GoldZilla

Thanks Sam! Yeah, I think I'm gonna have to sandbag the big wagon, get together with a bunch of you all and get some nice "lowered" shots taken by Wil, 'cos I haven't got the cash to pay for suspension yet, and probably won't for a while... The car's not mint, but it's not too bad for its age. I'm sure Wil could make it look up to par! Nick

Here's mine, needs some serious lowering, but all in good time...

Looks really nice, congrats dude! And a manual, too! Mine's a series 1 RS Four V, but converted to manual. I'm keen to meet up with you (and wolverine) when you get the car into the country... How long do you think you'll be waiting? Anyone else coming? Chris (AMS)? Dunno about the Rocks, but then again the cops don't even look my way in the Stagea (not so far, anyway)... The traffic can be a b1tch, though. Oh, and roughly where in "Western Sydney" are you, I'm kinda smack bang in the middle of Blacktown, the Hills and Parramatta. PM if you wish...

Hold on, I work in the public service and I don't earn 50k... I think my area of the public service is the most lowly-paid of all of them (seriously!) Oh yeah, and you're right about the lack of job satisfaction!

Like this? I REEEEEEEEAAAALLLLLLLYYYY want a set of those 7-spoke V35 Skyline 350GT wheels...

Actually Cyrus, do you find your gearbox a bit stiff when it's cold? I find it hard getting it back into first gear when I'm rolling even slightly. Until the engine and gearbox oil have had a chance to get any warmth in (even just for the first half-kilometre), it pretty much refuses to be put back into first. I'm guessing yours was fitted with a GT-R 'box as well - mine's from an R32. You know those times when you've just about pulled up, but don't have to come to a complete stop, and you don't wanna stress the engine with too little revs when pulling away in second, so you try and put it back in first to take off more smoothly?

Me too! I vote 11th, then, and Paul and Stacey can "donate" one 2530 each to me and E-Lu_SHuN, to throw on the Stagea and R34 respectively! Yeah, I might come down for this - will try and allocate some finances to get the wagon on the rollers to see how much (or how little?) it puts out. UAS is less than 15mins from home anyway. Nick T.

Chris, are you taking your car to a workshop? Is it just the turbo you're removing and replacing at this stage? I'd say do it yourself if you have the space, time and tools (or get your hands on a basic toolkit). Removing the turbo is pretty easy, and replacing it when you get it back isn't much harder, if at all... There are some fiddly bits and some tight gaps, and a digital camera will come in handy if you think you'll forget where stuff goes, but it's all good and helps you learn. And if you don't have to pay someone to do it, as well as store the car in the mean time, then it's money in your pocket which can be later spent on more bits or further tuning... Or maybe, if you mean "workshop" as in dedicated area where you can do the work yourself, then you can just ignore me and carry on as above... <_<

Love those wheels! I'd love to get myself a set of those V35/G35 wheels for my Stagea, but there aren't that many floating around that I've noticed, so either I go for the original idea of racing-style wheels (still deep in my thoughts anyway), or start looking properly for a set of those Nissan wheels. Nice car, congrats!

Thanks for that Brad. I do remember that thread, now that you mention it... I might have to scan back over the old threads and compare shafts according to your findings... Cheers, Nick

Nice buy! Dark blue and dark green were my equal-first colour preferences!

There you go! I've never had the opportunity to get the two gearboxes and transfer cases together to check, but now I know. Brad, question for you: I'm not too worried about blowing my gearbox, seeing as GT-R boxes are a pretty well-known quantity as far as strength goes, but how much abuse will my driveshafts take? My car was fitted with a six-puck clutch when the conversion was done, so I seriously doubt that will be an issue until wear starts to set in, but I've never done a hard "drop the clutch at 4500rpm" launch, because I'm scared of snapping driveshafts and/or CV joints. There's so much grip, too, that even if I try and slip the clutch with maybe 3,500 to 4,000rpm, it bogs down anyway and comes off boost. I wanna be able to stay on boost, but not risk snapping the shafts or joints.

Screw that, I'll take two! And if she has a sister, it'll be two of each, thanks!

Oh, and I like how your front bar DIDN'T have the extra two holes cut out on each side of the number plate area, for the intercooler. I never did, and still don't, like those holes.

Yep, if ever you needed proof that all an R32 needs to look tough and tidy is a set of wheels and a slight lowering, then this is IT!!! Nice looking car, without a doubt... Condolences, but at least you haven't ruled out owning another in the future!

Saw and followed a dark blue or purple s2 R-33, plates AB-??-?? (I can't remember - it was a generic plate), this afternoon, spotted him/her from Church Street in Parramatta, up Old Windsor Rd, then onto Fitzwilliam Road/Station Street in Toongabbie before I had to turn off... Also spotted GTR-26C - gunmetal R32 GT-R - on Church Street at the same time, but not sure where he went...

I was told this too when I bought the car, the previous owner was the one who did the conversion and he stated that reinforcements need to be made up around where the handbrake is mounted so the body panels in that area don't bend over time...

My car, like Cyrus', has an R32 GT-R box too (but no PowerFC, dammit!), so I doubt you'll have issues there if you still decide to go ahead with it Alex. Also, I don't understand where the different ratios (4.11 in the R32 GT-R vs 4.3 in the Stagea) would cause a problem, aren't these just diff ratios anyway? I'm sure the only thing you'd need to worry about is the transfer case, which is probably the same anyway (although I'm only assuming)... I've gotta say, I love my car especially because it's a manual. If I hadn't found this car I would have scrounged a bit longer and harder and waited for a Series 2 RSFour S. Tiptronic just doesn't come close enough for me...

Correct! It is for the ATESSA system. Auto Trans Fluid and Power Steering fluid are the same anyway...

I'm guessing if it was properly executed, then the look of Skyline lights on a Stagea could be nice. I guess we'll have to see if anyone's good enough (and keen enough) to do a PhotoChop and we can go from there...

Hmmm, Old Northern Road is fairly close to home, but I can't remember when I used it last... Was I heading towards or away from Castle Hill?

I remember the old SDU days and the transition to SAU... Never did get to meet many of you or go on any cruises because I drove an AE92 Corolla (which is still in the family) and didn't really wanna tease myself untill I had the money to afford some RB power... But now I got me a dragon wagon Stagea, so it's all good. Being left behind during cruises sucked, but that's less of an issue now!

If it was a dark green Stagea, then it was most likely me! Whereabouts in Parra were you and what time was this?

Chris/AMS, I wouldn't mind putting my Stagea up there with yours, but I probably still won't have made any mods to it, going by the short time any money spends in my bank account before I can even consider spending it on the car. I would have at least liked to have lowered it with one of SK's kits (or similar), and maybe thrown some nice wheels on. Then again, I could leave the standard wheels on to contrast against your car, too. But having the car displayed also means not driving it for a few days... Ah, well, I guess if this goes ahead and I add my car to the SAU stand, then I'll just deal with it. I'll most likely take my plates off though, maybe get some dummy ones made up for display purposes. Cheers, Nick T.

if it's in/around the North Shore, it cold be PranK, but I'm not sure if his car is on the road at the moment.