Going to HK:)

Posted: Thu Mar 09, 2006 6:51 pm Post subject: Going to HK:)

Hey Mates,

I'll be in HK most of June for my brother in laws wedding so if anyone over there wants to meet up:)

Any-one know any must see car related places in HK ?

Joined: 28 Mar 2006 Posts: 1

Hey Mux,

Luk Keng in N.T. is the place to go. Every early Sundays, you'll see lots of nice cars, super cars as well as bikes. Maybe you'll see a couple of AE86 if you are lucky enough.

Mongkok in Kowloon if you want to go for shopping. You'll find shops for car stuff and a couple of tuning shops around including TRD.

Good Luck!

AW11

Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 9:45 am Post subject:

Hey AW11,

Ok, I'm gonne ask the wife where Luk Keng is, I dont believe I've been there before:) MongKok I have been several times but never got a chance to walk around where autoshops are. Though it has been over 2 years so I may be mixing districts up:)

Last time I stayed in Ma On San in N.T. as my parents in law live there.

Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2006 8:00 pm Post subject:

Enjoy your trip mate, Congrats to the brother in law

Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Hong Kong

Mux213: You are more than welcome to visit us when you come over. To get to Mong Kok from Ma On Shan, simply take the KCR Train to Tai Wai station Interchange, then hop on the train to Mong Kok station Smile

Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 10:45 am Post subject:

Hey Mfactory,

I've been to Mong Kok a couple of times when I was in HK before, just never walked around more then to the stores my wife took me too;)

I'm gonne try and do my best to come over. Today's last day in Holland, can't wait:)

Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 11:14 am Post subject:

Hehe...you could check out what the shipping would cost for those 260 dollar 4age flywheels I see on Mfactory's site.

Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 11:19 am Post subject:

Have fun in HK Smile

!

Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 11:25 am Post subject:

Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Hong Kong

Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 9:24 pm Post subject:

I'll be sure to have my camera ready:)

I need to remember to wear clothes with BIG pockets Wink

j/k

Less then 15 hours before my flight leaves....

Posted: Wed May 31, 2006 11:32 pm Post subject:

Mux: If I don't see you online tomorrow (which I can understand), have a good flight. Smile

And don't forget the flywheel for Ivan. You can still stick it under your shirt, so it won't be counted as (hand)luggage. Wink

Posted: Thu Jun 01, 2006 7:45 am Post subject:

Posted: Fri Jun 02, 2006 12:47 pm Post subject:

think i will be back visiting family and friends in Oct. how long are you stay there Mux213??

i'm sure will pop down to your shop Mei Fung, think i know exactly where you are. it's not far from Ka Lok, just round the corner from Kwong Wah. Thumbsup

Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Hong Kong

Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 4:58 am Post subject:

Hey guys,

finally looks like my inet connection is holding up here.. I was online over the weekend but then the PC here started crashing... I think its running alittle to hot..

Anyways, I might be in MongKok today but I am not sure, my bro in law might be driving us around but not sure about the time, need to take care of my visa for china and such so...

we'll see how time allows us today...

Owh Kenny, just here till the end of the month and last few days in china. Still thinking about going to Macau but not sure if its possible time and money wise...

Joined: 30 May 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Hong Kong

Hey Mux,

if you can visit us today, that would be good as I'm packing up the shipment of AE86 parts to ship out, so as of tomorrow, I won't have anything left in stock at the office Sad

Give me a call if you are able to come visit Smile

Posted: Mon Jun 05, 2006 3:46 pm Post subject:

Well as you know I made it:)

Thanks for inviting me. Maybe nice for other readers to read, I was very close to mfactory's office it turned out while getting my visa for going to China. Problem was that I was woggling around having gotten blisters on my foot the day before but hey, no pain no gain. Not to mention that mongkok must be the hottest part of HongKong, I think I lost a few kilo's of sweat today:)

I was searching for a work shop or similar and was somewhat confused when I arrived at the place. 5th floor within a shop/office blok? Hmm no workshop there I'm sure:) Arriving on the 5th floor we find ourselves in a nice office with a rack filled with goodies, loads of parts for several cars, some of the usual stuff you find in most tuning shops in one form of another (steering wheels, hubs, that sorta stuff) and some things less regularly found. On the ground were dozens of boxes and offcourse a computer in the corner with our forum running on it (well I'm actually lieing about that last forum bit part;)).

The confusion is quickly set right, the workshop and stuff is all in Taiwan, that's there they make all the goodies, in HongKong they just do the international business for several reasons all to booring to go into.

Anyways, mfactory couldn't wait to show me the goodies, he explains they mainly do Nissan and Subaru parts and do very well with them indeed but they also make a collection of AE86 parts, mainly suspention parts. The packages on the floor he was just about to put into boxes and send off to the UK to some known friends of ours at driftworks so they will be happy to know I inspected their stuff personally;) Man I wish I hadn't forgotten my camera as usual.... Sad

First item that comes out of the box is one of the uniball adjustable 4 links. One of the smaller ones. Just looking at it makes me drool:) Its hard for me to compare, I'm no expert in these matters, I've seen the uniball setup on TE71Corolla's Levin drift car but if I am not mistaken those are not adjustable length. They look and feel great though, they are solid, light and just look like they were expertly made which offcourse they are. I was definately impressed.

Next item on the list was on of the front controll arms (not completely sure about the name, I always mix it up, if I looked correctly its the bar that runs from the front of the car to the wishbone making sure it stays aligned). Again the same quality as the 4 links. Stock at the front you normally juse have the bar sandwitched between a couple of rubbers, this uniball setup just looks like it will do a much better job..

Last item for the show is a bit more substantial, at first I thought it was one of the longer 4 links but a nice panhard rod is produced. Uniballs at both ends, adjustable length if I am not mistaken, and again a great quality looking piece.

This stuff wont give you a more comfortable ride, It'll probably raise the road noice by alot, but its a killer system on race and drift cars:)

After these formalities were done we'd started just talking about loads of things, I was surprised to hear about the racing and drifting scene around here, it seems China is the place to be. I definately hope to learn more about it though I doubt i will have the chance to visit a drift event this month.

Also talking about loads of the other parts around the office gave some interesting stories, from some of the parts made for driftworks to the little magneting drain plugs. I definately want one of those so I may end up picking some up later this month (I left in a hurry because time was pressing and didn't get a chance.. awell).

Also R&Ps were discussed, it seems it is definately possible to start making these as they make similar gears for other cars, problem is volume. To make the price compatitive to what is in the market today enought people need to want them, so thats something that we'll need to look at.

I'm sure more products for the hachi roku are possible in the future:)

Anyways, I really had a nice afternoon so thanks again for the invite!

Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2006 11:20 am Post subject:

mux213, bet you love the a/c more than anything when you over there. it's a shame you only stay till the end of the month. but it should be enough time for you to visit every tuning shop in HK.

those parts you mention above are going to my car for testing and pictures which included 4 links + panhard rod, tension rod and trackion bracket. i believe they all have rose joint at both end. therefore it will be soild as rock.

let me know if you want to visit my friend's TRD shop over in Hong Kong Island. i will call him and explain who you are and will expect your visit. it's has a small shop front with a few of the items in display like gear nobs, stickers, clothes...... etc. i am afraid won't have any ae86 bit in stock, everything he need to order in for me. but some parts if share with other Toyota like a theremostate or gear nob should be in stock.

Posted: Tue Jun 06, 2006 6:45 pm Post subject:

Hey Kenny,

I wish I could go to every tuning shop but since I am here for my wife's brothers wedding other interests come into play. For my wife it was demanding enough to go to mFactory's place because for her it is sooooo booring.

Right now though I am not doing much walking at all, got a big blister on my foot and it hurts like hell.....

Anyways, cool to hear the goods are going on your car, I think you will be very pleased with it. It looks top notch and like you said, it will make that car as solid as can be. Looking forward to the pictures:)

Posted: Mon Jun 12, 2006 11:15 am Post subject:

YEAH!

I saw my first Hachi Roku here in Hong Kong last night. Unfortunately it was while being a passanger in the car driving me to my bro's in law wedding so I didn't have a chance to take a closer look. What made it especially troublesome was that it was parked infront of a shop around the corner of where I am staying here in Sun Shine City/Ma On Shan.

Anyways, t'was a black Trueno hatchback and looked in pretty nice shape in the glance I was able to give it. I'll be keeping my eyes open alot more around here, if he parks here again I'll be sure to shoot a few photo's and leave a note for the owner. If you are on here mate, please let me know cause I'd love to see your car up close!

Owh and Kenny, could you give some more details about where your mate is in HK island? I might be able to drop by next week if we deside macau is a little over budget (which right now it seems to becoming:))

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 6:29 pm Post subject:

Hehe, this is starting to become a little trip report me thinks:) Sorry no photo's yet (allthough I hardly fotographed cars..)

Anyways, before heading out to macau we spend a day shopping around somewhere on the other side of HK. In some little store where they had lots of little manga toy's I found some tiny initial D toy cars, I believe they have been on sale on this site before.. Since they only cost 4 euro's I took a nice trueno along:)

So yesterday we headed out to Macau, after checking into the hotel we tried to find where we could go shopping, first when the wrong way and ended up in some district that was way booooring, allthough there were some car shops around but not much to see. Then head the other way and found out the shops around the casino are relatively expensive and booring, just camera and phone shops, designer clothes shops, etc.

Also what really struck us is that macau currently is a bit of a mess, they are building new stuff everywhere, they are totally modernising it but it does get in the way of thigns.

Walking even further we finaly got to what I guess was the center of macau with all the normal shops and sightseeing things and so. Getting lost in the little streets of macau we suddenly hit this small store that sold loads of little toy things, suddenly my eyes caught a trueno Initial D toy!! Yeah nice I thought, bit bigger, something like 1/32 or so scale, remote controlled (simple forward/reverse/left/right). Coolest, only 5 euro's so I bought it. Later inspecting it in the hotel I found out it was some cheap ass chinese ripoff, I bought myself an ad86 turano car driven by kazumi from the speed suns, well you get the idea, just twisting the words enough not to get into trouble with brand licensing:) Still its cute as hell and for the 5 bucks a fun buy.

Walking further down that street we ran into an rather wicked department store. First of all, instead of going up, it went down, 4 stories underground:) Second, it was all japanese. Not much manga stuff but they sold anything japanese, from japanese food, to toys, to tupperware, to car accessories, to whatnot. Offcourse the most fun I had was when I ran into a rack full of canned coffee! The stuff really does exist!!
Owh and almost everything in that store costs just 1 euro, which we didn't find out until we finaly got to the cashier. I really have to go there some day again:)

Last but not least totally exhausted on our way to the hotel we got into this department store that looked like it was ready to collapse. Escalators didn't work, looked really shitty but for some reason we went in, Lily saw some cute clothes there.. On the top floor I found heaven... well for me anyways, a little store tucked a way fully STACKED with old model kit boxes (and I mean stacked litterly, they didn't have shelves just hundreds of boxes stackd ontop of eachother). They just about had the whole gundam and macross series model kits. Again a place I someday need to return to, I was way to tired and only ended up buying a nice tiny valkarie model.

Today we went to check out Taipa and Coloane or whatever its spelled like. They are the two city's or districts or whatever on the island part of macau (macau itself is a penincula of china). This was mostly tourist sightseeing, little shops of interest to manga or car freaks alike. We ended up in the 'mountains' of coloane. There are some great roads out there! Only problem is, allthough people driving in macau have a total lack of understanding of traffic laws (there doesn't seem to be anything like right of way) they do all drive VERY VERY VERY VERY slowly in their high performance cars. Crazy people!
Also we visited on the wrong day, we found this cool dammed off reserviour where you could rent little pedal boats, play with remote controlled boats, etc, but it was all closed today:(

All in all, Macau is fun to visit for a day or two as a tourist. Its real appeal is in all the casino's but I am no gambling man. I hope to return there some day when they've somewhat finished building it a little more and when the temparature is alot lower:)

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 7:28 pm Post subject:

nice find Mux. Buy me 1 ae86 model if you find them again Puh

I will pay u back. I would like to have Levin red of course if you can find them Thumbsup

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 8:35 pm Post subject:

Well Mux, definately give us a shout if your going back to the model shop sometime...
I get the feeling that you wont be going back to macau this vacation so
@oldskull: You can buy ae86 levin models from www.HLJ.com (hobby link japan), they have fair prices and ship fast. There are many good diecast models out there these days (mostly trueno's though), trust me you want one of those if you're not experienced with building these models (I have two kits...1 finished).

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 10:35 pm Post subject:

Hehe. I'd must say that Initial D also had some trouble with the licensing issues by Toyota. They couldn't get Toyota's approval in time so the Trueno was called Tureno. You can still see the disasters from that: a lot of people still call the car Tureno eventhough the newer (official) releases of Initial D contain edited scenes where Tureno is substituted with Trueno. But then again: most people still buy the cheap DVD boxes from HK and Malaysia. Dr. Evil

But a bunch of Trueno toy cars would be great and would certainly fit in your suitcase. Very Happy

So if you go back to the store (in HK, not Macau) buy one for me! Puh

Too bad Initial D doesn't feature a trueno silver coupe. Sad

Anyway: you can buy the canned coffee in the Okura hotel, right here in Amsterdam. Smile