Appealing

Here's another good date, and I will probably go and have a look here and spend the day. Would be ideal for a BBQ/meet-up. The details - GoodFellas Yanchep Picnic, Sunday 14 November 2010. They are meeting at Kingsway Shopping Centre, cnr Hepburn Avenue and Wanneroo Road, Kingsway from 10am. Depart at 10.30am for a leisurely drive North to Yanchep National Park and the historic Yanchep Inn. Meals and snacks available at the Inn or bring your own to enjoy in the park. Free Bouncy Castle for the kids, great prize giveaways in the lucky prize draw. Open to all pre 1978 hot rods, customs and American muscle cars. Sorry, but no dogs allowed in the National Park. Last year the event drew 240 vehicles I am not sugesting that we try to cruise with the rods, but it would be good to have a look at them. Entry to the park for us is the standard national park fee of $11 payable at the park gate. Well worth coming up though, you can still buy tickets in the prize draw and they have some great stuff to give away including - tool boxes, engine stand, trolley jacks, chroming vouchers, Cruzin magazine subscriptions, garage art (signs and cool clocks), air compressor, car care products and all sorts of other stuff - you get the idea! I say that we organise a meeting point and cruise up to have a look. How about everyone else?

No Sorry, doesn't have it. This shouldn't be too hard to find though, put a post up WTB. Quite a lot of guys used aftermarket ones.

Hey Jim, if you don't wanna drive up to Gateways just to drive back, that's OK, we can make a quick stop-off on the way. We could meet you at the Caltex (I think it is) at the Safety Bay road/Baldivis Road roundabout. That'd be at about 9:45am. Anyone else intending to come?

Hey Darrin, shouldn't be too hard. There might be a small on-cost for the pallet etc. I tie things down really well. Please note though that there are very few bolts, but I will put a couple in to hold everything together. Let me know if your are really interested. Otherwise I'll split it up.

Oh well I am going anyway.... if anyone wants to meet, and cruise down, how about we meet at Cockburn Gateways at 9:00 am for a 9:30 leave. This way we can cruise out to either the SW highway, or we can go down the freeway and cut across to Waroona. I am not going to be leaving late, we've had too many "no-shows" in the past. I just thought that this could be an ideal run, something for everyone. Craft and things for the wife and kids, and lots of cars to look over for the boys. Hmmm I don't know about gatecrashing, ain't no comparrison between a new(ish) Jap car and a British Classic, trust me I have both!!

24/10/10 from 10am till 3:30pm...........Here's an idea, it is South, and we could make a day of it. Bring the missus and kids. It would be a fairly decent run too. The British Auto Classic 2010 is a free entry, family-friendly event with something for everyone, with a huge display of classic British motor vehicles at its centre. This, the largest display of its kind in regional Western Australia is supported by two large market areas, with some 100 plus traders offering a range of goods and services second to none. The event is 100 per cent smoke free and offers a wide range of healthy food choices and top quality local fresh produce. The adjacent Memorial Hall is the venue for the "NLV Wine and Gourmet Expo". On the Lotterywest Outdoor Stage, the "Go for 2 and 5 All Day Variety Show" will provide a family show with music and dance plus prizes and giveaways.

OK any reasonable offers considered. If no-one wants it it will be at Cockburn Tip in 2 weeks.

I'll be in, just name a time, date and place.

Sorry I should have added that this is in Perth and pick-up only.

For sale due to valve damage through timing idler pulley bolt failure. Really this engine is only good for parts. The head would need some minor welding to be usable and probably all valves replaced, which wouldn't be cheap unless you can do it yourself and pick up the valves cheap. The cams are fine. The bottom end is good, but would probably need 2 pistons replaced. The bores still show the original hone marks. The Engine ran fine before the timing belt let go. It turns over easily by hand. The engine is fairly complete, but does not include a Turbo or parts from that, no exhaust. No harmonic balancer/front pulleys. No head bolts. No timing idler, no timing belt. The Water pump is OK. It has front diff attached. Full std inlet manifold and AFM. View pics and post up any interest. Looking for $500.00 and pretty negotiable on this. I would like to have it gone within 2 weeks.

Well of course I am biased! But the Bayside blue in my opinion is going to hold resale better (as long as it is factory painted, TV2 paint code). I have one with a Dolphin kit, and the wood an leather interior. This is a Prime Edition. Only about 2% of S2 Stagea's were ever painted in Bayside Blue. Someone in Japan checked for me one day, of over 1500 Stagea's on sale on that day only 7 were Bayside Blue. AFAIK I have the only TV2 prime edition in Aus. The kit is low, and yes I do have to watch the kerbs and driveways. But it looks so good that I wouldn't change it. The interior that you refer to in the RS4S (manual) is the same type of cloth and seats as the older GTR's but as far as I know, it isn't a problem. Also I think that anyone wanting a Stagea should really look at the 4WD, the grip alone is worth the extra weight. It is such a safe car, you have to try really hard to loose it. I have only ever managed this on a track after the (road) tyres start to overheat. Then it's like driving on jellybeans! Still very controllable though. I wouldn't want to attempt that in a 2WD. The 4WD can be put into 2WD quite easily. Look for Bubba's post on how to do that.

Thanks for the photo, we had a ball on Targa West this year. Pity we only get to do 60kph on the stages!

Sat evening could be OK..... quick BBQ and meet up.

Hi Tim Just to say it again. Any turbo, no matter what size, or characteristics doesn't provide ANY boost until it is spooled up. This hi-flow was so slow to spool that is wasn't making any boost under 3000 RPM. I am not saying that what others have done with their cars is wrong. The big question I had was that if it was making full boost on an RB20 at 3200 (as claimed by the builder), then why would the drift guy have taken it off? I know now that it couldn't have been. I (stupidly) thought that it would be OK on an RB25. It wasn't. Also I didn't want to shell out another $2000, to put another turbo on. To be honest I probably wouldn't have even looked at a high-flow if it wasn't offered to me so cheaply ($900). It's still for sale if anyone wants it! I really only wanted 200kw, and 194 is close enough. I don't really see it as going backwards, I feel that an increase of 32kw (over the old engine) is great considering all I have done is really have the Nistune installed and tuned. The main reasons (obviously) are a motor with only 54,000kms (instead of 119,000) and a new (rebuilt) turbo and tune. The dyno charts will show comparisons. I think that once I post these are up people will find that pretty interesting.

I agree the front dump will restrict a turbo that is making boost, this hi-flow wasn't. So to blame something that restricted flow by 2psi even when it was making boost is just looking in the wrong direction. I understand that the hi-flow wasn't making the boost that it could have. But it didn't even make 7psi until it was way up in the revs. Seeing as I had already paid to have it fitted, and had to pay again to have it removed, I decided that I didn't want to go that way. To get the most out of that would have meant a FMIC, dump pipe, intake, probably AFM, Fuel injectors etc etc. Over 200kw would have been a nice figure, but 194 will do me. The re-built turbo is actually better than the original. It is slightly different in that the spooling comes on earlier, and it whines slightly louder, which means that the design must be slightly different. The most important thing here, is that I DON'T WANT a monster turbo or high power figures at the expense of the nice driving characteristics of the car. Sure a bit more acceleration is nice. I have that with the re-built ceramic. To say that the tune was "shit" shows that you don't know what you are talking about. I was amazed how nice and quick it was even before it was tuned. To be honest, the tuning made very little difference low down. But has added a few more kw up higher. I know that to get the most out of the hi-flow would have cost $1,000's. I don't have the time to work on the car myself. It doesn't mean that I don't have the knowledge though. Frankly I wouldn't want to do all the work anyway. I bought the car for many reasons. One of them being that all around I don't think that there is anything better, but to me it's an all-round package. I don't really want the car anything other than tweaked standard form. But that's the great thing, we can all be individual. You do what you want and I'll do what I want. It shouldn't mean that we can't admire and understand another's perspective. Oh yes I did listen to you. But don't get upset just because i chose to do it another way. I did this to suit me, not to suit others. I don't expect them to do what I like. I still think that many people try to make the Stagea into something it wasn't designed to be. Really if I was chasing a faster Stagea, I would have bought an Autech version.

No Brendan I don't think I would be amazed. The hi-flow I had was taken from a drift car, the builder swore that it made full boost on an RB20 @ 3200. It was only starting to make boost at over 3000 on my car. You can't tune any turbo more than a couple of hundred RPM down the rev range. AND YOU CAN'T UP THE BOOST IF THERE ISN'T ANY!! If I wanted to break the speed limit every time I drove it would be great... but seeing as I was doing over 80kph before it was really boosting, it is all pointless to me. I like my license just as it is. In a 1675kg Automatic, I want as much low down power as I can get. I know that the car is lot faster with the std ceramic turbo, tune and 10psi. All I would have got from the other turbo is more power higher in rev range, exactly where I don't want it. I didn't want to go for all out power, (like I said) and am happy with the 194kw. I am the type of guy that believes that Nissan spent more on this car than any of us will see in a lifetime. I really haven't seen anyone improve on it that much yet. Oh yeah I seen fast ones that had a fortune spent on them, but is it really an improvement? Not in my eyes. Most people are really just trying to make them something that they are not. The Stagea to me is a great family wagon, that has great overtaking power, and is fun to boot at times. It isn't a race car, and never will be. If I wanted to get real power (and speed) out of a car, I wouldn't choose a Stagea, they are just way too big & heavy. I also didn't know what to expect from the Nistune, but I had been led to believe that boost adjustment was possible. It isn't on the Neo engine. They say they haven't worked it out yet..... and no thanks I don't want to start shelling out $1,000's.

Well the rebuilt turbo is starting to spool at 1800 rpm, it is at full boost at about 3000rpm. It is now set at 10psi, which is not only safe for the turbo, but is where the air starts getting too hot, so no point in any higher boost. As I am not interested in chasing max power and doing intercooler and all the the other mods that I would have to, I am very happy as it is. The car with the old engine was making 162kw ATW, now 194kw, (same 4WD Dynopak dyno). The Nistune is a bit of a disappointment, in that it will not control boost. It did allow us to change the A/F ratios though, and some timing etc. It leaves all the negative timing at around 6000 rpm, (and Nistune say they didn't know what this was for), which seems to be where the car always backfires on gear change. This small upgrade, has made this a far more tractable car, without all the expense. As for it running a stock tune, like I said this makes no difference IF the turbo can't produce power boost anyway. Actually after looking at the dyno sheets the Hi-flow wasn't on max until 4000 rpm! It was bloody awful! Dyno sheets coming soon, (I forgot them). Then down to the drag track to see how this relates into a 1/4 mile. The split dump was a waste of time IMO, the back pressure was only 2psi @ 4700rpm. About the same as a good fart!

So after having my replacement engine in for a few weeks with a hi-flow on it, it is now back to a rebuilt std turbo, (my old one) with a ceramic impeller. The difference is HUGE. The hi-flow didn't come on until 3200 rpm. It was at max boost at about 3700rpm. The newly rebuilt std turbo is on boost even lower than it was before the engine was replaced. It starts coming on a 2200 rpm and pulls hard to about 6000. The car now has a Nistune and will be tuned before the weekend. The hi-flow was not for me, that's for sure. It was slower than my wife's Maxima, until it got to about 60kph, then it was doing over 100 kph before you knew it..... crazy as far as I am concerned. I'll post up the dyno sheet after it is done.

Can't make the 15th either, on Targa West recon..... here's a shot of Daniel's luggage from Sunday last.

OK, Iolanda, Angelina and I will be there too. Leaving my place at about 12 noon. Slow cruise up West Coast Hwy. If anyone wants to join us (from Freo) just post. I'll look again before we leave, PM and leave mobile number.

Hey Hugh I checked this through FAST parts master, it just comes up with "back door loom" and says "no previous" parts. Can't be more specific without a VIN.

So at last this drama is nearly all over.... I had a 54,000km engine fitted and picked up the car last week. The engine is sweet. But what a job to have it done. In the end the whole engine and trans had to come out the bottom. Just have to do some tuning as it's having a nistune fitted. The std turbo is gone, (they dont mix with valve bits very well) so now have a steel impeller hi-flowed turbo on it. It's great to have it back, just a bit of sorting to do, I'll post up the dyno results.

Hey Shaun, I do have a working set spare. I am putting a new set in mine when the engine is completed this coming week. Sorry don't have a harness. But do have lots of other bits. Did you check the plugs?

I am just having a standard hi-flow garret core (plain bearings), and OP6 housing fitted to my replacement engine. Nistune and a good (4-5 hour) tune on a 4WD hub dyno. Should be done by this time next week. I'll let you know how it goes. Should be good for 200 AWkw, which'll do me. Mine std was 168kw (at wheels). everything else is staying standard. Already has a 3" system though. There are two trains of thought on the ball bearing centres. At 40,000 rpm + the oil alone is enough to keep the shaft spinning freely. Also Very high revs can cause ball bearings to drag and lead to failure. Talk to you Turbo rebuilder......

I think you've been smoking more than tyres! You can't turn off the AWD system in a Stagea! If you pull the fuse on it (under the bonnet Son), you are liable to screw up your clutch packs in the wheels. Why anyone would want a big heavy wagon that is available in 4wd, as a RWD is beyond me.... if you want to draw lines up the road buy a V8 Commodore wagon. Cost less, and much more bogan like. If you wan't a fine wagon, with unparalleled handling, go Stagea AWD it's awesome! If you've been pressing the button on the dash with the "S" on it, and thinking that this turns the 4WD on, it doesn't. That button is for locking up the AWD, for very slippery surfaces. Don't use it on bitumen. It locks the split to 50% front 50% rear. Read up on the system so that you understand it. Oh yeah, if you want the full spec sheet PM me your email address I'll send it on.... you'll be shocked! And probably even more confuddled!