If you're a regular follower of MTV's Pimp My Ride, you'll realize the extensive use of candy colored paintjobs for most of the rides featured. Now why is this paintjob so popular? You could say this is due to the fact that candy colors gives the surface a depth which normal paints won't be able to provide.

The secret to eye popping candy color paint is that it's a transparent kinda paint, which depends on how bright or reflective the base coat is to provide the shine and depth which makes it's so attractive. However, it's also a bitch to work with, as I unfortunately found out while trying out some experiments for a new DIY project I'm gonna work on soon.

Using the information I gathered from the net, I found out that applying candy paint is going to be a 3 step process. I used an old cap from a spraycan as my subject for this paint test.

First, we need to give the cap a black base coat to cover all the imperfections on the surface.

Next, we need to prep the surface by applying a chrome paintjob onto the black base coat. I used decorative chrome from an Anchor spraycan for this.

After waiting for the paint to dry, give it a good buff using a very soft cloth to give it a better shine.

Once that's done, it's time to apply the candy paint. I bought a can of candy blue, and gave the cap several thin coats of the paint. And here's where everything went wrong.

As you can see from the above pics, 3 major things went terribly wrong. The first was that any dust or grime will have a severe effect on the surface finish. And I saw a really horrible surface finish on the cap.

Next, the candy paint sort of 'ate' into the chrome mid-layer coat. And this left really ugly black spots all over the surface (the black spots are actually the black base coat showing).

And finally, I found that chrome finish from a can is hopeless. It looks pretty when applied on it's own. But when you add another top coat, the mirror like finish dulls into a matte finish and there were blemishes everywhere.

So, I took another unused spray cap to try and see if I could work around the problem. I cleaned the cap thoroughly this time. Then I waited longer for the black base coat to dry. I also applied thicker layers of chrome paint, hoping that the candy paint won't eat through this time.

All that gave me this. It looks marginally better than the first attempt. At least there weren't so many blemishes this time. However, I'm still extremely unsatisfied with the results. It wasn't anywhere good enough to be called successful.

My opinion is, candy paint works best with properly chromed surfaces. Off the shelf chrome paint just won't do, and will not make candy paint look at it's best. It's way too much work and the results are at best average. Don't even think about a showroom shine.

16000km since I first swapped my stock air filter for a drop in K&N replacement; meant that it was high time I got it serviced. So I dropped by Speedworks to pick up a recharger pack for about 60 bucks.

After yanking out the K&N filter from the airbox, I replaced it temporarily with my old paper element filter so that I could still drive around my car. The first thing I realized was how much heavier the damn K&N is. If the standard filter was a Volkswagon Beetle, the K&N filter is about as heavy as a fully loaded German Panzer tank.

I flipped it over to have a look at how badly clogged the filter is.

It wasn't hard to see that it was way past it's service date. The characteristic red cotton gauze element was practically charcoal black with dirt. And a bug or two thrown in for good measure.

As I opened up the recharger kit, I found a spray bottle of cleaner and a bottle of filter oil, plus a step by step guide to clean the filter.

First thing u need to do is spray the clean side of the K&N filter with the cleaner solution until you completely saturate the cotton element.

Once that's done, flip the filter over to the dirty side and repeat the procedure. Leave it to soak for about 20 minutes. Now I had my reservations about how well the cleaner was going to do it's job, since my filter was pretty clogged up with dirt... not to mention greasy as hell. But I just went with the instructions and hoped for the best.

Once the 20 minutes have passed by, it was time to rinse the cleaner off with plenty of clean running water. Important thing to remember is to run the water through the clean side of the filter; this is to make sure you do not drive the dirt further into the cotton gauze element. Let the water run until you stop seeing oily residue floating on the water which passed through the filter.

When I picked up the filter, I was very very suprised to see how clean the filter element was! No dirt was to be seen anywhere... and all I did was run water through the damn thing. No scrubbing, no high pressure water, no industrial strength detergent... (and these are to be avoided at all cost as it could damage the filter). However, the red filter element was now practically white since all the filter oil have been removed by the cleaner solution.

The next thing to do is to let the K&N filter element dry naturally. This is very important  before you can move on to the next step. SoI left the filter to dry for a full day.

Once it's dry, you can start reoiling the filter element with the bottle of oil in the recharger kit. Make sure that you drip the oil on the cotton gauze sparingly, as a soaking wet K&N filter can wreak havoc on your MAP/MAF sensor, or worse, damage your engine (I'm keeping my fingers crossed I didn't screw up this part... it's so tempting to soak the filter with the red filter oil). It's easy to see when there's enough oil, the filter element will be a shade of nice red.

And voila... that's about it. Touch up any white area spots which you may have missed with some additional oil. And you're done! That's it... straight forward and simple.

You now have a clean K&N filter which is as good as new... ;)

Proton designers are idiots. When they first came up with the Waja, they went for the European inspired driver-centric front dash. Which looks pretty cool, until the driver realizes he's permanently stuck in an Alaskan blizzard, where else the poor passenger is forever experiencing the merciless Sahara desert heat. Simply because the passenger side aircon vent is practically useless due to it's angle on the dash.

I attempted to rectify this problem; with mixed results. I used a roll of aluminium sheet to try and fabricate a part.

I ended up creating this.

Which is sorta a home-made remedy to help divert some cold airflow to the left of the car. Which works suprisingly well.

Unfortunately, when you have a look at the final product, it's pretty much an eyesore. Which sucks donkeyballs. And if you're not too careful, you'll just smack the thing off since it's not secured by any adhesive of any kind.

So I did some digging on the net and found this fella selling at lelong.com for approx. 70 bucks.

This is Proton's solution for the aircon vent problem. And it comes with the latest batch of Wajas. The one I got here is an imitation part, which probably is made in Taiwan or something. The seller assured me that this part is 'Plug and Play'. I should have known better than believe some bangla I've never seen before who operates via the net. Biotch personified.

But more on that later.

Armed with a Phillips screwdriver, I set off to tear my dashboard apart. There weren't any intructions of any kind with the package so I had to just fiddle my way around.

First of all, locate the tiny screw just in front of the gear shift lever. This holds the whole assembly together.

Next, you'll need some brute force to yank out the front plastic panel, since it's held together by like a gazzilion plastic tabs. Once it's out, set it aside.

Yes... I know I hav beautifool hands... now quit staring oreidi... :P

Next, remove the screws which holds the 2 DIN radio to the front fascia. There're 4 , so make sure  they're all gone before you pull the thing out.

Once that's out, take a look at the plastic panel coverivg the 5 buttons above the radio console. Yank this out. I broke 2 pins in the process, so be gentle if you're planning to do so.

Once that's out, you'll see 2 screws holding the button assembly to the dashboard. Remove this. Now the hard part starts.

You'll have to pull out the button assembly, which is easier said than done, since there's hardly any space between the dash and the console. I used a flathead screwdriver to pry the damn thing out, which took me about 15 minutes. Farker.

Once that's out, I proceeded to pull out the aircon vent to replace it with the new unit. I then went... FUCK. This ain't right? It's a 2 piece assembly, meaning that I'll have to do more work. I'm beginning to think it isn't that Plug and Play anymore.

So I had to remove the fins. Then I had to find someway to remove the center control lever which controls the airflow.

Some more prying and the damn thing finally came off.

With that outta the way... I can proceed. Then I realize things were flapping loose like some limp dick without the control lever.

So I had to secure the valve which controls the airflow to the top of the assembly with a piece of cable tie. No biggie.

At this point, I should be able to pluck in the new aircon vent into the blank void I created, be done with it and go have a nice cold can of Coke while sitting back to enjoy my handy work. But nooooooooooooo. It didn't. Curses of a thousand homo monkeys, the damn thing just won't go in. Banging the thing with my fists doesn't help either. I definitely felt something is seriously wrong with the new vent.

Upon closer inspection, I found the problem. The new vent has additional brackets and reinforcements, which doesn't exist on my original vent. That aside, the vent was also crudely fabricated, meaning that the edges were roughly finished and the tabs on the top and bottom weren't properly punched, thus the whole thing wouldn't click together.

I felt like throwing the damn thing into the dustbin as there's no way the thing would fit now. But after looking at the vent again, I decided to try and rework the tabs by shaving off some plastic to make the tabs and brackets a little flatter, thus should theorethically be able to fit when all the parts are assembled back.

I pulled out a metal file and started filling off layer after layer of plastic. Then returning to the car to see if it fits. After 5 attempts, I'm still going no where.

The filing was taking forever, and the thing still won't fit. Given enough time, I'm sure I'll get it done. Unfortunately, my patience was running thin this weekend, so I got pissed, pulled out a metal hacksaw and decided to whack the whole bracket off. Then, I shifted my attention to reshaping the holes on the tabs using a boxcutter and cleaned the whole thing up using some sandpaper.

With the damn extra brackets outta the way, and the mis-shaped panels filed to size, I tried again. Finally the thing fits. It took me close to 3 hours just to rework the damn vent using the tools I had. I'm pretty sure it'll take less than half the time if I had a powered dremel tool. Then I started screwing the panels back into place.

Come evening, everything is completed. And seems to work well.

So, the next time some damn online merchant tells me not to worry and that his product is completely Plug and Play... I'll ask him to go eat shit and fuck some filthy lorong belakang in-bred mogrel. Cause it ain't no fun paying for something which require 2 afternoons of my bloody time to fix defects that shouldn't been there in the first place.

Fuckin asshole.

Listening to : Marilyn Manson - Irresponsible Hate Anthem

I dunno if this company is owned by the Governator or something... but the service is pretty fast.

I tried fabricating a part out of aluminium sheet to try and rectify the air conditioning vent on my car several months ago; which was biased towards the driver. It works well, but unfortunately looks like shit even after I gave it a coat of matte black paintjob. Macam tumor je. Quote Poporoti, "WTF is the turbo intake thingy doing on your dashboard?"

So I ordered a part which originates from the Waja Campro version which should solve both problems. I manage to track one down at lelong.com; imitation one... but much cheaper than the real mccoy (costs 3 times more). And finally, it arrived yesterday.

Yay... can try DIY liao this weekend. Time to rip the dashboard apart... nyaaaahahaha...

This is a backdated DIY project I did sometime back before several home improvements were done.

There are quite a few things in my place which look kinda worn down and needed some sprucing up, or I could go an easier way; replacement. But the former is more fun.

One of the affected items were my showers.

I really didn't like the cheesy looking white as everything looked so 'plasticky'. And the casing has started turning yellowish due to aging and constant exposure to the bathroom moisture rich environment. So I took it off to work on it.

First thing to do was to scrub and clean the casing as best as you can. Remove every bit of grime and stain which you can see if possible.  I used some Dynamo for this purpose. This would ensure the paint will adhere to the surface properly. Also remove any decals which may impair the finish.

Next, mask off the places you do not wish to paint with some celophane tape and cut off the excess with a boxcutter. You can easily peel it off at the end of the DIY, leaving a neat clean unpainted region.

Once all the prep is done, get a can of spraypaint for primer. I use the el-cheapo Anchor spraypaint (White : Product Code: 47802) for this purpose. A light thin coat would be sufficient. Let it dry before moving on to the next stage.

Once that is done, get a can of decorative chrome spraypaint (Product Code: 467018) and start working on the finish of the casing. I sprayed a total of 5 thin coats. Leaving each coat to dry for about half an hour. This will give the casing a nice shiny metallic finish. Make sure that you leave the casing to dry over night before you touch the surface.

Once everything is done, you can peel off the celophane tape and everything is ready to be placed back. Total amount spent for the chroming DIY? About 12 bucks for the 2 cans of paint.

Another simple DIY which you can do is to recycle bottles. I started using glass bottles to store water after hearing all the hoo-haas about the dangers of re-using plastic bottles.

How to do this? Get a few large bottles (champagne or sparkling juice bottles would do just fine). Soak the bottles overnight to remove the labels. Then go to your friendly neighbourhood hypermarket and get a few nice looking wine stoppers. Pop these onto the bottles and you get a pair of nice looking water containers.

Simple no?

Local cars are like disposable cutleries. They serve their purpose well when new, but fall horrendously apart as the years pile on. Anyways, the cover on my passenger side mirror (the thingy on the sun visor) broke some time back and I didn't bother to get it fixed all this while.

You can bring it to the service centre to rectify the thing, but most of the time, they'll slice your throat 7 ways then leave you hanging from the roof to drain whatever remaining blood  you have left.

So I decided to fix it myself. There are two tiny tabs which holds the cover in place. This is what a normal tab looks like.

This is what happens when the tab snaps off. Habis kena sunat.

How to fix the damn thing?

Simple.

Use weapons of mass destruction.

In this case... a drill... nyaaaahahaha... I luv these things...

Drill a hole on the area where the original tab snapped off. Shear off approx 5mm worth of plastic. Not too much, or you'll risk compromising the structural integrity of that piece of cover.

Next, you'll need a satay stick.

Jam this innocent lookin wooden anal probe into the little hole you just made on the cover.

Yes... no need to komen... my fingernails are a little dirty... but I was busy givin my engine cover a new paintjob... so pls dun mention it k?

Then cut off the excess with some scissors or box cutter. Use a file to clean off the splinters.

Now you've got a home-made wooden tab.

Align the cover back onto the visor of your car. Use a flathead screwdriver and pry the damn thing into the notch. It'll take some elbow grease to get the damn thing in... but it'll go in.

Voila.

Fixed.

And it didn't cost a damn penny.

Kowtow me now all you worthless Plotong mekaniks.

One of the biggest things I miss most in a kapchai is the center stand. Now this little doohickee here helps lift up the rear wheel off the ground and places the bike in a rock solid position.

Now, some smartass fella decided that the center stand is just too bapuk for higher capacity bikes. So we're left with only a flimsy side-stand; which is a nightmare when it's time to lubricate the chain. You see... with a side-stand, the rear wheel is still resting firmly on the ground. So you'll have to lube like 3 inches of chain, pull the bigfat rear wheel till you develope a hernia to advance the chain a little, then lube another 3 inches. Fak... at this rate, even my medical insurance won't cover the damages it inflicts on my bad back.

Out of frustration, this is what I decided to do. I plunder the jack from my waramashite car.

Next, I place the jack underneath my bike's swingarm. Slowly and carefully, I lift the bike to it's side; so that the rear wheel is lifted into the air and the whole back section of the bike is resting on the side-stand.

Once this is done, you'll find that you can now freely spin the rear wheel. Yeah... spin that sucker...!!!

Lubing the chain is now kacang putih as you can spin the rear wheel and lube the chain at the same time. No more wrestling with the damn back wheel to push the chain forward... wooohooo!!!

Just remember to remove the jack from underneath your bike after you're done and place it bek in your car. You don't wanna find yourself without a jack when you have a flat... no sir-ree...

I was plesantly suprised when I got my first job order last Thursday morning. Hey... 1 single request is better than nothing right? The order came from lomoboy. Anyways, he emailed me the design he wanted and requested that it be cut in black decal.

It was an interesting logo, a combo of western and chinese characters.

*Dun copy yah... jangan jadi lanun...

I printed the design out and resized it using the photocopier to the exact dimensions he wanted.

I started work at around 10.45pm that night. After masking the design onto a piece of glass (where I do the cutting), I made the first incision using my trusty box cutter.

The chinese characters were particularly difficult to cut as the strokes were pretty fine and the decal would barely stay in place when I tried manouvering the blade around. But eventually, the design start taking shape.

As I slowly removed the last bits of excess decals away, the job was finally done. Took me about 2 hours to complete the whole thing. Here's how the completed decal looks like.

Anyways, I brought the decal the next day to show lomoboy. I asked him what he wanted to stick this on. Turns out he wanted it on his spanking new iBook. WHOA MAMA!!! I did the installation for him, and this is how it turned out.

Anyways, I'm crossing my fingers, hoping that he'll be happy with the job I've done for him.

Many thanks for being my first customer!!!

**Pssttt... will any of you guys do me a favour and pls help pimp me? Pleeeeeassse??? (muka tembok, kulit tebal macam gajah mode ^_^)