men OR bikers? That’s easy, Bikers, as if you wern’t already sure! Why am I not surprised you said that, thank you sir! LOL but is the truth!
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E THE RID
sanS130DET, TEIN s, is N 3 9 19 k SR2 ng spring ri s: stoc
e it, & low cation ane K Modifipec coiloversn Polyurethrakes. drift S y Suspensio Skyline B n Energ oler, Nissa o interc
SARAHENTREPENEUR
GIRLRACER8
So princess, you honestly have to tell me what going on. Explain the reason for the season and tell me how on EARTH you get into drifting, what’s the motivation because you look like a very QUITE person? Well, inspiration really came from my brother Jay who used to drift a white Nissan 180SX in 2000. He and a couple of friends would get together and pratice; I would go along and it looked like a lot of fun so I tried it. PLUS, I always like the challenge of doing things people say girls can’t do. ......so with all this girl power, what was the vehicle you started going sideways in, the 180? Nope, an automatic Hyundai Accent up in Arima Race Club car park. No, you see that can’t be right. Besides being a weird car with no power; it’s front wheel drive AND automatic. Are you sure cause you hadda explain that one to ME. Yup, I started drifting by powersliding an Accent. Everything was bone stock in that car and it was really dead so I had to go in hard in 1, then go to 2 at top speed into a corner. When the car slid, it used to slide with one wheel off the ground on the video.
LOL, we she is going to find out now. Tell me what the real deal with the S13 you currently drive? After I sold the Accent I bought a bone stock, manual S13 with an SR non turbo that was eventually swapped for SR20 turbo. In the beginning, before the swap I learn’t to drive it on copper with no spring and extreme pressure plate - that wasn’t tooooo bad. And that has been my daily drive ever since Copper with no spring on an extreme plate; EVERYDAY ....you really gone yes. Ever tried drag racing? Yeah I did actually and that was another case of doing something people say girls couldn’t do. But I didn’t get a good time because the clutch was slipping. Wait where do you find time to pratice. Well, usually I am up in Arima at 6 on a Sunday morning burning through REAL tires. Tell me something is this a passing phase or do you see yourself doing this for a while? I’m in it for a while, I am not really a competition person, I just do for the fun of it and for the challenge.
Dude that is INSANE, whey the video dey because I have to see daaaaaaaaatttttttttt! Wicked, so who you’d like to say “What What” to? LOL, somewhere about. My mechanic and BF Nick, as well as Jay and Isidor. My job is to drive, theirs is to build the car, make sure its Dang well try and find it because seeing is believing. So what do working and fix the stuff I break (LOL) your parents have to say about you and this drift thing? Hmmmmmmm, my mom really doesn’t know. Short and sweet daiz whey we talking about!
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RETRO, STYLED &SCORTED
Natives, especially Trinbago inhabitants are of the firm notion that ole ting no good (for the proper; old things are not good). Usually, effects of legendary iconic status are thrown away for modern, trendy, meaningless stuff that probably wouldn’t last a good 24 hours in the bandania patch. Simply put kiddies, people of today (especially the x, y and z gen.) don’t appreciate good old fashion and who can blame them; old rattles, it shakes, it’s uncomfortable, it’s slow and plain talk it’s cata-clys-mically dull. But here’s the thing, in the right state of mind, old will deliver a sapodilla ripe cutass, that’s uncomplicated and pure. No tight shirt and pencil jeans here kiddies; just door to door delivery of the sweetest tan tan and saga boy EVER felt across the back. Being the second owner of this mint 1980 Mark II Escort, Boyie aka Hakim has had this ‘scort for 21 years and as one of the founding member of the true tuner generation he has seen his fair share of ancient, modern and everything in between. So to us it’s no surprise that by owing one of the MOST POPULAR cars of all time he has acquired a certain appreciation or rather insight of what can happen when you take one good ole car, bless it with power and show no mercy. Initially, before being a gilpin, “Brenda” which was the codename given to the Escort during its development had the original 1300 SOHC pushrod which was on its best day pushing a green 59HP and 72lb tq. Needless to say that this worked well for a while until Boyie decided to do a swap out of the 1.3 for the 2.0 pinto; coming with a 8.2:1 compression and a single 32/36 Weber, the “pinto” which was used in the Capri and originally know as the T88 series engine pumped out a decent 86Hp and 103lb*tq – strange that this is more than some car put out today. Anyway this setup worked well just like the 1.3 but then Boyie decided that he wanted more; after all, back in the day when racing was on the rise men have points to prove and races to win. Rather than build up the 2 liter under NA power, Boyie opted for turbocharging and with a custom blow through setup where a 38/38 ratchet Weber carbeurator was enclosed in a pressure box and fuel force fed into the mix at a high
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39
THESUNNY SIDE OFLIFE
A lot of people don’t see that there is a growing problem with boost; you know, the turbocharging thing. And that’s the reality that most everybody has it – it’s a Raj, Junior, Dave, Wendell, Matthew and Ms. Ivy thing. In fact, turbo this and that is just as common as waking up with two eye full of yampee and walking out in public jus so. Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t so much so a bad thing because at the end of the day it all about going fast and taking a breath away but somehow there must be more to performance than just pelting on a conch and calling it a day. Just when we though all was lost, up shows a young bright start named Terry. We know him as a partner of a partner brother sister, cousin frien’; BUT you will know him the guy that took a Nissan B11 Sunny with an E15, that will pelt RPM to the moon, shape shift tires like an X-man and lay down a one of a kind light up on the strip. When Terry got a hold of the B11, it was one of those found in the bush, parked up under a hog plum tree by somebody house kinda stories. Not really a born speedman, Terry just wanted something for small money that he could use as normal transportation. After negotiating with the owner and getting level inspiration from his partner in crime Clifford; the original colourless cocoabean, Terry bought the car, but little did he know what he was in for. In all honesty the car was a mess, with the interior being water logged, the flooring at the verge ready to climb over and the engine well. Wanting this to be a learning experience Terry decided to make this car into a 3 coconut water and 2 doubles kinda thing; keep it original, keep it old school and do everything yourself. So with help from the ole Clifford and infamous Tanko Baboolal the guys set out on the transformation. We could start with the do it yourself body work an all that but this is Sixth Speed people. The car looking good? Yes? Good so lewwe go, after Terry brought back the car originally it was automatic E15, but like every good tuner he realized that manual is where it’s at, so after doing a job for a guy, Terry
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06:DIY:ADJUSTING Your HEADLIGHTS
There are two reasons we encourage you to this and both of them can save your life. One, properly adjusted headlights shine more light on the road which means you see better AND Two; when your headlights are to high they shine into the eyes of other drives thus temporarily blinding them. This state of black can cause A LOT of stress for EVERYBODY in fact picture somebody shining a torch light directly into your eyes and then you trying to walk in a straight line at the same time. Now typically there are 3 kinds of misalignment just so that you know: Vertical – that’s where one light beam shines further than the other, Horizontal – the beams look cross or Both.
You will need to get: A phillip head screwdriver, a big wall, some night, some scotch/ electrical tape and Sixth Speed
Join the two point and pull tape
Focus your lights on the points where the lines intersect.
Measure ground to headlight center height
1
Park your car on an even, level surface (no hills people) about 68ft away from a wall/ garage door/ side of a house; anything that goes up and is flat.
The adjuster is this thing here. Look behind your headlight is right there - looks like a circle thing with jagged edges
2
You need to make sure that your headlights are dead center pointing straight or rather in a neutral position. So go get the measuring tape and measure the distance from the CENTER OF THE HEADLIGHT to the GROUND. The position/ distance you get from the ground to the center of the headlight mark that point on the wall for both headlights. And then DRAW a line connecting the two points. DON’T USE A MARKER; it does not scrub off; you will be doing plenty painting. Use the tape
4 7 8
After that go out and see how thing look. If all well in lilliput land the give yourself a pat on the back for a job well done since you have now worked on your own car
This is the ORIGINAL height of the headlight.
3 inches lower than the ORIGINAL
TURN left or TURN Right
If you look behind the headlight most cars have a single correction screw for up and down adjustment. BUT there are some cars with two screws; on for the up and down and the other for side to side – check your owners manual to see what you have. On the cars that allow left to right adjustment, turn the screw so that the left light points slightly to the side and then do the same with the right light. About 1-1.5” outside
3
Flick on your low beam and adjust the lights so that the brightest part of the beam i.e the center, is centered/ focused on the point where you have marked out with the tape or where the tape touch or intersect.
6 5
This is the NEW height of the headlight. 3 in LOWER than before
Good; now once you have the headlights set at neutral, adjust the lights so that they fall about 3-4 in below the horizontal line marked out by the tape. This is so that the brightest part of the beam doesn’t shine directly into the eyes of on coming traffic but rather on the road.
Since this is a 2005/2006 Nissan Almera, all we had was an up and down correction. So get the Phillip head screw driver and start adjusting. Turn left and the beam goes up – turn right and it goes down or something like that. Either way turn till the center of the beam is centered on the middle of the tape.
This Important soREAD:
1. Usually in most cars if you adjust the low beam the high beam is adjusted one time. 2. There are some cars that have four headlights rather than two. In a case like this adjust the outer beams first and then the inner to compliment the outer. Ideally the center of the high beams should be at the top of the low beam 3. Read the manual your car came with. Reason being that not all cars adjust the same way and information is power. While this applies to manual adjustment there are some cars where you can do the adjustment from in the cabin.
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07:WHERE 08:READERSRIDES ARETHEY NOW
We am sure you all are wondering whatever happened to the race legends of the past. Where are they now?? Are they in a junk yard; Cyant over on the side ah the road?? We go out and dig up to find out about:
TWEETYTOO
So you like exhibitionism huh? Then send us your NAKED car pics and be part of print media history, afterall it’s your car and you should be proud of it; it represents YOU!: there’s picture texting, sixthspeedtuner@hotmail.com or facebook.
1st Gen RX7 Series 3 : Victor Kokoaram | Entrepeneur Modifications: Posi. Diff., short
throw shifter, Racng Beat sidedrafts, street ported (Stephen), Torino Red paint (Edward Balgobin), 1st gen Fiberglass flair kit, GSL-SE rear end, ACT twin disc copper clutch, Mikuni intake manifold.
Reason for build: it was one of
THEN: racing hard
NOW: still racing hard Built to do one thing and one thing only and that’s deliver the hurt from a side, Tweety TOO is an icon in Trinidad drag racing. Touting a full NHRA spec chassis; the ground up 1984 Nissan Laurel was a car back in the day that had the crowd on their knees. Kids, this car has beaten the best and raced all over; from Puerto Rico to Grenada to B’dos to Antigua to the down home soil of T&T. When Gordon Rooks had the need to go fast, we don’t think anybody had in mind he would be building a 540 cubic big block V8 yellow monster that in its first year of competition decimated everybody with a fried egg best time of 9.1 in raw power stage and 8.3 on nitrous. This car was modified with a lot of stuff such as JW build tranny, 3.89 pro gears, custom 9” rear end and a humble stage 1 300 shot of Nitrous. Stage 2 was an end of days adjustable shot worth 300 – 600HP which, the man has never touched and bumps the power to well over 1000HP. It’s no wonder his burnouts were EMA regulated and competition back in the day included the Gourmandy Rail, Sheik Lisha, Big Daddy in the Bel Ray V8 rail and the infamous SKF Lancer with whom the car had many a callout battle with.
those car’s when you see it you HAD to have it; plus it’s a rotary.
Why we like it: this one is simple
what’s there not to like about a car that the owner had for nine years, is known all over and had was to be hidden for 5 days from his mother because he was supposed to buy a Hi Lux – needless to say that the blowout HE would have gotten would’ve been monstrous.really fast, or the attractive owner; but this car was one that made us kneel really low & say thank you. Big up Blingers car care for keeping it clean and crisp!
1998 BJ Mazda Familia aka 323 : Kevin Oliverie | we dunno nah! Modifications: Complete AWD,
turbocharged BPT conversion, forged pistons, stock clutch, dual ECU, Greddy turbo timer, redline fluids, premium gas and absolutely nothing else……no really nothing else sown to the seats stock. Oh, a 2.5” (specialist muffler exhaust and grpup support from Maztune, 2Fiddy Se7en, Cheap Tricks, Team Renesis and Acoustic
Reason for build: Wanted to run
with some partners in the days of Wallerfield as he tired of being left behind.
Why we like it: Look, I dunno what
you want to see here but this car is dreadfully stock and in bad need of a buffing; BUT it’s very unique in that this is the First AWD boosted BJ Familia in the world – yes we checked. Don’t get it twisted kiddies, this car looks like a normal car, but with a sticker saying AVOIDUS ALWAYS we have witnessed many ah car feel the hurt and there’s nothing more we can say other than the car WUKKIN’.
1978 Mitsubishi Galant (Sigma): Saleem Mohammed | Technician Modifications: 4G63 DOHC Turbo
out from a VR4 RS Limited Edition, Upgraded ECU, Sirius 2000 gearbox, 6 puk copper clutch, double diaphram pressure plate, LSD, K&N filter, MSD 8.5mm wires Reason for build: He had always liked speed plus the car had sentimental value since his dad had the car from 1982 and it was the family car.
Why we like it: nothing is better than
when a father passes a car onto a son and the son mods the bejeezes out of it. With the RS toting 240HP stock this car has roots and those roots can dig really deep with the extra mods coming i.e suspension, ignition and some department store tuning. And you can’t beat the fact that this was a complete do it yourself build; from some partners helping source the engine to do the installlation.
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SAMUEL aka OMAR
31 theBailiff
Weapon of MASSEXPRESSION
1994 MitsubishiEvolution 2 Apexi SAFC,TEIN Coilovers, some Nitrous, Boost controller, Pivot blowoff valve, ACT clutch kit, Full 3in Exhaust
Speed is an expression of life; it is one of the few things where BORDERS don’t exist and individual differences bring about true unity.