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 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…
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?
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..
Keen on building a replica Back To The Future mobile, hit 88mph and save the time space continuity? Well that’s easy! All you need is a spare DMC Delorean Nissan from 1990 and a few empty Sunday afternoons and look what you can make!
It doesn’t rain, it pours. And that’s exactly what it’s been doing weather wise here on the Gold Coast. Which explains why my Nissan Stagea has suddenly come down with a strange cough and become very jerky after coming back from holidays. (Insert your own Corona virus joke here)
I’ve fixed it – although I can’t tell you exactly what did the trick. Possibly one thing, possibly a combination. But here’s a list of things to work through if your car has the same problem.
Completely useless fact time: I was going to buy a Nissan 180sx as my second ever car and when I rang up a finance company to see what I could borrow, they told me that yes I could have the money…for anything other than using it on a Nissan 180SX.
Which ultimately led down the path for me purchasing a Mazda Rx7 a couple of years later in what was a more entertainingly but undoubtedly far more expensive exercise.
Especially when I’ve just seen one on Facebook in the same state for a measly $500. Okay it might be missing a few lot of things but it’s a start…
Welcome to the Stageapedia – an ever growing information repository that will grow as I continue to work on my Nissan Stagea Wagon. (Built after constantly losing notes every time I service mine and have to waste time searching for them again).
If I’ve worked on it, it’s going in here!
(links to Amazon where you can buy various things)
Seriously, less than twenty-four hours since my own Stagea has been let out of the panel beaters all shiny and ready to drive again, I’ve stumbled on the another Stagea that’s gone the completely opposite way and in turn has become ultimate apocalypse cruising war machine you’re ever going to meet outside of the back lot of a Mad Max movie.
When the bombs drop, I’m reaching for the sand blaster..
My best mate Heath once had a Nissan Pintara. Bright red and shiny, it came with a disco light powered by the cigarette lighter socket and many stupid adventures were had by all in this tribute to lunchbox shaped 80’s autos.
However as good as this four banger was, it was never a car that would put the fear of god into anything it pulled up alongside of at the lights. Well not like this Nissan Pintara I’ve found on Facebook…
For those of you reading that that have found themselves in a auto bingle (your fault of the other persons) and followed your insurance claim process from start to end, then you’ll know the process fairly well. For those like me who have had a few scrapes (and near misses) but never had to put an insurance claim before up until now – welcome to my journey. In which I’ve learnt one thing in particular that will could take a bit of hassle out of the process if you find yourself in a similar situation…
‘Smoke? Is that smoke? Oh ffs, what’s going on here?’ my first words spoken rather loudly as I drove up my driveway last night and watched something white and ghost like attempt to snake it’s way out of my bonnet. It’s been a while since Stag hiccups, the last one being the stretched throttle cable a few months ago..
Thankfully it wasn’t smoke, it was steam but it’s still not a great feeling when you lift the lid and half your block has had a coolant related steam bath. And currently resembles some kind of rain forest…
Ahh bless the hard working lads at Iron Chef Imports and their always amusing Facebook page. Once again they’ve delved deep into the current offerings of importable Japanese automotive excellence and come up with a true winner.
Yes that is a fairly unexciting R31 GT Passage Wagon above (well unexciting for me but that blocky mid 80’s lunchbox on wheels look might just light a fire under you or deep within your cockles who knows.) But like a cream filled cheap chocolate or an ages old Limo on Gumtree, it’s what’s on the inside that counts..
Seriously, it couldn’t have happened at a worse time. I’ve taken a week of work to move house twenty clicks down the road (and if you want to read about the torture involved and learning how to work with something French, you can check it out right here) and on my first day back at work the Stagea died an idle death at a busy roundabout right in the middle of school drop off time…
Ugh. I suppose it was only a matter of time before my hard working battery decided it was well and truly sick of my antics and threw up the white flag of defeat. It was just annoying that it decided to die in an area where finding a replacement would be a task. Especially when I was already late for work to begin with…
Well it’s come that time finally. Time to roll up the sleeves and tool away as much as possible to the get the Warwagon ready for another roadworthy check. The last check had a couple of niggling little things on there but now that I have both some time and money, join me as we patch things up to pass any scrutineers scrutiny..
Once upon a time I was getting pretty rubbish fuel economy in my C34 Nissan Stagea – mileage up there with my old Rx7 which honestly wasn’t that great (just a sniff over 400ks to a tank). However once I swapped out the dead o2 sensor things improved slightly but given the short trips too and from work that really abused the fuel tank, it still wasn’t anything to write home about.
But now that I’m driving 35kms each way to work and back daily on the great highway known as the M1, would this be a better test of how much juice the Warwagon sips on from fill up to petrol light?
Lets find out – roll on the Stagea fuel economy test!
Today we’d like to send out a huge thanks to the team behind GTR Registry for their latest edition to their site – namely the massive amount of awesome stuff you can find out about your own Nissan Stagea!
Amazing isn’t it? You go a quiet ride in the father in law’s project Holden HR Wagon for a quiet little jaunt to the local Holden clubs coffee meet up…and end up smack bang in the middle of a 450+ car show. Typical..