SteveL

Beat me to it......LOL

Well I spoke to an officer at the DEH today and this is the situation: If the car being imported is for personal use and is a 'one off' (IOW the car is not being imported as part of a business to be on-sold, etc) then de-gassing, etc is NOT required. In that situation the DEH require that the owner provide a declaration to the effect that the car is for personal use and that no other cars will be imported. The declaration is to sent to DEH together with the Bill of Lading and purchase invoice by the Customs Agent when the car arrives (if you are not using an agent you will have to make your own arrangements). They also require some form of ID of the owner (certified copy of passport or drivers licence) to be sent with the other docs. The DEH will then provide approval/exemption for import and the car will clear customs. So if you are privately importing through a broker and the car is for 'you', de-gassing is not required, subject to some extra paperwork. Some things to note: - my discussions were about a car coming in under the 15+yo rule and with R12 gas. I don't know what the situation will be in other cases (eg R134a gas). - I plan on having all the above confirmed in writing ASAP.....I'm not going to rely just on a telephone conversation.

The auto spigot is a plate pressed onto the end of the crank with a 'projection' to support the torque converter. You'll see that the plate steps down to the crank proper just before the crank seal. It's just a matter of levering the plate off the crank, although sometimes that can take a bit of effort. Once the plate is off, pressing in the manual spigot bush should be simple.

I would like to know as well. My broker has advised that there is no requirement for aircon degas, but there are people landing cars now that are contradicting that advice: http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/sh...ead.php?t=48715

Wheel bearing is a possibility, esp if your sure the CV's are fine.

I don't think anyone is suggesting there is no risk...for the vast majority it again comes back to relying on the broker/supplier relationship.... I don't agree with your 89 GTR vs 89 Falcon comparison....for one thing the build quality of Japanese cars has been far superior to the local product for a long, long time and I would expect (know !!) that the GTR would have far superior 'endurance'. That said, I do agree that it is better to set expectations on the low side....given the age of the cars we are talking about...

I'll have to insist that it _is_ about the broker for the vast majority of buyers in Australia (and other countries, for that matter). Even an auction report is no substitute for a full mechanical, etc inspection and so 'we' must rely on the broker(s) having a good working relationship with their supplier(s). As to prices, it is clearly demand driven (look at the diff in prices asked for 89 GTR's compared with 89 300ZX), and suppliers in Japan are no different to secondhand car salesmen in Australia (ie get as much as they think they can)....whether they are worth is up to the individual buyer to decide BUT the difference is that 'we' (ie the vast majority of import buyers in Australia) have little to go on in terms of prices other than what the broker advises (usually)....

'Broker' is certainly a more accurate description, but I think my point remains valid....they would still need to ensure that their suppliers were doing the right thing, otherwise both will certainly suffer (lose business, even go out of business).

I follow threads like this with interest (because of my particular interest in 89 GTR's ) and there are always a few individuals that make statements along those lines (ie any 89 GTR picked up for less than $20K or so CAN'T be any good or words to that effect, more or less). One implication of these types of statements is that importers are in fact MISLEADING some, if not all of their customers on the condition of the cars they are purchasing. Personally I find it hard to believe that any of the (reputable) companies would put themselves in that position. After all, reputation is everything in that sort of business, and they won't be in business long if such practices are occurring..... Not having a go at you personally, DRIFTT, it's just that yours is reasonably typical of the type of negative response that invariably comes up in importing threads. What I'd like to see are some examples of cars (pics, web pages, etc) that have turned up in Oz in a 'not as described' condition (before and after, if you like) so that we can judge for ourselves....in the case of '89 GTR's we will probably have to wait a bit longer as more start to come in from about August onward. At the end of the day, there are very few of us that have the luxury of being able to go to Japan to inspect these cars for ourselves. Consequently, the majority must rely on importers and there's no doubt that the 'well known' ones have a very good reputation. As I said, I can't see them deliberately setting out to endanger that reputation.....

I was referring to the windscreen washer and really the point is that even a brand new car can be found 'technically' unroadworthy, it's just a question of how hard they want to look. As to the laws being the same between states....up until recently, there was no requirement to get an engineers certificate (ie compliance) on 15yo imports to WA. I also believe that WA allows LHD drive cars to be driven over there without conversion to RHD and without a special permit (which is the case in Vic).

I'd recommend against this approach....you're likely to get reamed. ADR's are Federal engineering requirements mandated by DOTAR's, but roadworthy requirements are state authority specifications. Sure some are ADR based, but many are local requirements. For example in Victoria if your windscreen washer (squirter) doesn't work the car is technically unroadworthy....even if it has just run out of fluid (my brother got pinged for that one...although it was a while ago). So even a brand new car can be 'unroadworthy'...say they forget to fill the washer tank..... If you must carry any documentation, suggest downloading the appropriate Vehicle Standards Bulletins which are available on the VicRoads website. These give a lot of detail on Vic roadworthy requirments. ]http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/vrne/vrnint...n+%26+Services]

Noel is definately the person to talk to, have known him for many years, but Weber's were standard fitment. Webers/Solex/Dellorto's all have the same manifold bolt pattern.

Suitable C-spanners are availabe from places like Blackwoods, etc (industrial hardware).

Uses NICS type (1st Gen) RB20DET. Not exactly a powerhouse...about 140kW in stock form. Top mount IC suffered similar problems to GTiR...efficiency drops dramatically with increasing temps and increasing boost makes things worse. Best changed for an FMIC (not that easy with the nose shape on these things) or a water/air type. Note that the sump on these is a different configuration to the R31/R32 spec RB20DET's....sump bowl is at the rear, not the front. May be possible to just swap sump/pick-up but I don't know for sure...

R33 has VVT, R32 doesn't. Inlet manifold bolt pattern is different between the 2 as well.....

Most certainly does exist......known as the R32 GTS25: http://www.skylinesdownunder.com/mod.php?m...0602&page_id=46 Gearbox in the GTS25 is basically the same as the R32 RB20DET type, but I believe may have a taller 5th gear.

manifold stud pattern is most definately different and the turbo mounts at a differnt angle as well.

Not exactly what your after, but I've got a complete head in the garage which you can have, but you'd have to take the whole thing.....I'm in Melbourne.

Yes

I have a Nissan 6cyl injector resistor pack....not sure what it's off, but if someone can tell me what the values of the GTR resistor pack are I can measure it to see if it will do the job. If so you can have that....

PM re: gearbox

I've got a pair there, but they are still in the rear cradle (which is out of the car)....$100 the pair....I'm in Melbourne.

....and this is an RB25DET gearbox....notice the BIG differences at the back end (extension housing) between the 2.....

This is what an R32 GTR gearbox looks like...

Sump is not the problem. Remember that a GTR is 4WD and bolted to the back of the box is the transfer case...it really replaces the extension housing that an RB25DET, RB20DET gearbox has. So putting one in anything but a GTR would require a lot of work...