Run-It-Hard

Bump for a cool set of wheels!

Have you ever looked at your Automatic Stagea and wondered why the rear wheels sit closer to the guard than the fronts? Well on the automatic versions the rear subframe is wider than the manual model Stagea. This can complicate things when trying to fit aftermarket wheels, and will force you to run spacers up front if you want to have similar fitment all round. There is a lot of information floating around on how wide the automatic subframe is compared to a manual version. So I was curious to know what it actually is. Above is the length of the Stagea rear subframe, and below is the new subframe length. The new subframe is 40mm shorter in total, which means it’s 20mm shorter each side. This evens out the track perfectly. Another thing that got me thinking was, what happens to the shock clearance when the shorter subframe has been installed? As you can see in the first image, shock clearance from the back of a OEM S14/R33 wheel (16×6.5 +40) is roughly 50mm. It’s safe to say that the shorter subframe has effected inner clearance in the same way, roughly 20mm has been lost from shock to rear wheel clearance. Although this was measured straight after the subframe swap, so I am unsure if there has been a change in camber. For those wondering what the limit on inner clearance is before your wheels make love to the shocks, I’d say 25-30mm is the lowest you could have. My old setup (18×10 +21) used to touch the shock on things like driveways. I then added a 5mm spacer and all was well. The subframe I used was out of an S14 Silvia, which is identical to the subframe found in a factory manual Stagea. If your Stagea has HICAS you could use an R33 Skyline rear subframe (or if you wanted to be clever, you could eliminate HICAS by using an S14 subframe, instead of running a lock bar). While I was at it, I made my subframe completely solid and installed some diff mounts I’ve had for a while (I did subframe risers while this subframe was in the Skyline). It would be a good idea to swap out the OEM bushes for something new if you do plan to do such a swap, how often do you pull apart a rear end of the car? Oh and if you’re worried about the half shafts or sway bar being too long to fit the shorter subframe, don’t be. All my OEM items fitted up fine. If the track difference on your Auto Stagea annoys you as much as it did me, this is the perfect way to rectify it. HOW TO: REDUCE REAR TRACK ON A NISSAN STAGEA

Anyone who has driven my Stagea lately, would know that the brakes were complete buckets of shit, the pedal feel was shocking, and you’d basically use all the pedal travel just to get the boat to stop. It needed to be rectified ASAP! Originally I was going to change the pads and do a fluid flush, but now that the Skyline is stripped bare I thought I’d salvage a few parts for the Stagea. The brake setup consists of R33 calipers, RDA slotted rotors all round, Bendix ultimate pads all round, HEL braided lines and Motul RBF660 brake fluid. Anthony was the man to do the install, while I tackled the rear subframe swap. I love working on my car at the Dahtone Racing workshop, but it’s daunting trying to find the right tool for the job haha. I didn’t realise how small the OEM brake setup was, check out the “modified” cover behind the rear brake setup. Anth had to chop and bend the crap out of it just so the new rotors would fit without interference. Some massaging was required up front too, but not as drastic as the rears. Upon bleeding the brakes, we heard a loud pressurised sound. Anth had a look over to the front passenger side and saw brake fluid sprayed everywhere … the braided line has burst! Reason for this was that some knob in the HEL factory didn’t crimp the fitting onto the hose! HEL have taken responsibility for it and are sending me out another line. Be carefull when you buy braided lines ladies and gents. Check that all the fittings have been crimped before install or you could be in a world of pain. So how does it stop? Freaking amazing! pedal feel is a little lousy but if you need to stop, it’ll pull the 2 tonne boat up with ease! DEPLOY THE ANCHORS

Once upon a time, I never used to like dinner-plate type wheels. But over the years they have grown on me quite a bit. I remember before purchasing my own Stagea, there was one in Japan owned by Grant Wilson. Grant is from the US and was living in Japan at the time, and well he’s one crazy cat when it comes to cars. Going through his build thread on SAU something triggered me to believe I’ve seen, or heard of this guy before. Turns out he is the same dude on CR.net that was building a rad NA Miata … small world! Anyway, his Stagea was pretty much the deal-breaker for me. It determined me to find a DAYZ edition, zenki model. For a short while, it used to run Work Euroline DH wheels. The chunky, flat wheel design paired with the boxiness of the Nissan Stagea (and a shitload of low) is a perfect combo in my eyes. So when Benny found a set on Yahoo, I knew they would be the new set of wheels for my own Stagea. The beauty of Eurolines is that they are fairly common wheel too, so hopefully I can find a few matching pairs as skidders. Specs are 18×9 and 18×10, both with positive 20 offsets. It’s not fantastic but it’ll be made right with some small spacers. Ugh, the wait begins. DINNER PLATES

With my recent decision on parting out the Skyline, I’ve not got a chance to do what was destined for the Stagea many moons ago. The original plan for the Stagea was to make it a cool street car that I could take to the track and flog. Thought out mods included manual conversion, ECU + tune and basic boltons … a set of wheels and a shit-ton of low. I was half way there, cosmetically the car was perfect and I had all the parts ready to go for the manual conversion. Until I suddenly lost interest in it. I started looking around, finding a more “suitable” drift car. That’s when I saw the blue demon child that I ended up purchasing. I ended up parting out the Stagea completely, and for a little while I even had it up for sale. Moving on just over a years time and we are back at the beginning, so to speak. This time my original plan will be fulfilled. Without wasting time, I started to hunt for parts. I found a set of Tein super flex wagon coilovers that look to be in great condition. I’m really hoping these will get me nice and low. Judging by the shock length and adjustablility I should be able to get the Stagea licking pavement. While doing a small order, I figured I’d order another NA grille, these look so much better than the RS4/honeycomb grille. I absolutely loved the clutch in my MX5 and that just happened to be a 409D made my Ogura (ORC). So I figured to get another ORC clutch for the Stagea, I picked this 409D at a very good price. It has plenty of meat too! That’s all that’s coming from Japan at the moment. Though I do have my eye on a set of wheels that would suit the wagon to a tee. My deadline of the November Matsuri still exists, and if anything it should be less hassle getting the Stagea there then the Skyline would have been. Bring it on! Rekindling old love

The Stagea’s new set of wheels have finally arrived in Australia. For those who don’t remember, I had ordered a set of Superstar – Leon Hardritt Waffe wheels off Yahoo auctions, via Jesse Streeter. I’ve been trying to sell these wheels to help fund my Skyline’s build, but after test fitting them on the Stagea I don’t think it’s going to happen. I did a lot of trial and error on wheel fitments back when the Stagea was modified for the first time. I ended up fitting some 18×9/18×10 – +20/+21 wheels (the Wed’s that are currently on Julie’s S14) to it, only to find the fronts were sunken and the rears had too much poke. This is caused by Nissan designing extended rear subframes on automatic Stageas, they are 40mm wider than the manual versions (20mm each side). It just throws it all out of whack, whereas the manual variants share similar track all round. Anyway, the conclusion I had come up with was that an 18×9 – 5 wheel would be perfect at the front, and something like a 18×10 – 4 would work on the rear, if you modify or change the rear subframe. However there is one last issue to worry about. The rear shock absorber setup doesn’t offer much clearance. So it’s almost impossible to fit anything wider then a 9.5 inch wheel, under a stock body Stagea. I learnt this the hard way and needed to have my guards flared to compensate. think that the Waffe’s will be a perfect fit with a little bit of work. The fronts will be exactly the same as my second setup (9 inch -5), the rears I’m going to try dial in some camber, if that fails I’ll swap out the subframe. I wasn’t 100% on these wheels when I first bought them, but after seeing them in person and on a car, I have really grown to them. With some low, stretch and camber the Stagea will look pretty epic. It won’t happen for a while though as my main priority is getting the Skyline up and running. Still we can only imagine how awesome it’ll sit. MATHEMATICS

A few weeks ago, I took a few photos of the Stagea at work. Ever since I bought the R33 I feel like I’ve neglected it. Seeing that the tyres were rubbish, I bought some new ones and got a wheel alignment. It’s one of those things I should have done earlier but I’ve been so caught up with the Skyline, that it slipped my mind. Last weekend I decided to give it a good wash too. For the first time in a year I finally clay-bared it. I’m glad I did, there were a lot of contaminants on the paint work! After I’ve pampered the Stagea a little it throws a curve ball at me. The cluster decides to shit itself! I noticed it after Benny, Julie and I went out for dinner. The water temp gauge was maxed, as was the fuel. RPM or Speedometer wasn’t responding properly either. Oh and apparently the car had suddenly travelled 999999kms. As we speak there is a replacement coming from Japan, lets just hope the Stagea will continue to be a work horse, and not become a troll car. THE WORK HORSE

This time last year, I was on the way home from Melbourne in le Stagea! So with a years ownership of a wagon I'm: determined to fit anything and everything on/in it drive it everywhere sleep in it f**k, could live out of it :lol:

Ok so seeing that I'm continuing with this build, I best update the thread! here goes.. For those wondering, I've still got the Stagea. It's been on the market for a couple of months now and I haven't had much interest in it unfortunately. In saying that maybe it is a good thing I haven't sold it yet. Since the whole loosing my licence thing, a lot of shit has gone down. I've moved out, and scored an awesome new job which means I can afford to keep both the Skyline and Stagea. I'll admit, the Stagea is the most practical car I've owned, it has saved my ass hundreds of times and well, I'd like to keep it that way. So, I'm thinking of just having it as the daily, lowered on some nice wheels … continue with my subframe swap and add a tow bar on the back for when "shit happens" to the Skyline. I miss how it used to look. That Stagea of mine

bump!

doesn't really bother me to be honest dude

nope, what are you trying to source?

Have you ever looked at your Automatic Stagea and wondered why the rear wheels sit closer to the guard than the fronts? Well on the automatic versions the rear subframe is wider than the manual model Stagea. This can complicate things when trying to fit aftermarket wheels, and will force you to run spacers up front if you want to have similar fitment all round. There is a lot of information floating around on how wide the automatic subframe is compared to a manual version. So I was curious to know what it actually is. Above is the length of the Stagea rear subframe, and below is the new subframe length. The new subframe is 40mm shorter in total, which means it’s 20mm shorter each side. This evens out the track perfectly. Another thing that got me thinking was, what happens to the shock clearance when the shorter subframe has been installed? As you can see in the first image, shock clearance from the back of a OEM S14/R33 wheel (16×6.5 +40) is roughly 50mm. It’s safe to say that the shorter subframe has effected inner clearance in the same way, roughly 20mm has been lost from shock to rear wheel clearance. Although this was measured straight after the subframe swap, so I am unsure if there has been a change in camber. For those wondering what the limit on inner clearance is before your wheels make love to the shocks, I’d say 25-30mm is the lowest you could have. My old setup (18×10 +21) used to touch the shock on things like driveways. I then added a 5mm spacer and all was well. The subframe I used was out of an S14 Silvia, which is identical to the subframe found in a factory manual Stagea. If your Stagea has HICAS you could use an R33 Skyline rear subframe (or if you wanted to be clever, you could eliminate HICAS by using an S14 subframe, instead of running a lock bar). While I was at it, I made my subframe completely solid and installed some diff mounts I’ve had for a while (I did subframe risers while this subframe was in the Skyline). It would be a good idea to swap out the OEM bushes for something new if you do plan to do such a swap, how often do you pull apart a rear end of the car? Oh and if you’re worried about the half shafts or sway bar being too long to fit the shorter subframe, don’t be. All my OEM items fitted up fine. If the track difference on your Auto Stagea annoys you as much as it did me, this is the perfect way to rectify it. HOW TO: REDUCE REAR TRACK ON A NISSAN STAGEA

I get most of my parts from Japan mate. Easy to source a new grille for you, shoot me a PM and we can go from there if you like

on Ebay: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/BRAND-NEW-Holset-HX40-turbo-turbocharger-RB25-RB30-RB26-LSX-13B-1J-2J-/221112406884?pt=AU_Car_Parts_Accessories&hash=item337b539364

Deposit taken! Snooze you loose

These work eurolines were destined to go on my Stagea, but seeing that I always change my mind, I've found something else I want haha. So there's a full set of Work euroline DH wheels in Japan that haven't left yet. (shipping time est. 6-8 weeks) Specs are: 18x9 +20 18x10 +20 4/5X114.3 These would be PERFECT for stock bodied S and R Chassis. They are in good condition, some scarring on some of the faces (I'll get a pic up tonight), but that's about all. Price: $1500 shipped to your door! This will need to be quick though, otherwise I'll get them sent to my joint first, then to you which will end up costing more $$$. I am open to offers, and I am looking for a quick sale so let me know! Tyres are not included in the sale, as they exceed international shipping dimensions PM me! Adam.

Up for sale is the set of Lehrmeister wheels I sourced for my R33 skyline build. these haven't arrived yet and should land in Sydney within a week or two! Rare, cool looking wheels that'll suit stanced Toyotas or Nissans that want to run a chunky tyre. Specs: 18x9 +35 18x10 +35 5X114.3 Judging by the photos, condition is fair. Looks to have paint lifting on one or two of the wheels (my other set had this too, must be common). Hoping to get what I paid for them to get over here. Price: $1500 ono I will ship anywhere in Australia, shipping will be $100 Aust wide (NSW would be cheaper) Located in Liverpool region, NSW. Will be in my hands within a week or two! Still coming from Japan. PM me! Adam.

Anyone who has driven my Stagea lately, would know that the brakes were complete buckets of shit, the pedal feel was shocking, and you’d basically use all the pedal travel just to get the boat to stop. It needed to be rectified ASAP! Originally I was going to change the pads and do a fluid flush, but now that the Skyline is stripped bare I thought I’d salvage a few parts for the Stagea. The brake setup consists of R33 calipers, RDA slotted rotors all round, Bendix ultimate pads all round, HEL braided lines and Motul RBF660 brake fluid. Anthony was the man to do the install, while I tackled the rear subframe swap. I love working on my car at the Dahtone Racing workshop, but it’s daunting trying to find the right tool for the job haha. I didn’t realise how small the OEM brake setup was, check out the “modified” cover behind the rear brake setup. Anth had to chop and bend the crap out of it just so the new rotors would fit without interference. Some massaging was required up front too, but not as drastic as the rears. Upon bleeding the brakes, we heard a loud pressurised sound. Anth had a look over to the front passenger side and saw brake fluid sprayed everywhere … the braided line had burst! Reason for this was that some knob in the HEL factory didn’t crimp the fitting onto the hose! HEL have taken responsibility for it and are sending me out another line. Be carefull when you buy braided lines ladies and gents. Check that all the fittings have been crimped before install or you could be in a world of pain. So how does it stop? Freaking amazing! pedal feel is a little lousy but if you need to stop, it’ll pull the 2 tonne boat up with ease! DEPLOY THE ANCHORS

SOLD!

So the new brake setup and S14 rear subframe made it's way on the car over the weekend. I'll report my findings soon!

bump!

bump!

Oh yes, and cage is sold!

Hey guys, To whoever has bought items off me from this thread, or on SAU, could you please leave me feedback? Just click on my profile and you'll see the "leave feedback" icon. I will return the favour and leave you feedback. Nifty thing, didn't know SAU had such a feature until recently!