KiwiRS4T

Engine bay looks good. I see you have cable ties to hold the snorkel. Mine came without the two black buttons as well ... i found it OK with only the bonnet to keep it in place.

I have the ecu (an OV300) out of my wrecked Stagea which i could post to you if you want to see what difference it makes. I want it back because i am getting another Stagea and want to send the spare ecu off to get rechipped while I am driving with the other one but if you isolate the problem(s) to the ecu it shouldn't be too hard to get another one. Let me know if you want to try it.

They will rust just the same as the old ones because of the way water gets trapped in them. If you get yours repaired properly i.e. steel welded in and the foam replaced with stuff treated with the waxy anti -water stuff (sorry don't know the technical term for it) they will be better than new for 1/4 of the price.

ALL SOLD NOW! Thank you.

If you have the number Nissan can supply a new key (even for remote locking) - last quote about $300. If you don't have the number you may be able to get it from Nissan but I haven't tried.

Try bleeding the system. There is a bleed nipple at the back of the gear box extension. With the motor running crack open the nipple and watch for air. Preferably have someone else watching the reservoir and top up as necessary until fluid runs ok.

It is a design fault. Fix asap. Remove door cards, mirror, piece of foam that collects water and makes it rust. Preferably weld in steel to fix hole. Replace foam with stuff treated with a waxy water resistant product. Had to do it to both my Stageas about $400 for two doors. Get a few quotes from panel and paint shops because some of them don't like doing small non-insurance jobs like this and will quote very high. Will be better than new when finished.

Buy another box - they can last 300,000km rebuild could cost you $5000

Not a freak. Series 1 stagea has the skyline series 2 rb25. Series 2 has the R34 neo engine but in each case the ecu's are unique.I would have liked a "field harness" for my last stagea - I had about 20 different connections to my ecu wiring - that is why (since nistune is not available and i can't afford a link) I am getting the daughterboard plus chip in the ecu for around $800 this time.

Yep I have had excessive amounts of particle board and timber on my roof - at least 300kg...makes it sway a bit on the corners!

It can't be done. Nistune have it on their list but I would think it is at least a year away. Guys run RB25 engines in their cefiros etc with an R32 ecu which can be Nistuned but I don't think that's a solution for the Stagea. Dr Drift and Toshi can put a daughterboard and tunable chip in the Stagea ecu and a guy in Auckland here is going to do the same for me. This approximates to the Nistune solution but I think that each of these guys will not share their software so you have to go back to them for another tune. This would be OK if you are not planning on more and more upgrades in which case the Vipec/Link option is the way to go. If money is a problem then at least an Apexi SAFC and preferably also an Apexi SITC will enable you to tune the engine and overcome the R&R problems.Sorry - just saw that your Stagea engine is an A31 (sorry, I don't know what that is) but you possibly be able to go the R32 ecu route (you will lose the adjustable inlet cam unless you make seperate provision for it or just fix it in the setting that you prefer).

Here are two for sale. In my opinion price is no indicator of quality so i would be inclined to bid on the cheaper one. I have asked the question if he would ship to Australia and you will see the reply when he answers:http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...n-205038291.htm or the more expensive: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...n-205638159.htm sorry, i didn't see your ad as i gave away my auto box for $0 last week.

Very interesting. The makers actually suggest that you should mount them in the engine bay directly between the turbo and the inlet - thus cutting out quite a bit of piping. Then you have to mount the radiator somewhere so I guess you could mount it where the SMIC used to be.However thus is not a "stealthy" solution so i guess you could mount it in place of the smic and put the radiator in the opposite guard (after all there is just a water line running between the units). With the price of the US$ compared to the NZ$ this would not necessarily be a cheap solution (intercooler plus pump plus radiator). Maybe you can use a supercheap trans cooler as the radiator. I will be interested to see if you get a good result - it looks as though it has the potential to acheive good cooling. In the meantime I will have a look and see if this stuff is available here.

Yes 1. high flow air filter panel is cheap and easy. 2. Exhaust is expensive but a necessary next step. 3. Don't bother with the Front Mount - S2 stock intercooler will be fine up to 200AWKW or so. 4. By the time you have done the exhaust you will already have more boost and you can crank it up to about 12psi for free but by this point to get the economy and or power you will need some means of tuning the motor - there is none (none, nothing) at present so you need ideally a Vipec/Link afterrmarket computer (at least $2000+ fitted and tuned) or an SAFC and SITC (second hand, $1000 fitted and dyno'd)

I use my Stagea to go to work every day. I use it for towing a trailer full of rubbish to the tip and for carting building materials and once a month or so I thrash it around a race track. Some people have a daily driver and a performance car but i can't afford two and the Stagea does me fine. It won't win races against lightweight racing saloons but you can still have a ton of fun on a track or on those quiet, winding back country roads.

Actually forget that idea. i don't think you'll get one second hand. I was trying to remove the RH one (for practice ) and after 15min of carefull work it shattered into thousands of pieces. As you will find out when you try to remove the remains of yours it is held in with a mixture of adhesives and clips and would be impossible to remove in one piece - maybe a professional could, but i doubt it - so looks like a new one from nissan!

Have you located one or priced a new one? If you are getting desperate let me know what price you have been quoted and i will see if i can ship mine chaeper from Auckland.

Yep that's exactly what I'm after (although it would end up costing over $1200 NZ by the time I get it here)! However it would be cost efective for an Aussie because there is no installation expense - it will more or less slot straight in.I believe the ARC item is bigger than the Trust (which is bigger than the R34GTT/neo one) so should be good for around 220AWKW. In other words it would be good for some one who doesn't want a front mount showing (for aesthetic or compliance reasons) but plans on more power.

You don't say what consumption figures you were doing. When modified mine ranged from 20L per 100km to 11L per 100km.Your plans are sound - full 3in system from turbo back (I have a split dump), smash out the guts of the cat (or buy a high flow if you are rich) and get a high flow filter for the standard airbox (Pipercross PP1128MX same as Impreza). A Vipec or Link computer would be ideal but cheaper would be an Apexi SAFC and SITC which would make your engine tunable ( stock they run very rich at high revs). With these mods your engine will be heaps more efficient which means you can go faster OR use less fuel if you cruise with a light throttle opening (but not both!!)

No its partly cost but also I want my car to look as stock as so no intercooler visible from the outside or when you lift the bonnet. I am only planning on 200-220AWKW - nearly got there with my last car and is my aim for my new car ( I have kept the GCG turbo, adjustable cam gear. exhaust etc but my Trust sidemount was destroyed in the crash). Of course i will need a front mount when I get the RB32 but that is years away given my current financial position!Thanks for the suggestion anyway.

I sold my n/a Stagea to buy an RS4T and having written that off have just bought another RS4T. The car suits me - the convenience of a wagon and good performance (working on better and better) - has good looks without looking like a boy racer (I'm too old for that and don't want the attention of the cops) and in NZ parts (both stock and performance) are easy to come by. If my financial position improves dramatically I would get a RIPS RB30 or RB32 engine and the upgraded running gear put in it. I do plan to keep it indefinitely but plan to also to find a small car to convert to an electric car (not a hybrid) when battery technology improves in a few years for a low cost (low emission) shopping car etc.

Nice well equipped car. Is the Haltech user adjustable and if so do you need a lap top or some kind of hand controller?

I myself am going the standard ecu (OV300) with a daughterboard installed and then a tunable chip. Toshi (in Australia but on the SAU forum) does this in Australia but i believe he sources his daughterboards from Japan so maybe he can point you to a tuner in Japan who can do it for you. He will also write a chip for your car based on your description of its modifications (if any) but I am not a great fan of these approximations although they do work for some people and you will have to get another chip if you change the specifications, A better alternative (if you want to spend the money...I haven't got it) is to watch this forum where there is a Stagea being fitted with a Link (NZ version) or Vipec (AU version) computer. It is alleged that this will be fully OK with the auto and as the Link/Vipec has a lot more computing power and options (and is being currently developed and supported) than the Apexi Power FC I am hopefull it will perform. Good luck!

Maltech do a range of steel braided brake lines off the shelf for Stagea. The rears fitted OK but the fronts were a bit short so had to modify the brackets a bit. It would be good if someone who had their car of the road for work could send them their brake lines as a pattern to get a better fit.

So far nistune do not make a chip for the S1 Stagea to my knowledge. A number of people in Australia and some one here in Auckland NZ fit a daughterboard and then a tunable chip (I am getting one fitted to my new S1 Stagea) but so far I believe none of them are prepared to share their software so that you can tune it yourself - you have to get them to do it (cost to me NZ$800 fit and tune).Regarding ecus. The most common is the oldest S1 which is OV300. There were later versions OV301 and then OV310. There are small differences (I don't know what they are but they are important to people trying to fit PFC computers). Despite these differences they and the looms all look the same although I imagine the programming would differ from R34 skyline to S1 stageas although the pinouts are near identical. I have Japanese workshop manuals for R34 Skyline and C34 Stagea. I can't read Japanese but i can see small differences between the Skyline (from the Manual) and the Stagea. Strangely the Stagea Manual has a discrepancy between the pinout chart on ppB54, B55 and the wiring diagram on pB52 as regards the numbering of the injector drive signals. However the R34 Skyline ECU pinouts downloaded from the DIY / How to/FYI section in the stickies above accords almost exactly with my Japanese Manual and all the important wires are correct enabling me to install my SITC, SAFC, Jaycar EIBC, Greddy speed cut contoller, and Inovate LM2 so for most tasks it is adequate. Perhaps for installing a new computer it has to be 100% but then my Stagea manual is not 100% either. Perhaps if you can get precisely the correct manual for the OV300 ecu we will get 100% accuracy but then unless such a manual differentiates between the OV300 and the later 301 and 310 then maybe more manuals will be needed - or maybe there are technical bulletins with the differences. Otherwise I would suggest the pinout on our website is the closest so far with correct labelling of power supplies, earths, CAS, AFM, O2 sensor etc and it would be a matter of testing the circuits one by one to confirm the unknowns!