S2 Teins Swap And Other ?'s

[iijj]

Just picked up our Stagea 2day and it's as clean as a whistle inside and out, drives brilliantly, gets up and goes, and feels very light on its feet for a 1540kg car (it's an RS V, RWD), and the Brembos are awesome once they heat up!!!, but there are a few issues.

The coilovers are wound up as high as they can go without wrecking them and the full Dolphin bodykit still sits a bit too low.

ISSUE ONE: Our country driveway is not suited to the height, although I can get up and down the gutter and driveway at normal speed and angles, thankfully. The coilovers (Teins - have yet to get an exact model no. but will in the next few days!) are quite firm on the mid dampener seting they came on and the car just corners rock flat!!! Awesome! (My wife would prefer softer ride to better handling though and it's her daily driver)

OFFER ONE: Looking to see if anyone has an S2 with not-so-low sussie in excellent condition (so that it's not going to cost me any money for years for springs or shocks!!!) which they wish to swap with some small change my way. The car is 30 mins south of the Gold Coast for another 2 weeks and then I am driving thru Sydney to Melb for 2 weeks over Xmas, so plenty of options. Would want the 'donar' to organise fitting and could only do it in Sydney or Melb on an "all-in-a-day" arrangement...

PM me your offers/ideas!

The Teins are in great nick according to the guys who complied the car. Travelled much less than the 59,000 km on the odometer. Not really after plain stock sussie as the shocks could be pretty worn without you knowing it. Offers welcome though, and stock sussie with more cash may (possibly) twist the arm, who knows?!? Especially if the shocks/springs were brand new or slightly firmer than stock...

ISSUE TWO: The Garage Impul front Rearos are just awesome too! We are both fairly small people and the hip-hugging thigh support is second only to the EVO XI.5 Makinens I used to have. The seats are in near perfect condition. With the 18's and the Teins, these seats are only adding to my wife's concerns about it's rigid ride, though!

OFFER TWO: Would consider a swap for standard S2 seat if they were in excellent nick and has the same pattern as my door cards and back seats - with cash my way of $1200ono. Ask around what they are worth, or llok on YahooJpan and you will see this is quite a cheap deal! PM Me!

ISSUE THREE: Quite a few things electronic on the car are not functioning properly. The backlighting on the speedo is OUT, so I can't see how fast I'm travelling at night (until I reset my Apexi RSM), which is the biggest problem. The Xenons are GONE! leaving the height levelling switch useless, and the buttons on the steering wheel to change the tiptronic gears are not functioning at all!!! The car has these two weird units by Carrozzeria on the side of the central glovebox between the seats which seem to have controlled strobe light or something. There's wires everywhere under the bonnet and the compliance workshop seems to have just CUT wires that weren't needed. I still have to untuck all the gauges etc from behind the dash!!!

Any ideas about the st wheel and the backlighting guys??? HELP!

Oh and the guy left a MiniDisc in the car with Japanese hiphop and techno - funny!

Edited November 29, 2007 by iijj

[stasis]

congrats on your new ride!! looks cool withthe dolphin kit.

Now for your suspension i suggest you keep them. I live in the country too. My ride height is 360mm from the center of the wheel hub to the arch. and its find. Its a pity if you swap the coilovers with a standard suspenion. Trust me on this. stagea doesnt handle very well with the std suspension

As for the wires is it possible to reconnect those that have been cut? color coded? try it and see how you go.

Stick with the seats though

[GoldZilla]

You might have an issue swapping front suspension with other Stagea owners unless they also have an RS-V, as the AWD Stageas have different front suspension set-ups compared to the RWD versions.

Just something to keep in mind... Good luck though, and good to hear you're happy with your new car!

[Tangles]

Tein's are notoriously hard.

Perhaps ask Sydneykid for a price on Bilstein shocks with lowering cirlcips with whiteline springs?

Then put your teins up on ebay for sale.

Id say your car had a sports steering wheel in Japan, the wires for the tiptronic probably arnt connected. With the dash, there is a thread a cple pages back describing how to pull out the speedo surround and replace the globes.

Good luck with it.

[_Ryan_]

Fulcrum suspension can revalve them to suit a softer spring rate. dont give up. google them!

[rb26stagea]

Just picked up our Stagea 2day and it's as clean as a whistle inside and out, drives brilliantly, gets up and goes, and feels very light on its feet for a 1540kg car (it's an RS V, RWD), and the Brembos are awesome once they heat up!!!, but there are a few issues.

The coilovers are wound up as high as they can go without wrecking them and the full Dolphin bodykit still sits a bit too low.

ISSUE ONE: Our country driveway is not suited to the height, although I can get up and down the gutter and driveway at normal speed and angles, thankfully. The coilovers (Teins - have yet to get an exact model no. but will in the next few days!) are quite firm on the mid dampener seting they came on and the car just corners rock flat!!! Awesome! (My wife would prefer softer ride to better handling though and it's her daily driver)

OFFER ONE: Looking to see if anyone has an S2 with not-so-low sussie in excellent condition (so that it's not going to cost me any money for years for springs or shocks!!!) which they wish to swap with some small change my way. The car is 30 mins south of the Gold Coast for another 2 weeks and then I am driving thru Sydney to Melb for 2 weeks over Xmas, so plenty of options. Would want the 'donar' to organise fitting and could only do it in Sydney or Melb on an "all-in-a-day" arrangement...

PM me your offers/ideas!

The Teins are in great nick according to the guys who complied the car. Travelled much less than the 59,000 km on the odometer. Not really after plain stock sussie as the shocks could be pretty worn without you knowing it. Offers welcome though, and stock sussie with more cash may (possibly) twist the arm, who knows?!? Especially if the shocks/springs were brand new or slightly firmer than stock...

ISSUE TWO: The Garage Impul front Rearos are just awesome too! We are both fairly small people and the hip-hugging thigh support is second only to the EVO XI.5 Makinens I used to have. The seats are in near perfect condition. With the 18's and the Teins, these seats are only adding to my wife's concerns about it's rigid ride, though!

OFFER TWO: Would consider a swap for standard S2 seat if they were in excellent nick and has the same pattern as my door cards and back seats - with cash my way of $1200ono. Ask around what they are worth, or llok on YahooJpan and you will see this is quite a cheap deal! PM Me!

ISSUE THREE: Quite a few things electronic on the car are not functioning properly. The backlighting on the speedo is OUT, so I can't see how fast I'm travelling at night (until I reset my Apexi RSM), which is the biggest problem. The Xenons are GONE! leaving the height levelling switch useless, and the buttons on the steering wheel to change the tiptronic gears are not functioning at all!!! The car has these two weird units by Carrozzeria on the side of the central glovebox between the seats which seem to have controlled strobe light or something. There's wires everywhere under the bonnet and the compliance workshop seems to have just CUT wires that weren't needed. I still have to untuck all the gauges etc from behind the dash!!!

Any ideas about the st wheel and the backlighting guys??? HELP!

Oh and the guy left a MiniDisc in the car with Japanese hiphop and techno - funny!

I've just started to have bulb issues (far right on mine - temp) with mine, but only since I swapped back from LED. (I found the LEDs to be extremely unreliable). I can only assume that the bulb cradle is the culprit, but whether it is the contacts for the bulb or the board, I've yet to ascertain.

It's not too hard to remove the cluster: look on youtube for ....stagea dash or stagea instrument I think it was.... hopefully is just a blown globe....

[iijj]

Don't think it's bulb-related since ALL dash backlights are out. Would be more an issue under the dash (in the swarm of wires) or under the bonnet. With all the wire removal and snipping that takes place (especially the 2 unknown units which were probably linked to either interior, exterior or both lights) who knows if it's maybe just something simple. I can't imagine ALL globes would be out, but possible!

[unique1]

Don't think it's bulb-related since ALL dash backlights are out. Would be more an issue under the dash (in the swarm of wires) or under the bonnet. With all the wire removal and snipping that takes place (especially the 2 unknown units which were probably linked to either interior, exterior or both lights) who knows if it's maybe just something simple. I can't imagine ALL globes would be out, but possible!

fuse?

[darrinspencer]

If that is a pic of your front suspension, then your car is a 4wd not rwd!

What is you chassis number, soon tell if it is a 4wd or not, or some engine bay pic's as the 4wd and rwd have different strut towers or check to see if you have a front drive shaft

That tein coilover is for a 4wd model with the eyelet on the bottom of the strut

The pic below is of a factory RWD front strut, and as you can see they have a totally different struct that clamps to the suspension.

Tein have 2 models for the stagea. HA and "wagon". The HA are stiff and made for lower ride heights, something you do not want. The Wagon's which I have in my car sit more than high enough and are very comfy as they only have 4kg F and R springs which is approx 25% more than standard. Very simialr to the whitelines. HA have something more like 8kg.

Your buttons on the steering wheel may not be working because you have turned them on.

There is a button with a steering wheel on it on the centre console that turns the steering wheel on and off.

I have the same Impul front seats and they are quite comfy but firm. Talk Brycey into buying your seats and then him and I can have very similar R34 fronted stagea's.

[iijj]

Yes, I have pressed the button on the console! From what I had read earlier there should be a light that comes on on the dash when I press that button but no light comes on so maybe that button is the issue! If not, there must be a connection problem in the steering wheel itself. Either way, since there was a Nismo Sports wheel on there before, the previous owner may have cut some wires here or there and I'll have to find them! Otherwise I've wasted my money buying your wheel hey Darrin!!! Nah I'll figure it out!

The Teins are firm, and I like them, it's just that to give them some chance to work properly within their range they need to be wound a little lower, which will bring my front bar and skirts just that bit too close to the ground.

Definitely a RWD RS-V. I know this for a few reasons, other than the belief that it would be a dumb trick to try and pull. Firstly, in the underbonnet fusebox it has no 4WD fuses. Secondly, I had it on the weighbridge yesterday and without me in it it was 1550kg (4WD are 1650+kg in S2). Thirdly, and I'm not certain this is proof positive, having never driven a 4WD Satgea, it will step it's tail out in first with the traction control switched off.

Question: I believe most S2's are LSD. Is that true? How can I know if mine has original LSD. I have noticed on tight 3 pt turns, especially in reverse, the rears will chatter, slip and complain. My neighbour has 2 cars with (welded) locked diffs and they do this too. I just thought, putting 2 and 2 together, with the susp., the strobe neon controllers, RWD, and some of the interior mods - I don't know - drift??? But I thought that drifting with a locked diff was more difficult??? Anyway, love to know if other S2's, esp. RS-V's, do the same on gravelly surfaces or in reverse.

Question for ryan1600, can fulcrum not only soften the spring rate, but raise the ride height using the same struts??? That could be great if it could work!

Ta!

Here's a couple more pics of my Teins, eng bay and the chassis no.

Edited November 30, 2007 by iijj

[stasis]

jiffi read my signature for the suspension. i had it revalved by fulcrum suspension and it was softer than paul's super street wagon suspension. I shook his car last night and it was rock solid.

my rig shhudders when you reverse and i found out that it was my transfer case well at least thats what im being told by my tuner.

[darrinspencer]

There is something very strange with your car

Those strut towers in the engine bay are 4WD not rwd

Attach below is a pic of a series 2 RWD strut tower. Totally different

The blue tag in the engine bay can be easily swapped from any car

The chassis number stamped in the fire wall is the one to go by, but the blue tag should match. Is it WGC or WGCN????

And those pics of the front strut is a 4wd coilover.

I could be wrong, but something does not look right with the strut towers.

[iijj]

OK so I am strting to spin out a bit. Now I research my cars pretty well and can tell you details of plenty of Nissan and non-Nissan vehicles but, Darrin, you seem to know your way around these Stags! I've gone thru a bunch of pics on my MacBook and searched carsales and cannot find another RSV with the same strut towers as mine. I also noticed the east/west orientation on my fuse box is same as 4WD. I don't know what to say! I couldn't even find a S2 Stagea with WGC in the VIN/chassis no.

My boys are asleep but I'll be taking a good look around the new wagon tomorrow. Anything else I should look out for??? When I get back from VIC in new year I will have to meet up with you so you can cast your eye!

I found the receipts for everything on my car today, well almost. I don't have receipt for the GTR33 Brembos or GTR33 'Cooler, but have all the manuals for the stereo, Nismo exhaust, Apexi RSM, HKS SuperSequential BOV, HKS EVS, HKS TT, and Tein Type HA/HR's. I think you may be right about them - easier to find a trade for my sussie after all!!!

Mmmmmm.............. interesting!

[iijj]

Anyone got a pic of what the dash light should look like when you press the steering wheel toggle button on the console - just so I can see where it is and what it is supposed to look like... Ta!

[mike40sydney]

Anyone got a pic of what the dash light should look like when you press the steering wheel toggle button on the console - just so I can see where it is and what it is supposed to look like... Ta!

got no pic buy its in the center cloun under the gear positions a little wheel should lite up and wot gear your in

[iijj]

So I assume the little steering wheel symbol is just below the number denoting what gear you're in. Anyone who can confirm?

Still interested in how my RS-V came to having the unser-bonnet architecture of an RSFour!

Anyway, had the car in for a dyno tune and new fluids etc today at DysonRotary on the Gold Coast. Have been wondering about the diff and the boys there told me it has a (very expensive!) Cusco "racing" differential. That's why it chatters a little when turning below 10km/h.

Not sure what boost it was running because my wife picked up (her) car and dyno sheet. I told them I wanted to keep it below 13psi but it still made 259rwhp on original tune and 294rwhp with A/F ratios and boost adjusted. That's more than I expected, although I've had enough cars to realise one dyno run is no sure bet of a car's actual performance. It's very strong though and 'seat of the pants' feels quicker than my slightly modded GTST R33's.

Think the intake pipe is sucking shut sometimes though! What would that feel like and is there any way to tell for sure that that is what is happening? Ta!

Suspension offer still open!

Edited December 4, 2007 by iijj

[darrinspencer]

For it to have the rs four front end, it must have the 4wd front suspension. Have a look at the front hubs and see there is or was front drive shafts.

Also please confirm the chassis number stamped in the fire wall. WGC or WGNC?

I am very interested to see what you find.

I have a theory why, but will not say it yet.

Your car has the traction control fitted to the throttle body which the 4wd neo does not, but I assume the RWD does?

[_Ryan_]

Call Fulcrum, but if you get new springs made up, EG, give a custom place your current springs, say you want X spring rate, and more height, then get the shocks valved to suit? i don't know exactly how they would do it with coil overs, call them!

[iijj]

Definitely has WGC stamped everywhere. Plus, did a FAST Search on another thread and came up accurate - RS V RWD Sonic Silver Oct 1998. Definitely has no front driveshafts currently. Wouldn't know how to check if it used to! Definitely has operational traction control. (I switch it off every time I drive it!) Will be handy on wet days though with 219rwkW!!!

Let me know your theory, Darrin. PM me if you want. I have a few theories of my own! The Cusco diff kind of confirms my thinking on the car's setup.

Is there any chance that there was a small release or a small number of early S2's that used the 4WD front strut/suspension etc?

I wonder if there are any 4WD S2 owners who would now want to to a full swap. Not sure of spring rate, but it's very firm. Zero body roll. Handles more like a track car than a family wagon, although my wife says my modified civic is still more of a bone-rattler!!! After some aftermarket style suspension, but slightly softer and higher!

Offers?

[Stagea_Neo]

Hey iijj,

Issue 3:

-Pop out the centre console where the shift lever is, pretty easy.

-Make sure the loom/plug under the console is connected to the back of the switch.

I've left it off once or twice after pulling entire console/dash out doing stereo install

and wondered what tha! no little light on the dash, s/wheel buttons not working then realised my forgetfulness.

-Also check the wiring to the microswitches for the '-' & '+' action of the shift lever,

i noticed the wires are pretty tightly fed/run around the whole mechanism, which makes for easier

breakage or getting bare wires from someone who may have been poking around there in the past.

-It definitely sounds like someone has been tinkering not knowing what they do.. probably connected too many

items on the one fuse relay circuit or there is a wire(s) earthing out your instrument cluster.

Check out these links for pdf service manuals on the r34 Skyline, should have wiring diagrams, and being Nissan I would assume the wiring looms are going to be the same or very similar.

http://carfiche.com/manuals022/cars/

http://pdftown.com/PDF-Nissan-Skyline-R34-...ice-Manual.html (lookout for the password bit).

In regards to the suspension, kings springs with monroe gt gas area a good combination for balanced firm/soft ride,

but would also combine that with heavy duty sway bars and possibly adjustable panhard rod given the weight of the vehicle and body roll. Pedders or Konig would be a good step up from monroe/king spring without going rock hard like Tein.

Pete.

p.s. I've got the tein ha super wagon / super street dampners, damp adjust set @ 11......can turn a corner like a forklift