Fred's 1998 C34 Nissan Stagea 25X Four Wagon

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Fred
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Fred's 1998 C34 Nissan Stagea 25X Four Wagon

Post by Fred »

Title to be edited one day when I finally pick up a Stagea to do these things to after dreaming about it since the mid 2000s...

Since then I've gradually been collecting things for this project. I have a list of stuff that I've got, and a list of stuff that I need.

Rough description of end product

Slow-looking station wagon (not cop bait) with ~600hp built RB30DET, manual, reliable 4wd driveline, decent brakes. Summary: Ski trip weapon. Capable of going fast up a mountain on slippery surface full of gear and people and so forth.


Stuff I've got
  • GTR intercooler (same as my truck)
  • R32 GTR wheels, forged, 16x8
  • RB30E engine as a base for an RB30DET! Viewed, paid, and collected.
  • 1998 Stagea 25X Four, in white! Deal cut 5th May, 7:20 pm. Paid, dropped off, ~9pm 6th May.

Stuff I still need
  • Holset HX52W turbo
  • GTR gearbox/transfer case
  • Brakes, depends which base vehicle I get
  • All of the little things you forget about, pumps, injectors, hoses, etc etc.

And, of course, the car! Not sure what sort of spec to go for, but these are commodity and always have rusty front doors. Reshelling would be inexpensive if necessary after a big fuckup. Hence this comes last, after all of the goodies needed to make it how I want it to be.

Thread started because I just pounced on an engine deal this morning. Listed last night 6:45pm, search email came through 1:41am, when I opened it this morning 80 views already. Paused for 10 minutes unsure, then thought about it, and hit buy now to take it off the market. These things are getting rare, this is the first one that's come up worth buying in 2.5 months of searching. Even if I'm forced to sell it later if I lose work or whatever it'll probably be worth what I paid, or more, to sell again.

EDIT: See page 2 for photos from the auction! :-D https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 9156555780
Last edited by Fred on Mon May 09, 2016 10:01 am, edited 5 times in total.
Reason: Fixed title, added car to list :-D
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Fred
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Re: Stagea Project TODO List

Post by Fred »

Engine inspected! 126k km on the clock, silky smooth running, and not overly grubby inside. Perfect for my needs! Also comes with enough extras to sell for half what I paid, probably. As a result, this RB30E won't owe me very much at all once I'm all clear of it :-)
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Re: Stagea Project TODO List

Post by Fred »

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Re: Stagea Project TODO List

Post by Fred »

Fred wrote:
  • Pending: RB30E engine as a base for an RB30DET, should view today, moved into storage "soon"
Edited to reflect tonight's pickup! Engine is in hand, in garage, and ready to be turned into a monster when the time comes! :-)

Pics + story + bragging:

https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 4269957120
https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 6173254656
https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 9100370944
https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 8242527232

:-)

I feel a GIF coming on...

Image
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Corbon
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Re: Stagea Project TODO List

Post by Corbon »

Attached RB30 PDF made by Skylines Australia Forum. Good reference for a start.

Things I can think of right now:
  • Check the block face where the stock RB30 idler mounts is machined flat or cast. If it is cast you have to make up a spacer/metal putty it flat so when you fit a tensioner for the dohc head it aligns with the belt properly.
  • Apparently on some RB30s the turbo oil/water feeds for the turbo on the exhaust side are blanked off and not drilled, so will need to be done.
  • If you go with a VCT head (ie not R32 or RB26) then you need to block the VCT feed in the face of the cylinder head and supply the VCT with an external feed. You can drill out some plug and feed it internally but I have seen some people say it didn't work...
The PDF has heaps of good info. Will add more as I come across it.
Attachments
rb30_dohc.pdf
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Re: Stagea Project TODO List

Post by Fred »

I feel as if someone is about to post here, so I'm going to quickly add this: https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 1366820864

And this came out: https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 3394971648

And only this was left: https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 7538973697

And it was this clean in the trans: https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 4294827008

Looking forward to the next post! :-D EDIT, damn, he beat me to it! :-D

Fred.
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Re: Stagea Project TODO List

Post by Fred »

Definitely has the oil feed and return, though the feed block off is a bolt that's not fully cranked down (must be bottomed out to block it, I guess). Looks weird. Might head down and take a look at the coolant point, and maybe pull some plastic off to view the tensioner location, too, if I CBF.
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Re: Stagea Project TODO List

Post by Fred »

Oil: https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 3077404672
Coolant: https://twitter.com/FredCookeNZ/status/ ... 2897193984

Looking under the belt cover = too hard for 10pm after a long day that started at 5:45.
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Corbon
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Re: Stagea Project TODO List

Post by Corbon »

Sweet, the blanking bolts are all there. I have heard of that oil feed one not being drilled through to the gallery under the bolt though so check it out when you can.
http://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/2479 ... b30-block/
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Re: Stagea Project TODO List

Post by Fred »

Good tip, thanks! Will check this out soon :-)
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