Build Thread: Adam's Nissan Stagea C34

[4bidn1]

245? how did ya go

[Run-It-Hard]

DO WORK

A lot has happened since the last update. The Stagea has been tuned, and I spent every night after work getting it tip-top for the Driving Sports – Day of drift at Sydney Motorsport park.

The first port of call was to replace my poorly designed solid diff mounts for GK Tech items. The original plan was to do it with the subframe in the car. Yeah like that was going to happen!

The whole rear end was pulled from underneath the car, just to change two bushes. This was quite time-consuming as you could imagine.

I was at a point where I was ready to kick the Stagea off the stands. I had finally cracked, lost my patience with it all. Thankfully Jeff had some spare time and helped me keep calm and get the job done.

Next up, I needed to sort out some way of running an air filter. After a bit of pondering, Jeff and I came up with a way that we could do it while utilising what I had lying around at home.

With that done and dusted, I was in desperate need of a wheel alignment. I have been playing around with the height, camber, castor and toe settings all week in order to get the wheels to sit where I want.

I’m sure most people have trouble finding a decent align guy. Benny was recommended to Rat from Rational Automotive sometime last year and he did a fantastic job on the R33.

Funnily enough, I had forgotten about Rat for a while, but now I don’t go anywhere else. Best of all, he’s open on Saturdays too. So I was up bright and early getting some fresh settings dialed into the Stagea.

After that I headed up to Dahtone, where Anth and I went over the car one last time before its maiden voyage at Sydney Motorsport Park the following day.

Everything was ready to rock, and I was super excited to do a drift day in my own car again!

[Run-It-Hard]

THE MAIDEN VOYAGE

5:30am Sunday morning, my eyes smashed open, and I jumped out of bed. This shit is super bizarre for me. Due to my work hours I’m nearly nocturnal. I rushed over to Benny’s room and woke him up, cause I’m a flamin mongrel like that (he normally does it to me). Shortly after we were out the door, and on our way to Sydney Motorsport Park.

We arrived super early, we were the first handful of people there too. We sat patiently, awaiting for the front gates to be opened.

We were let through and we secured a pit-lane garage for our gear and cars to be stored in. Shortly after unpacking we headed out to Maccas to get breakfast.

During our travel to the nearest McDonald’s, I saw a dark green car sitting on the side of the road, and I instantly shat bricks. It was highway patrol. I was stressing out like a hooker in a church, my track record hasn’t been the greatest in terms of pull overs/defects. I thought this would be a similar scenario. But somehow, the Holden Commodore remained stationary. Feeling relieved is an understatement.

Ok ok, so we got our breakfast of champions and headed back to camp, right in time for the drivers briefing. SMSP are pretty up-tight, and it seems like they dis-like drifters the more events we have there. The briefing emphasized on their precious grass, and how we aren’t allowed to get on it.

After the briefing, Benny and I rushed to our cars and lined up in the dummy grid, both eager to get out on track.

This is it, the first time I’ve ever been on the North circuit. I was getting anxious, and excited. I cruised the first lap to get a feel for the track and then it was game on!

I was loving every minute of the North circuit. Though my excitement and happiness came to a thundering halt. Towards the end of the first session, the Stagea had started to lose power, and the screamer wasn’t making any heavenly sounds.

After the session, Benny and I pulled in the pits to go over both cars (Benny was having some problems too). My car felt like it had a boost leak somewhere, so I checked all the lines and cooler pipes. Everything was nice and tight. I started to stress out a little and took a step back and had a look at the engine bay. That was the moment I knew what the problem was.

The big AAC hose that crosses over from the plenum to the IC pipe, was toasted by my Turbosmart wastegate! So I got out a roll of electrical tape, and wrapped that sucker up. It kinda worked for a few laps then melted through again.

The drop in power resulted in lots of clutch kicking to keep the momentum going, and I was stuck at the top of second most of the time. All in all it was still a great day out. I can’t believe how quick I adapted to the Stagea, and how well it actually slid. With a few more tweaks, it’ll be a weapon.

I was also surprised on how much attention the Stagea received, there are a stack of pics of it sliding around and I even made it on Scott Mitchell’s latest vid! So stoked about that.

My mission has been completed. The Stagea not only made it to Sydney Motorsport Park, but it some what survived a full day of abuse. I managed to kill a lot of spare tyres too (which means I can get rid of a lot of stockies!).

[180fan]

Looking good man, must have felt good to finally have the stag back on the track

[Run-It-Hard]

It sure did man!

[4bidn1]

what power did ya make out of the old drift girl. have you ever seen the pic of the identical car rim and all in Japan freaked me out.

[Run-It-Hard]

It made around the 230kw mark (was done in HP) only on 14psi though.

Grant's old car, yeah I've seen it. It had Work Eurolines in 18x9 and 18x10 +20. I have the slightly different SSR Vienna wheel lol.

[stageaharts]

Good work mate, photos and vid look great too, its awesome to see a unicorn sideways! Must be fun to drive with 230, good figure for such low boost... So when are you going to turn the wick up?

[Run-It-Hard]

THE CURSE HAS BEEN BROKEN

There was a small drift event run by initial D yesterday at the humble Wakefield park raceway. The whole week I had been deciding whether to attend in the Stagea.

After a lot of convincing from Jeff, and a ridiculously cheap entry fee ($120), I was in!

Jeff, Chris and I headed down to Goulburn on Saturday night. We wrenched on the R33 and the Stagea at Jeff’s through-out the night, ready for a day of drift.

As much as I love Wakefield, I had thoughts at the back of my mind that this was a bad idea. Probably because of what happened to my R33, and always missing Wakefield Matsuris.

All in all, the Stagea some-what lasted the day. It was trolling me with power delivery, just like at EC the week before, and I didn’t get as many runs as I had hoped. But, I drifted Wakie in my own car for once!

I broke a traction rod, I bent a tie rod, I popped off an intercooler pipe and I melted my boost lines off the turbo. The Stagea still soldiered on and got me home.

I’m glad I went though. As I now know for certian what needs to be changed/modified before the boat sees another drift day.

Bring on 2013!

[Run-It-Hard]

Good work mate, photos and vid look great too, its awesome to see a unicorn sideways! Must be fun to drive with 230, good figure for such low boost... So when are you going to turn the wick up?

It's pretty frustrating to drive atm actually. I'll be changing the housing next month probably, and winding up the boost to 20psi! Low boost will be 14psi lol.

[Run-It-Hard]

"copy paste from 4am this morning"

Been in the garage all night ... turns out both tie rods were bent

Passenger side was f**ked, drivers side had a slight kink, pretty sure this was done at EC (drivers side), as I thought I had a flat spot after EC. Kinda happy with I drove at Wakie now, considering my toe was all over the place like a pedo in a primary school.

Because Stagea, none of my spare tie rods "fit". I had a pair of new S14 items that I cut down 15mm and they work like a charm!

[Run-It-Hard]

PLAYING CATCH UP

So it’s time for an update on the Stagea. As always I’ve been tinkering with it one way or another.

I was in need of a boost gauge and I happened to find one when hanging out at Khoa’s joint. It was exactly what I needed (Racetech 52mm white back light). So I nabbed it off him and tried to figure out where to put it.

After toying around with many ideas I glanced at the cluster cover and thought it would be a perfect spot. Visibility isn’t the best but its hidden which is what I wanted.

I discovered both tierods were bent (one worse than the other). I think the right one (drivers side) has been bent since EC, and the left was done at Wakefield. I made some S14/R33 tie rods work by cutting down the adjustment thread by 15mm. They happen to be thicker than the Stagea rods too so hopefully they’ll last a little longer.

The Stagea had a heavy knocking sound on big bumps so I figured the bumpstops weren’t doing their job. They weren’t as bad as I thought and I later realised that my shocks weren’t causing the sound. In fact it is my upper control arm hitting the chassis.

The bumpstops I bought were to suit the ol’ Ford Falcon and they were a perfect fit, who would have thought?!

After braking a traction rod at Wakefield. I decided to go back to OEM with the bottom boxed up. I had a look at all my spares and noticed that I had a few that are already boxed. I didn’t know they came like this OEM. I only had two so I’m guessing they came off the Stagea in the first place.

After finding out I had some cash in my Paypal account, I placed an order on a 10cm turbine housing for my TD06. It’ll probably arrive mid January and it should change the cars power delivery dramatically.

Last but not least, the Stagea got sideswiped last night. I was on my way home from work and they were doing road works on a 3 lane road. Anyway it merged into two and I happened to be in the middle lane. I was sitting in between a Semi and another big truck and the semi decided to cut me off … which resulted in me locking up.

The Truck in the left lane was weaving in and out (of his own lane) and had come into my lane for a split second, while I locked up. He ended up taking out my mirror, my indicator, rashed the shit out of the front wheel and left some nice lines in the paint work .

In a sence I’m lucky that it wasn’t a worse accident, but still I copped it for someone elses negligence, and it sucks!

On that note, drive safe! Seems like all the morons come out on the roads when it’s holiday season.

[Run-It-Hard]

I was suprised that the Stagea had thinner tie rods than an S14 though, wierd.

Sourced a mirror for $150, so I slapped that shit on my car before work.

Found quite a bit of cancer under the mirror too. It's a common problem for Stageas to rust aroudn the mirror due to the foam behind it trapping water. I wasn't expecting this much. So I might have to get around to fixing it. Drivers side looks alright though.

Got some indicators coming from overseas too, and I'll try buff some of the scratches out. I might even go to the meet this weekend.

[Run-It-Hard]

REFINEMENT - VIEW ON BLOG

First off I hope you all had a good XMAS and New Years bash! I got wrecked, it was awesometown.

As you may recall, I ordered a smaller rear housing for my TD06, well it ended up arriving to my door on XMAS eve. Considering I didn’t have much on this XMAS, I decided to tackle the rear housing swap head on!

Everything was nice and cruisy for once turbo came off easily, swapping the housings were a breeze. It was up until it was time to put the turbo back on the car. Little did I know, the 10cm needs atleast a 10mm spacer off the turbo manifold, otherwise the front cover fouls. So everything came to a grinding halt until some auto stores were open.

Due to running a spacer, the studs needed to go for extended items (FYI RB studs are M10x1.25). I managed to get some from my local Peps that worked out to be the perfect length (roughly 50mm … 10mm longer than OEM) … only cost me $8 too.

While I was at it, I changed my intercooler piping set up slightly. I blew off pipes four times between the Wakie and EC event, and once on the street. So I pissed off the plastic OEM joiners and hose clamps and replaced them with silicone and T bolts.

I also bought some more pipe for the intake. As I’m not too happy with the current setup,.

You might notice in the second picture, but after the turbo swap, the dump/screamer pipe combo doesn’t fit. So once Anthony gets back from his long awaited holidays, the Stagea will be making a trip to Dahtone Racing.

Along with the pipe work getting modified, the Stagea will have a surge tank installed on the undercarriage along with a Bosch 044 fuel pump. I have experienced fuel surge in the wagon quite a few times (even on the skidpan). So before I go hard out I figured now is the best time to rectify the problem before something goes ka-boom! It’ll also mean more track time as it’ll save me from filling up every so often.

I’m hanging to drive the LOLVO with the new rear housing, can’t wait for a drift day to pop up either!

[KiwiRS4T]

Good work! Def put the surge tank under the car - mines inside and even with a metal case insulated inside and out its noisy as (no petrol smells though).

[Run-It-Hard]

I'd imagine! It was loud in the R33 and the boot is mostly sealed off from the cabin.

It should fit perfectly under the rear seat section, which means bootspace will stay the same and it's nice and hidden

[stageaharts]

Ahhh! Good to see a new year post mate, good to see the setup getting refined. What expected rpm will you hit full boost on with the smaller rear?

I have some new wheels arriving for mine on the 20th, much more conservative than your fitment though :-P

[Run-It-Hard]

Taking it for a drive around the block it hits full boost *around* 4000RPM which is perfect!

Response has improved 10-fold too, slight touch of the throttle will result in the turbo coming off vaccum.

I hope I'll be able to loose a bit of traction when I plant it now, that makes it even more fun ahhaa.

My wheels are pretty big, I'm running -3 camber at the moment and I want to get it down to -1. So I need to figure out how I'm going to get 20mm more clearance lol.

[Run-It-Hard]

SECOND TIME COMING - PUT YOUR GUESS ON THE BLOG

Way back in November, I did a little competition to guess what kinda power the Stagea will put down. Seeing that the setup was mass fail (lag city!) I’ve changed it up and it is going for another re-tune. Which means the guesses can continue to flow!

The previous tune was only done at a measly 14psi too, it would have been unfair to use this graph as a decider after I stated it would be tuned at roughly 20psi.

Here’s a quick re-cap on the specs:

•Standard RB25DET

•Kando TD06-20G 10cm

•Turbosmart comp gate

•3 inch exhaust

•return flow intercooler

•High flow injectors

•Walbro lift pump

•1 litre surge tank

•Bosch 044 fuel pump

•Haltech E11 ECU

•Boost will be set between 18-20psi

•Tuned for 98 octane

•RWD

This time it will be tuned near the 20psi mark, and will have a more impressive boost curve than the 12cm rear housing on it previously.

The closest three guesses to the final power output will win Run It Hard merchandise!

1st place – Run It Hard! T-Shirt + sticker pack 2nd & 3rd place – Sticker pack

To be eligible, you must put your guess on the blog’s comment section, either on this post or the previous one.

Please be sure to enter your email address so I can contact you, if you’re one of the lucky three to guess closest.

Fire away!

[Run-It-Hard]

GETTING STUFF DONE - VIEW ON THE BLOG

The past week has been quite productive for the Stagea, it went into Dahtone to get some work done, some parts arrived and I’ve found some that will make their way onto the wagon.

When I did the rear housing swap on the Kando TD06 turbo, the dump pipe and wastegate pipe no longer fit. So it went Anthony to get modified. While it was there I decided it was a good time to get a surge tank installed too.

The surge tank has been installed under the driver’s side back seat. Anth modded a Aeroflow fuel pump bracket so the Bosch 044 was sitting in an ideal spot.

Under car is great, you can barely hear the constant buzz from the pump in the cabin, you don’t get that fuel smell and if the 5-0 are on the hunt for defects, it’s going to be difficult to see.

After snapping a traction arm at Wakefield, I’ve decided to change all of my rear arms. The traction rod is back to OEM but the mid section has been boxed up. The toe arms are the new GKtech V2 items …

As are the camber arms. The GKtech arms are a great bit of kit, they are one piece (no welds) and are made out of billet. Which makes them lighter than your conventional arms. Comparing them to my old items (think Just Jap, Driftworks etc) they are nearly double the thickness.

The camber arms have a 30 degree kink in them which is designed to help clearance issues of the subframe.

Best of all, they don’t break the bank. Check out GKtech for more info.

During my manual conversion, I sourced a manual console from Japan that was ment to be complete, but when it arrived I got jipped, it was missing the shifter surround. After many attempts to chase the original seller, Jesse had no luck getting in touch with him.

Ever since I’ve been looking for a shifter surround. The console alone is rare let alone individual pieces. So I started searching for a part number to get one through Nissan. Anyway Benny is like “I’ll find one” and well, he did.

Once he linked it to me I snapped it up quicker than Jim blowing his load over Nadia. I finally had the missing piece of the puzzle.

You might have noticed that the Stagea has quite a bit of body roll when it’s getting the tail out. Although the 6kg Tein springs are comfy for every day, they aren’t up to the task of keeping the wagon flat on the limits.

So I’ve ordered a set of Swift Racing springs from Japan, these are a hefty 12/10kg combo which should be the remedy of my body roll issue. It was a hard choice on whether to go a lower or higher spring rate. But the Swift springs have a tendency to feel softer then they actually are.

Swift say it’s due to their exclusive material and fewer coils than conventional springs. Either way I plan to run a Tein EDFC so it’s easier (and more comfortable) for street/track damping set ups.

There is just under a month until the next drift day, so I’m hoping the springs will arrive in time for a wheel alignment

The Stagea still needs a re-tune too, but that won’t happen till a few days before event. Cutting it close, as always!

Edited January 14, 2013 by Run-It-Hard