White Goods Daily

[GH05T]

Hi all

Well I have been posting lots of questions and progress of my new Stagea.

I plan to do a bit of work to her as I cannot help myself even with dailies so I thought I should make my own little build thread to keep my own little record, ask my stupid questions and share my new baby, so here goes.

She is a Pearl white Series2 WGN34 manual 4WD RS4-S

So how I came to own her,

I have been slowly progressing through the skyline range as daily drivers, the first R chassis I loved was my R31 TI which served me well, purchased of an old guy and lightly modded to my liking.

Sold this for my modified 32 gtst which I bought as I sold her, fully engineered at 220rwkw. Great to drive.

Sold her for my 34gtt. Purchased of a mate stock and again lightly modded.

The only issue with my 34 was the fact that it was silver and auto, neither of which I preferred.

Playing around with the idea of doing another manual conversion and fixing bits of the body work up, I started on the lookout for a nice white manual 34 to sell into.

While I was on my search the opportunity came about to get my hands on a factory manual RS4-S white C34 so I dipped my toes into the wagon world.

A car I have always admired as I have always had a want for something a little different, something not every person can name off the top of their head …yes yes, nice Volvo mate.

Mmmm Manual

Random as f**k sticker which was since removed. No idea what it means.

Bye bye 34

I was happy to get into a manual and happy with the car overall, she drove very well, servicing was good and up to date. It belonged to one of my mechanics mates, not a huge car person but enough to look after it and spend money where it was needed. Needed one hell of a tidy up though.

The stag had a full turbo back exhaust, aftermarket wheels and the rest was stock so this is how she stayed for a while and took over my gruelling 700km per week daily duties.

The clean-up began as this was in much need.

The interior was filthy, these picks don’t even show how grimy it was.

Seats were horrible, carpet needed cleaning, a few broken bits here and there which im working my way through but it did come with a simple boost guage, auto closing rear door, cargo blind and all electrics working a treat.

Got stuck into it by hand with surprisingly good results.

Which got a surprising amount out

You can see the difference Just in the colour of the seats, again this pic doesn’t do it justice.

The interior has been steam cleaned since but needs to be removed and done properly to make me a bit happier. I will be getting this professionally done soon. I have a work contact who spend 2 days removing the whole interior basically and going over every nook and cranny, something im still looking forward to.

First real change was a simple swap over of wheels, the aftermarket wheels were not my taste and also I had just fitted brand new Potenza RE050 rubber on my 34 which were great and not something I wanted to loose, also a big fan of black wheels so on they went

Got stuck into the paint and luckily it’s all in relatively good condition, a simple polish didn’t bring up too many hidden issues. Again it will get a full professional details soon enough.

It unfortunately does have the usual stag rust spots, these are yet to be addressed

Under mirror

Rear wheel arch

I Tinted the front windows

Decided to stay legal meaning they don’t match the privacy glass in darkness but it dint worry me too much, looked better than the dicky front windows standing out and summer approaching

Luckily through a local wrecker I picked up a pearl white dayz front bar, few chips and dents but not bad, gives it that more aggressive look for sure. The original front bar was a bit simple looking.

Next on the list were the headlights,

The driver’s side usual yellow fog cleaned up easily enough with a headlight restoration product and a good sealant.

However they passenger side was losing its seal and condensation had gotten the better of the inside lens.

This was as good as it was going to get without opening it up.

So I bought a replacement from Fatz which cleaned up a treat.

From

.

.

.

To

Muuuuch better!

Also picked up some eyelids, yet to fit

[GH05T]

Another friend/ work contact spraypainter mate helped me out and resprayed my front bar, tidied it up and managed to get the pearl colour match spot on.

made a big difference.

The car was running ok but had a slight misfire which worsened at high revs so a fresh set of spark plugs/ 02 sensor and brand new splitfire coilpacks went in. all issues sorted and running like a dream.

For funzies I did the usual high boost always mod and it feel nice….for a stock engine.

FINALLY my BC coilovers arrived to finally satisfy my need to actually corner and feel a bit less like a Delica. I used the same coilovers in my R34 and for the price they are surprisingly good, Damper adjustable and height adjustable. Base hight which is good.

I used 6/8kg in the 34 but for the wagon I took some advice and opted to go for a slightly softer rate combination of 5/7kg

Love having hoists at work on hand

In

They look great at the height out of the box but this is where the issues started…

Ok so as some of you know the 4wd Stagea’s have the different rear-end which means we can run basically GTR offsets which I was very happy about, however the 2WD R43 gtt wheels simply didn’t fit when lowered.

The +40 offsets just failed hard

But they also fouled on the struts, allot

Rubbing tire and scraping rim whenever the car angled over bumps and driveways.

NOT a comfortable feeling.

Yeah…. Not cool

I was able to drive for a week by setting the coilover base height up a bit higher and setting dampers to hard to stop some movement.

The first drama of having a modified daily I relied on, I can’t stop driving and didn’t want to stop modding, however the stop gap solution was ok as I had these on the way.

and no there not ROTA

All the way from Perth (thanks to my work freight)

Ok so freight from Perth to my work in Adelaide….$40….winner

Yay for wagons

Ok so the mission to fit started.

The wheels are Varrstoen 2.2.2 18X9.5 +12 all round

I am currently going through a few steps to get the fitment right so I can lower it back down and have a nice stance which is still practical…

I will report back soon with how this goes

Thanks for reading

glyn

[KiwiRS4T]

Very tidy car. If you haven't already got them a set of heavier sway bars will do wonders. Brakes will be fine perhaps with better quality rotors braided brake lines and some good pads. Nistune or a Link will give a small increase immediately and allow tunabilty for later. A return flow intercooler will bolt in without drama.

[GH05T]

all are on the comming soon list,

swaybars i can already feel are going to be needed, just need to order them

gonna get the the fitment right first then get a propper setup with some front caster, rear toe and some camber to suit.

i have a Z32 afm ready for the nistune.

i am looking at maby going a hypergear turbo but a fmic to fill the hole in the front bar and nistune are not going to be far away.

brakes i have a plan for but more on that later.

[GH05T]

i am looking to see if i can get a FMIC return flow which i can get in without needing to cur the reo or remove ac fan, not sure if this is possible?

Edited December 11, 2013 by GH05T

[Brotato]

seen her around a few times in the city

[KiwiRS4T]

Yes there is a Just Jap and a Blitz return flow FMIC and more besides. You can usually angle them to avoid the aircond fan or else replace it with a thinner one.

[GH05T]

cool,

bought some hubcentric spacers from chris today, going to get the stage back down to a height im happy with soon...yay

[GH05T]

Ok so the new wheels are obviously a much better suited offset at +15 vs +40 however increase in width from 7.5” to 9.5” basically means I only gain a few mm of clearance back.

They do clear at stock height but we need to use an available 8mm spacer to be able to drive comfortably

Fronts fit fine, basically perfect

heaps of clearance in all directions, I should be able to retain my guard liner and still get some caster in there too.

The rears although the fitment was fine, basically flush with the guard

as before the strut clearance was minimal

this gave me no option other than raise the car for now.

I am planning to run some spacers to push the wheels out and then camber the back into the guards to I still have strut clearance and guard clearance, also want a decent looking stance….ya know.

So having a well sitting car doing 700km a week I decided not to go for my usual bridgestones and went for the Achilles at sports.

A mate of mine got them supplied/ fitted and balanced in 235/40/18 for $400 which is damn cheap.

Happy with the stretch, 235 is not really meant to go on a 9.5” rim but it works.

And daaam they are hard to get on, we needed more lube than an alterboy to get these over the lips, I don’t know if they just have larger lips than were used to or if the walls are just hard but yeah.

to take care of the camber I bought myself some Hardrace adjustable camber arms, luckily they had some bushed type in stock, everyone else seemed to only have the spherical type in stock.

cambered the wheels off the struts so we could drive lowered, still has a bit in it

current strut clearance in comparison with the camber arms.

current height is tame to say the least

ignore the hell dirty car

also set the dampers to

front 20 of 30 (30 being hardest)

rears 18 of 30

just got sick of being so bumpy, now its smooth and firm...... needs swaybars though yes, weight transfer on a wagon is....well allot.

so I now have some 25mm hubcentric spacers for the rears. Time to go for more aggressive rear camber. Just had the guards rolled to accommodate. Hopefully get this done before the weekend.

Edited December 12, 2013 by GH05T

[GH05T]

also i have only just noticed my car has been debadged, never really noticed

love that ass

[GoldZilla]

Looking good, Glyn! It will probably be a good idea to get the rear guards rolled as well, if they haven't been done already.

Swaybars will make a world of difference, too.

As for the return-feed FMIC, Bob is right. There is a JustJap one available, not sure about the Blitz one. I bought a GReddy one years ago for a pretty hefty price, and about 6 months later JustJap started selling their ones at roughly half of what I'd just paid...

[GH05T]

year rear guards are rolled, their the only ones which needed rolling really but i got all 4 done anyway.

[KiwiRS4T]

If you only want 235mm of road contact you only need 8in wheels which would help with your clearance issues ands also be cheaper,

[gtr jet]

Looking good mate. What sort of economy are you getting doing 700km a week?

[4bidn1]

If you only want 235mm of road contact you only need 8in wheels which would help with your clearance issues ands also be cheaper,

It's a personal thing , yes a matched wheel and tyre would be that , but some ppl like a stance/ stretched jap look on the street! As do I yes it's not nesecary but neither are body kits twin sunroofs stereos leather interiors ect

I've got 32 gtr rims for track / drag wheels

Looking good ghost, 25 mm spacers on the back !!! That will give you a 9.5 -10 might stick out too much I think

[Chris32]

Looks good Glyn, love those rims!

[GH05T]

yep,

also the price jump from a 235 -> 245 is substantial, almost a %40 increase.

i do like the stanced look, i want to be able to push the wheel out a bit and streatch/ camber the tire in, only a little im not doing anything wild.

also i do have the option of zeroing all the camber and putting up to a 265 tire on and get some real grip if i really wanted to.

yeah well from thoes pics im running an 8mm spacer, so going out another 17mm is not much atall really. ill trial fit lower play with the settings, if they dont work or look odd ill move them on and try something less agressive. only testing can tell. ill get picks and show what i find.

economy well i put in 60lt of premium and i get about 500km from it

remembering i spend 30 mins per trip trying to get from cavan to thebarton which is solid traffic so not too bad.

im sure if i did a hyway trip i would get around 650-700km to 60ltrs but i havnt tried yet.

i also beleiave it needs a tune but the nistune will go in with a few other basic mods to get that done.

also while im on thetopic, i bought a second hand z32 afm which has broken mesh...is this an issue? can it be used?

i cant think why it would really be a problem?

Edited December 12, 2013 by GH05T

[Chris32]

You can run the AFM without the mesh, I'd take it off rather than risk sucking it into the turbs

[GH05T]

good point

[4bidn1]

Rims look bloody good , hurry up get those eyelids on:) should look at jetr31s aero mirrors for sale (make him an offer) they would look trick on your car