Adam's Stagea Drift Car ... Wait What?

[93WIZ]

your build threads are awesome! love your work!

cant wait to see some sliding action of this stagea

[mattye]

Doesn't matter now, but just letting you know that NisTune does work in Stageas.

Otherwise, Keen to see how you go with the car this time

[Run-It-Hard]

your build threads are awesome! love your work!

cant wait to see some sliding action of this stagea

Cheers dude, I can't wait to slide it! haha

Doesn't matter now, but just letting you know that NisTune does work in Stageas.

Otherwise, Keen to see how you go with the car this time

Pretty sure that's only with the S2 stagea though, the S1 has a different computer and harness.

Either way I had this Haltech out of the 33 so it was a cheaper route, and a more flexable ecu (map sensor, launch control etc).

In other news, there's been more setbacks, le sigh.

[Run-It-Hard]

3 days left till departure till Coffs Habour, and the car still isn't tuned ... not looking good.

Anywhos, had a chance to play around with the Viennas over the weekend, should fit well .. need more time to f**k around with them but it seems like that'll be a luxury.

[Run-It-Hard]

CUTTING IT CLOSE

The original plan for the Stagea was to be completed and tuned on Monday, however when has anything in my possession gone to plan?

There have been many setbacks with the mods planned on my Stagea, but one in particular almost destroyed our plans to attend the Raleigh drift event this weekend. This was the “incredible” Nissan Anti Theft System, also known as NATS.

In a nutshell NATS is a immobilizer system that taps into the OEM ECU, in most cases an aftermarket ECU will over-ride NATS due to not having a circuit board that contains it. Although NATS still worked its magic on my Stagea, deeming it impossible to start.

To make matters worse, Anth couldn’t find any information on the Stagea’s NATS and having never dealt with such a thing before, he was “Up shit creek, using my fingers as a paddle”.

But in the end, the magician made it all work. The Stagea is alive and ready for a tune.

After tune, the finishing touches will be applied and then I’ll get an alignment right before heading up to Coffs Harbour. Talk about cutting it close!

[Run-It-Hard]

Raleigh's been and gone. The Stagea didn't make it and Benny blew a coilpack on the Saturday.

So we treated it like a holiday, chilled out on the beaches and shit. Took pics of all the cars cuttin' sick and all that shit.

I believe the car is getting tuned today, been many more setbacks.

[SABBAi]

Love it Adam.

[Run-It-Hard]

THE JOURNEY TO RALEIGH

The weekend was near, which ment Benny Julie and I were frantically preparing for our road trip up north, to attend the AE86 Driving club, Drift fest at Raleigh raceway.

As usual, my plans didn’t come together and I didn’t end up taking the Stagea (missing events is starting to become a trend for me). Luckily, Benny had his Stagea so carrying tyres, tools and spares wasn’t an issue.

Due to the setbacks my Stagea had, we left Sydney late Friday afternoon, which ment we arrived in Coffs Harbour just before mid-night. We were knackered from the somewhat 600km drive, so shortly after finding our resort we crashed out.

Saturday morning at the crack of dawn, we were out of bed and getting ready to head out to Raleigh Raceway … roughly 25km south of Coffs Harbour.

The entrance to Raleigh was confusing at first, there was a long stretch of road that went through acreage. There were plenty of cows and horses near by too. We all thought we had taken a wrong turn. But we went on.

A few minutes later, we were greeted by the Raleigh raceway entrance, we were defiantly in the right spot.

Getting closer and closer to the track, we could all hear the unmistakable sound of individual throttle body induction noise, and tyres squealing their heads off.

We had arrived, the AE86DC Drift fest was well underway.

As usual, Benny wasted no time unpacking and getting out on the track. I jumped in the passenger seat, eager to see first-hand what this track was like.

It’s a tight layout with minimal run-off, and is great for lower powered cars. It really made me miss my MX5, it would have been perfect for such a place.

Halfway through the day, Benny’s Skyline developed a constant misfire so we let it cool off and had some lunch.

After chilling out for a bit we kicked over the engine and the misfire was still present, so we started to diagnose what the problem could be.

The result, Benny blew a coilpack. With no spares and the car running on 5 cylinders, it was the end of his weekend of drifting.

He was pretty devo (as you would be) so we chilled out at the track a little longer, then packed up and headed to the resort for the day.

So from this point, our priorities had changed. We treated this road-trip like a holiday now. So we chilled out on the beach and drank Asahi for most of it.

At a blink of an eye, it was time to head back to Sydney. Although things didn’t work out for Benny or myself, we still made the most of it.

[Manuel Kasko]

Sounds like it still turned out to be a great weekend!

Great picture of the 33 and the Stag with spares haha

Hopefully it wont be long until the C34 is back on the track mate.

Good luck

[Run-It-Hard]

Cheers Dan!

Well Matsuri is done and dusted and damn it was some good fun!

My boat didn't make it so I focused on Julie getting as much practice as she good. Since her last visit to wakefield she's improved 10-fold.

I was chuffed that she let me drive the S14 too, I was taking it pretty easy though as if I f**ked something up my balls would be on the line :lol:

Rad car, do want.

Cool seeing a few other guys out there, though I didn't get to talk to any of you (Party cat, Sweefu etc). Was busy making sure the cars were tip-top ha.

[Run-It-Hard]

In news relating to my boat.

I've ordered a new turbro, and I replaced the front housing on my diff, had about 4 cracks in the old one =/ I think I'll be replacing my solid diff mounts for GKtech items, they look like they utilize stock nuts, wheres the one I has use a lug with extended thread to seat inside the solid bush. Lining it all up is a major pain in the ass.

Scrubbed through my wiring harness in the guard last night after getting petty, gotta fix that up too. Raised it 15mm all round so I could get to work :lol:

What else, changing rear tyre size from 245 to 235 to minimize camber, and maybe MAYBE if this turbo arrives I might make it out to EC for my birthday lol. Would be a nice present.

Driving impressions, Manual + Stagea = Awesometown! The car is a slug with a duma'd turbo but still it should be super fun to drive.

I'm getting used to the locker now too and I hated it at first. Stop start sucks major cock, but other then that it's bearable. Does what it needs to do too so that's what counts.

[Run-It-Hard]

ROCK BOTTOM

Well my efforts on making both Raleigh and Wakefield in my own car have been thwarted. The whole “getting the Stagea ready” ordeal has just been one giant nightmare. Basically anything that could go wrong, has. I’m pretty sure I’ve said this in an earlier post but still I must emphasize how f**ked up it’s gotten.

After my last post, the Stagea had headed to a place called In-car Racing in Wetherill park. The original tuner (Micks Motorsports) didn’t have time do tune the Stagea before Raleigh raceway so we had to settle for someone who could.

Anthony and I thought we had accomplished what we set out to do, but the guys at In-car were adamant that my ECU was fried. Anyway the whole ordeal went on for two days which ment I missed out on the Raleigh drift fest. After being inspected by Haltech, my E11 was in perfect working order, and it was led to believe that In-car’s software was to blame.

The following Monday, the car was pulled out of In-Car and got towed to Micks Motorsport. I thought we’d be all apples from now on, but nope. It just happened that my new injectors shit themselves so I needed to get new items. With time being a luxury we opted to high-flow the standard injectors.

“What else can go wrong? This has to be it!” so I thought. It was cutting close to Wakefield, and I was getting extremely anxious, messaging Anth constantly whether there were any updates on the tune from Mick. Wednesday night Anth called me and told me something I definitely wasn’t expecting to hear. “The turbo is f**ked, it’s not making any boost”. My heart sunk and I realised at that point I won’t be attending Matsuri in my own car .. for the third time in a row.

To add further insult to injury, I had discovered that the diff cover was cracked in three places. This was causing quite a loss of fluid as you’d imagine. Luckily I got my hands on a cheap diff setup out of a wrecked Stagea and I’ve swapped the covers over for now. I believe this was caused by my shitty solid diff mounts. The kit I have utilized new lugs that have an extension on them which meets the stud off the cover. This makes lining them up a complete pain in the ass and it’s really easy to thread the lug, or even worse the front cover.

I’ve ordered the GK Tech solid diff mounts to prevent this from happening again, as they use standard nuts and bolts.

I really didn’t expect it all to turn out the way it did … I didn’t think I was that unlucky. But hey, it can only get better from here right?

A brand new Kando TD06 is currently on its way which will be perfect for the OEM look I am going for, and will bolt up to all the current fab work. A few things need to be finalized with the car aswell. It SHOULD be smooth sailing from here on in, but with my track record so far anything can happen.

[Manuel Kasko]

I feel for you dude I honesty don't know how you keep your head up and keep powering forward!

Nice work picking up the kando I'm sure you will be impressed. Still coming to Nats?

[Run-It-Hard]

LOCK AND LOAD

This weekend I was stuck in the car-hole, tinkering away on the Stagea yet again. I had a few things I wanted to get off the “list of shit to do”.

I played around with the camber settings all round, and got everything where I wanted it. I ditched the 245 for a 235 in hope to run less camber. By the looks of it I’ve reduced it by half, which I’m happy to live with.

A touch more camber has been added up front to get the tyre off the guard. The car has been lowered more and I’m toying around with lock mods at the moment.

In other news, the car is off to Dahtone again today to get finished off. The new turbo has just arrived. This one is a Kando TD06 12cm, it should hit hard and make good power on the RB25. Ohh I’m getting excited just thinking about it.

[Run-It-Hard]

Competition - Guess the power figure

The Stagea is just about ready for its final tune, it’ll be on its way to Micks Motorsport in the following days for him to work his magic.

So it’s a fitting time for a little competition, which means there’s a chance to win free stuff!

The closest three guesses to the final power output will win Run It Hard merchandise!

1st place – Run It Hard! T-Shirt + sticker pack

2nd & 3rd place – Sticker pack

Here’s a run-down of what’s installed on the Stagea:

•Standard RB25DET

•Kando TD06-20G 12cm

•Turbosmart comp gate

•3 inch exhaust

•return flow intercooler

•High flow injectors

•Walbro fuel pump

•Haltech ECU

•Running roughly 20psi

•Tuned for 98 octane

•RWD

To be eligible, you must put your guess on the blog’s comment section.

So, what do you think it’ll make?

[Run-It-Hard]

It's tune day! fingers crossed all goes well.

[Run-It-Hard]

DO WORK

A lot has happened since the last update. The Stagea has been tuned, and I spent every night after work getting it tip-top for the Driving Sports – Day of drift at Sydney Motorsport park.

The first port of call was to replace my poorly designed solid diff mounts for GK Tech items. The original plan was to do it with the subframe in the car. Yeah like that was going to happen!

The whole rear end was pulled from underneath the car, just to change two bushes. This was quite time-consuming as you could imagine.

I was at a point where I was ready to kick the Stagea off the stands. I had finally cracked, lost my patience with it all. Thankfully Jeff had some spare time and helped me keep calm and get the job done.

Next up, I needed to sort out some way of running an air filter. After a bit of pondering, Jeff and I came up with a way that we could do it while utilising what I had lying around at home.

With that done and dusted, I was in desperate need of a wheel alignment. I have been playing around with the height, camber, castor and toe settings all week in order to get the wheels to sit where I want.

I’m sure most people have trouble finding a decent align guy. Benny was recommended to Rat from Rational Automotive sometime last year and he did a fantastic job on the R33.

Funnily enough, I had forgotten about Rat for a while, but now I don’t go anywhere else. Best of all, he’s open on Saturdays too. So I was up bright and early getting some fresh settings dialed into the Stagea.

After that I headed up to Dahtone, where Anth and I went over the car one last time before its maiden voyage at Sydney Motorsport Park the following day.

Everything was ready to rock, and I was super excited to do a drift day in my own car again!

[Run-It-Hard]

THE MAIDEN VOYAGE

5:30am Sunday morning, my eyes smashed open, and I jumped out of bed. This shit is super bizarre for me. Due to my work hours I’m nearly nocturnal. I rushed over to Benny’s room and woke him up, cause I’m a flamin mongrel like that (he normally does it to me). Shortly after we were out the door, and on our way to Sydney Motorsport Park.

We arrived super early, we were the first handful of people there too. We sat patiently, awaiting for the front gates to be opened.

We were let through and we secured a pit-lane garage for our gear and cars to be stored in. Shortly after unpacking we headed out to Maccas to get breakfast.

During our travel to the nearest McDonald’s, I saw a dark green car sitting on the side of the road, and I instantly shat bricks. It was highway patrol. I was stressing out like a hooker in a church, my track record hasn’t been the greatest in terms of pull overs/defects. I thought this would be a similar scenario. But somehow, the Holden Commodore remained stationary. Feeling relieved is an understatement.

Ok ok, so we got our breakfast of champions and headed back to camp, right in time for the drivers briefing. SMSP are pretty up-tight, and it seems like they dis-like drifters the more events we have there. The briefing emphasized on their precious grass, and how we aren’t allowed to get on it.

After the briefing, Benny and I rushed to our cars and lined up in the dummy grid, both eager to get out on track.

This is it, the first time I’ve ever been on the North circuit. I was getting anxious, and excited. I cruised the first lap to get a feel for the track and then it was game on!

I was loving every minute of the North circuit. Though my excitement and happiness came to a thundering halt. Towards the end of the first session, the Stagea had started to lose power, and the screamer wasn’t making any heavenly sounds.

After the session, Benny and I pulled in the pits to go over both cars (Benny was having some problems too). My car felt like it had a boost leak somewhere, so I checked all the lines and cooler pipes. Everything was nice and tight. I started to stress out a little and took a step back and had a look at the engine bay. That was the moment I knew what the problem was.

The big AAC hose that crosses over from the plenum to the IC pipe, was toasted by my Turbosmart wastegate! So I got out a roll of electrical tape, and wrapped that sucker up. It kinda worked for a few laps then melted through again.

The drop in power resulted in lots of clutch kicking to keep the momentum going, and I was stuck at the top of second most of the time. All in all it was still a great day out. I can’t believe how quick I adapted to the Stagea, and how well it actually slid. With a few more tweaks, it’ll be a weapon.

I was also surprised on how much attention the Stagea received, there are a stack of pics of it sliding around and I even made it on Scott Mitchell’s latest vid! So stoked about that.

My mission has been completed. The Stagea not only made it to Sydney Motorsport Park, but it some what survived a full day of abuse. I managed to kill a lot of spare tyres too (which means I can get rid of a lot of stockies!).

[Manuel Kasko]

Yewww finally farken!

Good work bro!

It all was worth it for those insane laps.?

[Run-It-Hard]

THE CURSE HAS BEEN BROKEN

There was a small drift event run by initial D yesterday at the humble Wakefield park raceway. The whole week I had been deciding whether to attend in the Stagea.

After a lot of convincing from Jeff, and a ridiculously cheap entry fee ($120), I was in!

Jeff, Chris and I headed down to Goulburn on Saturday night. We wrenched on the R33 and the Stagea at Jeff’s through-out the night, ready for a day of drift.

As much as I love Wakefield, I had thoughts at the back of my mind that this was a bad idea. Probably because of what happened to my R33, and always missing Wakefield Matsuris.

All in all, the Stagea some-what lasted the day. It was trolling me with power delivery, just like at EC the week before, and I didn’t get as many runs as I had hoped. But, I drifted Wakie in my own car for once!

I broke a traction rod, I bent a tie rod, I popped off an intercooler pipe and I melted my boost lines off the turbo. The Stagea still soldiered on and got me home.

I’m glad I went though. As I now know for certian what needs to be changed/modified before the boat sees another drift day.

Bring on 2013!