Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

G'day. This is my first post, so no flames please. And yes: im a complete noob!!

Basically over the last year or so i've been condsidering buying a 180sx. Funds havent managed to let me though. Thankfully now, they have and after having a look around, i've decided to get a skyline. Bit more comfort etc

Heres the thing, its alot of money (i plan to spend around 23 / 25K, but not much more) so i want to go through a dealer. I know i can get a car cheaper from private sale etc...etc, however i want some fallback just in case.

Having a look around its clear that there are some real dodgy yards, with absolutely crap cars (imports and non imports!)

I had a look up at AutoWorx the other day and they seemed to have some nice cars, for quite reasonable prices. The attitudes of a couple of the guys i spoke to, seemed pretty genuine. Of all the guys i've spoken to (although not a lot so far) they seem

So basically 2 or 3 questions!

1) Has anyone dealt with these guys before and what was their opinion on them (maybe a PM if bad)?

2) Any other dealers worth looking at that i may have missed?

3) Will i be able to get a decent R33 turbo for around that price. Maybe minor mods. Exhaust etc

Insurance isnt going to be a problem (although $$$)

Cheers

Mat

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/13945-import-yard-info/
Share on other sites

I've bought a few bits and pieces of Paul from Autoworx and he seems like a pretty reasonable guy. He's car are well priced (for a dealer) and seem to be pretty straight. Jeff Ash from C-red is quite reasonable as well, nice guy just very busy, again I've bought parts from him. If you had time up your sleeve and this was about 6 months ago, you could have imported it yourself through prestige motorsports (or someone simular) and had a wad of cash left over to spend on more mods. Give Jeff a call at C-red and see what r33's he's got in stock or coming in, he does get some very nice cars, there is a yellow r33 on his website, www.c-red.com.au

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/13945-import-yard-info/#findComment-277709
Share on other sites

Docile,

Welcome to the forum, and we don't flame people for proper threads:D

There are lots of good car dealers around, but the most important thing will be to get the car checked by a proper import mechanic, not the RAC etc.

Good luck with your hunt, I hope you find a nice car:D

See'ya:burnout:

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/13945-import-yard-info/#findComment-278119
Share on other sites

A word of warning, Dont pay too much, for 23 you should be able to get a very very very very nice car. Myself i would buy privately, a bit more of a risk, but the reward will be a better deal, im not sure at the moment but someone from the forum may be selling their R33.

All in all is im saying dont go to a yard and pay 30k for a skyline with a bodykit, exhaust and SAFC

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/13945-import-yard-info/#findComment-278174
Share on other sites

Mat,

you will find that everyone hasvarying opinions on who is "good". my advice is that having come this far, dont rush out and buy a car this week. Talk to LOTS of people who have bought cars and their own experiences.

Like I put in another post some time back, everyone in this scene is essentially an enthusiast. (THIS NEXT STATEMENT IS NOT DIRECTED AT ANY ONE PARTICULAR GROUP/COMPANY) Whilst that might make them enthusiatic, it doesnt necessarily translate into excellent customer-oriented-business or proffessionalism. there are quite a few dodgy cats around, and its unfortunate, but sometimes the only way to identify them is to ask people for their own experiences.

2c.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/13945-import-yard-info/#findComment-279497
Share on other sites

You're drawing a fairly long bow saying that everyone in the scene is an enthusiast. There are an awful lot of yards that'd struggle to tell you what a cat back exhaust does or what a coilover is. Probably the best guide to which yards are run by enthusiasts would be what they drive themselves.

Jash

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/13945-import-yard-info/#findComment-279506
Share on other sites

Jash.

agreed. not everyone is an enthusiast. some people are indeed crusty and pathetically un-proffessional "quick buck" types, and these guys are probably the worst of the lot. theyre also probably the easiest guys to pick.

Im not prepared to go out on a limb, because I can only really speak from my own experience, however I do know of people who have been dissatisfied by the service they got from "enthusiast shops".

My advice therefore is simply to do as much homework as possible. speak to everyone and anyone and read everything. make sure that you dont have any unanswered questions by the time you fork out your money.

be an informed buyer.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/13945-import-yard-info/#findComment-279518
Share on other sites

Agreed with Zanda.. be informed and don't rush into anything.. there's plenty of skylines around...

best way to do anything really..

even turn up to some of the cruises and have a chat with people.. there's usually plenty of spare passenger seats to go around - though don't ride with paul.. he's craaaazy.. :P hehehe

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/13945-import-yard-info/#findComment-279620
Share on other sites

Hey guys. Thanks for the info and the welcome. I've got a while up my sleeve, so having a look around is no problems. I know i could get a better deal with a private sale, but having a bit of fallback is probably worth it (its alot of money for me!). I wont go over 24k unless i really, really have to!

Looking around there are some very dodgy cars available from some very dodgy people. When i went to up to Autoworx, they had a bit of a chat and didnt really try to sell me a car (which was a good thing). They seemed pretty genuine and did have some very nice cars.

I had another look at a few cars on sunday (which could narrow the "bigger" yards down a bit...) and one seemed to have awful cars in awful condition, while the other had very unrealistic prices, for ok cars (nothing special though)

I will definetly come round and have a chat Jash. Is it cool if i just come in to have a look, get some info etc? Your cars look good and i've heard some very good things from people!

My old man is a pretty experienced (ex) mechanic, with heaps of knowledge about old school V8's, but he knows bugger all about jap turbos etc. When buying my current car (XF falcon) it took ages to find a car that was in the best condition for the right money. He saved me a heap of money and now i have a good run around car thats in immacualate condition with 150K's on the clock! Hes picky when it comes to cars, which is great in the end, but we will definitely get a proper import mechanic to have a look.

One thing i noticed though, In the majority of the cars i've looked at is that the "boots" (i think thats what their called?) around the handbrake are torn / ripped. In some cases the rest of the interior seems in pretty good nick. Is this a common problem? I guess it wouldn't really matter, would it? I'm thinking it would be easy enough to replace?

Thanks for the help

Cheers

Mat

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/13945-import-yard-info/#findComment-279933
Share on other sites

Docile

I was just in your position a couple of weeks ago. I looked everywhere. I found the best, most informative service at C-red, before you ask, no this is not Jash and i am no relative, just telling it how it was.

Unfortunatly they didnt have a Series 2, which is what i was after but go check them out.

As for the statement about dodgy dealers, yer there were afew. I am now slowly finding things that were covered up when i insected it.;) not happy!

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/13945-import-yard-info/#findComment-280212
Share on other sites

docile,

I just have to throw in a couple of words for Jash and C-red. I have dealt with them a bit when I was in the west, and you will get great service after the sale as well. I spent a bit of cash on my car after I bought it, and all the guys down there were very free with the advice and did me some great deals with parts and tuning etc, - was always a pleasure dealing with them.

Just my 0.02

PS - I am not a WA local anymore, so I hope no one gets upset me posting here. Just had some really good experiences dealing with C-red.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/13945-import-yard-info/#findComment-280717
Share on other sites

Thanks Jash. I probably wont be able to get down and say g'day until easter is over, Unless your open Good friday... or easter monday!!

I heard some more good things about you guys, today at work (woolworths of all places), so yeh things will start to settle down after easter so i will definitely come and see you.

cheers mat

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/13945-import-yard-info/#findComment-281914
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • As discussed in the previous post, the bushes in the 110 needed replacing. I took this opportunity to replace the castor bushes, the front lower control arm, lower the car and get the alignment dialled in with new tyres. I took it down to Alignment Motorsports on the GC to get this work done and also get more out of the Shockworks as I felt like I wasn't getting the full use out of them.  To cut a very long story short, it ended up being the case the passenger side castor arm wouldn't accept the brand new bush as the sleeve had worn badly enough to the point you could push the new bush in by hand and completely through. Trying a pair of TRD bushes didn't fix the issue either (I had originally gone with Hardrace bushes). We needed to urgently source another castor arm, and thankfully this was sourced and the guys at the shop worked on my car until 7pm on a Saturday to get everything done. The car rides a lot nicer now with the suspension dialled in properly. Lowered the car a little as well to suit the lower profile front tyres, and just bring the car down generally. Eternally thankful for the guys down at the shop to get the car sorted, we both pulled big favours from our contacts to get it done on the Saturday.  Also plugged in the new Stedi foglights into the S15, and even from a quick test in the garage I'm keen to see how they look out on the road. I had some concerns about the length of the LED body and whether it'd fit in the foglight housing but it's fine.  I've got a small window coming up next month where I'll likely get a little paint work done on the 110 to remove the rear wing, add a boot wing and roof wing, get the side skirt fixed up and colour match the little panel on the tail lights so that I can install some badges that I've kept in storage. I'm also tempted to put in a new pair of headlights on the 110.  Until then, here's some more pictures from Easter this year. 
    • I would put a fuel pressure gauge between the filter and the fuel rail, see if it's maintaining good fuel pressure at idle going up to the point when it stalls. Do you see any strange behavior in commanded fuel leading up to the point when it stalls? You might have to start going through the service manual and doing a long list of sensor tests if it's not the fuel system for whatever reason.
    • Hi,  Just joined the forum so I could share my "fix" of this problem. Might be of use to someone. Had the same hunting at idle issue on my V36 with VQ35HR engine after swapping the engine because the original one got overheated.  While changing the engine I made the mistake of cleaning the throttle bodies and tried all the tricks i could find to do a throttle relearn with no luck. Gave in and took it to a shop and they couldn't sort it. Then took it to my local Nissan dealership and they couldn't get it to idle properly. They said I'd need to replace the throttle bodies and the ecu probably costing more than the car is worth. So I had the idea of replacing the carbon I cleaned out with a thin layer of super glue and it's back to normal idle now. Bit rough but saved the car from the wreckers 🤣
    • After my last update, I went ahead with cleaning and restoring the entire fuel system. This included removing the tank and cleaning it with the Beyond Balistics solution, power washing it multiple times, drying it thoroughly, rinsing with IPA, drying again with heat gun and compressed air. Also, cleaning out the lines, fuel rail, and replacing the fuel pump with an OEM-style one. During the cleaning process, I replaced several hoses - including the breather hose on the fuel tank, which turned out to be the cause of the earlier fuel leak. This is what the old fuel filter looked like: Fuel tank before cleaning: Dirty Fuel Tank.mp4   Fuel tank after cleaning (some staining remains): Clean Fuel Tank.mp4 Both the OEM 270cc and new DeatschWerks 550cc injectors were cleaned professionally by a shop. Before reassembling everything, I tested the fuel flow by running the pump output into a container at the fuel filter location - flow looked good. I then fitted the new fuel filter and reassembled the rest of the system. Fuel Flow Test.mp4 Test 1 - 550cc injectors Ran the new fuel pump with its supplied diagonal strainer (different from OEM’s flat strainer) and my 550cc injectors using the same resized-injector map I had successfully used before. At first, it idled roughly and stalled when I applied throttle. Checked the spark plugs and found that they were fouled with carbon (likely from the earlier overly rich running when the injectors were clogged). After cleaning the plugs, the car started fine. However, it would only idle for 30–60 seconds before stalling, and while driving it would feel like a “fuel cut” after a few seconds - though it wouldn’t fully stall. Test 2 – Strainer swap Suspecting the diagonal strainer might not be reaching the tank bottom, I swapped it for the original flat strainer and filled the tank with ~45L of fuel. The issue persisted exactly the same. Test 3 – OEM injectors To eliminate tuning variables, I reinstalled the OEM 270cc injectors and reverted to the original map. Cleaned the spark plugs again just in-case. The stalling and “fuel cut” still remained.   At this stage, I suspect an intermittent power or connection fault at the fuel pump hanger, caused during the cleaning process. This has led me to look into getting Frenchy’s fuel hanger and replacing the unit entirely. TL;DR: Cleaned and restored the fuel system (tank, lines, rail, pump). Tested 550cc injectors with the same resized-injector map as before, but the car stalls at idle and experiences what feels like “fuel cut” after a few seconds of driving. Swapped back to OEM injectors with original map to rule out tuning, but the issue persists. Now suspecting an intermittent power or connection fault at the fuel pump hanger, possibly cause by the cleaning process.  
×
×
  • Create New...