My Stagea

[Tangents]

Ok so today i started! After a few too many bevies last night a mate and I didnt get around to actually working until 4pm, but we got the car stripped and the old radiator support out. Also started prepping the new one to go in

The sea of car parts!

Before shot

Some of the tools to be used

Front bar and lights removed, and the sweet sports horns!

Gaurds gone draining the radiator, my brother stole my oil pan so i had to use an old wok and oven tray

Things get cluttered very fast!

Venting the aircon gas, note the rags over the top to stop any of it from spraying upwards, recommend eye protection

Old hinges (black) vs new hinges

Jimmy (panel beater) assessing the radiator supports, looks like the old skirts were trimmed back about 15ml and different railends used also discovered that there is no holes in the new rad support for the tie bars to be bolted too. Is there any difference between the tie bars in an s1 vs s2?

Point of no return... Jimmy starts to remove the old radiator support

Quick fix for lighting... speaker cable

Hangover cure...

Removal of old spot welds, using a 10ml (i think) drill bit, also note scratching the edges where sealer has been used

Rags in your pipes stop things getting in, also tape up the holes after removing the aircon condenser so nothing can get into that silver can.

Removing the radiator support, using hammer and cold chisel

Unbolting the tie bars

Success

Off with the old on with the new

Preparing the new radiator support

Cover your windscreen when using a grinder near by, also have a fire extinguisher handy

Getting stuck into it tomorrow so hopefully have it fitted up by tomorrow evening if anyone lives near your welcome to drop in and have a look

[msports180]

I bet your neighbours are loving you right now...

When we did all the work on my two stagea's we were suprised how many small little difference's there where, just lucky we had something to go off.

[Tangents]

small? hahahaha understatement! i will post pics tomorrow of the hybrid rad support...

anyways all welded in and sealed. Enough for one day tomorrow i will be fitting it all up

[Bis-e Bee]

small? hahahaha understatement! i will post pics tomorrow of the hybrid rad support...

anyways all welded in and sealed. Enough for one day tomorrow i will be fitting it all up

Hey man, looks like you got a bit done

I'm currently in Cowra but due to head back tomorrow morning so I might have to come around for a sticky beak tomorrow night lol I'll bring some beer

PM me your address and I'll probably pop around about 7pm.

[Tangents]

Sold! for beer, pm'd

[darrinspencer]

Looking good mate

Did you have to shorten the front inner skirts approx 15-20mm behind the head lights to get the correct angle for the headlights?

The new rad support lower rail, is it the same or different to the old one

I did not use the new lower rail as pretty sure mine was a r34 GTR not GTT support panel and hung too low, other wise the radiator would be too short in height.

Keep up the good work, sure helps when you have a pair of extra experienced hands.

[Tangents]

I think i owe Jimmy about 10 cases by now! we had to cut the skirts back about 15 mm or so along the whole front edge, also i used the old lower rail as apposed to the gtr one that was on the new rad support. The gtr one had the radiator holder cups welded into position, but no bolt holes for the tie bars and was also too low...

I do suggest using a "NEW" rad support if anyone is thinking of doing it this way though, So much easier. If i had a new rad support i would have had it done in a day!

Darrin did you have problems mounting the condenser for the aircon? thinking i will have to make custom top mount brackets for it, also what did you do with the gtr bonnet latch support that runs down the front to the lower rail? cut it and drill a new hole? or something else?

Sealer is dry so time to go and paint it!

[darrinspencer]

I think i owe Jimmy about 10 cases by now! we had to cut the skirts back about 15 mm or so along the whole front edge, also i used the old lower rail as apposed to the gtr one that was on the new rad support. The gtr one had the radiator holder cups welded into position, but no bolt holes for the tie bars and was also too low...

I do suggest using a "NEW" rad support if anyone is thinking of doing it this way though, So much easier. If i had a new rad support i would have had it done in a day!

Darrin did you have problems mounting the condenser for the aircon? thinking i will have to make custom top mount brackets for it, also what did you do with the gtr bonnet latch support that runs down the front to the lower rail? cut it and drill a new hole? or something else?

Sealer is dry so time to go and paint it!

With the bottom of the bonnet catch support I used a peice of 20x3mm alloy approx 30-40mm long. Bolt it to the bottom rail and drilled a hole thru it and used a bolt and nut thru the support. You could probably redrill the support. I think you might be able to see what I did in my build thread when I painted the engine recently

The condensor brackets at the top had to be bent past 90deg to get the to fit. They could be done a little better thou.

[Bis-e Bee]

Sorry I didn't make it tonight dude, I didn't get back to Blacktown till late and I am stuffed.

Took the car for a quick hoon to Sofala and had a bite to eat and a break so that added an extra 2 hours to the trip.

It's still covered in bugs, I'm contemplating a TLC package from Seven Hills Detailing Centre, poor thing needs some love lol

Will SMS if I decide to pop around tomorrow afternoon.

[Tangents]

With the bottom of the bonnet catch support I used a peice of 20x3mm alloy approx 30-40mm long. Bolt it to the bottom rail and drilled a hole thru it and used a bolt and nut thru the support. You could probably redrill the support. I think you might be able to see what I did in my build thread when I painted the engine recently

The condensor brackets at the top had to be bent past 90deg to get the to fit. They could be done a little better thou.

was thinking that, think this is the way ill go just a piece of alloy. Ill have another look at the condenser tomorrow think something up

Sorry I didn't make it tonight dude, I didn't get back to Blacktown till late and I am stuffed.

Took the car for a quick hoon to Sofala and had a bite to eat and a break so that added an extra 2 hours to the trip.

It's still covered in bugs, I'm contemplating a TLC package from Seven Hills Detailing Centre, poor thing needs some love lol

Will SMS if I decide to pop around tomorrow afternoon.

Just in time to see it put together

All seals painted in nice gloss black now So after work tomorrow will fit her up (again) get the rad and condenser all back in, add fluids, think about remounting the trans cooler... the list goes on!

ill post the pics from the last 2 days up tomorrow aswell

[dirtyRS4]

Just in time to see it put together

This ride has the potential to be killer. RS and all, start checkn out the manual conversion thread, lol. Pics now! Cant wait.

Edited March 23, 2010 by dirtyRS4

[Tangents]

This ride has the potential to be killer. RS and all, start checkn out the manual conversion thread, lol. Pics now! Cant wait.

hahahaha, have been reading it for dayssssssss its coming! just got home from work so here we go again!

Stephen where is the beer?

[Tangents]

anyone who does this remember that you need to put the plug for the thermo fan through the front of the radiator support next to the condensor pipes.... not hanging out the back near the power steering res..... ahhhhh FML!

[Tangents]

Ok so here are more pics of the happenings of late, Jimmy and I started at about 0830 on sunday morning and finished up around 9ish... long ass day but got what we aimed to do done. Rad support in, welded, etch primed and sealed.

Here we go again!!!

So started where we had left off, removing the rad support from the rails and skirts of the old stagea. Instead of plug welding the nice person in japan decided it better to bead the whole damn thing! took a while but we got there without damaging the rad support at all. Once again its very good to have your best mate be a panel beater with the right tools!

Even wearing leather gloves you can still hurt yourself, piece of the skirt sliced straight through to Jims finger

Hence why I suggest having one of these around

Left overs...

Dry fit of the whole GTR rad support

After a few minutes we figured out that we would have to use the cross beam from the original rad support and the top half of the GTR support, because the GTR one did not have holes to bolt up the tie bar from the suspension

Dry fitting the condenser and the radiator

Also you have to cut the original skirts back approx 15 - 20 mm so that the rad support sits right and the new headlights fit in. Note covering the fuel side with a damp towel

Ended up having to cut more than in this pics all the way down the near the 10ml bolt is for the earth from the loom

Then we used a self tapping screw either side of the new rad support to hold it in place while we check the fitment, this was about the time i started to get excited

So we got to testing or welding and setting up the machine on the left over bits of the donor car, I dont recommend using a gas less welder they leave way to much flux around the weld

Big clamps...

the join

So the welding begins... drilled 4 new holes to plug weld the corners to the side panles

Etch primed and now sealing, use a brush with short hair for the best result, applying the sealer with a corking gun

and so we called it a night!

[Tangents]

The next day after the sealer was dry i decided to fit up everything roughly to make sure no major adjustments needed to be done before i painted the sealed parts of the car

The GTR reo fits perfect

The gaurds are pumped as!

Rough look with the lower lip this made me smile! but its going to be low as!

Lots of room for the front mount to go in

After admiring it for a while I started to mask up to paint

Add some black gloss...

Then had to leave it over night to dry

So it brings me to today...

Got home from work and pulled out all the newpaper and got to putting it back together...

Condenser and radiator back in

Worst setup to try and put hoses and clamps back on ever. Note the corrosion from when my old battery went bang, will be taking it out and getting it cleaned up and re painted

with in the next week or so

As the car sits now I have the overflow and the washer bottle back in. The rad and condenser all in and hooked up and the Bonnet and gaurds on and lined up. Hopefully tomorrow I get the rest of the thing back together.

Things I still need are:

New HID kit as the old on was interwoven into the loom and I dont want to use it.

side indicator plugs

make a little bracket to join the bonnet lock support and the cross beam

coolant

top up the trans fluid, thinking about changing its mounting position to possibly some fabrication work

pick up my HDI intercooler, fit it

get a pod filter

make a custom cai box

get an RB 26

convert it to manual

win the lottery

marry a super model who loves to cook and clean...

[pistol-pete]

looking sweet as brother!

[msports180]

Looking awesome man.

[chef_stagea]

was slightly iffy about the look without the lip on in... but the pic after with it on.... WOW !!! looks fecking neat man... very very good job getting it all to line up like u have!

[stagman]

So jealous. Looks like its coming along very nice, and quickly. But please by some roof rail replacements to really set off that sleek look. Really wish i could see this in the flesh.

For anyone interested or doing this conversion, i sore a website last night that had r34 oem hid lights(apprently) second hand for $1390 or there bouts. Not easiest of parts to come across for this conversion..

[dirtyRS4]

It is how a stagea shouldve rolled out of the factory. Im not commenting again until this thing is fully finished, lol.

Edited March 30, 2010 by dirtyRS4