simonh

Yes, Personal Imports attract the same duties, GST and other costs of importation, but compliance is relaxed. However, as mentioned, you have to own the vehicle for 12 months first, and this includes: - living in the same country as the vehicle for 12 months and being able to prove it - actually driving the car for 12 months and being able to prove it by showing parking receipts, insurance paperwork, servicing receipts with mileage etc, blah blah blah They are extremely tightarsed and I've had a problem or two with this in the past when importing BMW's from the UK.... It's not fun. Good luck. Simon.

they tuned my AFC-R no worries, so I don't see why they couldn't tune a S-AFC. You can add me to the list of happy customers, with a slight caveat about the prices. Cheers, Simon.

G'day Steve, Yep - it's a 1996, 3.2 litre (the 236kw version) but no, it's not the SMG; It's a 6-speed manual. Yep - it's a lot of fun and certainly seemed to enjoy a good hard run around the track (just as much as it loves a nice run up Mt Glorious or Mt Mee) and I will definitely be giving it another run at the next Sat Arvo Sprints (june 21st). I was getting 1:04's on Saturday, but I was making a lot of errors in the infield / slower sections (the crossovers) where I was having trouble picking a good line and then getting out of the corner smoothly. It is something that will come with experience I'm sure, and just due to my inexperience with the car... I hadn't driven the M3 on the track before, and I am sure I will improve a bit as time goes by. (I'm also doing a driver training day at Queensland Raceway on June 8th which should be interesting). But yeah, the car was great on the weekend. Very well behaved. I was able to run 1:04's and 1:05's, I didn't suffer any brake fade, was able to exceed 180km/h on the front straight and when I got back home to my driveway, I'd averaged 13.1 litres/100km for the entire day. Got to be happy with that! Simon.

hehe thought so - I was still driving around on Sunday with the number "5" painted on my car too - I figured you'd pulled over to talk on the phone or something, but upon refletion I guess it would be a nice place to have lunch! If I see you around the streets of St Lucia I'll throw you a wave. I live near the Taringa end of Swann Road, but play various sports down at UQ, as well as shopping etc at the village fairly often. I take it 382 GZV is your rego? I'll keep my eyes peeled. Cheers, Simon.

Saw a nice black 4-door R33 parked in the Coronation Drive parking bay on Sunday Afternoon, facing the river, it still had numbers painted on the back left window like he'd been to the drags / sprints on the weekend? Was that anyone here? Yeah, I live in St Lucia, and used to have a Wine Red R33 which I have since sold, but still see heaps of Skylines around St Lucia / the Uni. Cheers, Simon

It's actually at 96 Deshon Street Woolloongabba, next door to the some ice works. Their phone number is 3391 4522. They're really good mob, a bit expensive, but if you want a job done properly.... Andrew Chapman is very straight forward, no bull$hit guy, and Deborah at the front desk is very friendly and helpful! S.

I have just sold my 93 R33 but was insured with Suncorp until I sold it - their premiums were hard to beat! I am 25 with rating 1 and over 5 years of NCB, and they were only asking me $1270 pa. The guy I sold my car to is a year younger than me (thus falling into the expensive sub-25 yo bracket) and is paying $2050 pa also with Suncorp. Honestly, this came as a great surprise to me - you would expect some specialist insurers to be able to snip something off these premiums, but I couldn't get a better deal when I was insuring the skyline last year. Ditto - I have replaced my skyline with a 1998 BMW M3 and was able to get fully comprehensive insurance with Suncorp (this time with a speeding ticket in my recent driving history) for $1650 pa. I am in no way affilliated with Suncorp! I HATE insurance companies as a rule, after the decided to write off my pride and joy first car (a crappy old commodore but I was attached to it) five years ago, and then refused to sell the wreck back to me when I decided that I would repair it myself. That was MMI though, and thankfully they aren't in business any more! Good luck with the hunt for lower premiums. It's my recent expereince in the insurance shopping around market that premiums are continuing to rise inordinately (far in excess of inflation) and that imports are getting harder and harder to insure though the main insurance retailers. I'm sure your "maturity" will work in your favor Best of luck, Simon.

Some time ago now, someone keyed my front guard with a lovely big wavy line, right through the top few layers of paint.... I put off fixing it for a while because I thought that as soon as I got it fixed that it would probably just happen again, so I didn't bother. However, I've got too upset seeing it every day and want to get it sorted out. What I was wondering was: Has anyone had much experience with small-scale touch-ups? What paint was best? Where to get it? What's the best match for R33 wine red / maroon? Tips for application? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks, Simon.

Yup, count me in too.

Ok, I'll put my hand up for the 14th of December also - sounds good.

Count me in too. Have we decided on which workshop it'll be at? I can do most saturdays, and can certainly make arrangments if I know far enough in advance, but in general, saturdays are good. Haven't had a dyno done since the week I bought my car, and it was bone stock when I got it - should be a different story now! So yep - I'm in, & any Saturday is good for me. Simon.

Kirby - u asked where I got all the mods from.... firstly, I live in brisbane, so this info may be pointless, but here goes: fmic - purchased kit from ARE (www.are.com.au) $2140, fitted it myself power fc - bought it off ebay for $1650 incl hand controller, fitted it myself, but got it tuned properly by Chapman & Chapman (Woolloongabba, Deshon street) afc-r - purchased, fitted and tuned @ C&C (as above) front dump pipe - Custom Exhaust Systems (Geebung) $675 HKS filter - jap spares in sydney via internet high flow cat - C&C about $200 blitz cat-back - on the car when I bought it. hope that helps. I have phone numbers / websites for all of the above if you want them. I'd have to look them up, but let me know if you need them. Cheers, Simon.

Thanks very much fellas for your informative and comprehensive posts. It is certainly food for thought. I'll take your advice on board and let you know which way I go. The points you've made are all sensible, and I understand what you're getting at. Thanks again. Simon.

sounds good to me.

bought my car from advanced auto imports in Albion (sandgate road, just down from the breakfast ck hotel. get it serviced at Chapman & Chapman in Deshon St Woolloongabba. They aren't cheap, but they are pretty good as far as I can tell. They've got a great track record of preparing and racing Targa series 6 RX-7's (3 class wins in 3 yrs aint too shabby) As far as parts go, I get some of the aftermarket performance stuff off the web (various ppl) some stuff through Chapman & chapman, and the very few dealings I have had with Westpoint Nissan at Indooroopilly has been disappointing to say the least. It has been my experience that these guys are complete w.a.n.k.e.r.s. when it comes to customer service: Last time I went there, they told me they don't do parts from there anymore, and that I would have to go to Darra parts depot to collect them. I asked politely where exactly that was, and was told to "look it up" and they started serving the next customer. Dealer = "Stealer" IMHO.