Disassembled a JDM LoveLife Corolla today, with the 3C engine, automatic transmission and 4WD. I felt pity for that car, because of its not so usual configuration, but its driveline and wiring harness are going to get a glorious future into a RAV-4 soon.

The only good thing I could get in Singapore this time were some brand-new Garrett twin-scroll turbochargers that might be a great upgrade for Toyota 2.5D-4D non-VGT engines. I might confess I'm more favorable to twin-scrolls wastegateds than single-scroll VGTs for the dependability.

Singapore is a beautiful place, but the anti-diesel mindset embraced by many people there is pointless. They are more expensive to purchase, but still worth more than a hybrid. People who claim about the environmental benefit of hybrids but dispose their cars when they're 10 year-old should remember that a hybrid has a higher manufacturing footprint.

I've recently took a ride in a multicab repowered with a surplus Kubota D900 engine out of a refrigerated box truck. I knew it was usual in Cambodia, but never seen that in the Philippines before.

Fitting a 4HF1, a turbocharger and a water-to-air intercooler into a surplus American Ford E-350 DRW ambulance is not so hard as trying to make a 6-cylinder to find its way there, but it's far from being an easy job.

Power-to-weight ratio in small stern-drive boats is not so exciting. I don't understand why those 2-cylinder Yanmar and its Chinese rip-offs are still used for that matter, they should be restricted for the stationary usage they were initially intended for. Might be still OK for a kuliglig but on boats the dead weight is even more problematic. The cheapest is not everytime the best, there are many 4-cylinder engines that are not so heavy compared to the 2-cylinder stationary Yanmars, even though in certain cases displacing the double of them. I've seen the TDI engines from Audi being also available for marine purposes in other places, and due to the modular engine designs from the Volkswagen Group it woldn't be so hard to get them made in China too.

All around the world, people been saying asbestos cause cancer. Canada forbids asbestos usage locally, altough exports a great amount of all the asbestos used worldwide alongside Russia. It's still the most cost-effective material for thermal insulation under extreme heat, being great fort gaskets in general. I'm not afraid to use it to make gaskets in general and using scraps to make EGR blank plates. Using dust-filtering mask when cutting the asbestos pieces decreases the risk of cancer, altough it's usually neglected. I always carry one, in spite of the jokes that I use it to hide my nose deformed after a jeepney crash. And that jeepney got lots of asbestos, at the clutch disc, brake pads, gaskets, and under the body to reduce exhaust heat radiation to the cab...

This week I've blanked the EGR of a Peugeot 5008 with that eHDi engine, and its fuel-efficiency bumped from 17kmpl to nearly 20.

I've once been in Brazil when I was younger, in 2001 when I was still 17 years-old. I spent a few days in Porto Alegre that time, and I still want to come back there someday. Today the people back there might be enjoying their chimarrão tea, affectionally also called matte, and eating inasal to celebrate one of the most beautiful holidays I've ever known. In September 20, an entire Southern province of Brazil, the Rio Grande del Sur, celebrate a day devoted to their rural traditions, which settled the local cultural base, and the most important aspect to note is the value they devote to family, friendship and faith in God. That's basically what the world needs today, that good feeling which bring people together and is very strong in Rio Grande del Sur.

EGR deletes are controversial, but they do enhance the engine reliability and fuel-efficiency. Cleaning a clogged intake manifold of an Audi TDI really sucks. It's hard to overcome the check-engine light without an ECM reflashing after a complete EGR delete, so I kept the EGR valve assembly there, just blanked it with asbestos.