Five months and two weeks ago I proposed to my girlfriend and got a 'yes'. Going from being single and without a care in the world to being engaged has in itself been a blissful experience. I knew from the beginning that it would no be easy, and it was a challenge that I looked forward to facing.
In retrospect, I'm looking back at how this all started.
I met her at work. As if it was the script in some cheesy romantic movie, she was my boss, and if that cliche was not enough we started out as friends. It started with coffee. Hanging out together after work and just talking. I had come from a point where a previous relationship had ended on a rather sour note, and I was trying to kick a drinking habit that was already boarding on alcoholism. She had also been through something similar. It was nice to having a friend to talk to, I didn't have to keep things to myself and at the very least I kept me away from drinking. It's hard for me to remember at what point exactly I started entertaining the thoughts that we could be more than just friends. Towards the end of 2010 I had realized I was starting to fall for her. I decided to leave the company and pursue other things... her being one of them. When you find a girl who's willing to ride in your loud stripped out aircon-less car that's been sitting in the noon time sun, and she has to hop over the roll cage in her short dress, that has to be someone worth pursuing. Even if it meant leaving my comfort zone of a Job that actually paid quite well. After some courtship that would not be out of place in a John Loyd Cruz movie, including going through around 9 different cities just looking for a Starbucks that was open, we exchanged the verbal agreement to become mutually exclusive.
Bliss. Probably the most overused term in describing relationships. However, I can defend why I'd say our relationship has been blissful. Over the last couple of years, we experienced a lot of things together. Good things, bad things. We had our moments of joy and shared laughter, and also moments when we've hurt each other. Yes, we've had fights. Nasty ones sometimes involving somebody getting out of the car in the middle of traffic and walking away. An innocent post may also have been punched out of frustration leading to the injury of an innocent hand. We never broke up though, maybe somebody may had said something to that extent out of spite at one point, but without the acknowledgement of the other it was never official. The good times of course outnumber those, however believe it or not it's in those low moments that a relationship is forged. When your happy and having a good time, it's easy to gloss over things and get lost in the euphoria. When you're sitting a lone brooding about how you think the other person is unreasonable and imagining breaking up with them and how much easier and stress free things would be if you were single, is the time that you really test and see how much you love the other person, or not. Single life was great, you get to do whatever you want, when you want and you don't have to consider anyone else. You don't have to do things you don't want to do. You don't have to worry about hurting anyone. But when the desire to be with someone is stronger than all of that, when you'd put up with long (very long) shopping trips in a mall, wearing gay looking loafers and colorful clothes, not being able to grow an incredibly long beard that has a life of it's own because she thinks it looks dirty... The only explanation would be that you genuinely love the person and every moment spent with a person you truly love, both the good times and the bad, is bliss.
We had been boyfriend-girlfriend for a couple of years. How I decided it was the time to 'pop the question', I don't even really remember. I guess it's a sum total of all the feelings I had developed in the time we had been together. I can offer no logical explanation why I decided it was the right time to, all I knew is that on that early Monday morning on the 8th of July this year, everything felt 'right'. I had spent a lot of time looking at 'epic' wedding proposals on YouTube, thinking of elaborate ways to surprise her, but none of them felt right or really as sincere as I'd like. I didn't need anything fancy with video coverage, I felt like it was something that had to be private, shared only by the two of us. So again, after catching a movie, over some coffee, while talking and reminiscing out how things have been like over the time we had been together, I asked her if she would like to marry me. And so the adventure began.
Marriage. Scary word that. A lot of guys liken it to losing all freedom. The colloquial term for it translates to getting tied down. I don't remember ever fearing that. Although honestly I never also gave it much thought. It's said that you really have to prepare yourself before you consider getting married. You should be mature enough to handle the responsibility of starting your own family. You should be financially stable with a good amount of savings. You have to be sure that the person you are about to marry is the person you are willing to commit your life to. If there was a test to take that would allow you to get married, I certainly won't pass. 1 out of 3. Only the last case would apply. I know I'm far from ready for this sort of thing. Savings? I've been living it up indulging my self in all sorts of things, so I don't really have any, I wiped out whatever I had buying an engagement ring. All I knew was that I was sure she was the person I would like to spend the rest of my life with. I could imagine waking up next to her every morning, taking a shower in the bathroom while she poops, maybe having kids, and growing old together. I knew it was not going to be an easy journey, but it was just my style. I've always gone into things without really being prepared and figuring out how to make it work along the way. Think of it as cramming for an exam. It's definitely not the best way to go and things would be a lot easier if you prepared well ahead of time, but at the same time it is exciting, and in the end maybe even more rewarding. I'm well aware that things to come will be difficult, it will involve a lot of sacrifices, blood sweat and tears. There are still a lot of uncertain things, but I am sure that on August 8, 2014, when we exchange our vows and commit 'till death do us apart. It will be the happiest day of my life.
Saturday, December 21, 2013
Thursday, December 19, 2013
Unassisted Brakes.. Full manual conversion!
The upgrade that involves removing something that was already there.
First, a quick back story. My 1979 Mitsubishi Lancer originally came with a power assisted brakes by way of a Firewall mounted brake servo (aka. hydrovac). When I upgraded the engine, the original brake master and servo were in the way of the bigger carburetor so I switched to a custom brake system using an AP Lockheed remote servo mounted in the front of the car where the battery used to be.
I can't really complain about the performance of the Lockheed system. Aside from the fact that is has a cool name and looks really trick (always starts a conversation when people see the setup for the first time) it actually performs quite well. It's really powerful, I'd even call it overassisted. You get full braking power with just a light touch of the brake pedal. I've used it for almost 5 years already covering a whole lot of driving, mountain runs, high speed runs and even slalom racing once. The system is not perfect though. Because the brake servo is remote from the pedal, it lacks feel, or more accurately, there is no feel. The pedal acts more like an on/off switch, although with enough time and experience, knowing how the car will react when I step a certain amount, I was able to learn how to control it, but I never could use 100% of the brakes without locking it up. Another disadvantage was that you lose the split circuit safety of the original brake system, because the lockheed is fed by a single line in, if you have a leak anywhere you lose all brakes. I had a slight scare once when the bolt of a t-fitting came off and caused one of the brake pipes to crack. I've been paranoid about it ever since. Lastly, it's an old-tech system. Even 5 years ago, we were selling the things 'new old stock' coming out of decaying boxes. I have sold the last of our stocks of the things even the one I was keeping as a spare, so I figured if it were to break it would be best to look for a more modern alternative. Although, I must give the Lockheed some credit there, as long as they have clean brake fluid, they seem to last forever.
For a while, I had been researching alternative options that can apply to the car, given the tight space constraints of the engine. There is no modern version of the Lockheed remote servo, and even the smallest thinnest firewall mounted servo from a Japanese Kei car will still be too long for our application. There was always the option of switching to a down draft car and manifold to get the space back, but I felt that would be giving up on the side draft system that already works so well. Eventually, I started looking into Motorsports solutions. I was drawn in particular to the Tilton design dual master cylinder brake system that had a separate master for the front and rear brakes and a balance bar for adjustment and tuning. This is where I first encountered unassisted brakes. I had always thought that unassited brakes were reserved only for really really old cars that date back from before the brake booster/servo/hydrovac was invented. My 60 Chevy has manual brakes and they were terrible. I learned since then that a large number of race cars actually remove the servo and run unassited brakes for better control. Also learned that one of my favorite cars, the early Porsche 911 also did not have any brake servo up to some of the earlier 930 series. So based on the logic that most race cars and Porsche's are faster than my car and they run unassited brakes, I figured that would be the way to go.
I had originally planed on making my own version of the Tilton dual master cylinder system (of course we could always buy one, but there's no fun in that), but as I later decided that I don't really need the bias adjustability it offers over the increased cost and complexity of making one. The simpler the better, I figured as less parts would mean less areas to R&D and less places where things could possibly go wrong. I decided to pattern my brake system after the early Porsche 911 design which is basically a 2-pot master cylinder directly actuated by the pedal.
Master cylinders actually work like gears, with a ratio in relation to the piston in the brake caliper. The smaller master cylinder actually applies more pressure while the bigger it is means it moves more fluid (you also have to consider your brakes, discs have big pistons compared to the wheel cylinders in drums). The idea is to find the balance between having enough fluid volume to move your brakes within a fairly short stroke and having enough pressure. I understood this to mean that you use the smallest master you can get away with. According to the Porsche experts and racing people, a 20mm master cylinder was best for unssisted brake applications (any bigger and you'll probably want some assist already) so I figured that's a good place to start.
I dropped by favorite local parts place (Alabang Parts Center in Las Pinas) because those guys are patient with putting up with my strange requests for parts. I asked them to bring out all of the master cylinders they had on stock so I could choose one, considering both the 20mm bore size I needed and the need to get the shortest possible one to clear our engine mods. I settled with one for a '89 Lancer (yeah, funny to end up with a Mitsubishi part again) 13/16" = 20.3mm so close enough and it was also physically the stubbiest master the had available.
I fabricated an adaptor plate out of aluminum to mate it's 2-bolt flange to the 4-bolt hole in the cars firewall, which as you'll see in the pic, just barely clears the backing plate on the side draft carb.
I then fabricated a rod that connects the brake pedal to the master with an adjustable link so I had the option of adjusting pedal height and even preloading the master to shorten the pedal stroke if I wanted to. [no pics of that, I'm calling that a trade secret]
Took out all the complex brakes lines the old remote servo had and was left with a simple 'one for the front brakes, one for the rear brakes' setup. Still in the same armored copper pipe as before.
All done, there's a lot less clutter in the engine bay now.
I have to say that I like it a lot! In fact I've been driving the car all week just so I can keep testing it. Of course compared to any assisted setup it requires a lot more pressure to stop the car. There is nothing helping you so it's all muscle power. I would have to say it takes about 4 to 6 times more force from the right leg to stop the car. One noticeable difference is that there is now a progression in stopping. With a servo you just step, and the longer you leave your foot on the pedal the more stopping the car does. Without the servo you step and you have to step harder and harder to stop the car. It's not as bad as it seems though, as it's still quite easy to lock up the tires at speed if you step hard enough. I like it actually, and what I really like with the progression of the manual system is that it is very easy to modulated the brakes.
In order to use 100% of your braking system, you have to be able to brake at 'impending lockup' meaning any bit more pressure and you lock the wheels. On most cars I've driven with a brake assist this limit is very small, so you end up braking, locking the brakes, releasing, adding pressure, locking again and releasing, in order to balance the car at the limit. With the unassisted system, because of it's progression, it is SO easy to find that limit and keep it there, just perfect that you can hear the tires scrubbing just about to lock up but not locking up. I can imagine that this would be a great advantage at the track, which we may have the opportunity to test next year. For fast road use I am very satisfied.
In normal driving, the pedal does feel a lot harder than an assisted system. But after a bit of time to adjust to it, it feel normal and natural. City driving with stop and go traffic is easily handled without any more effort than if it had power assist.
In summary, I'm very happy with it. Pros: Great feel, excellent control and much simpler than the previous system. Cons: Very hard pedal (although I actually like that, it feels very reassuring to kick when your going for it) and more effort needed from the human to operate the car. So I don't think it's an mod for everybody and it probably won't be as easy if it was in a different application i.e. a much heavier car (remember our Lancer is like 750kg). I know a lot of people prefer over assisted systems because it makes the brake feel really strong, but really boosted pressure from the pedal does not make the actual brakes perform any better than if the pressure was manually supplied.
For a while, I had been researching alternative options that can apply to the car, given the tight space constraints of the engine. There is no modern version of the Lockheed remote servo, and even the smallest thinnest firewall mounted servo from a Japanese Kei car will still be too long for our application. There was always the option of switching to a down draft car and manifold to get the space back, but I felt that would be giving up on the side draft system that already works so well. Eventually, I started looking into Motorsports solutions. I was drawn in particular to the Tilton design dual master cylinder brake system that had a separate master for the front and rear brakes and a balance bar for adjustment and tuning. This is where I first encountered unassisted brakes. I had always thought that unassited brakes were reserved only for really really old cars that date back from before the brake booster/servo/hydrovac was invented. My 60 Chevy has manual brakes and they were terrible. I learned since then that a large number of race cars actually remove the servo and run unassited brakes for better control. Also learned that one of my favorite cars, the early Porsche 911 also did not have any brake servo up to some of the earlier 930 series. So based on the logic that most race cars and Porsche's are faster than my car and they run unassited brakes, I figured that would be the way to go.
I had originally planed on making my own version of the Tilton dual master cylinder system (of course we could always buy one, but there's no fun in that), but as I later decided that I don't really need the bias adjustability it offers over the increased cost and complexity of making one. The simpler the better, I figured as less parts would mean less areas to R&D and less places where things could possibly go wrong. I decided to pattern my brake system after the early Porsche 911 design which is basically a 2-pot master cylinder directly actuated by the pedal.
Master cylinders actually work like gears, with a ratio in relation to the piston in the brake caliper. The smaller master cylinder actually applies more pressure while the bigger it is means it moves more fluid (you also have to consider your brakes, discs have big pistons compared to the wheel cylinders in drums). The idea is to find the balance between having enough fluid volume to move your brakes within a fairly short stroke and having enough pressure. I understood this to mean that you use the smallest master you can get away with. According to the Porsche experts and racing people, a 20mm master cylinder was best for unssisted brake applications (any bigger and you'll probably want some assist already) so I figured that's a good place to start.
I dropped by favorite local parts place (Alabang Parts Center in Las Pinas) because those guys are patient with putting up with my strange requests for parts. I asked them to bring out all of the master cylinders they had on stock so I could choose one, considering both the 20mm bore size I needed and the need to get the shortest possible one to clear our engine mods. I settled with one for a '89 Lancer (yeah, funny to end up with a Mitsubishi part again) 13/16" = 20.3mm so close enough and it was also physically the stubbiest master the had available.
I fabricated an adaptor plate out of aluminum to mate it's 2-bolt flange to the 4-bolt hole in the cars firewall, which as you'll see in the pic, just barely clears the backing plate on the side draft carb.
I then fabricated a rod that connects the brake pedal to the master with an adjustable link so I had the option of adjusting pedal height and even preloading the master to shorten the pedal stroke if I wanted to. [no pics of that, I'm calling that a trade secret]
Took out all the complex brakes lines the old remote servo had and was left with a simple 'one for the front brakes, one for the rear brakes' setup. Still in the same armored copper pipe as before.
All done, there's a lot less clutter in the engine bay now.
Finally. The most important part. How does it perform?
I have to say that I like it a lot! In fact I've been driving the car all week just so I can keep testing it. Of course compared to any assisted setup it requires a lot more pressure to stop the car. There is nothing helping you so it's all muscle power. I would have to say it takes about 4 to 6 times more force from the right leg to stop the car. One noticeable difference is that there is now a progression in stopping. With a servo you just step, and the longer you leave your foot on the pedal the more stopping the car does. Without the servo you step and you have to step harder and harder to stop the car. It's not as bad as it seems though, as it's still quite easy to lock up the tires at speed if you step hard enough. I like it actually, and what I really like with the progression of the manual system is that it is very easy to modulated the brakes.
In order to use 100% of your braking system, you have to be able to brake at 'impending lockup' meaning any bit more pressure and you lock the wheels. On most cars I've driven with a brake assist this limit is very small, so you end up braking, locking the brakes, releasing, adding pressure, locking again and releasing, in order to balance the car at the limit. With the unassisted system, because of it's progression, it is SO easy to find that limit and keep it there, just perfect that you can hear the tires scrubbing just about to lock up but not locking up. I can imagine that this would be a great advantage at the track, which we may have the opportunity to test next year. For fast road use I am very satisfied.
In normal driving, the pedal does feel a lot harder than an assisted system. But after a bit of time to adjust to it, it feel normal and natural. City driving with stop and go traffic is easily handled without any more effort than if it had power assist.
In summary, I'm very happy with it. Pros: Great feel, excellent control and much simpler than the previous system. Cons: Very hard pedal (although I actually like that, it feels very reassuring to kick when your going for it) and more effort needed from the human to operate the car. So I don't think it's an mod for everybody and it probably won't be as easy if it was in a different application i.e. a much heavier car (remember our Lancer is like 750kg). I know a lot of people prefer over assisted systems because it makes the brake feel really strong, but really boosted pressure from the pedal does not make the actual brakes perform any better than if the pressure was manually supplied.
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