Kevin -Blogs For The Average Car Guy

My dream garage, I have given it a lot of thought and I think that I have came to a rough estimate of what I would want. The first thing is that I need to have space I want a four car garage with a lift in one of the garages. The reason I want a lift is so that I can fix my cars at home. But having a garage isn’t just about the things you have in it but also the environment. I want the garage to be my special place, where I go when I am stressed, or if I have had a rough day. My garage is going to be my “safe” zone. In my garage I want to have a professional snap on tool box with tons of tools for any job that I would be tackling at home. For a soon to be mechanic the more tools that I have will make my life that much easier. I want to go for a red theme in my garage because what doesn’t say fast if you don;t have red in the garage.

But for now lets talk about what kinds of cars I would want and the things that will be thrown at them. Lets start with my daily driver, it would have to be Vw Golf R, this car is versatile and would be able to be driven at any point of the year. This car just seems perfect for me I love the way it looks and drives. The next car will be a RAM 2500 Cummins, this would be work horse and would be what I would use for vacations and going places. Since a truck is practical for all things and being an Albertan I need a truck. I have always been a fan of diesels and this is one of my goals to have one. The next car which would be my wife’s car would be a E70 BMW X5M, this has to be my favorite SUV to date and nothing can top it. Being a mechanic I know these BMW’s have issues but for a tech that is interested in BMW’s I think it would be fun to fix one. And the last car I would want is my project car which would be my weekend car. This car would just be an absolute tank and be purely for power. I would enjoy this car in the mountains and take to car shows. I don’t have any out of reach goals, and for me I  think that my dream garage will be achievable if I stay determined to do things.

An amazing garage is one thing that I will strive for my entire life and be proud of it once I achieve it.

One thing that I really want to achieve this summer is buying a project car. The car I am after is a BMW E36, yes I know I have already owned one. But for the right reasons I am wanting another one, I want to re live my past with this car. But I am going to do this differently. This car I plan on throwing forced induction at it. The way I plan on doing this is purchasing the car this summer, and over the winter doing the modifications. My goals with this car is I want to build it with my two hands and the help of a couple friends. I want something that most people would think to be slow and it blows the socks of their car.

How exactly do I plan to do this? Well, I recently have been looking into it and it is going to be one pricey thing. It will consist of hiding a lot of receipts from my parents because they would kill me if they found out how much money I was dumping into the car. My initial plan with the car was to have a track build, but thinking about it now I want all the comforts of a regular BMW but with the speed of a high performance sports car. I will be changing and refreshing all of the suspension components because I want to feel comfortable in a powerful car and know that nothing will break and cause me to crash. And for the turbo build it will consist of me piecing my turbo kit together. I do not want to buy a pre built one because there are some things that I can save money on and splurge it other places. This build will consist of  a turbo the size of a volleyball which is pretty massive for a turbo. Since this car can not be tuned in a way of a normal car it has to be tuned with a special chip. There are many brands out there but I am going with a Miller War Chip which in my opinion will work the best for me.

Overall this project car wouldn’t be done for a few years, but realistically is a project car ever done? This will be a car that I will be most proud of. Here is a picture of a example car I want.

Speed is Nissan GTR

How fast it gets up to speed

How quick it can stop

How fast it can go around a track

How quick you are to drive

How fast you feel

How quick your gas finishes

How fast you start to mod

How quick you lose your license

How fast you go is defined by the

Speed of a Nissan GTR

This is my current car, a 2008 Honda Civic Si. This has been my first “JDM” car and to be completely honest I don’t like Japanese cars. I really want to switch back to my roots which has been German cars. But that’s enough of that. Lets actually talk about the Si. A little history about Civic Si’s, this is the performance civic. Compared to a regular civic this has different styling, and the biggest difference the engine. There are also other changes such as interior and extra features to audio. The engine instead of being a weak 1.8 its a much superior 2.0 a K20 to be exact. This car pushes 197hp and a Honda like torque number 132tq.

I’ve owned the car since about December and overall it has been a great car and I haven’t had to do much to up keep the car. The only things that I have had to do  has been change the brakes and oil changes. My car is at about 208,000km which many people would consider a high mileage car, but in my opinion the car acts like it just came off the showroom floor. The car does not acts its age this may be due to the maintenance always being done on time and previously being owned by a mechanic.

The things that I have done to car has been coilover suspension, exhaust, lighting, styling, and rims. The brand of coilovers that are on the car is Raceland overall the car feels really good with this suspension. For exhaust I have custom piping to a k tuned muffler, this muffler is intended to be put on this engine because they only make modification for these engines. For lighting I have interior lights and exterior lights done. I chose to go blue just because it makes the car feel more premium. For rims I have done a ESR rim that is a 205 tire stretched onto a 9.5″ rim. This is usually done for fitment issues with lowered cars so that the car doesn’t have rubbing issues. These have all been things that I did to the car to make it that much better.

Overall the car is great for what it is and I cant complain because it has never left me stranded. I’m very confident in this car and if I needed to travel across the country I would do in this car without thinking about it twice.

 

BMW E36

This is one of my favorite posts that I have done just because I am proud of it. The reason I am proud of it is because it was one of my first pieces that I have done. The title BMW E36 is the car name there is no better title because the current title says it all. In this blog post I talked about my experiences with the car and how much I want one back. This post really hits close to home because this is a car that I would buy again any day. The audience for this piece is anyone just because I wanted to share my experience with this car and just have people read it. Another thing is I wanted people to become informed with cars and how something can just fail any day without you knowing. I haven’t revised this blog at all but I think I might because the comments have really helped me. Visiting the blog now I can see the mistakes that occurred in the blog.

My First Car

This was my first choice blog and I really enjoyed writing it because it was a car that I really loved. This is a car that I would buy again. The reason I chose the title to be the way it is because I wanted to hook the reader, and for most car people they really want to know what your car first is. They also want to see how you have evolved as a car person. In this piece I talked about my experiences with the car and just the first drive. That cars first drive was like no other car that I have driven, I can vividly remember how the drive was. The audience for this piece was written for everyone , and to see if they would like my blog. Overall I really liked this blog.

Porsche Cayenne Turbo S vs BMW X5M

This post was a news post and I was talking about the differences about these two performance machines and what they are capable of. Since I love BMW you can tell that it was going to be a bit more bias and leaning in favor of the BMW. The title is self explanatory it is the comparison of two SUV’S. In this blog post I talk about these two power houses and what makes the better performance SUV.  In this blog I feel as if i felt at “home” because I feel very comfortable talking about these kinds of things and just seems like second nature to me . All I do is live with cars and do car things. There isn’t much else that I actually do and with this post I think it has been a strong post.

My writing identity, well that has always been something that has never been one of my most successful things in my schooling. When it came to writing stories or reflections I am always able to get what I want to say out but not in order. My biggest issue has always been talking about something in the beginning of the story and then jumping back to it in the next paragraph. This course has helped me get a little bit better at the things that I want to achieve. I rarely set goals in my writing and really never have. My writing identity has also been pretty basic, I don’t usually go out of the norm with the words that I use in my essays or reflections. Overall this is an accurate representation of my writing identity prior to the course. But now, after one semester I feel that my writing identity has changed. Although I am still not fully confident in my work but I feel as if I have gotten better. From the way that I structure my work to being able to feel more comfortable. A drastic way that my writing has changed has been I am not afraid to try new things. By this I mean using words that I usually would never use. I feel like this class just lets me be me and I do not have to worry about getting a mark for what I have a passion in. I feel as if my genre I found for myself to be the most successful has been factual things. I like to talk about things that have happened in my life and what I feel about things. I don’t have to worry about being judged because this is what I felt about the car, although sometimes I will be bias but that what comes with being a die hard German car fan. Another thing that I really want to achieve in my type of writing is doing a diy blog, this doesn’t have to be on my own site but I would love to have a “build” thread for one of my cars. I like to stay pretty basic when it comes to details because I just want it to be simple to read for all ages. As a kid I would read up on car forums and wouldn’t know half the things that were being said because of vocabulary. I keep the details in my blog pretty basic making it to be accessible for all ages. In my writing my structure is usually all over the place but when I talk about cars I like to focus on things that are specific to that area of the car. Another thing that has stayed quite the same throughout my blog has been my voice and style. I like to stay the same because I like the way that I can express myself in s simplistic way.  As I explained throughout this I find my voice to be simple and not changing due to me wanting to keep this for all ages and be used a reference for things when it comes to buying or learning how to do things.  Advice that I would give to future creative writers is well first of all do not fall behind in your work if you do, getting everything done will be quite difficult. But for blogs the future writers should talk about things they are passionate for and just express themselves in any way that they want.

The writing seminar was pretty fun in my opinion, it was a project that I ended up learning quite a bit about the author that we chose to do. James Dashner’s books are very popular in our age group and younger, a lot of people like his books and count on them to pass time. Having the writing seminar on him makes me think that really anyone can be a writer as long you are devoted and you actually care for writing. One thing that I learned about doing my project on his has been if you do something just do it, work with it, improve it, and make it the best that you can, If you are to fail at something don’t give up and continue doing it because ideas don’t come to you within one night of writing.The genres that have interested me the most have been non fiction due to the real things that happen in life and how I actually like to rate and see others experiences. Although I have written many emulations I don’t want to share them just because it usually turn into a rant. I do intend to read more as a writer because it helps me get my words out in a different way and I can explore other ways of doing things.

Some bloggers that have kept me wanting to write and reading blogs,

Bhawan: Reading his blogs have made me continue reading them just because I really like the idea of his blog. To me tunnel vision means keep going forward and don’t ever look back at the things that have happened. If you have to look back just look at it as a learning experience and not something that has been a burden on your life. I feel like he does this really well because I personally know Bhawan, although he does regret things he has never been a person to look at his past and get sad about it. He looks at it as a learning experience and something he can grow from.

Amarinder: The thing about his blog that I really like is that he shares the same passions as me. Although he loves to take pictures it goes hand in hand his passion for cars, this passion of his has led me to wanting to read more of his stuff(although I have to correct him a lot of the time) it is a fun experience. Having someone that shares the same passion as you really makes you wanting to continue doing things because you have the support pushing you.  His blog is quite relate able and if a possibility Amarinder and I should combine blogs and have a all car frenzy blog.

Steve: I really like his blog because its about the grind and how to come up in life. I really like reading about these kinds of things because it puts me in the thought of what would I do with this amount of money. I think the reason I really like steve’s blog is because it just makes me want to continue doing things and working hard in life. In my opinion the only way you will get some where in life is if you work hard and don’t let anything bring you down.

 

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The biggest “aha” moment this entire year has been when I had finally noticed that what I have been doing for 12 years hasn’t been something that was greatly appreciated. It was only until this year where I actually enjoyed writing about things that I was actually passionate for.  This moment was realized when I was writing my blog about my e36 and I noticed about how much I loved talking about the things that I was talking about. During our activities I also learned a lot from others, during our poem groups making a poem out of words that were random was something that showed everyone’s strengths. Some of us were strong in putting words together in magical way and some of us were good at thinking o those words and the correct phrases.  During out walks it was just something that I felt dearly about because it was just a chance to get out of the classroom and see the environment that our school was in. Another thing that i really liked about the class was how free we were to write about anything in our journals. A lot of my journals had to do with cars which may be boring for some but it was something that kept me going in the class.  Although I had set high goals to read books this semester I didn’t actually accomplish that but I don’t think i completely failed because I still did read a book a month. In my opinion I think for me doing that made my succeed because I would usually not read just because how busy I am after school. But having that class time to read made my life very easy and actually gave me the time to read. I feel as if reading really does improve your writing. I feel once you start reading your word bank that you use on a daily basis comes more extended.As a writer I feel as that I have accomplished a lot by actually getting to know what kind of writer I am and what excites me to keep writing. This is very important because I wouldn’t just write because I wouldn’t know what to say, but for cars I feel as if I have a good amount of knowledge to hold a conversation and talk about. I would love to take creative writing again but I would do it differently. By this I mean that I would try to stay proactive and get my blogs in by time. Another thing I would work on if I took creative writing again would be reading. I want to become more of a avid reader. My next steps to improve would be trying to read and continuing to post on my blog even if it means nobody sees it. Being able to get my thoughts out and exploring my thoughts will make me become a better writer.

 

Blogging, is something that if you would of asked how I felt about it about a year or so ago, I would tell you that it is dumb. I usually never thought of it to be something that I would do and actually enjoy. As a blogger I feel as if I have grown quite a bit because I actually like doing it and as a blogger I have been thinking about my future with it while doing this project.  But there is a lot of things I need to work on and that will come to me while blogging. Some of those things will include proof reading my work and actually taking time out of my day to write. My biggest issue to date has been proof reading I feel once I master that, I will be a successful writer. Some of the things that I like about my blog is the simplicity of it and just being able to free roam it without getting lost. I don’t have links that lead to other links, in my opinion that gets really confusing and the reader just wants to leave it if that is the case. With my blog I still want to post but not very frequently, since I have plans to work this summer and figure out what i want to do with my life. Some of the students blogs that I would read would be my three main friends in this class. Steve, Bhawan, and Amarinder I would continue to read their blogs although I would still see them and have them as friends. I think it would just be cool to see what is happening in their lives. A professional blogger that has helped me stay motivated with blogging has been “Nick’s Car Blog”, the reason i really like his blog is because he shares the same passion in cars.

My second car, oh how I miss it dearly a BMW E36 an iconic BMW. Being a German car enthusiast this was one of my cars that I had wanted for a while. When the chance came up to buy one I knew I had to have one. The car I found was the perfect car for me it had great maintenance records and was one of the cleanest cars that I had seen for its age. I picked it up early September after my GLI got totaled as I needed a car to get around in. This was my first manual daily driver car that I had bought and I did not spare driving it. The iconic noise that BMW’s make just made it that much more pleasurable to drive.

 

For modification it did not have too many expect some sport suspension, aftermarket racing wheels, and a Turner Motorsports chip. The chip made the biggest difference raising the redline past 6900 which was an absolute joy to rev out. The sheer driving pleasure that was felt through the steering wheel made it feel like no other car that I had driven before. Its quick nimble features just made it that much better to drive. For the age of the car it had all the modern day necessities such as heated seats, leather, power windows, and well everything else that can come to mind. It was a great daily driver for the short time I had owned it. But sadly I had to sell it because it started having a leaky diff which was too beyond my expertise to fix so I decided to sell. There is a good chance the differential started leaking from all the burnouts and the small drifts I was doing. My fault but it’s alright because I sold it to a guy that lives out in Edmonton and was going to turn the car into a drift car. I know the car went to a good home because the guy already had a differential lined up to put into the car even before he purchased it from me in early December.

 

But overall the E36 was a great car and if I ever get the chance to buy another one I would without thinking about it twice.  If you are looking for a reliable quick daily driver an absolute choice has to be the BMW E36