My Stagea chronicles

[s15-newbie]

Hi there,

i´m happy to share my project and hope you will enjoy it.

The Base
The Base is a Nissan Stagea M35 250T equipped with a VQ25DET engine. From Odometer and its papers it does have just 27tkm.

The Plan
- bodykit
- suspension
- wheels
- exhaust
- intercooler + piping
- interior

The engine will stay stock for now.


The first updates will come next week depending on how i share my time cause i´m having 3x project cars at the moment.

 

[s15-newbie]

first i completley stripped the front and the interior. the wheel design will be a secret for now .

then some parts have been collected together which i could install in my second step.

thats my final result for today.

 

[Doritofu]

Solid start dude, really looking forward to seeing how this one ends up.

 

[Spawn_CA18]

good luck with the build , didn't knew M35 was an FM platform car. looks pretty much like a 350Z from underneath.

 

[s15-newbie]

yeah. the most similarities are between M35 Stagea and G35 Skyline.

 

[s15-newbie]

Starting the Bodywork

Today i started putting the front together. i think now my plan should be clear.

First i collected all parts together i would need for today.

i put all parts together and then note that my core alignment was wrong. so i was forced to remove my temporary adapter plate, which hold the core, and find another solution to fix it.

Then i lowered the front about 4cm.

After that was done i started installing the hood, made the alignment for the temporary hood hinges. to do this i installed the headlights and also installed and removed the fenders several times, till i got a proper alignment.

I do also installed the hood linkage and the hood lock in the middle.

When this was done i made the alignment for the fenders, headlights and hood (eye bolts).

Put the front bumper, lower grill and lip together and then installed it. the front bumper lined up pretty nice, right the first time. thanks to using the R35 oem parts.

the whole building process today was something about 8hours. unbelievable it does took that long if you look the five photos, isn´t it?

 

[steven vanderhorst]

killer effort, cant wait to see this all as one.

 

[s15-newbie]

Just a small update.

Put in the drivers side door two days ago and picked up some other nice stuff yesterday...

i was driving around 900km and 10hours to pick up this small amount of clay, which i´m going to use for shaping the other panels.

maybe someone could give me some tips how to get nice results with it and where to get automotive clay tools from. unfortunatelly i never worked with clay before, but i´m happy to give it a try .

 

[crazyae86]

wow is really awesome mate

is really bolt on ??

 

[s15-newbie]

wow is really awesome mate

is really bolt on ??

unfortunately not. i decide to go with R35 GTR core support. its much more expensive to go this route but i don´t regret.

good point to this route is:
- perfect alignment possible
- headlights will fit plug and play
- bumper will fit plug and play
- no hassle with finding a hood lock solution (stagea have 1x, gtr hood have 2x)

 

[s15-newbie]

wasn´t able to do anything on the car for a long time, due to working on house.

both front fender prototypes have been finished now.

after that i started with the left side skirt. it was cutted into 4pcs, then shortened at the front section (front fender) and extended to the rear.

 

[s15-newbie]

Another one of projects (Mazda RX7) does takes really much time didn´t make any grogress on the car.

What i did some weeks ago was that i shaped the side skirt on the left side and took the rear window out.

Interior

Here is my plan for the interior....

... and this is what it would looks like when its finished.

there is still pretty much to do. had to trimm pretty much at the window side to get this into the Stagea, as the GTR does have a really long dashboard. because its also really wide i have to trimm the sides. not really sure yet how i will shape the side but i will check how "top secret" have done it to their VR32 project car.

 

[Doritofu]

The front guards came out awesome dude. Got any more pics on how you stitched them together?

 

[s15-newbie]

didn´t made any photos of the process. i just welded them together, lower part of the front fender is custom made with metal and frp. will be fine for taking moulds, but first i will going to finish the design of the sides with modelling clay to see if there is anything i have to change on the front fenders.

 

[s15-newbie]

oven time!

let start to apply!

tomorrow i will going to fill the door, the day after i will going to start the preshaping.

 

[Mikey637]

I'm so happy to see high level builds popping up on this site again, just finished reading the cyberpunk MX5 build and now this! Subbed and excited to see how it comes out

 

[Sycklash]

This is killer. I love these little wagons.
Excited to see how the rest of the body turns out

 

[s15-newbie]

Today i finished the main work off the body shape at the left side.

tomorrow i will start to take some pre moulds ("pre" because they will not be the final moulds). the spoiler will be done later, cause i´m not 100% sure yet in which shape it will be. the side skirt will get a small lip too, but not at this stage.

about the rear i have been inspired by a photoshop of a swedish guy, who is also doing a r35 conversion to his stagea. it will be 2pcs. i´m pretty sure it will come out really good once painted.

 

[Doritofu]

This is the update I have been waiting for!

Look absolutely amazing dude I can not wait to see the finished thing.