Well yesterday I finally got the clutch and lightened flywheel installed into my car and I’m so glad that I can stop worrying about it. Just driving around with a dead clutch was just so annoying especially when going up a hill where I could accelerate but the power isn’t going to the wheels. Anyway having dropped the car off at the clutch place, I pretty much had 7 hours to kill. Last time I took the car for its regular service, I ended up hanging around the local shopping mall for 5 hours, which got pretty tedious after the first 2 hours. This time around I decided to head to the uni and took a bus. Just to let you know, I haven’t caught a bus since my senior years in high school, and that was a good 5-6 years ago. Pretty much ever since I got my Provisional license I’ve been driving everywhere. Ah the wonders of being able to drive anywhere you want. Though I must say, it was rather nostalgic riding in a bus again and my faith in the public transport system of Sydney has been slightly improved. But I still prefer to drive everywhere.
So pretty much I wasted the day away sitting on the uni’s library computers and meeting up with fellow JAUWS members. I had planned on doing some studying but that idea just didn’t happen. As the day went on, I went back to the mechanic at 5 p.m. (they said hopefully ready before 4:30 p.m.) but got told they still need a few more hours. Damn. With the shops closed and nothing to do I ended up going to the public library, and oddly enough they had manga in the teen books section. Majority of the stuff there was stuff I either read or I had no interest in. Luckily they had Initial D manga so I ended up reading two volumes before picking the car up. So after chatting with the mechanic for 20 minutes and feeling the pain of emptying my bank account of $300, I could finally go home, but at least I kept the original flywheel:
This hunk of metal weighs 12 kgs. 12 kgs!!!
Hopping into the car and driving off, I could instantly feel the car being totally different. The clutch has a lot of bite and actually grips when I change it into gear, accelerating is more smoother and that I can actually feel the power going to the wheels. But of course these weren’t the only thing that have changed. There was a slight downside to it all. My clutch pedal is now really soft to push and the friction point is not at the halfway point anymore, but in fact is 3 cm lower than the halfway point. I’m not too sure if this was intentional by the mechanic but it does feel odd. Though I bet you’re thinking what’s the big deal? Well there is a lot to consider, mainly now that I have to change my driving style to suit the change in the clutch pedal, but a 3 cm change from the friction point is quite a lot. Before I used to clutch in without depressing all the way in, but now I have to depress all the way in and I need to adjust my timing of my footwork. Habits are pretty hard to break out of though hopefully I can with this within a few days.
Although I have everything installed, I can’t exactly drive like I do normally and test out how well it goes for now. I have to wear in the new parts for at least 300 kms before I can do some real testing. Ever since I got it back, I haven’t gone past 3500 rpm or accelerated really hard but I can still tell there has been an improvement. Once the 300 kms are up, I’m heading for a mountain run to see what major improvements there are so I can hopefully give a better report on that sometime next week.
Clutch and flywheel upgrade complete. New construction options.
Now that this part is done, what’s the next step for the Pulsar? Well I’m not too sure at this point as there are plenty of things I want to do like get the pod filter installed for the air intake, get a rear swaybar and replace the bushes on my suspension, replace the shocks and springs with a coilover setup etc. Right now my options are unlimited but alas everything comes down to cash. Until I get a stable source of income I’ll decide then but right now I’m only leaning towards the handling aspect of my car than increasing power. If I want power I’m better off saving for a different car, and of course, that car would be a Mazda RX-8, my dream car.
