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Goodbye 350, Hello Stagea


Shunter8

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Well after a flippant post on a friends FB picture about lockdown boredom having me browsing eBay for cars and thinking of selling the 350, another friend then commented saying his brother was interested in my 350.

 

A few messages back and forth later and what had just been a half baked idea in my head turned into him buying my 350. So then ensued the need to source a replacement. 
 

For that, what had driven the initial thoughts was to get something auto (for the boring work commutes) and more practical as when the world opens back up again I’d like to get back into mountain biking. So after looking predominantly at Golf GTI Mk5s but never falling in love, I saw this pop up. 
 

I’ve always loved Stageas in general but never really read the tech specs on them so when I saw this being a VQ25DET with AWD it piqued my interest enough and just had to have it. So this one is a 250t RS Four V (Also known as an Autech Aero Selection in some parts when I’ve run the chassis number).
 

It’s high Kms but a decent spec and looks as though it’s been well looked after through its life so I’m very happy with it so far. 
 

First things first will be a lot of the service bits as I did with my 350 so engine oil and filter, gearbox oil, diff oil and spark plugs should be a good start (air filter and coolant already look brand new). Then on to a few simple and tasteful mods eventually. 
 

Anyway, excuse the dirt as it’s -2 here so not going to be washing it just yet as the neighbour did his yesterday and it was freezing as he was doing it and has now left a nice big ice patch in the road.

 

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Any one with experience of these with recommendations on good places to source parts and mods feel free to let me know. So far have learned of quite a few things crossing over from 350s so shouldn’t be too difficult to keep her well looked after. 

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Ah cool, originally I had quite liked the R35 front swap done on these but then the more I’ve looked at this the more I like it how it is. 
 

I remember reading a comment somewhere, I think it may have even been on a thread on here before, about needing GTR power to go with the GTR look of a front end swap and I kinda agree with it. 
 

Plus I quite like the idea that this can fly under the radar to almost all other road users except those few who know what it is.

 

I like the R34 front on the C34 Stageas but not too sure it flows with the M35 lines personally.

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1 hour ago, HEADPHONES said:

Nice find:thumbs:

Just noticed the OEM 350Z touring wheels.........a nice reminder of past zed ownership;)

Thanks, yea I like the touring wheels on it. I managed to keep my forged Rays that came off my 350 too so once they’ve been refurbed and got tyres back on they’ll eventually end up on here I reckon. 

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  • 1 month later...

Well been what feels like an eternity since I washed it, sadly had the father in law diagnosed with cancer and shortly after pass away so not really done much on the car other that trips to and from the hospital. 
 

But anyway, here’s some pics of when she was clean, but currently she’s looking like the first set of pictures now again, so due another good bath. 
 

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  • 8 months later...

Well goes to show how reliable the Stagea has been so far as I’ve not done a fat lot to it other than drive it and enjoy it. Done about 7000km in it now (Odo still in Km and planning on keeping it that way for simplicity)

Other than an engine oil and filter change, a machine polish and an MOT I’ve not really done a fat lot until today.

 

Sourced these wheels (OEM 2011 STI Enkeis) off FB Marketplace about 5 months ago now and only just got round to getting them on the car. Had to have the bores machined out and then had them refurbed for good measure then had to sort tyres, spacers and wheel nuts to suit. Not normally a fan of coloured wheel nuts but figured it needed something to break up all the monochrome. Thankfully they’re not too offensive now they’re on. 

 

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I’m trying to track down some genuine Enkei centre caps for them but most I find are a lot bigger (68mm when I need 56/52mm) so for now I’m running the STI centres with the added bonus of confusing people even more as to what it is 😆

 

Still got a list as long as my arm of plans for it (OEM+ style) and slowly accumulating parts at home both mods and maintenance.

 

If anyone has experience importing parts I’m all ears, a few people have recommended Jauce for used parts but trying to get my head around what I can and can’t bid on and all the fees is confusing as hell! 

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