New To Stagea's.

[SSStagea]

Hi all, have recently purchased a '98 S2 Stagea RS Four S. Am new to Stags, Turbo's and the RB25. Couple of Questions - I know the NEO motor is the same as the R34, what I need to know is, does this mean the engine bay is identical to the R34? Does this mean that if I need any part for the motor or engine bay than I can just ask for R34 parts? My local Nissan spare parts guy cant even find the WGNC34 listed on his spare parts list. Not even under Stagea or C34.

Anyone got a website that shows the difference between the NEO and Non-NEO RB25's? Not many I would think?

Interior - How easy is it to get to the tweeter in the pillar? Was given a full stereo with the car which includes a set of 6 inch splits and want to change the whole lot. Is this an easy job? Have some experience installing stereos but since it's a new car to me, any tips? Is it easy to get new wires through to the doors? I have an amp and want to run the speakers off that.

Last of all, what can people suggest (apart from keeping my foot of the pedal) to help with fuel economy? Any mods/ addons that people suggest? I have a front mount that also came with the car when I bought it. What benefits will this have and what is the main purpose of a bigger front mount? (Sorry for the very NOOB question). Will this affect my fuel economy or maybe help it?

Sorry for all the questions but I have read and read again, as much as I can at the moment on these forums but these few questions I need answered. Thanks greatly.

Hope to get out on some cruises in the near future.

Dave

[GoldZilla]

Hey Dave, and welcome to the world of Stageas!

First question, yep the RB25DET Neo in your car is pretty similar to the Neo in the R34, except for the fact that yours is an AWD. Most parts towards the top of the engine are interchangable, but I don't think the engine bay itself (as in the panel work, firewall, suspension towers, etc.) is the same as the R34.

Interior? The tweeters can be accessed just by pulling off the little cover in the A-pillar, just get your finger nail, a small screwdriver or something similar under it. Be careful not to scratch or gouge it, though. Feeding the wires to the tweeter is a bit more of a headache, but if you've done a few stereos before, I'm sure you could figure it out. Replacing the rest of the speakers in the doors is pretty easy - removing the door trims just requires the usual couple of screws here and there, and then pulling at the trim, making sure not to break any clips... You might need to buy/build some pods to fit the front mid-bass drivers in, but the rest is pretty straightforward. If you don't yet have speakers for the rear, just get a nice set of co-axials, as there's not really anywhere specific to put the tweeters.

If you have a look in the DIY section, there's a "tutorial" on how to remove and replace the head unit, along with a wiring diagram. Oh, and instead of cutting wires like I stupidly did, there are a few plug-in adaptors available if you go into a car stereo shop.

Fuel economy? Seeing as you got an RS-Four S, you have the option of installing the R34 PowerFC with a few minor tweeks to the wiring (do a search for "Secret Squirrel Tweak"). Depending on the way it's tuned, you might see some improvements in economy, but you should also have more power too. Buying the PFC is not cheap, but it's amongst the best all-in-one solutions as opposed to having a whole bunch of devices tweaking fuel mixtures, ignition, air flow readings, etc.

The front-mount intercooler will help to reduce heat soak into the engine, as it more efficiently cools the air going into the engine after the turbo compresses (and therefore super-heats) the air. If you're going to have it put on, I suggest you do it before you have the tune played with so that the extra efficiency can be accounted for and made use of straight away.

[SSStagea]

Thanks for the info Goldzilla. I fitted the head unit today, luckily the head unit that was in it had aftermarket plugs to fit the standard wiring harness that was all colour coded the same as my head unit. Made things real easy. Even got the illumination wire hooked up for once. Had a Turbo timer fitted as well today (Yes I have seen the big debates that go on about the need for these). More as a piece of mind thing for me since it is my first turbo.

Looking into getting the front mount fitted. Hopefully it wont need to much modifying up front for it. As for the extra speakers/ amp for the stereo, I will wait till I have a spare weekend to change all that over. Need to work out how exactly to get the tweeters in since they don't fit through the standard holes. Plus I also have to figure out where to mount the amp. May be going under the drivers side seat.

Thanks again for the info.

[wolverine]

hi david

more or less the engine is the same as an R34 neo RB25DET. the differences are that you do not have traction control. the snorkel to the airbox is different and apart from that i haven't seen any other significant differences.

suspension on the RS4S is slightly different from the autos. you have a fork end on the rear shock and larger sway bars. so if you want suspension parts you need to specify your model carefully. the group buy gear here on SAU works well when the time comes although the sway bar upgrade won't be the big step the auto guys/gals feel.

my understanding is that some of the drivetrain/suspension bits were from the R33 GTR parts bin but it is a mish mash of bits.

the factory sidemount is adequate for the standard turbo even if you push a little more boost through it. especially if you are still running the factory exhaust.

for boost control (increasing boost) a cheap bleed valve works well for basic applications so one of these is hard to beat for the $$ spend.

if you are ultimately looking for more performance then a FMIC will help keep charge temperatures down. ie cooler charge = more power

...and then the exhaust is probably going to want attention.....

....then engine management as Goldzilla has already mentioned such as a PowerFC or perhaps one of the newer generation ones that are coming through. this will allow you to make more power and potentially save on fuel use.

ultimately engine management systems have the greatest capacity to reduce fuel consumption but spending $1500+ just to save a little fuel on a standard car is probably a false economy.

spending on engine management to get the most performance out of each of the above modifications is great value.

[ssshonky]

also - read up on the threads on LPG conversions - because it seems most people are " out of pocket " in the tune of around$1500 - what it costs for a power FC plus tune etc. SO that might be an idea!

Also search and find out how to get the fault codes out of the standard computer. You basically short 2 pins on the Consult port and it tells you whats going on

you might have a dud sensor etc etc