I'm baaack: C34 Stagea

[Ben C34]

Nice work. I love the grinding rug to catch the sparks for safety, good idea!

[mosquitocoils]

42 minutes ago, Ben C34 said:

Nice work. I love the grinding rug to catch the sparks for safety, good idea!

Haha hey, it definitely helped save my nice concrete floor from catching fire so that's a bonus!

[mosquitocoils]

Got the main components for my mild fuel setup in the mail recently:
- Bosch 1000cc injectors
- Billet top feed fuel rail (black)
- Turbosmart FPR800 fuel pressure regulator (black) + worlds tiniest gauge haha

All I need is a fuel pump and that's fueling taken care of!


 

I also picked dynamically flow matched injectors so all 6 are within 2% of each other at multiple duty cycles for peace of mind.

Haven't had a chance to get them out and into the rail just yet, probably won't get a chance to do much more with the stagea for a while as we're moving house soon and it's actually running at the moment (for once!) so that is the priority for the time-being.

[mosquitocoils]

I (pretty unexpectedly to be honest) picked up a leather interior from a S2 Stagea on the weekend... and if anyone ever asks, you can fit the entire set of front + rear seats into both a CJ Lancer with 3 passengers (somehow!), as well as in an SG Forester (kind of expected that though).

These seats are electric and also heated which is a HUGE upgrade. However my S1 Stagea has a slightly different electric plug in the floor (2 pin) which doesn't connect to the new seats (4 pin). I have the harnesses coming which have been cut out of the body loom and I'll just need to solder them into mine in place of the ones I have. It will be a little bit of fiddling but shouldn't be too hard to figure it out plus will be WELL worth it. 

I also got the S2 centre console which has the switch panel. 

 

Time to say goodbye to the old "pov pack" cloth seats...

 

And time to start living that VIP life...

 

I'm honestly stoked with them despite not setting out to get a set. The seller needed a double din stereo and I wanted to ditch the one that came in my Stagea (to fit a single din stereo instead) so we swapped... win win?

 

There are some differences I still need to address like:

- the seatbelt buckles (fronts, at the bottom of the seats) are different from S1 to S2 so I just have to swap my buckles over 
- the harnesses to make the electrics work (as said above I have them coming)
- and the centre console...

 

The S2 console physically bolts into my S1 but the top box screw points are slightly different, see 2nd and 3rd pics below:

I can make it work by using some new, long, self tapping screws and it will fit snug but I'm not sure yet if I want to do that or just try and find a S2 top box. We'll see!

Edited July 21, 2020 by mosquitocoils

[robbo_rb180]

Thats a nice upgrade. Just went back and read the whole thread, good effort on the liitle things like the sound mate on the speaker mounts. Will be a nice daily/fun weekender once its all together. Have looked at stageas for a daily but didn't need another "project" car.
One thing I've found with those china manifolds was to cut the t3 flange off, remove some of the collector and lay the flange over a bit to help with strut tower clearance. If you want it to drive a bit nicer down low try and find a factory intake and fit a plazmaman style plenum helps a lot with low down torque.

[mosquitocoils]

On 7/22/2020 at 3:14 PM, robbo_rb180 said:

One thing I've found with those china manifolds was to cut the t3 flange off, remove some of the collector and lay the flange over a bit to help with strut tower clearance.

Thanks for the kind words and that tip man. I'm honestly leaning towards upgrading the whole hot side once I finish getting the ECU and fuel all setup properly and going with a proper branded turbo (a little smaller like 3076 size) and 6 boost manifold IDEALLY depending on $$. Would rather the peace of mind not using cheap gear down the track. But it's serving it's purpose of 'proof of concept' for the time being so we'll see.

Quote

If you want it to drive a bit nicer down low try and find a factory intake and fit a plazmaman style plenum helps a lot with low down torque.

Funny you say that! I picked up a stock intake manifold recently for cheap with the intention of either doing a cut and shut forward facing manifold which retains the stock runners, or just going all out and getting the plazmaman top half. Either way I want those stock runners for exactly this reason. From what I've seen I'm probably losing around 500rpm from my torque curve without them

Edited July 23, 2020 by mosquitocoils

[mosquitocoils]

I got the S2 seat harness over the weekend and booyyy there's a lot going on there. Below you can see I had it roughly laid out with everything going in the rough direction they would in the car. The black taped harnesses go to each seat, the yellow taped harnesses plug into the car floor area, and everything comes together and runs to the two switches in the console.

I rigged up another battery I had so I could test what would work etc as the guy I got the harness from cut this out of the main loom that runs through the car, so there are a number of cut wires I couldn't figure out easily although I suspected that each of them would basically need to connect to 12v or ground.

 

After having some time to play with it I realised the following:

- the 'power' portion of the seat is literally just 12v + ground, the wires more or less go straight to the seat plug and are quite thick

- the 'heater' portion of the seat is a separate circuit that runs through a relay that isn't in the S1 Stagea (using thin wires to activate the relay) and draws the "working" 12v needed from the above thick 12v line

- the S2 floor harness has a 4-pin connector for the seatbelts whereas the seatbelt itself only puts out 3 wires... the 4th wire seems to come from the console switches - maybe this means the heater can't be turned on turning on unless the seatbelt is done up? I would love if someone could verify this

Anyway I was a little pressed for time so I never finished deciphering the heater circuit wires. Being in QLD I'm also not too fussed about the heaters although they would be nice for show. I decided to simply worry about getting power to the seats so I can move them and if I want to down the track (when I have more time) I can pull them out and keep working with the rest of the harness that's going to live in that random "TO DO" box in my garage...

Now that I've bored you with what I couldn't do, let's talk about what I COULD do!

Here is the main 2-pin seat connector in my S1, coming up from under the carpet under the seat. These pins supply constant 12v and ground:

 

Here is the 4-pin seat connector from under the carpet of a S2... these have the same 12v and ground as above (for seat power), as well as a 12v and ground for the heater circuit. 

 

So long story short I figured out which 2 out of the 4 wires were meant to give the seats power, and cut the plugs off and soldered the 4-pin connector onto my 2-pin cable, just leaving the extra 2 wires tucked away/unused. The main 12v wire was the white wire and was thicker gauge than all the rest. The ground was the black wire in both S1 and S2 which made it easy.

(Yes I twisted the wires together but just for testing! Once finished I soldered and covered correctly). Then I put the seats back in and connected all the plugs.

With that done, I was finally above to move the seats forward (you might be able to tell from the previous post they were extended all the way to the back)

I also decided to keep using my S1 centre console as the lid simply doesn't sit right. There are little tabs around the edge that you can't see, but stop the top box section sitting flat/flush with the centre console itself so I would need a S2 top box. Since I'm not using the heaters it doesn't really matter, but I'm definitely starting to get ideas for what else I could use those OEM looking switches for...

Edited July 27, 2020 by mosquitocoils

[mosquitocoils]

I came across a really good deal on a different turbo setup and jumped on it. This is proper gear to replace the ebay GT35 turbo, manifold and gate on there at the moment. The more time I spend working on this car the more I realise I want to do things right and use proper parts so I don't have that lingering question about reliability in the back of my mind. 

Because I'm taking my time getting the Haltech wired in (parent life, other priorities etc) I'm not running any kind of tune yet so it makes sense to get this side of things sorted out now before going too much further with the ECU + tune.

What's coming:
- Hypergear ATR43 (G3 SAT) ceramic ball bearing with .63 rear
- Havoc Fabrication externally gated + mildly ported factory manifold
- Heatshield to suit

 

I always wanted a Hypergear due to the reputation on this site even 10 years ago when I was researching upgrades for my R33. From what I can work out this turbo is pretty similar to a GTX3076 based on size and bearing material and should spool up nice and quick while still having good top end power. With all the other mods taken care of, this is an 11 second-capable turbo.

I won't be able to fit it for at least a month due to moving house soon but I will be making it a priority as soon as I can!

[mosquitocoils]

I have been slowly making progress with wiring my Haltech to the stock ECU and while this picture may not seem like much, I'm stoked that I finally have an RPM signal along with correctly functioning home and trigger (I think...!).

It turns out I'm just an idiot when it comes to reading ECU pinout diagrams ???

So as of now I'm up to here:
- Reading RPM as well as engine position
- Reading manifold pressure from internal MAP sensor
- Reading throttle position
- Reading coolant temp
- Intake air temp sensor installed in cold side piping, need to run a wire from there into the cabin



From here the plan is:
- Cut injector wires and run directly from the Haltech
- Cut ignition wires and run directly from the Haltech

Once up and running under its own force then I'll add the fun things like boost controller, wideband and flex fuel sensor, all of which should mostly be simple plug and play.

In related news I also saw this week that the latest Haltech updates now include auto transmission control! I will be watching this and trying to figure things out in the near future. At the moment the RB transmission isn't listed as one of the "supported" transmissions but there is an option to use a "generic transmission" and program everything in manually although I'm not comfortable with that at the moment. At this point it's likely only a matter of time until the RB auto is officially supported so I can probably wait a bit longer.

This would mean I just get the Haltech patch cable and run full standalone which would be awesome!

[mosquitocoils]

In preparation for moving house (it's currently running, I don't want to jeopardise that right now!) I've switched my attention to some interior work and it's actually pretty therapeutic and calming haha. 

I finally have a working AC control unit! I still don't have AC as the condenser was removed from the engine bay and the lines cut at the firewall before I took possession but I'm not fussed, just having a blowing fan is a HUUUGE improvement on warm days. 



The next thing I picked up free from a mate - a Joying android 10" tablet head unit. Everything works but the touchscreen itself doesn't respond. I took the whole thing apart and I could buy a generic replacement digitiser off ebay for ~$50ish but I'm not committed to the idea just yet. For now I'm using a mouse plugged in via USB. I haven't actually driven the car yet so I'm not sure how annoying it will be, but it's not a daily so not fussed.

Then while I had the centre console out to replace the stereo and install the AC unit I stickerbombed all the parts I could (audible groan...). Yeah yeah, it's ricey... ah well... 

I wanted this to be removable down the track if I didn't like it so spraying clear coat was out of the question. I used a combination of glue dots and super glue (only to stick to other stickers which were already stuck onto the trim parts, not to the trim itself) and it seems to be holding well for the timebeing.

 

Looking pretty good - 

 

The final result with everything in place and buttoned up - 

I get that it's a bit ricey and dumb but it actually looks way better in person than I was expecting it to, especially contrasted against the new-ish black leather interior. Plus that 90s japanese "fast and furious" vibe (stickers, neons, big subs etc) is kind of a guilty pleasure of mine and seems fitting with the stagea hahaha.

[mosquitocoils]

Keeping in line with purely aesthetic mods... LIGHTS!

ALL OF THE LIGHTS!!

I will explain the reason for these in a future post...

Interior lights - a kit of 6 LED tubes which was pretty straightforward, wired up to switched 12v behind the stereo.

 

Exterior lights - a $30 ebay kit of 4x RGB LED strips with remote control. I have the same kit in my daily Forester and it does it well! These were stuck one with double sided tape and the cables were routed up through the various holes in the floor (boot under the spare wheel, and there's also two holes under the rear seat, one on each side, with a grommet you can pop out). The front one goes around the engine bay and through the firewall near the brake booster and needed an extra 2m of 4-core wire to extend so it could reach the control box (good thing I have an awesome wire stripper!)... Then the lines all connect in the centre console.

Sorry for potato quality pic (more coming soon) -

 

And finally front demonic grill! This is just 2x red LED strips connected straight to the battery when I want them on. I leave it unplugged permanently and just connect them for photos.

 

All up this stuff was super easy and I spent maybe $40 so not a huge deal and is visually super effective in person!

Edited August 24, 2020 by mosquitocoils

[mosquitocoils]

I've had these parts sitting here for a couple of months and finally had a reason to put them all on at the same time... New (painted) headlights and a new OEM front bar with a YUUUUGE cutout to show off that intercooler!

Ignore the mess, starting to pack the garage up to move house.

First things first... off with the old:

Then on with the new headlights, this was just plug and play and once the front bar is off there's only about 5-6 bolts holding the headlight housing in. These have been taken apart and the housings have been painted black, while the outer ring of each light has been painted red. I wasn't originally a huge fan of the red but as you'll see in later pics I think it works well.

The new front bar is the same as my previous one (just a stock OEM bar) but the previous owner cut the middle section out to show off the intercooler which I personally think looks sweet. It was only $50 and  in overall better paint condition so why not. It wasn't a perfect fit though as that bottom lip needed the back trimmed A LOT to fit with my intercooler. This was the same when I first bought the car - the front bar had no lip because the previous owner didn't want to hack it up to fit, but supplied it to me upon sale to do what I wanted with it. I'm pretty handy with a dremel and made it all fit, so this was the same process again.

This time though, the bolts which hold the lip on were all intact (previous owner already cut them all off the original bar) which means the lip will sit properly and higher than the one I've been driving around with!

Nothing too difficult, just a trial and error process until it fits on the car with my intercooler/piping.

The (kind of) finished product:

Edited August 25, 2020 by mosquitocoils

[mosquitocoils]

The last thing I needed to get done in a hurry was wheels. The car had 17 inch rota grid lookalikes when I bought it, they did the job but weren't exactly inspiring. A mate had these 18 inch RJR (Bob Jane specials) wheels on his S1 Stagea which is off the road for a full rebuild which will take him 6 months, so we decided I could borrow them/maybe buy them if I liked them.

The reason they caught my eye is that they remind me of one of the OEM Stagea wheels... maybe Autech? I'm not exactly sure which ones but these do seem very fitting, especially on my silver Stagea.

I'll be a lot happier once I have some more garage space in the new place for sure

 

So at this point the car is running, driving and looks pretty badass compared to when I bought it! Once I have my new garage sorted out I'll be swapping the new turbo setup in and continue working on the ECU wiring so I can finally start tuning. Still need a wastegate and wideband soooo we'll see how long this all takes in reality haha

Edited August 25, 2020 by mosquitocoils

[mosquitocoils]

Now for the big reason for the rush... My Stagea, along with a couple of other cars from our club, were used for a photo/film shoot for a clothing label. Here are some pics I took myself, and I can't wait to see the much better photos still to come from the shoot.

I'm not sure if branding/advertising/promo videos are allowed here but the final video turned out really cool! if anyone wants to see I can put up a link.

[PranK]

Yeah put it up. What was the label?

[mosquitocoils]

Ok cool! Here's the clip for Another Autumn... it's embedded from their Instagram so hopefully it works/stays up. 

 

Edited August 29, 2020 by mosquitocoils

[mosquitocoils]

Here's some photos from a recent night out. I'm loving the overall look and stance now. 

 

[mosquitocoils]

Been a while since the last update but I've been slowly getting stuff together and little bits done.

Firstly I picked up some eyelids from a guy on Instagram. Mine arrived, but my mates never showed up and the seller stopped responding... thanks to paypal he got his money back but still a weird situation. Happy mine came! I don't have any great photos of them on but the one below shows them just sitting in place, not stuck down yet. Makes a big difference. 





Oh yeah and the new place makes it so much easier to work on this car! SO much space for storage and working. 

[mosquitocoils]

FINALLY installed a full-size battery into the engine bay. With the freddy intake this is kinda tricky so I took inspiration from the RB26 and punched a hole in the side of the battery tray to route the cold side piping through.

I know I could have done a boot relocation (and even went as far as checking and measuring the sidewall area of the rear hatch) but this was cheaper and overall easier in my opinion, plus leaves me more options for rear cargo space (if I didn't put it in the sidewall it would be against the rear seat etc).







I cut the hole, sealed the edges then covered in rubber edging (which I might redo with thicker edging down the track) and redid the hard pipes and silicone joiners to suit. Only needed to buy one new silicone joiner to make it all work.

Very happy with the final product - 



It probably seems dumb but this is a big moment for this car, as this was one of the biggest issues when I bought it. It wouldn't start consistently and would always need jump starts etc. I've taken the Stagea out several times since putting this new battery in and I'm so much more confident with leaving home in it now. It cranks so much quicker and fires right up and it idles perfectly as soon as its started (whereas before the revs would drop and the car would almost die over and over for the first minute or two).

[NZ-GTT]

Nice work, as much as I hate cutting holes in cars I used the exact same location to get the pipe through for a FMIC. I still relocated the battery to the boot on my R34 and it makes room in the battery tray location for other goodies.