My Nissan Stagea From Purchase Till......

[Rabster The Outlaw]

Ok so as boosst let the cat out the bag before i had got the car up to scratch here is my new project. the only real reason for the car is i cant do a huge amount to my 350z as its pretty much the car i want it to be

so i found this beauty....

Her spec is as follows

1996 Series 1 Stagea

Greddy E-Manage

Greddy FMIC

Turbosmart e-Boost 2

FCD

HKS Induction

Garret T30 Turbo

Blitz Downpipe

HKS Decat

Torque Flow Back Box

Tein Coilovers

4pot front callipers

Grooved & Dimpled Discs

Twin Pot Rear Callipers

Poly Bushed Uprate Susspension Arms

Tein Adjustable Pillow Ball Tension Arms

Series 2 Rear Lights

Tinted Rear & Back Windows

18" Wolfrace Wheels

DVD Headunit

Infinty Speakers

Clifford Concept 650 alarm

Remote start

Prosport AFR

Prosport EGT

Prosport Boost

[Rabster The Outlaw]

So i started the conversion on thursday morning so here are the pics

in the morning

Kit positioned

Headlights cut into place

Test bolt up

Semi finished front end etc

I can confirm that you can make the factory bonnet catch work you need to drag forward about 2 inches i used stud and nuts to do this however the bonnet catch is quite a stiff ****** so needs to be braced from below or it wont shut and latch

also factory hinges with r34 tops dont work for the masa bonnet, it sits far to low and has to be spaced (temporarily) 13 x m8 washers per side to even come close plus the actualt hinge is to far over and has also been spaced to even come close to the mounting holes on the bonnet........

[Rabster The Outlaw]

so few more pics now

As you can see the bonnet still doesnt line up right i think this is due to the fact there are to many variables on the bonnet line up so need to solve this before i can get the lines right.

thought this wont stop me getting the car Wrapped ASAP

alll thats left now is the rear Splitter to fit but this requires some modification and it was raining lol

[Rabster The Outlaw]

so turned out i was missing a headlight bracket so had to order the drivers side one of these

whilst i was at it i got the GTR bonnet latch re-locator and GTR hinges i didndnt fancy cutting them apart so i for now have made wood spacers namely due to the fact i was dong this an hour from my metal working facilitys and i want to get the exact height it needs to be so far sitting at 35mm height change whilst still using the R34 GTR hinges complete

so with the car now lined up properly we could see the differences in the dimensions of the kit and i wasn't happy so out came the fibreglass and filler etc and here we go

gap before

fiber glass added

Filler added

so with the kit now lined up propperly time to get on with the prep to paint

we did flat it all down etc and started with the filler primer

Unfortunatly there had been some touch up work done and the paint even though flatted reacted badly with the primer so had to be sanded down again and treated with barcoat

to plat it safe i did the whole front of the car in it

even inside the shuts

New coat of primer applied

No reaction so carried on

so now waititng for that to fully arden for a few days before any base coat is applied but here is the workshop/ Spray shop

[Rabster The Outlaw]

Ok so yesterday I had the day off work so after a early start to get the last few bits do e it was time to paint started with the skirts

After a few coats we left those to harden and after about 30min in the polly tunnel it was time for the bumper

Again few coats later and lunch time for the wings

We deliberately sprayed onto the bonnet to get a thick coat on the edges as we're expecting as with most cars that to be the points that could get damaged easy

So...

Also did the fuel filler car and the bump strips of the new wings

Will do another few overall coats this morning then start with the lacquer depending on how quick it all goes off will depend on if it drives away this Sunday or not......

Stay tuned lol

[Rabster The Outlaw]

Ok so end of another day which started off not do well there had been a reaction over night to something we suspect a mixture of 2thinners maybe the culprit so had to sand the wing back again few more costs then again untill no reaction was left didn't fancy going all the way back to Barcoat as thats lots of work etc

So once this was do e we carried on few more dustings on the rest of the car then a light rub down and lacquer time now this stuff goes off quick dependant on mixture levels do we had what we thought was a 25min window per load turned out due to mixture and heat that it was a 10- 15 min window lol

So after 4 passes this is the state

[Rabster The Outlaw]

ok so thats the second weekend over with an still its not on the road

but we do have significant progress

there was a few runs so we gave everything a quick rub down and then re lacquered

so the moment you have been waiting for well i hope you have anyway lol

The body work unfortunately has orange peel i think to do with a mixture of things mainly the heat it got to in the room during the spraying rather than after where you bake it on so this means i have to flat the orrange peel down to get my glass finish i want so that's next weekend sorted

here is the comparison

what are your views anyone had orange peel from spaying before etc.....

[Rabster The Outlaw]

Ok so I must be mad but spent the day outside in the rain with the wet and dry paper sanding the orange peel out so we now look like this

This is how it did look

If the rain will do ne tomorrow I will hit the car with the g220 cutting compound then polish it ready for the ace cafe next week......

[Rabster The Outlaw]

Well we have success but was without its moments, if anyone attempts painting the car again dont try and use the Meguiers G220 to get out the Orrange peel or even the aftermareth of using 1000 - 2000 gritt paper as its not man enough. i found this the hard way

so had to go and buy a new Sander/polisher but once i did wow what a difference cut through the scratches alot easier and brought the car up to a nice shine

so here is the finished article prior to leaving the Booth today

So i drove it back to the ranch and gave it some love so after a clean and a hit with Poor boys Black Hole we look like this

[Rabster The Outlaw]

So here we go this was the paint match on saturday

So i tried to polish but no such luck due to being the wrong paint on the rest of the car so on sunday afternoon i started masking up and monday morning / Lunchtime it got bar-coated

sanded the high spots of then hit it with colour

So after 3 and a bit coats of paint

It was time to leave it over night the roof isnt right and requires a further coat as its so big and such a pain to paint its got alot of imperfections but im hoping that i can get lacquer on it tonight and maybe tomorrow sand the lacquer again and hit another coat on

keep your eyes open for more updates lol

[Rabster The Outlaw]

New Paint match

Complete car

[scotty nm35]

Very nice, I love the spray booth.

[KiwiRS4T]

Wow good job! How long fron start to finish?

[Zorro]

Nice work, car looks great!

[Rabster The Outlaw]

all in all it was about 7 weeks but this did allow for me not working on it during the week as it was at my weekend house (big garden as you can see)

Most of the time was spent on the front end and side skirts preparing for paint etc the rest of the car was mainly a blow over which was about 2 weeks work

[wolverine]

I wish I had the time, skills and patience to do what you have done.

Needs more power.

[Duncan]

good work, goes to show how much damn work there is in a "bolt on" r34 front end too.

[adey88]

Wow you dont waste any time huh? That was about a years worth of thread posted in 2 days!!

Turned out beautiful, i like the S2 rear lights too!

Seems to be a few stunner stageas from the UK.... any further plans for the car?

[66yostagea]

That is seriously good shit.

Edited June 11, 2012 by 66yostagea

[joe26f]

Love it