Rotational Banner

Saturday, March 30, 2013

2014 WRX Concept


The world debut of the 2014 Subaru WRX concept had started up quite a buzz. Initial reviews seem to be mostly positive, but it seems that most Subaru owners aren't really enjoying the new look.

I'm personally not feeling it either. I'm sure with some time, it may grow on me. However, there seems to be quite a large disconnect in essence from this WRX compared to some of the previous ones. Some of the most iconic Subarus still stem from the GC and GD WRXs in my opinion.

Only time will tell if this WRX will catch up with its predecessors.

What do you think? Do you like the concept? What do you like or not like about it?

Friday, March 29, 2013

Things coming along

Last Sunday, we attended the annual Rev Scene spring meet, and because my STI had not been washed in a very long time, I took some time to wash it before the meet. The weather is finally getting a lot warmer, and we are currently in the process of ordering all sorts of oils for our maintenance season. Washing this car was definitely something I had to do before we did anything else. Believe me.

The car is extremely dirty!

Washed the car at MZ Headquarters 2.

I don't even want to mention how long it's been since my last car wash, it's way too embarrassing. You can try guessing though, but I won't tell. I was shocked to find out, after washing the entire car, that two buckets full of black water was produced as a result of the wash. It was so black that I would lose sight of my hands one inch beneath the surface. I used my foam gun, and lots of soap to ensure I did not harm the surface of the paint.

Black water from washing just the TOP half of the car! The bottom half was worse.

The car is clean, but it could use a detail this summer.

It took a lot of work to get it clean. After drying the car, I had realized there were still some very dirty parts that seemed unwashed. However, getting rid of the gunk gathered from these past months, it will be much easier to clean from here on out.

As I mentioned above, we are gathering materials for a couple maintenance episodes, and some modding episodes. We did indeed attend the Rev Scene meet, so there will be a video on that in the future. We also went to our local Auto Show, sort of disappointing but we have a video planned for that as well. I will update you guys in more detail later.

Monday, March 25, 2013

2013 Audi A6 S Line

My dad, a hard working man of many years, had finally bought a new car after ten faithful years with his old car! He wanted something that suited him, and as picky as he was, he had finally taken the plunge. His previous car was an Audi Allroad, and he loved Audi's sense of design: From the interior to the exterior, he was very pleased with it. Enter the 2013 Audi A6 S Line.



He was very specific with the car he wanted. He wanted every detail to be exactly as he liked it. This A6 is in Audi's unique Aviator Blue metallic color. It looks like a bluish green dark grey. It's actually a very nice looking color, and I don't recall seeing this on any other car. The package he ordered included 20" anthracite polished 10-spoke design wheels, which in my opinion are the best looking wheels you could choose to come with the car.



This car also came with 255/35 Pirelli P-Zero max performance summer tires on all four wheels. Making this AWD beast a king of the pavement. The entire 2013 Audi line up has flatter and more aggressive headlights, along with more aggressive front ends, making their exterior design something of a masterpiece, and the Audi A6 is no exception.



The S Line ensures some better accessories and gadgets, along with much nicer seats. This Audi A6 has a Supercharged 3.0T V6 engine married to an eight-speed Tiptronic automatic transmission with Audi's quattro all-wheel drive system. This supercharged engine pushes 310 hp and 325 ft-lbs of torque. With the eight-speed transmission, this car will shift like Swiss cheese. (Incredibly smooth)



I've only touched maybe 25% of the controls in this car. There are just way too many gadgets to play with. Navigation, cameras on all four sides of the car, and parking sensors are just the tip of the iceberg. Would you take a look at this interior? The buttons and knobs are so well made that you'd want to push and turn them all day. I wouldn't doubt it if you sat in this car, and plainly ran your hand down the center as if you were sensually caressing a woman. I caught myself doing that...

I have not test drove the car just yet, but a video will be made of this car in the future. We will be sure to cover as much detail as possible in this car. Because you wanted to see this car in a video, your request has been granted.

Thanks for the support!

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Autocross Season is back!


Autocross is indeed a very quick and fun motor sport. Minimal preparations needed, so beginners can dive right into the fun. Of course you can take it very seriously as well, and enter autocross events with competition driven regulations. It is a sport because it requires focus, eye hand coordination, and most of the time, makes me sweat buckets!

I enjoyed the autocross events that I'd attended in 2012, and most of you may have seen the actual race event videos: Including every run, every time, and every penalty. You can see the progress after each run, it may be long and tedious for a person who isn't interested in autocross, great for myself and others to study and improve on braking and acceleration timing.

Those videos were very stale though, it was very technical, and less "film-like". This is why I took the two best runs in the two events and made them into this video. With some music to stir up the excitement, I found this project a delight.

This year of 2013, both Puyang and I are planning on hitting more events. This means, hopefully, you'll see the GTI in action for the first time! And obviously, yours truly, the STI will be back as well.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

800 Subscribers


It feels really great to be back in film making again. Hopefully you guys have enjoyed the new intro as well as other small upgraded details on the show. We will be doing the regular stuff here and there as time goes on. However, all joking aside, it seems that spring is coming really late to where we live. This really causes some schedule delays in the plans that Puyang and I have set out to accomplish. Rain, rain and rain!

As some of you may know by now, I am 98% sure I will be going Stage 2 on the 2006 WRX STI by this summer. I'm just waiting on certain details before I can release more information.

Thanks so much for the continual support, to the new 100 members that joined Machine Zealots, and for making us reach 800 subscribers. We hope you guys continue to stick around!

You guys are the best! God bless you all.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Old Pedal, Dead Pedal


When I first bought this 2006 Subaru Impreza WRX STI, I was definitely happy with it. I mean, it's an STI! More importantly, it's my STI. When I talk about the STI, I hardly ever bring up the negatives, it's always the positives that stick out. However, when I first took the seat of the car, I had noticed right away that the dead pedal was this cheap plastic looking slab. I couldn't let that go.

Enter the Autospeed Dead Pedal.

It's quite expensive for something so small, around $40, but it was worth it to me. If you are thinking of upgrading your dead pedal, I would stay away from eBay ones. The eBay ones I've seen do not have raised rubber grips, but instead have painted black holes. To each their own, but that still isn't good enough for me.

I think you guys have seen enough of my videos, read enough of my blog posts to know that I'm meticulous in many aspects. So can you blame me for wanting this dead pedal? I mean take a good look at the STI's after the Hawkeyes, from 2008+, they have a HUGE dead pedal that matches the rest of the pedals. It would turn out, even Subaru felt that it was necessary to upgrade it!

So what to you guys think? Am I a bit crazy for spending money on this upgrade? Or would you yourself do the same?

Since the installation, I have driven the car for several months, and the dead pedal shows no signs of deterioration so far. I would definitely recommend this product, and I give this product a solid 9/10.