No compromise on car care

I’m currently in the process of helping some friends get their cars back up to speed. Both of them have something in common: heavily modified cars yet hardly used every day, hence both owners never get to try their respective cars’ full breadth of abilities and overall performance in all spectrums of driving conditions. From wide-open blasting on highways and on the race track, to bumper-to-bumper traffic on EDSA, and everything in between.

One is a pristine condition Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V, an original left-hand drive example imported through Ralli-Art Hong Kong and the other, a Mazda Miata MX-5. Both cars have had considerable sums spent on them, the Lancer, an all-out track-car with a 6-point roll-cage, stripped interior, intermediate race tires, coil-overs, a fully forged and blue-printed engine, stand-alone ECU and a big turbo upgrade. The Mazda had a serious sound system installed prior to my friend getting it under her care.

So aside from serious money spent, there was another thing in common with both cars: maintenance. As in hard-core, heavy-duty maintenance, extensive work, the kind even car dealerships are afraid to get into.

The Evo V’s problem was complicated: It could not hold consistent fuel pressure beyond 1.2 bar of boost, which is a shame for an engine that could theoretically produce over 600 hp with the right fuel and turbo combination plus good tuning. It later developed a related problem, starving itself of fuel after a few minutes of normal driving. The Miata’s engine on the other hand ran fine, but the brakes and drivetrain needed serious maintenance. After test-driving the Mazda, I felt it was unsafe to drive.

This is a problem we all tend to encounter. We find a project, the car of our dreams. We tune them, modify them, use them hard, take them to fun runs, car club meets and on the track and enjoy them. But after a while, we just set them aside simply because we don’t have the time or resources to play and tinker with them. That’s understandable. But if you’ve basically left the car in storage for three to four years, it will need serious attention before it becomes road-worthy again. In fact, a hard-driven car, even if it is designed and has been modified for it, needs far more serious attention with regards to maintenance and tuning than regular cars. The late Kookie Ramirez once told me that a car driven for a kilometer on track, at full blast and in anger, is equal to 10 kilometers of normal driving. Do the math.

My friend’s Evolution V has had all sorts of weird fuelling modifications to allow it to sustain the required fuel pressure when the engine hits boost. Most moden EFI engines require about 40-45psi of static fuel pressure at idle and low loads, and when boost comes in, every pound of boost requires an additional 1 psi of fuel pressure as well. So other shops installed a booster pump, bigger fuel lines, changed the primary fuel pump, changed the fuel pressure regulator but the problem remained. I had a gut feeling his fuel system as a whole was dirty. So with the help of Tommy Teng of DTM Motorsports, we took apart the entire fuel system and were shocked at what we saw: the fuel tank was badly rusting, with fuel already mixing with rust. The rust was so severe that it had shut the complicated fuel bypass passages and holes inside the Evolution’s complex baffled fuel tank. The fuel pump strainer was clogged, and the fuel filter was also clogged. After two days of cleaning the tank, drilling open the bypass holes inside the tank from the rust, and replacing the other fuel components, the Evolution V was now boosting at 1.6 bar boost and holding fuel pressure consistently, and with it, the ability to tune for more power and get the most out of the engine. We should have seen the rust problem. When we cleaned the engine’s cooling system via Lavramon cooling system treatment, there was so much rush that came out of the engine block and radiator, plus a semi-clogged thermostat, a sign of negligence/ignorance on the owner’s part and perhaps the previous shops that took care of the car.

The Miata will roll into Tommy’s shop soon, but we’ve come up with a veritable list of things to do and check on.

What’s the point of this column? All cars, new or old, stock or modified, require serious maintenance to make them safe and reliable to operate, fuel-efficient and enjoyable to use, at a regular interval, following the manufacturer’s preventive maintenance schedule. Skimping on maintenance, by putting cheap, replacement parts from disreputable sources, or forgetting maintenance all together to be able to buy the latest step-up/upgrade parts is fool’s gold. You’ll have the hottest parts, or save money in the process, but your car’s going to be unsafe, inoperable and worthless. If you drive a tuned car, find a shop that can do help make a tuning and maintenance program for your car. Regardless, get your car looked over, maintained and properly working even before you consider upgrading it, making it faster or buying more but ultimately useless bits of junk for your car. Even the best drivers in the world are nothing more than passengers inside a car that isn’t working properly.