Spong

My friend who's arranged cars for me is a long term Kiwi friend, who ended up married to a Japanese lady. He's lived in Japan many years buying cars and machinery for export, so I'm lucky in that it was all at cost. He looked for a long time to find a newer M35 at a reasonable price, as they catch really high prices for very good examples. The really best grade 4.5 exterior/ A grade interior cars with say 20,000 km were selling well over 1 million yen, even if they were 2002 models. I've been to the auctions in Japan (USS and Oyama) on a couple of trips over there, and it's a sight to behold for sure. Ten years ago, NZ pretty much had the scene to themselves, but since then, every man and their dog are up there buying cars so us poor kiwis with our weak dollar have to compete for those cars now. My friend emailed many auction sheets and photos and bidded on my behalf, but the best ones went for such high prices, they'd never get to NZ economically. That's why you'd probably never see a $28,000 Stagea in a yard here. There maybe a market for say an exceptional M35 Axis, but most Kiwis just want, and expect a cheap car from Japan. Once my car was bought, I transfered the FOB cost to my friend, and he delivered it to Kiwi car carriers in Yokohama. I paid the shipping agent after it arrived. Once it arrrived, it got transported to Maidstone Motors in Grey Lynn, and they arranged the compliance. Compliance (basically a big WOF) costs $300+ GST and at that point, if anything needs doing like brakes, tyres, or corrosion, the costs mount up, especially if it has to get an engineers report (another $300). M35 Stageas apparently are vulnerable to corrosion around the sub-frame at the back, and many get picked up for the slightest corrosion. They then have to be sandblasted, treated, and re-undersealed under supervision. Tyres, brake rotors and pads may need replacing also. They've got really tough, and you can't be sure what they'll pick you up on, so private imports can be risky. I was picked on, and ended up with around $1400 extra costs I wasn't counting on. Then there's on-road costs. When all is done, I think I did OK, but in my case the savings weren't spectacular. Competition and the slow market has meant that there's not a lot of money being made importing cars now. In future, I may even buy a car that's already here. There's a lot of newly imported cars going through Turners lately, and a few M35's and V35's too, but very few buyers. I've watched about five online auctions at www.turners.co.nz in the last week or so, and only about 4-10 cars out of 50 have been selling at auction, and those that have sold seem so cheap. I know what you mean about the excitement of waiting for it to arrive. It's been 7 years since I imported my previous car, but I was full of anticipation, and kept looking at the photos I had. My friend even gave me a Video Skype tour of it before he sent it. I knew which ship it was on, and when it arrived in the country, I checked out the wharf it had been unloaded to, and saw it through the wire fence (but couldn't get closer). Unfortunately, due to the hold up at compliance, it was 2x more weeks before I actually got to collect it. That sure was painful. I'm sure you'll really love your V35. I imagine it can only be better to drive than my M35, and I think once you've experienced that smooth torquey Nissan VQ motor, your little 2L Mazda will be quickly forgotten.

That looks a really nice Atenza, and very low k's at that. Good luck with that. The 430,000km Stagea is still there on Trademe, Listing no: 289483946, but the guy has dropped his expectations to $3500 ono.

We sold our old '97 Stag 25x with 183,000km within 6 days of listing it on Trademe. It looked like a million bucks when we'd cleaned it up, and we were realistic in our expectations, unlike some others there. One guy had one with 430,000km and wanted $6k, which is crazy for NZ. I'm sure you're Mazda 6 will be easy to sell. They must be about the most popular used car in NZ, and we considered an Atenza Sportwagon before deciding on a newer M35 Stag, which is what we replaced the S1 Stag with. Wife was very keen on the Mazda though... All looks over substance, and I'm talking about the car now! BTW, what's the listing no: for your Mazda 6? The online realtime auctions at www.turners.co.nz are very interesting.

Thanks Mike. We're pleased it sold quickly too, especially when prices at auction have been so incredibly low lately. The S1 gave us 10 memorable years, and the new owner has named it "Zoe". Sadly it will live most of it's life in a shed at Sandspit, on the mainland, as the owner lives on Kawau Island where there're no roads! I saw an immaculate 2000 Diamante 3.5L sold for $3200, and several other bargains at Turners Online this evening, so I think we did well by comparison. I now get my garage space back.

I've imported my own cars privately via a friend in the business in Japan, so have taken all risks myself. So far from Japan over several years, I've brought in a 1982 Bluebird SSS Turbo. 1985 Bluebird wagon, 1997 Stagea (sold today), 1998 Cefiro, and 2006 Stagea RX250 FOUR. None have given me any grief, apart from the auto in the 1985 BB wagon after I'd owned it for many years. Personally, I would avoid mechanical warranties in NZ. I believe that their terms are very strict in that you then have to committ to strict service intervals, in some cases with the company of their choice, and when something does go wrong, some companies do their best to wriggle out of their responsibilities. Like extended warranties on consumer electronics, you maybe better to pass them by. My 0.2c worth. However, if you're nervous or want peace of mind, by all means give them your money.

My Stag is an RX250 FOUR S2 VQ25Di (non-turbo). EDL do 2x grades of band expander these days. I'm not sure if their better 2000 model has a separate converter for each aerial, (their 1000 model doesn't) but traditionally, to get the best performance in marginal areas with lots of multipath, it pays to retain the factory dual aerial (diversity) system. That way the best aerial is selected, and regularly switched back and forth on the fly. I did all my original training in the radio/electronics field, and the tests I did a few years back gave far better results with two expanders, particularly in hilly areas. You can get away with a single, but EDL will know best of course. Band expanders aren't technically the best solution. A native 88-108MHz FM tuner will probably give the best result, but then you're likely going back to a single aerial.

Forgive me for my stupidity, but why is it advised to not disconnect the wiring harness and hoses from the throttle body? Better go off and try and find that post I suppose.

That's pretty much what my VQ25DD looked like a couple of weeks ago (at 85,000K) although things are running fine at the moment. I came to the same conclusion. A full disassembly and clean is in order with maybe followup treatment every 10,000K or so with the Subaru cleaner. What's this "throttle body cleaner" you used?

The V35/M35 Jap to English conversion you mention is covered in 2x long threads here in the V35 forum. It was done by a Russian crowd - www.xanavi.ru and it was co-ordinated by a SAU member "andy65b". He's arranged people throughout Australia and a couple of installers in NZ (Christchurch) and Shaun in Auckland (as you mention). The website is www.xanavi.com.au I've been in contact with Shaun, and the S2 conversion isn't ready yet, but your S1 has been done and Shaun should be able to convert yours. I'm 99% certain you'll need the original navigation DVD though, as the computer dosen't do anything much without it. Contact me as I maybe able to help there.

I do all the basic stuff like oil and filters myself, and use City Nissan, Takapuna for the more involved stuff, which thankfully over the years has been minimal. My experience has been that the service and spare parts staff there are nice people, that treat you with professionalism and respect, and are accommodating. Kim and Warrick have been there for years and are great to deal with.

That would be a hard job to answer in detail. I believe the FM (front midship) design from the front of the motor back to the cabin has a lot of common parts. I believe the suspension is similar, the exhaust is different, and the M35 may have a slightly longer wheelbase. Others here will know a lot more than me.

I also bought a set of V35 17" wheels in mint condition from The Mag Warehouse for NZ$320 as my M35 came with the same 16" ones with 65 profile tyres as yours. Hopefully I'll get a sale for the 16's, but I'll need to save up for some 215/55/17's first. The M35, and I'm assuming the V35, along with many import Nissans use a dual radio antenna system (diversity system, whereby the best aerial is chosen as conditions vary). To get the best result, it can pay to buy 2x band expanders and the necessary adapters to connect the dual aerial plug to the radio. Electronic Developments Ltd at www.edl.co.nz have been experts at building and supplying these for many years. The later S2 V35/M35 models seem to be much easier to remove the radio from. Mine was a doddle, and you don't need to remove the glovebox and panels over by the steering. Guides are there at G35driver.com

Yeah I bought some of that Subaru cleaner, but think I'll do a manual clean of the plenum first when I get a spare weekend. I was wondering if there's a step by step guide anywhere on the net? Do I remove the lower half of the plenum chamber also, and what lies beneath that? I'm guessing the inlet ports, and will they be clean? I guess there'll be the temptation to scrape away there, and fill the combustion chamber with evil black crap? From two tankfuls so far, our RX250 FOUR has varied between worst case 18.8mpg (lots of very short trips) and 29mpg (mixture of short and longer trips around town). I'm sure it will do a lot better on a long trip. BTW, when I use the computer to monitor fuel consumption, my Japanese lady friend chatters away almost endlessly. I've figured out how to quieten her down, but I may leave her active, and end up fluent in Japanese. Not sure what she's on about. I suspect she telling me to do a U turn to reach Osaka as the previous owner left a route in there. Unfortunately the English translation hasn't happened yet for my series 2.

I don't think it will fit. I made the mistake of buying a UK Nissan key/remote, and although it looks similar to ours, the internals are completely different. The buttons are bigger and nothing lines up. I suspect the G35 remote is somewhat similar to the one I bought. Good idea though, as a folding key would be great.

Unfortunately for the M35 key, the metal key shaft is moulded into one half of the plastic assembly. Unless you can get a spare blank with the plastic "half key" you'll need to break the old key out of the plastic assembly. In my case, I got a key cut from my original, onto a generic blank by a local locksmith with lots of modern car key experience. His keys fit beautifully. I then cut and ground the "handle" end of the key down to match the shape of the one I'd taken from the plastic assy. You can then araldite the two broken parts of the assy back together, with your new key inside. This is hidden away inside the assy. You'll need to drill a small hole in the new key for the screw, and then reassemble it together. The final result should be strong, and look and work just like a bought one. As long as you don't reassemble the 2x halves of the remote before the glue's properly set, you should be able to disassemble it in future for battery replacements.

Thanks for that really useful info. Can you can generally re-use the gasket between the top and bottom sections of the plenum? I'm guessing you'd need to remove the top section, then the lower section for a good clean? Can you then see the valve stems, and heaps more carbon, or does the drama end there? I'm thinking I may tackle this at 100,000km along with new plugs, and just use the Subaru magic juice until then, assuming things keep running smoothly for now. My car (just arrived in the country) has done 84,000km in 4 years, so could have been a lot of long trips. I've read a few overseas forums, and they suggest minimising the problem by using very good synthetic oil, high octane petrol and regular thrashing! It seems Di engines everywhere are suffering this black scourge.

I think you're lucky the dealer will even cover the Bose stacker. Most dealers in NZ seem to opt out of covering the audio systems in imports. There aren't that many good car audio repair people around in Auckland these days, but if you or they need a good one, I can recommend one if required. BTW, where did you get your Stag from? Ha ha I thought I recognised your avatar here at Trademe, in Lower Hutt: http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Motors/C...n-290205428.htm Maybe it's your car's long lost sister?

Yeah, please let me know how you get on. Is one can enough for a V6? Where do you insert it - a breather, or just before the throttle butterfly or somewhere else? I wonder if some of that dislodged carbon finds it's way into the oil? Some say you put 1/3 in the crankcase, 1/3 in the gas tank, and 1/3 into the manifold. So many questions. I'm glad you're doing it first

Hey Blade NZ, Look forward to hearing how you get on at Nissan Takapuna. I've generally used them for anything I won't tackle myself, and find them competent and fair. It's worth signing up at their website www.citynissan.co.nz in the service area, and they'll send you a 10% discount card for service and parts. The service manager there, Warwick Jarvis admitted they hadn't seen many M35 Stageas, and wasn't aware of carbon buildup in Di engines, and that surprised me. I remember when I took my '97 Stagea there back in 2000. They all crowded around it like a new toy.

Yeah, mines fresh off the ship also. I had to get new rotors and pads to pass compliance. They're getting really tough out there now. I'll look at transmission service soon. One thing our Aussie mates haven't had to deal with their VQ25DET motors but we will with our VQ25DD and VQ30DD direct injection motors, is the build up of carbon in the intake manifolds and possibly combustion chambers. A couple of mechanics have warned me of this, and another Kiwi, "chad bob" has written about this at length here: http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/Di...29#entry5263429 Looks like I'll get some Subaru upper cylinder cleaner before this becomes a problem.

A Nissan dealer should be able to help, but you'd better lube up and bend over first. You could try a wrecker. There's one on Trademe wrecking several M35's right now. My friend in Japan maybe able to get some more as he has connections with some wreckers there. Price was around NZ$50 approx, so a lot better than the $350+ I've heard through Nissan. Not all Nissan remotes use the same frequency or coding, so it pays to keep to the same model.

Hey neighbour, I'm in Mairangi Bay on the North Shore also. I've been in the electronics and IT business for many years so have an interest in doing something more useful with my screen also. NZ did pick a different digital TV system to most countries, but technically it's better and a few other countries are heading down that path. I think a suitable car option will be here eventually, but it could be a while.

I thought that was what that reservoir was for, and knew where to find it behind the right storage compartment. The strange thing is that my car is 4WD, but doesn't have a reservoir there at all. Could my 4WD system be different? The only thing I can think is that being a later 2006 model, maybe it's shifted to somewhere else? The left side compartment has the TV tuner behind it.

Like many here, I only received a single factory remote/key with my both my WGC34 and M35 Stagea, and my A32 Cefiro for that matter. I was fortunate in that I have a friend in Japan who was able to source cheap spare remotes for all 3x cars for me, the first was back in 2000. His Japanese wife translated the programming instructions, which differed to all the other Nissan programming I'd seen on the net. It seems the instructions I'd seen were for USA and UK cars. The pdf here is what worked for me, with all three JDM cars. This won't help if your car has an immobiliser, which none of mine did. As I understand it, if your car starts from a standard key, then you don't have an immobiliser built into your remote. I got a key cut, then cut it down to fit into the standard M35 remote in place of the original. Nissan_JDM_car_remote_programming.pdf

Greetings all. I've been a '97 WGC34 Stagea owner since 2000 (one of the first landed here in NZ) and it's been a great, well looked after car, and soon to be on the market. There sure are a lot more Stageas around on the streets over here these days. Our replacement, a 2006 M35 RX250 FOUR (normally aspirated) arrived a week ago. A very different car to the WGC34, and so far we just love it. Also have a 1998 A32 Cefiro (Maxima) with VQ25DE. Wonderful help and advice from all you guys here. Much appreciated.