Yet Another Importing Journey Timeline!

[UnCo]

Timeline of Events

23 June - Enquired with Prestige Motorsport and Jspec about importing.

- Received a reply from Geoff at Prestige with lots of information and FAQ, was given a trial of his auction system to look at for 7 days.

26 June - After a few days of trial I was sold on his services and signed up to begin searching for my car. Paid the Prestige Motorsport service fee and starting deposit.

12 July - Found the car I wanted, made a successful bid.

22 July - Payment received by supplier in Japan

25 July - Refunded initial deposit from Prestige Motorsport

29 July - Organised compliance to be done by SSV.

- Import Approval applied for by SSV.

- Organised Transway Logistics to handle customs.

30 July - Car boarded the Splendid Ace from Yokohama, Melbourne bound!

6 August - Received Bill of Lading from Japan docks, forwarded to Transways.

10 August - Splendid Ace docks at Brisbane

12 August - Splendid Ace docks at Sydney

- Received Import Approval from SSV, forwarded to Transways.

14 August - Splendid Ace docks in Melbourne!

18 August - Enquired about what was happening with the car as I hadn't heard anything. Was told they were waiting for more documents from me before they could do anything and that storage costs may have already been incurred. I sent the required document again to Transways. They lodged for customs, sent me the invoice, payment for customs duty/GST/frieght/port service charges etc all paid for.

19 August - Received a call from Transways telling me customs had put my car on hold and wanted proof of payment for the vehicle over in Japan. Dug up old transfer proofs and forwarded to Transways.

20 August - Car is taken to customs and quarantine and passes

21 August - Arranged to have the car taken from the wharf by tow to my house in the morning, first attempt was a futile one with the people there claiming they lost the keys. My tow guy had to leave for another job. The people at the wharf called my tow guy later in the day to say they found the keys (another tow truck driver grabbed them by accident) and so my tow went back again to collect the car. Unfortunately he had to charge me for double for being called out there twice. Not my fault

But happy I finally got it!

27 August - Took the car in to SSV for compliance, seemed like nice people there. No joyrides in the car either coz the odometer didn't change (I'm paranoid about this kinda thing after a friend's car got written off during compliance not long ago). They finished the car and I picked it up in the afternoon.

Current Status: Awaiting compliance plates, booked in for roadworthy certificate and booked in also at Vicroads for a registration appointment next week.

Will keep it updated for those who are deciding on whether or not they want to go through the same process

[ACTIVE-LSD]

Heyyy! nice write up UnCo and gtr bro! is the car still a virgin? I'm currently exactly in your postion at the moment. my car arrived on the 23rd, which was a saturday. had to wait till monday for the depot to resume work. custom clearance and quarantine only took 1 and 1/2 day. picked up my car on tuesday late arvo. then wednesday morning was straight to the compliance workshop. so i'm assuming they finished compliance process already (thursday). now just waiting for the plates to arrive. from here on its the waiting game

getting it registered on-road shouldn't take very long (i think). just need to fill in a few forms, pay the damn rta, grab your plates and off we go dori dori!

[hanyou]

how long did the compliance plate take to get to you?

[mxfly]

That's awesome mate, congrats.

And much like my car as well

[R32 Driver]

I would of thought theres plenty of GTRs in VIC to pick from

looks shhhhhhhmick!

[UnCo]

Thanks guys, sorry for the late update but here we go!

1 August - Took the car in for roadworthy, only 2 issues. Rear washer jet needed to be re-aimed and front brakes needed to be machined. So got them fixed up and the car was given the green light at roadworthy

2 August - Compliance plate arrived, SSV contacted me to let me know.

5 August - Took the car down to SSV to get the plate fitted, then went straight to Vicroads for the vehicle inspection and registration.

- Now the car is officially on the road and ready to go I love it so much!

I guess that's the end of the journey now!

Sorry I can't update the first post to include these final steps..

Hope this has helped people who are deciding on importing or not, feel free to ask questions!

Edited September 7, 2008 by UnCo

[moo007]

Hiya,

Did you apply for an unregistered vehicle permit to drive the car around before it got registered or did you have to tow it around to get all the things sorted? The GTR looks sweet as!

[JUN R33]

More Photos!

[UnCo]

Yeah I got myself an unregistered vehicle permit from Vicroads to be able to drive it around while I was getting the car complianced and roadworthied.

One thing I found out.. I originally got a 7 day permit thinking that was enough. That cost $44.60.

Then I got a further 6 day permit which cost $44.60 as well. I think it's a set price? Permits can be issued for up to 28 days length so I suggest getting a longer one rather than a few short ones to save on costs.

Okay here are a few more photos!

Now I have a question!

I ordered a BNR34 front grille badge from Just Jap and received it in the mail not long ago. It's just the badge, no screws, no mounting parts or anything.

I'm really baffled as to how the front badge attaches on to the mesh. I had a look at another 34GTR and it looked to have some kind of plate on the rear of the mesh which held it on?

Am I supposed to use self tapping screws because it doesn't feel like there is any thread pattern on the inside of the mounting holes on the rear of the badge. I tried and it started to crack the plastic so I quickly stopped..

Edited September 8, 2008 by UnCo

[mxfly]

There is a backing plate as well as screws which are attached to the badge. You can order them.

Btw if you're headlights are a bit brown, get some car polish, cloth and some good elbow grease. It worked for me

And I just noticed you've got a Nismo front bar as well, Im jealous... lol

Edited September 8, 2008 by mxfly

[JUN R33]

Congratulations to both you and Eugene for owning 2 great BNR34 GTR's.

Both of you now officially sux!

[UnCo]

Oh, I didn't receive any backing plate or screws with the badge... are they supposed to come separate? Do you know if I can order it from here somewhere, or does it have to be from a Nissan dealer?

I already gave the headlights a once over with some polish after taking those photos, they turned out pretty darn good thanks for the tips!

[mxfly]

The support plate and screws have a separate part number so you'll need to get those separately.

[mxfly]

Actually I had a good look tonight behind the badge. The backing plate is part of the mesh, well at least mine is anyway.

[JUN R33]

off topic but, when are you going to show us what amazing work Polish Doc did on your GTR recently Eugene?

[UnCo]

Actually I had a good look tonight behind the badge. The backing plate is part of the mesh, well at least mine is anyway.

Oh thanks.. I might have to go to Nissan to ask them what the go is. It looks like my mesh is aftermarket so maybe that explains it. Damn I want to get it on there!

Okay now that the importing process is finished, I've lined up a few things.

AVC-R and RSM are getting installed on Friday along with a dyno tune (I don't know where to mount them.. most likely in the glovebox for stealth?)

Window tint on Sunday

Dyno day next Saturday 20th

Trackday at Winton Raceway on the 28th

Maybe Sandown on the 11/12th October

Then I'm done until November coz I'm off to Japan woohoo!!

Can you guys recommend a good detailer in Melbourne? I need to get the car cleaned up a bit, it's got a lot of stubborn tree sap from Japan and I'd like to get a few swirl marks out.

PS. I'm broke as hell now lol..

[mxfly]

Can you guys recommend a good detailer in Melbourne? I need to get the car cleaned up a bit, it's got a lot of stubborn tree sap from Japan and I'd like to get a few swirl marks out.

PS. I'm broke as hell now lol..

If you're after one of the best detailers in the business, pm polishdoc. He came to Sydney just to do detail 2 cars.

[mxfly]

off topic but, when are you going to show us what amazing work Polish Doc did on your GTR recently Eugene?

Here you go Gav

http://www.detailparadise.com.au/modules.p...opic&t=3395

[JUN R33]

Cheers Eugene for the link.

[gtr13]

the nismo front bar that you have does not come with the backing plate that the badge sits on and can be screwed into only the stock front bars have this but you should be able to some how mount it on unless you want to swap back to a stock front bar i would be happy to take that nismo bar off you and give you my standard bayside blue one