like the title says, new priorities and new responsibilities. i must now work like the rest of the world, contributing my knowledge in minute ways. i am starting work beginning august 2008 with Boustead International Heaters (BIH) which is an oil and gas company dealing primarily with furnaces/heaters and similar thermo-applications related to oil and gas. you can google the company if you want.
time to pay back the government for the loan that they gave me. also to lighten my dad's financial burden by contributing to the putra's loan (yes, it's still on loan) and whatever outstanding bills. all in all, a monumental goal has been playing around in my mind, which is to be debt-free by age 30. i use the term 'debt-free' quite loosely here because i think i will still owe the bank for the house loan.
anyway on to more interesting things. i've been contemplating if polyurethane bushings would have a longer service life than the regular rubber bushings sold by proton and other oem parts manufacturers. i was very interested in getting a similar set of bushings like those done over by Backyard Special, however i didn't commit just yet because i was considering getting a replacement for all four mountings. a couple of days ago, i found a solution.
from top to bottom you can see that we have the original front and rear engine mountings by a local oem manufacturer and then below that a set i bought from the breakers yard which i was told came from the first generation of mitsubishi evolutions and then finally at the bottom, the ones that are in the putra as i type. below you will see a picture of the replacement bushings that need to be hydraulically pressed into the older bushings steel housing which is also shown below (in colour) that shows the reason why engine torque and oscillations from having stiffer suspension can cause premature failure of these bushes.
now i won't be putting up lengthy calculations as that would be quite boring for most of you. so instead, let's imagine the cross-sectional areas between these three mountings and as you can imagine, there's ample room for deflection of the rubber bushes. therefore, the best way to reduce rocking of the engine when accelerating/braking/etc., is to limit the amount of space for this deflection to occur. there is a negative impact on the comfort level because of this since more vibration is transferred into the cockpit. i can assure you however that acceleration is achieved quicker because the engine doesn't waste energy rocking back and forth upon sudden accelerations.
in short, acceleration seems quicker because there is less rocking of the engine due to the absence of space for this deflection to occur compared to the original mountings.
so now, it all boils down to the life span of the bushes because the oem ones last about 6 months before they fail. the Backyard Special guy's polyurethane mountings have lasted him 2 years according to one his recent posts so i'll report back when the thing fails.
finally, here's a picture that i wanted to share.
