Well it’s time – after months of sitting under a tree out the front of my place and getting covered in tree sap at an alarming rate, it’s time to swap out the turbos on the Nissan Stagea and hopefully get things back to where they were before the boost disappeared and was replaced by worrying smoke..
Welcome to Stagea Turbo transplant weekend!
So we’re a week away from the wagon turbo transplant, the father in law helping out to swap the smoking unit for one hopefully not so keen to burn excess oil. At the moment though I’m down at the farm giving him a hand with various things, from finding a manual for a MF165 Tractor to working out why one of his favorite radio stations takes a step backwards when his light bar turns super bright..
Some busy times with the latest move to Albury – entertaining family for Easter, still hunting down a replacement turbo for the Stagea and recently trying to find a mower for cheap. Amazingly I ended up with three for the budget I was planning to spend (and got them all working!) but when picking them up, I didn’t spare a minute to properly look at what was parked out back. A few days later thanks to Facebook I see that like the mowers, it’s also for sale.
There’s probably more than just a new spark plug and fresh petrol to get this up to scratch like my new mowers though..
So I’ve been walking to my new work the last couple of weeks since moving interstate which means the Stagea has been getting a well earned break. Unfortunately by not going anywhere, it’s collecting cobwebs and tree sap at an alarming rate so when it finally gets back to operational condition (when I finally get round to working out what’s going on with the turbo) a big clean is on the list. Today though our task it to sort out a pretty obvious oil leak as the infamous rocker cover leak rears its ugly oily head once again.
Gotta love interstate trips hey? Especially when just an hour in, something started to sound like an industrial vacuum cleaner going off when you put your foot down in the Stagea. The mechanic from the NRMA suggested it was a loose belt (which doesn’t explain the smoke from what also may be a cooked turbo..) and since only two of the three belts had been changed in the most recent service, now that we’ve arrived safely in Albury it’s time to change the third anyway, tighten them up and see if that’s solved one of the many things left on the to do list…
Now is it just me or do we share the same problem here? Namely when I don’t want nor need to put some more air in the tires via the nearest servo, the bay is free. Wide open. Ready for business. Unoccupied for hours.
But as soon as I even think about checking the tire pressure or boosting up anything that looks like it needs some more pumping up, every man, woman and child that owns rubber suddenly decides they want to do that too?
SALE NOW ON HOLD. CAR DIDN’T SELL IN TIME SO WE’RE TAKING IT TO ALBURY WITH US. WILL BE BACK ON THE MARKET IN A FEW MONTHS. POSSIBLY.
Well it’s going to be a sad day in the Drive Another Day household when this baby moves on – for six and bit years it’s been great at everything from getting the kids to school, carrying gear for my wife’s craft markets and even helping to move house on more than one occasion. But with a location change coming up next year and a lot of driving to see family, I’m looking to sell this and find something that’s more of a long range cruiser and more economical.
So who’s keen on a Nissan Stagea?
We haven’t been to a coffee and cars event out on Mudgereba Rd since July so we were well overdue in giving the wagon a scrub and seeing what revved through the days on this beautiful Saturday morning..
Found a car ad that tickles your fancy? Has it got the VIN handy on it? A quick Google of it might unearth a lot more than you were expecting!
Call this ‘Almigo’s grand search for what he’ll be parking at his house next’ (still working on that list), call it a public service announcement after wading through an ocean of strange car ads, call it what you will. But if you’re planning to sell your ride and you’re advertising the fact online, here’s a few things that will undoubtedly help you out.*
*May or may not sell your car any quicker but at least you’ll stand out from the strange.
Isn’t it amazing when you start on one place on social media and then with just a couple of clicks, a twist and turn here, a jump there and suddenly you find yourself looking at something completely different, all while asking the Talking Heads inspired question: How did I get here?
Case in point earlier this week when I was looking at a Facebook post after a damaged Ferrari project.
A link in the post later suddenly I find myself looking at a Series 1 Mazda Rx7 with prancing horse aspirations that have lasted almost three decades now…
It’s coming up to 4 years now since my family and I moved up to the Gold Coast. And in all that time, how exactly did I miss this thing? I mean it’s not like I could have confused it for another car…
Remember when Sony Xplod sound gear was all the rage? You don’t? Well I remember. My first car was a 1989 Ford Laser GL (in fearsome Moroccan Beige) and one of the first things I did to it was add a Sony Xplod cd player and a few speakers. Considering the sound of the original Ford tape deck that it replaced, it was a magnificent upgrade. The rest of the car was pure Grandma spec, but at least Fatboy Slim’s ‘You’ve come a long way baby!’ boomed alright.
Flash forward to 2020 and I’ve come across another Laser with Xplod gear. Only a bit more modern and a million times louder than my first car..
So a few years ago (five and counting) we came across this – The Concept 2000 GT (Pontiac Fiero). Only twelve were ever made and according to our original notes, one three remained in the US – One white, one red and this black one.
In the latest update (thanks Reddit) the white one has just been unearthed!
Over the weekend I drove to a wedding in a Lancer, got transported to the ceremony by an elaborate golf buggy and heard an angry roar from across the water. Then this beast rumbled into view.
Once again Facebook marketplace comes up with the goods. Provided you’re looking for the completely out of the ordinary goods that is. Like this bike…limo…trike…mould!
If you have no plans in life, then you can buy these ones!
So the last time we took a look at what was on offer in the latest abandoned vehicles auction locally we came across a swamp donkey of a Nissan 180SX and a lot of burnt vehicles. (And the purpose of buying one of those still escapes me). This time around however we’ve come across something far rarer which begs the obvious question – who leaves one of these behind?
So what’s it called when you’ve focused on something and suddenly, BAM, something similar pops up? I believe there was a movie with the term for it too?
The Matrix maybe? (Possibly Terminator 3) Or maybe it’s Facebook spying on me again and having realized my passing interest in a lunatic Micra last week, has coughed up this beauty.
Regardless of the slightly eerie phenomenon going on here, allow me to introduce the Mitsuoka Viewt…
Look don’t panic, I haven’t lost a bet here. Nor have the workers of the seventh layer of hell swapped their usual pitchforks for snow ploughs. Truth be told I never thought I’d be whipping up a quick article on a 96 Nissan Micra/March off all things either but but’s not very often that you come across one that’s both random and under the right conditions, possibly terrifying..
So we were lined up to visit our Coffee and Cars here on the Gold Coast a short while back, only for Covid-19 to really clamp down the anchors on it. However as restrictions eased, plans were put into place for the next one – the countdown on to this weekend just gone. And so on Friday night you could practically hear the Gold Coast car community frantically vacuuming and polishing their cars to perfection, ready for the big morning..