Since finding out about the 1st meeting for The Gulf Run will be at the Al Fallah Car Wash I wanted to check it out. Since I was in the area of Sharq, it is on Al Soor street and very visible from the street with a Castrol sign. I drove in and there were a few empty spots and they were drying a lot of cars, so they told me to go forward. I told them just to wash the tires body, but not lift it up. They were very proficient, and they have a very nice customer seating area with lots of magazines.
It took the guys about 10 – 12 minutes to finish washing my car and then another 7 minutes to dry my car, and for only a couple of KD I had a really clean car and great service. They were washing a few supercars there as well when I was there, they were drying a white F430 and it was looking really nice. The whole place operates very nicely and they have a detailing area which was closed for two vehicles in side of them, I wasn’t sure what was in them but I will be stopping there more often because of the convenience of location and good service.
This is going to be really fun, there are is a good number of people going. I know only half of them, I don’t know the other half but they seem like decent people. There are a few things taking place that we need to do to get things going like details with your car and everything like that. I really like how organized the people are, and they have a lot of the paperwork ready to go through to get things done, they are also helping some guys with tickets and problems to get their cars cleared for transport.
All these events are open to the public if anyone wants to check them out its worth going. 24 cars from Kuwait so thats going to be fun, and I think a few from Bahrain.
Event 1:
Time: Nov 11th, 8:00pm
Location: Al Falah Car Wash in Sharq
To get cars cleaned and then applying the Gulf Run stickers to all the cars, I want the number 24!
Event 2:
Time: Nov 12th ,4:00pm
Location: Parking Lot on Seaside next to KPC in Shuweikh
Transporting the Vehicle, there will be a special police escort from there down the gulf road to the docking area by entertainment city.
Nov 15h : Gulf Run
8am to 6pm
Link: TheGulfRun
I had 95% of my sound system except for the dyanmat but I decided to go ahead with the install since I wanted it to be done during the day time. I knew the install would take about 2 – 2.5 hour since its a clean install and it seemed simple enough, but I was off the target since I assumed they would only be working on my car.
When I got there at 5:00 pm they just started working on a Chrysler 300C which was installing two amps, a capacitor, and wiring. Basically that car kept the stock speakers, but new head unit and a subwoofer was installed in the middle of the handrest in the car. It seems the Kenwood dealer in Kuwait fried this person’s headunit and computer when installing so he is filing a report with the consumer protection department in the government and it is going through.
They have one person named Sakem who is quite knowledgeable regarding sound systems because I looked at the instructions with him and we decided how I wanted the speakers wired for a specific flow of sound, and where to put the amp. The first person working on my car almost messed up if I wasn’t on top of him, so I told him just to dismantle what was there, basically making sure he doesn’t solder anything or install anything. He knew to a degree what to do, but he didn’t know what I wanted and I was afraid he would destroy some of my equipment, because Sakem was busy with the 300C.
They started with the wiring since I told them where I wanted everything, they used 8 gauge wiring for all the speakers, head unit, and amp which is fantastic for sound but difficult to wire inside the car. It hurt to see the guts of my car being ripped out like that, I knew what they were doing was right without damaging anything. On its own it took over an hour and a half just to put the wires through all the hidden area to the back. They finished the 300C around 7:10pm and things got going with my Landcruiser from there, the wiring was all ready and the old speaker mounts were used to mount the new speakers which fit perfectly even though they are bigger. I have to say Toyota did an excellent job with the wiring and everything else, very simple and perfectly done. I helped them fitting the wires and pushing the main 4 gauge wires through the firewall to the battery. By the time things got going it was taking 15 minutes for every door which got us to about 8:40 pm. All wires were going to the back and were putting together each door once it was done, it worked systematically and there were five people working on the car including me. I was happy I had jeans and a t-shirt on since I did get dirty, but it felt good that things were being done right. The headunit took some time to install because it had at least 36 different wires and he had to dismantle the wiring of the main part in the Toyota connection to connect it to the Kenwood Headunit.
Then they tested each speaker to see where the sound was coming from to connect it to the correct port in the amplifier. Overall it was a great experience but it took to 9:25pm to finish the car since there was one before mine, if there wasn’t any other car I still think it would have taken until 8:30pm at least to finish since it wasn’t easy to get the wires around. Then we spent 10 minutes tweaking the sound since it was at least 4 times louder then before, but tweaking the sound is going to take at least an hour of time which I will do later.
The install, wiring, and equipment cost 100 KD which is worth the value since they did do a good job overall and when Sakem was working on the sound system I could tell he knew exactly what he was doing and what can’t be done. The stock speakers are 20 Watts, the new Boston Acoustic speakers are 125 Watts so its 5 times more powerful and it can be easily heard, its iPod & Mp3 player ready, rear camera ready, navi ready. I might get the rear camera but thats about it everything else is ready to connect. It was one hell of a night but I was happy everything was done the only thing I forgot to check was the radio quality, I just have to go back because the antenna isn’t going up and down like it is supposed to before, I’m sure its a simple switch since its right next to the temperature and clock.
Its seems that GM has noticed people modifying their Hummer H2, so they might be selling this modified version as an option. It comes with heavy duty suspension and a 2inch lift, 35 inch tires, 20 inch rims, removable windows, and open canvas roof which makes it very different then the normal hummer but functions like a normal one but with more off road tendencies. No price has been anounced yet since its a still a concept vehicle, but I think its a cool idea.
Link: UnCrate
I’m just waiting for one more package to arrive which is the Dynamat Extreme. It is a material to be used in the door and roof lining to absorb all vibrations, lost sound, or any distortions through the material. Its a performance sound deadening material which will help the sound of the speakers be precise in their distribution. It is really imporant, and almost everyone forgets to add it when modifying the sound system. I have used it twice before and everytime it cleans up the sound within the vehicle.
I have always been a fan of the Vanquish, it is one hell of a machine and when they came out with the Vanquish S I thought it looked great. The Mansory Vanquish S differentiates itself with the extreme look, I really like aggressive look of this vehicle. With the Mansory modifications it is mostly to do with the body kit, rims and interior while the engine has been left untouched since it already produces 520 bhp. I wouldn’t mind getting behind the wheel and taking it for spin but I don’t think I will be anytime soon, and the price tag wasn’t even mentioned.
Link: SeriousWheels
Callaway have really out done themselves this time, they have unveiled the C16 Speedster. A 700 horsepower machine which can go 0 to 60 mph in 3.2 seconds. Priced at $305’000 it is one machine for the speed demon in every person. This machine is just something on another level, and worth every penny.
Link: SeriousWheels
How cool is this, I think this is every man’s dream to have the perfect garage. I know I’m happy with my garage but I could think of a few improvements here and there to make so that it would look more like a clean showroom then anythin else. That is what men want, some where to store and display their toys and knowing that they are kept safe.
Garage Mahals are fabricators and designers of the nicest garages I have seen, what they do can be done but they design the garage around your needs with lots of customizations available. The normal garage with a clean installation and special lighting starts at $20’000 and they have other packages that can go up to $260’000 depending on the size of your garage. There are different classes to choose from such as The Collector Class, Supreme Class, and The Empire Class.
Some features in one of the classes:
- GarageMahals creative and detailed design services.
- All items of the Collector Class GarageMahal.
- A moderate amount of custom fixtures and facades to create a themed environment.
- Commercial/Professional grade metal cabinetry.
- Custom control panels
- Heating and air conditioning
They charge per sqaure foot and it starts at $50 per sq-ft, $75 per sq-ft, and up to $125 per sq-ft depending on what you want for the options. I’m hoping one day that I would be able to get a garage like that and enjoy the cleanliness of it as well as having all the tools to make the modifications I would like.
Link: Garage Mahal
This is a machine developed by G-Power with the power hungry in mind, they have taken the BMW V10 engine and modified to fit inside the M3. They have also tweaked the suspension to the handle the power, the modifications all based on performance for this machine.
- 550 hp, Naturally Aspirated
- 0-60 in 4.2 Seconds
- Sport Tuned Suspension
Performance was the only thing in mind when making this machine.
Link: SeriousWheels
After looking at a lot of reviews I’m going with the Kenwood DDX8019 for my headunit since it fits perfectly into the Landcruiser’s Double Din Space for the Radio. It also has all the features I’m looking for and has a smooth interface. It was between this unit and the Alpine unit, and I know that the Alpine Units produce better sounds but I wanted a smooth interface which I would be getting with Kenwood.
Some Features I’m looking for, the features it has is too damn long:
- 6.95 inch screen which fits double din size opening
- Touchscreen controls and selectable backgrounds
- Plays DVDs, DVD-Rs, DVD-RWs, CDs, CD-Rs, CD-RWs, Video CDs, JPEG images, and AAC/MP3/WMA discs
- DVD Audio compatible
- Inputs: two 2.0 USB ports, two audio/video inputs, rear-view camera input
It comes with its own amplifier but I’m going to get a stand alone amp for the sake of sound quality, and I’m getting better speakers then what it can support.
Link: Crutchfield