nzskater

Drop a note to Sam and Christian at United Car Care. They can set you up with everything you need. This is the product arm of their car detailing business, OCD.

https://unitedcarcare.co.nz/
http://www.ocdetailing.co.nz/

If I'm ever never Repco I tend to pick up a bulk pack of their micro fibre, for use on the less critical areas (engine bay, windscreen etc). The higher quality towels, especially the waffle drying towels, are worth spending a few extra $$ on.

John McM

I want it done properly as we're not looking to sell any time soon.

Cedar weatherboards need to be sanded back to accept the new colour and the cedar window frames and surrounds need to be stripped to bare wood, with a coat of primer and two final coats. All of the windows have new double glazing panels that we don't want to break.

I'll paint when I can and refurb the Project car during the rest of the time. Rear shocks should be done this weekend. I want it more mobile.

Macca

Yeah cedar is s great timber but messy work to prep for painting. Soft and creates lots of dust. In another life I had lots of experience with panting (started a house painting company to pay for varsity and painted dozens of houses including villas). Everyone said it was great experience if I ever wanted to do my own place, after three seasons, apart from being able to edge a window quickly and accurately without tape blindfolded my total take away from the experience was that I would make damn sure whatever I did after would make me enough money to pay someone else to paint my house!

Roll on 20 years and I have to say after employing more painters than I care to remember if it was my absolute forever house I would want to do the job myself. I haven't seen a finish yet better than I'm capable of, although my way takes more time. A classic in point is the move to spray for interior surfaces and the use of acrylic for moving exterior surfaced (timber dashed Windows etc). I don't know if they still sell oil based paints in NZ but I learnt the hard way that you can't beat the traditional products and methods. Same goes for plumbing. A true artisan will use copper, brazing, hesien cloth and graphite - it will last for ever. Flowplex has been proven ultimately unreliable (o ring failure and batch issue with crimping collars). If you wanted to build a true 50 year plus house you'd be better sticking with the stuff that's proven and stable IMO.

Rant over, debate may begin :-)

John McM

Highly recommend Sam at United. He fixed me up after the training session. Despite not having the correct foam gun attachment on the water blaster the Cayenne paint came up beautifully.

996tnz

No debate from me Mark. Earned some coins painting too (mostly interiors plus some weatherboard and a huge two-storey brick mansion) and largely came to the same conclusions. I can easily do it better, but not as cheap and fast as the guys I can just call in. So I pick my battles and had contractors paint the garage and rear of our current house for instance, while still prepping and painting our new veranda myself.

Painters today would probably laugh or have heart attacks at the approach to safety back then - like lashing a couple of tall ladders together end-to-end before hoisting that super ladder high in the bucket of a front-end loader to reach the highest gables.

These days, it's crazy the other way. Even some cable installers a few years ago wouldn't get up on the roof to check our dish as it was 'mildly moist' out there, so they sat tight in the lounge while I went up and brought back some photos for them...

gt38088

So here is some new tech for turbo development - no lag
Audi also have this but not in production yet either. They built a 500hp TTRS concept car using electric turbo
http://www.msn.com/en-nz/motoring/ne...6t7?li=BBqd5YO

Macca

Graeme + Walt.

Really good points about the new breed of turbo engines and also the importance that gearbox development has brought to optimizing heir strengths and cloaking their weaknesses. I think twin scroll turbos have helped in the leap here as electric ones may no doubt do in the future.

Turbo cars compression ratio seems to have increased recently along with reliable turbo boost and redline, not to mention how fat and flat toque curves are these days with new controllers and turbo tech. Gone are the Cordia days LOL!

I just looked quickly at the specs for both cars engine and its interesting how they make their power. One is married to an 8 speed ZF auto the other a 6 speed manual. Graemes comments on these boxes is very pertinent from my experience. Actually on the GT3 board a few days ago, after reading about the new Panameras 8 speed PDK I suggested this may well be how they get more performance out of the next generation of GT3RS too...so the theory as Walt says works well for NA too and infact can "torque fill" there to some degree too.

2016 Alfa Giulia QV (8 speed ZF auto)
2.9L V6 90 degree twin scroll turbo
9.3:1 CR
510 PS @ 6500 rpm (redline @ 7000)
600nm @ 2500 rpm +
35 psi

2016 Ford Focus RS (6 speed manual)
2.3L Four twin scroll turbo
9.4:1 CR
350 PS @ 6000 rpm (redline @ 6800)
470nm @1600 rpm
23.1 psi

Now compared to the WRX I bought new and loved 18 years ago:

1998 Subaru Impresa WRX (5 speed manual)
2L H6 Single turbo (EJ20K)
8.0:1 CR
280 PS @ 6500 rpm (redline @ 6800)
338 nm @ 4000
14 psi

Areas in red are where you can see the biggest difference in the more modern engines. Obviously DFI, ECUs, Actuators and sensor/controller technology along with turbo vane and efficiency all play a part.

996tnz

That's pretty insane boost on the Alfa. May limit the tuning potential and or track stamina?

By way of comparison:

Modded Porsche 996 Turbo (non-X50, 5 speed ZF auto)
3.6L Flat six twin turbo with VVTL
9.4:1 CR
~504 PS @ ~6700 rpm (redline @ 6750)
~650 Nm @ 4000
14.5 psi

That's 14.5 PSI just of boost, not total inlet pressure which would be 29PSI as one atmosphere (14.5 PSI) is the starting point already at sea level (and plenty of headroom for more with other turbos).

Unless the Giulia is spectacularly heavy, or spectacularly inefficient, I suspect that its figure of 35 PSI is also a total pressure? If so, that would equate to 20.5PSI of boost. I suspect that's the case because its performance should be a lot better otherwise.

Update - just looked it up and the Giulia has 1.4 BAR of boost pressure, which equals 20.3 PSI. Source:http://www.autozine.org/Archive/Alfa/new/Giulia.html

Which gives slightly revised figures of:

2016 Alfa Giulia QV (8 speed ZF auto)
2.9L V6 90 degree twin scroll turbo
9.3:1 CR
510 PS @ 6500 rpm (redline @ 7000)
600nm @ 2500 rpm +
20.3 psi

2016 Ford Focus RS (6 speed manual)
2.3L Four twin scroll turbo
9.4:1 CR
350 PS @ 6000 rpm (redline @ 6800)
470nm @1600 rpm
23.1 psi

1998 Subaru Impresa WRX (5 speed manual)
2L H6 Single turbo (EJ20K)
8.0:1 CR
280 PS @ 6500 rpm (redline @ 6800)
338 nm @ 4000
14 psi

Modded Porsche 996 Turbo (non-X50, 5 speed ZF auto)
3.6L Flat six twin turbo with VVTL
9.4:1 CR
~504 PS @ 6700 rpm (redline @ 6750)
~650 Nm @ 4000
14.5 psi

What's most interesting to me though is the Focus RS's Ecoboost delivering 470 (or440Nm?) of torque from as low as 1600rpm. Those low-inertia twin-scroll turbochargers and associated plumbing it has are pretty magic!

Update: A bit too magic it turns out, going by the ECU maps. Was fascinated enough to dig into it, and the Focus RS figure looks to be 480Nm, but at 4000 rpm. Still a very impressive 405 Nm at 1600 odd rpm though. Here are the torque control maps, for normal and overboost ('overpower') mode:



Credit to Bugasu: http://www.focusrs.org/forum/16-focu...ost-works.html

gt38088

the pace of change in technology is increasing and for NA to compete as a package with or without manual gearbox they are going to have to go even more pure as a driving experience by being as light as possible.
Here is the Audi
http://www.topgear.com/car-news/vide...ubsport-scream
My mistake - its 600hp. I could do one of these - be an awesome Targa car - just need a programmable centre diff

pcarplayer

Macca, thanks. It was a terrible decision to make. I'm sure you understand given your recent sale of the 993 - i'm sure that was more difficult after such a long history. Indeed, it has been interesting the recent 964 sales. I may know of another coming up soon

It is indeed hard to ignore the newer gear, namely 7.2 ex UK. I have thought about it but the reality is i would just find myself in the same spot with a different car. I walk to work so don't need a DD

When we do move we are thinking either work/live Lyon, or reside Annecy and work in Geneve. Always welcome and there are some super drives around the alps as i'm sure you know. Not to mention a stones throw from the Route Neoplean and, more importantly, its surrounds

I too will miss the 964 chatter, John. I would like to thank you for all your advice over the last couple of years. I have learnt a great deal. If you ever need a hand removing an engine or sprizing up a tired paint job - i'm your man!

pcarplayer

Haha Walter. Go cars, not show cars - yeah right!

Walter i'd like to dedicate the following to you


+964 what Jake said Graham. There are many grades of microfibre. Here's a quick geeky rundown of what you should look for

MF is the bread and butter of car detailing. It is what touches the car more than any other product.

Quality MF should be "split" during processing. This is a costly method of actually splitting the polyester (the scrubbing fiber) from the polymide (the absorbing and quick drying fiber). Blend ratio's , e.g. 80/20, describe polyester/polymide. The more the polymide the more plush the towel

Many of the Microfiber products being offered on the market, especially some types designated for “automobile use” are made from “non-split” (non-absorbent and ineffective) yarn. The manufacturer forgoes the expensive “splitting” procedure to save money, and the result is a failing product. Not only does the blend lose over half of its absorbing and cleaning ability but it weakens with use, greatly reducing the life of the product. Some microfiber products have less density, and a denier (unit used for measuring the fineness of fabric) of 0.5 or higher, which is 50x’s larger than the preferred quality denier of 0.02 or smaller.

When looking for a MF towel bear in mind that less density of fiber, translate into less cleaning power and far less durability. The less dense cloths are also more abrasive to delicate surfaces. Look for at least 200,000 fibers per square inch of fabric. This is usually measured as gm/m2

Types of MF

• Trash cheap bulk from Supercheap - engine, tires, oily bits, etc - essentially throwaway
  
• All purpose short pile 80/20 200 gm/m2 for non-sensitive areas door jams, wheels, exhaust tips
  https://unitedcarcare.co.nz/product/...se-microfibre/
  
• Plush 75/25 - 70/30 350-600 gm/m2 used for sensitive areas: removing waxes/sealants, for final buffing, application of quick detailers - final stages of paint work, interiors...
  Short pile https://unitedcarcare.co.nz/product/...nk-microfibre/
  Long Pile https://unitedcarcare.co.nz/product/premium-ultra-soft/
  
• Waffle weave 80/20 200-350 gm/m2 Extremely absorbant, Drying after washing and smaller towels for glass work
  https://unitedcarcare.co.nz/product/...-drying-towel/
  https://unitedcarcare.co.nz/product/...ss-microfibre/

Buying quantities

• Trash 1 x pack of 20
• All purpose short pile 4
• Plush short pile (interiors) 4 (2 for plastics, 2 for leather)
• Plush long pile (paint) 4 (will do wax removal for one car)
• Large waffle 2 (enough for large vehicle)
• Small waffle for windows 2 (1 to apply 1, to buff)

There are several tests you can preform to determine the quality of a MF towel. First, rub it against your skin and feel how soft it is. Does it grab at the imperfections of your skin? If so, this is a good thing and means the towel is made from split MF.

Second, hold the towel to a light and see how much light passes through it. A high quality towel with a strong weave will not stretch, but a low quality towel will, allowing sunlight to pass through the space between the weaves

Try to buy MF without edging. If not look for silk. Remove tags, etc before use

Wash MF in liquid soap. Do not use softeners. Powders may not dissolve causing scratches when used. Cold to warm water. Tumble dry on low setting. Hot dry will destroy the effectiveness of the towels

996tnz

Thanks for coughing up the rest of your secrets and what a lucky bugger you are Warwick. Lyon is fine but Annecy in the summer is just something else. Spent a couple there working in a restaurant and a holiday resort, until a french girl I met there finally dragged me away to Versailles. Would go back in a heartbeat, even for just the smell of the alpine meadow flowers (no cow jokes thanks) and some more of the genepi liqueur they make from them. Other compensations too (just quietly Macca, if Annecy wins out, you may want to time your visit for white pointer season ).

John McM

I heard my Spiel article has made it to the press. I think I'll try and get the Project car mobile for the PCNZ Xmas picnic. I could use that DA and an experienced user to put the body in its best possible condition....

gt38088

thx for all that will order at the weekend

kiwi 911

Walter, I'd be a gentlemen and even let you have first pick.