Run-It-Hard

All good, I've figured out what I can do. I'll post up a conversion process when I get to it.

Got a BNF27Z – 22mm front adjustable sway bar, suits WGNC34 Stageas (4WD) Been on my car for 6 months or so, made a big difference compared to stock, but I still have a bit of body roll when drifting, so I want to go up in size. I also have a BNR11XXZ – 24mm rear adjustable sway bar that will suit both RWD and AWD Stageas, as it's designed to suit the automatic cradle (I have a S14 unit in mine ... same as manual). these would come with the endlinks to make them work too. Happy to swap the front for a 24mm sway bar if anyone wanted to go down in size. Front sway bar $200 Rear sway bar $220 Both for $400. Located in Liverpool region, NSW Happy to ship at buyers expense. More info on here http://run-it-hard.com/2012/09/reducing-the-roll/ Cheers, Adam.

bump!

bump!

Right now I'm using their rear camber arms and toe arms. They don't make any 4WD castor arms so I'm using some JJR/Generic style. I've left my traction arms stock and boxed the bottom section up, as I actually snapped an aftermarket arm.

MY SECOND YEAR OF OWNERSHIP - VIEW ON THE BLOG One day and two years ago, I was in Camperdown (somewhere in Vic) picking up a completely original Nissan Stagea RS4 DAYZ edition. So I thought it would be good to go over the past two years of ownership, all the ups, downs, achievements and heart breaks. A group of four (including myself) headed to the Sydney domestic airport at the crack of dawn. We flew to Melbourne, hired a car and drove for 2 hours to get this Stagea. At the time, it was the exact model I wanted, colour and had the elusive DAYZ bodykit. It was reasonably priced and had low kilometers too. It was a very clean example compared to others I had seen previously. March 2011 At this point I had only owned the car for 6 days, there was a skid pan event coming up and Yuan, among with a few other mates were suggesting I should take the boat for an afternoon sailing session. I ended up being convinced a few hours before the event so straight after work I headed to Dahtone Racing and Anthony pulled out the front shaft for me … it has been out ever since. I was keen to see what it’s got and it blew my expectations away, I was very impressed with it. May 2011 This was probably the peak of the first build, a lot of parts I had ordered from Japan had arrived and made their way on the car. I had my old Weds Borphes (which made their way to Julie’s S14) on at the time too. Most mods were mainly cosmetic and suspension. June 2011 This is the month where everything was tipped on its head. I had just been informed that I was going to lose my licence for 6 months, for speeding in Victoria when I picked up the Stagea. I was pretty shitty to say the least but life goes on. Anyway at one point I took this as a positive, as I had my manual conversion parts lying around, along with aftermarket ECU and all sorts of stuff … waiting to go onto the car. But somewhere along the line I decided that I was bored with the car, and I should get rid of it seeing that I can’t drive for 6 months. It was also the first time I drifted it in the dry, again exceeding my expectations … the Stagea loves the skids. August 2011 At this point the Stagea was stripped back to stock and I even put it up for sale. Somewhere along the line I bought that bucket of shit R33 skyline and well the Stagea was neglected. November 2011 The first Raceline Wakefield matsuri, the Skyline was destined to drift at this event but I blew my first engine at Wakefield two weeks prior. I couldn’t sell my spot so I took the Stagea out on the track to try my luck. Did it skid … yeah, nah. July – September 2012 July was the month the Stagea got a new lease on life, after the brand new rebuilt engine had failed in the Skyline, I decided enough was enough, so I cut my losses and parted it out. I did keep some goodies off it for the Stagea though. Parting out the Skyline ment I could go on a shopping spree, so I did and I bought a stack of parts from Japan that landed around September. October 2012 The Stagea had made its way to Dahtone Racing, ready to under-go an extensive list of modifications. Everything I had originally planned and more. Manual conversion, bigger turbo, exhaust, intercooler the lot. We happened to have a lot of set backs during this period and ultimately it cost me missing out on two events I had planned to go to since the new rebuild. December 2012 December was a good month, I finally got out to the track in my own car. Although there were many flaws with the setup I still managed to have some fun in it. January 2013 This month was pretty shitty, I had a brake caliper fall off, a turbo oil drain hose perish, a truck side swipped the passenger side and I got pulled over and fined for running an amber light. definitely wasn’t a good start to the year. February 2013 I did some more drift days and sorted out some bugs, I was starting to get comfortable with the car and more confident. March 2013 Here we are, right now I have a broken Stagea … kinda. The diff blew at the last South circuit practice night and rego runs out this month. So the Stagea is getting a rest and will be revamped slightly. There are a few things I want to do that have been bugging me for a while now. So within two years, my Stagea has gone through a lot of changes. Although all the shit that has happened with it, it’s still been the best car I’ve ever owned. I hope to have it in my possession for many years to come.

MY SECOND YEAR OF OWNERSHIP - VIEW ON THE BLOG One day and two years ago, I was in Camperdown (somewhere in Vic) picking up a completely original Nissan Stagea RS4 DAYZ edition. So I thought it would be good to go over the past two years of ownership, all the ups, downs, achievements and heart breaks. A group of four (including myself) headed to the Sydney domestic airport at the crack of dawn. We flew to Melbourne, hired a car and drove for 2 hours to get this Stagea. At the time, it was the exact model I wanted, colour and had the elusive DAYZ bodykit. It was reasonably priced and had low kilometers too. It was a very clean example compared to others I had seen previously. March 2011 At this point I had only owned the car for 6 days, there was a skid pan event coming up and Yuan, among with a few other mates were suggesting I should take the boat for an afternoon sailing session. I ended up being convinced a few hours before the event so straight after work I headed to Dahtone Racing and Anthony pulled out the front shaft for me … it has been out ever since. I was keen to see what it’s got and it blew my expectations away, I was very impressed with it. May 2011 This was probably the peak of the first build, a lot of parts I had ordered from Japan had arrived and made their way on the car. I had my old Weds Borphes (which made their way to Julie’s S14) on at the time too. Most mods were mainly cosmetic and suspension. June 2011 This is the month where everything was tipped on its head. I had just been informed that I was going to lose my licence for 6 months, for speeding in Victoria when I picked up the Stagea. I was pretty shitty to say the least but life goes on. Anyway at one point I took this as a positive, as I had my manual conversion parts lying around, along with aftermarket ECU and all sorts of stuff … waiting to go onto the car. But somewhere along the line I decided that I was bored with the car, and I should get rid of it seeing that I can’t drive for 6 months. It was also the first time I drifted it in the dry, again exceeding my expectations … the Stagea loves the skids. August 2011 At this point the Stagea was stripped back to stock and I even put it up for sale. Somewhere along the line I bought that bucket of shit R33 skyline and well the Stagea was neglected. November 2011 The first Raceline Wakefield matsuri, the Skyline was destined to drift at this event but I blew my first engine at Wakefield two weeks prior. I couldn’t sell my spot so I took the Stagea out on the track to try my luck. Did it skid … yeah, nah. July – September 2012 July was the month the Stagea got a new lease on life, after the brand new rebuilt engine had failed in the Skyline, I decided enough was enough, so I cut my losses and parted it out. I did keep some goodies off it for the Stagea though. Parting out the Skyline ment I could go on a shopping spree, so I did and I bought a stack of parts from Japan that landed around September. October 2012 The Stagea had made its way to Dahtone Racing, ready to under-go an extensive list of modifications. Everything I had originally planned and more. Manual conversion, bigger turbo, exhaust, intercooler the lot. We happened to have a lot of set backs during this period and ultimately it cost me missing out on two events I had planned to go to since the new rebuild. December 2012 December was a good month, I finally got out to the track in my own car. Although there were many flaws with the setup I still managed to have some fun in it. January 2013 This month was pretty shitty, I had a brake caliper fall off, a turbo oil drain hose perish, a truck side swipped the passenger side and I got pulled over and fined for running an amber light. definitely wasn’t a good start to the year. February 2013 I did some more drift days and sorted out some bugs, I was starting to get comfortable with the car and more confident. March 2013 Here we are, right now I have a broken Stagea … kinda. The diff blew at the last South circuit practice night and rego runs out this month. So the Stagea is getting a rest and will be revamped slightly. There are a few things I want to do that have been bugging me for a while now. So within two years, my Stagea has gone through a lot of changes. Although all the shit that has happened with it, it’s still been the best car I’ve ever owned. I hope to have it in my possession for many years to come.

Photo dump: South circuit practice night - View on the blog Pictures from the last south circuit are up! quite a few photographers were out on the night and got some snaps of the Skyline and Stagea. Thanks to Kinetic Imagery, MPN Digital and James H for the snaps!

Photo dump: South circuit practice night - View on the blog Pictures from the last south circuit are up! quite a few photographers were out on the night and got some snaps of the Skyline and Stagea. Thanks to Kinetic Imagery, MPN Digital and James H for the snaps!

I've come up with another idea, which is probably safer. Which is to somehow mount the knuckle above the arm rather than below. Though that might pose a change in geometery and how the upright works etc. probably be a mission and hit the arm etc.

So I've gotten to the point where I need to do something about the front suspension on my Stagea. I'm drifting it, and its a 4WD model (run in 2WD) I went for this model as it was the shape I prefered (Series 1) and it seems finding a RWD model isn't easy, we only happened to get them in the S2 model only too due to only being eligible to import the turbo models. (FYI RWD Stagea shares the Laurel/S15 platform, so it runs mcpherson strut ... oh how I wish I liked the S2 front when I bought my Stag). Anyway! I have a few problems, they are: Driveshafts need to be in place to keep bearings in knuckles No aftermarket support for suspension arms (knuckles, tie rods, ends etc) and need to modify Keeps bending tie rods (stock stagea only runs a 8mm thick tie rod, S14 runs 12mm) No lock gain to be had and most importatnly, the upper control arm and arm between the UCA and knuckle hits the chassis. I've been pondering for a week or so now whether to go Mcpherson or RWD (GTS) double wishbone setup. At the moment Mcpherson just seems way too hard to do without pulling out the engine and modding the engine bay (strut towers etc) to do it properly. My only hope is to convert to the RWD double wishbone setup found in the R33/R34 GTS series. Benifets of the conversion: Saves weight, removes the drive shafts more aftermarket support for arms can run a moddified knuckle for more lock But that still leaves me with the arms hitting the chassis. So after this whole essay about what I've been thinking about, I'm wondering if its possible/safe to cut and shut (shortern) the arm between the upper control arm and the knuckle. From what I can work out in my head the shorter the arm the move clearance the suspension would have, compared to a car at the same height with a longer arm. I haven't seen and can't find any aftermarket upright as I'd assume no one has ever needed to mod/change one before. Then theres the whole problem of the 4WD cradle, using cast LCAs and all that junk. But I've figured out how to combat most of that in my head, I just need to figure out if its safe to modify the upright. I presume it takes quite a bit of load as apposed to a knuckle or what not? To anyone that says "should buy a RWD model instead" it's not worth doing that now, I've spent way too much coin, effort and time to get my Stagea where it is. Although if I ever stack it, I'll deffinately get a RWD chassis next. I'm all ears guys, I know there are some extremely knowledgable people on here and would love to here some advice, opions etc.

quick pic of the pipework going into the guard. Cooler will be off sometime this week.

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND - VIEW ON THE BLOG Alrighty with the ADRC South circuit practice night done and dusted it’s time to put the Stagea to rest for a month or so, why? well rego is about to lapse and I don’t happen to have the ludicrous amount that the RMS/Insurance company (for greenslip) want just sitting around. I also happened to blow my diff towards the end of the night. So regardless the car wouldn’t be moving for a while haha. Aleks from All Stars approached me last week, he asked to do a photo shoot on the shaggin’ wagon. As usual I was down for whatever. So that happened today with Dahtone Racing being the back-drop (thanks Anth for opening the shop!). While the car was looking all pretty I took some photos too, it could be the last time the car will be wearing the SSR Viennas. Oh and I lowered it too. This is the height I want but there’s some work needed to be done so I can drive it properly. The rear inner wheel well needs to be cut and extended so there’s from the rear wheels to travel. As for the front, well I’m thinking of converting to a McPherson strut setup. As it sits right now the double wishbone setup (more importantly the A arm and Upper control arm) rests around 10mm from the chassis, so imagine what happens on every small bump in the road. If I went McPherson (think S chassis) I would reduce a lot of weight on the front end from the factory cast items, driveshafts and control arms. I would also be able to run more lock, a lot more. I’ve had a look under the car and I think it’s do-able with the 4WD subframe. I’ll need to mod the RWD LCA to suit the ball joint the 4WD LCA mounts to off the subframe, I could get top hats and bottom mount for my current Teins, and the castor rod looks like it’ll line up (or be very close to it). My only problem at the moment is the sway bar and how to mount it. As for the diff, I’m going to swap it out for a conventional R200 RWD setup. On the Stagea there is the ATTESA pump that mounts above the diff. Seeing that I have no desire to ever run the car in 4WD again, it can go to the scrapper. Depending what I can find I may go for the 5 bolt drive shafts too. The subframe will be coming out yet again ( I think this is the third or fourth time now) and I’ll be getting it braced using GKtech’s new reinforcement kit. I’m also swapping out my intercooler for a larger HKS unit as its limiting the turbo and engines potential. Theres many other things I have on my mind that I might or might not do, time will tell I guess. The goal is to have it back up and running by April for a full day of thrashing at South circuit.

TO INFINITY AND BEYOND - VIEW ON THE BLOG Alrighty with the ADRC South circuit practice night done and dusted it’s time to put the Stagea to rest for a month or so, why? well rego is about to lapse and I don’t happen to have the ludicrous amount that the RMS/Insurance company (for greenslip) want just sitting around. I also happened to blow my diff towards the end of the night. So regardless the car wouldn’t be moving for a while haha. Aleks from All Stars approached me last week, he asked to do a photo shoot on the shaggin’ wagon. As usual I was down for whatever. So that happened today with Dahtone Racing being the back-drop (thanks Anth for opening the shop!). While the car was looking all pretty I took some photos too, it could be the last time the car will be wearing the SSR Viennas. Oh and I lowered it too. This is the height I want but there’s some work needed to be done so I can drive it properly. The rear inner wheel well needs to be cut and extended so there’s from the rear wheels to travel. As for the front, well I’m thinking of converting to a McPherson strut setup. As it sits right now the double wishbone setup (more importantly the A arm and Upper control arm) rests around 10mm from the chassis, so imagine what happens on every small bump in the road. If I went McPherson (think S chassis) I would reduce a lot of weight on the front end from the factory cast items, driveshafts and control arms. I would also be able to run more lock, a lot more. I’ve had a look under the car and I think it’s do-able with the 4WD subframe. I’ll need to mod the RWD LCA to suit the ball joint the 4WD LCA mounts to off the subframe, I could get top hats and bottom mount for my current Teins, and the castor rod looks like it’ll line up (or be very close to it). My only problem at the moment is the sway bar and how to mount it. As for the diff, I’m going to swap it out for a conventional R200 RWD setup. On the Stagea there is the ATTESA pump that mounts above the diff. Seeing that I have no desire to ever run the car in 4WD again, it can go to the scrapper. Depending what I can find I may go for the 5 bolt drive shafts too. The subframe will be coming out yet again ( I think this is the third or fourth time now) and I’ll be getting it braced using GKtech’s new reinforcement kit. I’m also swapping out my intercooler for a larger HKS unit as its limiting the turbo and engines potential. Theres many other things I have on my mind that I might or might not do, time will tell I guess. The goal is to have it back up and running by April for a full day of thrashing at South circuit.

for the front mate.

If you were using the Standard cross over piping I don't see why it wouldn't fit. My kit bolts up to the piping that goes through the guard. Like other return flow kits on the market.

Got a set of camber arms that I'm swapping out for thinner items (I want to go super low), so these are of no use to me. Great quality and very beefy. Probably been in the car for 6 months max After $200 ono Will post at buyers expense Located in Liverpool region Adam.

I'm swapping out my cooler kit for a larger unit. This setup would be perfect for a RB20 or RB25 with upto the 220-230kw mark. The idea of this kit was to use the factory piping and stuff all cutting the car up. So it looks factory. It conisists of: 500 x 200 x 90mm (core size) Return flow intercoler custom pipe work to match stock piping in the guard T bolt clamps Silicone joiners from cooler to piping The cooler cost me $220 last year, piping/clamps/silicone cost around $250. I'm after $350 ono for the kit. It's near new, its black so its uber stealth and it you wouldn't even know its there. The reo will barely need to be mangled too (just a slight cut on the bottom section). I'll try get some better pics this weekend of it all. Located in Liverpool region, will ship at buyers expense. Adam.

anyone?

Video – SMP drift practice 27/02/13 - VIEW ON THE BLOG The ARDC held a drift practice night on the 27th of February, on the new SMP South circuit. With a cheap entry fee and close to home venue, Benny and I were keen as mustard to get out there and see what the fuss is all about. We only had 3 or so hours of track time, but it was enough to get a feel for the track. It’s short and sweet and I dig it a lot, I just hope they let us drift a few more corners. Time will tell I guess. Enjoy the vid!

Video – SMP drift practice 27/02/13 - VIEW ON THE BLOG The ARDC held a drift practice night on the 27th of February, on the new SMP South circuit. With a cheap entry fee and close to home venue, Benny and I were keen as mustard to get out there and see what the fuss is all about. We only had 3 or so hours of track time, but it was enough to get a feel for the track. It’s short and sweet and I dig it a lot, I just hope they let us drift a few more corners. Time will tell I guess. Enjoy the vid!

Time for my wheels to go to a new home! SSR Vienna 18x9.5 +5 18x10.5 -7 4/5x114.3 Good condition some gutter rash on a front wheel lots of dish! Low disk all round, front wheels require a 15mm spacer on brakes like R32 GTR/R33 GTS-T. tyres: 215/40R18 Firenza ST08 (f) (need replacing) 225/40R18 Rotalla F106 ® (practically brand new) Price: $2000 FIRM! They cost me more to get in from Japan. Located in Liverpool region, NSW. Will ship at buyers expence. Can SMS me on zero41zero-six5one-nine8nine Cheers, Adam.

It's crossed my mind (for shits and giggles), I think it'll be a little wierd using a plastic cock as a shifter though lol. Ignore their shape for a second, I prefer the feeling of the throw when shifting with a longer/extended gear knob add one with flowers or some other quirky shit and boom I'm JDMASf**kYO!!!! lol

Suichuuka – flower gear knobs - view on the blog One thing that I’ve been meaning to buy the Stagea was a fresh gear knob, the old blue bubble shifter from the Skyline just didn’t cut it anymore. There’s nothing blue on the Stagea, it looked so out-of-place so it had to go. But it had to be replaced with something even quirkier. For years now, I’ve always wanted a ‘Suichuuka’ … a flower gear knob. After some half-assed searches for one the trail went cold. This happened multiple times, they definitely aren’t easy to find if you don’t know where to look. It was until I went to the gong to catch up with the boys from Cursed Sundays that my search had re-commenced. Luke is rocking one on his widebody S13. It’s the first one I’ve seen in person and I knew that it was time to find myself one. The following days, I spent some time on the translator, trying my luck in Yahoo for something cool. I found lots of odds and ends that’s for sure, but not a Suichuuka (check out this post on Nori Yaro about the history behind them). The trial had started to get cold again, but then I came across a company called Seiko that produces the very gear knob I was after! Julie was in the same boat as me, she saw Luke’s Suichuuka and wanted one pronto! Heck she was getting into her Asain mode, trying to haggle him to sell it lol. Seiko produce these gear knobs in two different lengths (as I’m sure you’ve worked out by now). The short version is roughly 150mm long. The long version is roughly 200mm long. It’s also quite a bit thicker than the short version. They have 2 different threads built-in too which is cool. Unlike the bubble shifters where you need to use that chatty thread adaptor that tends to snap. So each Seiko flower shift knob has M10x1.25 and M12x1.25 built into it. I’m so glad I finally got my hands on a flower shift knob. If you’ve always wanted one yourself, feel free to hit me up!

Suichuuka – flower gear knobs - view on the blog One thing that I’ve been meaning to buy the Stagea was a fresh gear knob, the old blue bubble shifter from the Skyline just didn’t cut it anymore. There’s nothing blue on the Stagea, it looked so out-of-place so it had to go. But it had to be replaced with something even quirkier. For years now, I’ve always wanted a ‘Suichuuka’ … a flower gear knob. After some half-assed searches for one the trail went cold. This happened multiple times, they definitely aren’t easy to find if you don’t know where to look. It was until I went to the gong to catch up with the boys from Cursed Sundays that my search had re-commenced. Luke is rocking one on his widebody S13. It’s the first one I’ve seen in person and I knew that it was time to find myself one. The following days, I spent some time on the translator, trying my luck in Yahoo for something cool. I found lots of odds and ends that’s for sure, but not a Suichuuka (check out this post on Nori Yaro about the history behind them). The trial had started to get cold again, but then I came across a company called Seiko that produces the very gear knob I was after! Julie was in the same boat as me, she saw Luke’s Suichuuka and wanted one pronto! Heck she was getting into her Asain mode, trying to haggle him to sell it lol. Seiko produce these gear knobs in two different lengths (as I’m sure you’ve worked out by now). The short version is roughly 150mm long. The long version is roughly 200mm long. It’s also quite a bit thicker than the short version. They have 2 different threads built-in too which is cool. Unlike the bubble shifters where you need to use that chatty thread adaptor that tends to snap. So each Seiko flower shift knob has M10x1.25 and M12x1.25 built into it. I’m so glad I finally got my hands on a flower shift knob. If you’ve always wanted one yourself, feel free to hit me up!