Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

It's cheaper to export you out of this country for asking vague questions.

Bit harsh on a newb with 10 posts to his name.

All depends on what your after, how much you want to spend and how long you can wait.

The good importers call give you a rough dollar figure for what your after, match that to a local car price and you've got your answer.

Do a search like "how much did it cost to import", that should give you lots of threads to look through.

It is cheaper and if your confident in a car you can save yourself alot of money. Its also more risky and alot of work. If your not confident with the process, lots of small things can add up, you should probably get an agent to help.

guys - before everyone gets consumed in this discussion, I think you'll find the best answer is this...

'welcome to the forum newbie. I notice you posted several threads all at once, most of which were meaningless, and probably simply because you need a minimum of 10 posts in order to PM someone, or even reply to a PM. Thumbs up for some relatively innocuous thread bumps, but please - at least next time put a question mark after your statement, so that it gives the remotest appearance of being genuine. Enjoy your time on the forum and hope you got that PM sent.....'

(I know this because I had to do the same thing)

Unless you want something new-ish or rare, it's generally cheaper to buy local. Once upon a time it may have been different, but it's pretty damn hard to land and comply a car for less than $10k, regardless of what it is or how much you paid for it over there. If you're talking about an R32, R33, Soarer, S13/14, 180SX, this generally isn't worth it, because they can be had locally for less. However, if you're talking about an R34, S15, Stagea, Legnum, Supra... It may be a little different. Just look into the costs of each man! And be more specific lol...

I'm assuming you're talking about importing from Japan, to Australia, and having it complied for street use.

Also depends on if it's pre/post '88 (I think it was? or '89). Import laws and therefore costs change around there.

  • 2 weeks later...

I can confirm that it is far more expensive to import then to buy locally (I'm finishing importing myself as a type this, car gets rego'd next week). Because importing can be a legnthy process (months obviously) you end up buying more and more stuff for your car before it has even arrived (E.g Bonnet, Wheels, Seats, Coilovers, Boost Controllers, Air Filters, BOVs, Ganadors...). In the end what you saved on your car you spent on mods and then some before you can even fit them :)

Because importing can be a legnthy process (months obviously) you end up buying more and more stuff for your car before it has even arrived (E.g Bonnet fins which stick on with 3m tape, chrome hubcaps, UNIT stickers, Ed Hardy Carseat Covers, Aluminium GT wings, Fuel Saver Tablets, Screw on Exhaust Trim Tips with LED's, LED Valve Caps, Green Coloured Headlight bulbs which are inexplicably expensive considering they're for "offroad use only", RM WIlliams Mudflaps. "Spotties", "Southern Cross" stickers. "FUUCK OFF WERE FULL" stickers. Nankang tyres when they're on special. and getting the car here and realising you don't have enough money to insure it...).

^^^hell yeah. importing is wicked fun! haha (im about to import myself - am i showing yet? it's still early days though but soon i'll have that healthy "i've imported" glow about me.

and guess what else - i won't put up a thread saying "my journey" and i'm also not going to post a build thread!

original huh.

Edited by Mr Eps
I can confirm that it is far more expensive to import then to buy locally (I'm finishing importing myself as a type this, car gets rego'd next week). Because importing can be a legnthy process (months obviously) you end up buying more and more stuff for your car before it has even arrived (E.g Bonnet, Wheels, Seats, Coilovers, Boost Controllers, Air Filters, BOVs, Ganadors...). In the end what you saved on your car you spent on mods and then some before you can even fit them ;)

Haha just bought wheels and coilovers for my Cube, hasn't even gone on a boat yet!

I can confirm that it is far more expensive to import then to buy locally (I'm finishing importing myself as a type this, car gets rego'd next week). Because importing can be a legnthy process (months obviously) you end up buying more and more stuff for your car before it has even arrived (E.g Bonnet, Wheels, Seats, Coilovers, Boost Controllers, Air Filters, BOVs, Ganadors...). In the end what you saved on your car you spent on mods and then some before you can even fit them :)

I fail to see the problem with this ;)

In answer to OP question. Maybe?

lol. so did I. :cool: depends on what we are talking about importing. sometimes yes. sometimes no.

given the bloke hasn't posted again I'd say he's happy with the response. :) it would have been a bit easier to give a more useful answer if we at least knew what type of car he wanted.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • I had 3 counts over the last couple of weeks once where i got stranded at a jdm paint yard booking in some work. 2nd time was moving the car into the drive way for the inspection and the 3rd was during the inspection for the co2 leak test. Fix: 1st, car off for a hour and half disconnected battery 10mins 4th try car started 2nd, 5th try started 3rd, countless time starting disconnected battery dude was under the hood listening to the starting sequence fuel pump ect.   
    • This. As for your options - I suggest remote mounting the Nissan sensor further away on a length of steel tube. That tube to have a loop in it to handle vibration, etc etc. You will need to either put a tee and a bleed fitting near the sensor, or crack the fitting at the sensor to bleed it full of oil when you first set it up, otherwise you won't get the line filled. But this is a small problem. Just needs enough access to get it done.
    • The time is always correct. Only the date is wrong. It currently thinks it is January 19. Tomorrow it will say it is January 20. The date and time are ( should be ! ) retrieved from the GPS navigation system.
    • Buy yourself a set of easy outs. See if they will get a good bite in and unthread it.   Very very lucky the whole sender didn't let go while on the track and cost you a motor!
    • Well GTSBoy, prepare yourself further. I did a track day with 1/2 a day prep on Friday, inpromptu. The good news is that I got home, and didn't drive the car into a wall. Everything seemed mostly okay. The car was even a little faster than it was last time. I also got to get some good datalog data too. I also noticed a tiny bit of knock which was (luckily?) recorded. All I know is the knock sensors got recalibrated.... and are notorious for false knock. So I don't know if they are too sensitive, not sensitive enough... or some other third option. But I reduced timing anyway. It wasn't every pull through the session either. Think along the lines of -1 degree of timing for say, three instances while at the top of 4th in a 20 minute all-hot-lap session. Unfortunately at the end of session 2... I noticed a little oil. I borrowed some jack stands and a jack and took a look under there, but as is often the case, messing around with it kinda half cleaned it up, it was not conclusive where it was coming from. I decided to give it another go and see how it was. The amount of oil was maybe one/two small drops. I did another 20 minute session and car went well, and I was just starting to get into it and not be terrified of driving on track. I pulled over and checked in the pits and saw this: This is where I called it, packed up and went home as I live ~20 min from the track with a VERY VERY CLOSE EYE on Oil Pressure on the way home. The volume wasn't much but you never know. I checked it today when I had my own space/tools/time to find out what was going on, wanted to clean it up, run the car and see if any of the fittings from around the oil filter were causing it. I have like.. 5 fittings there, so I suspected one was (hopefully?) the culprit. It became immediately apparent as soon as I looked around more closely. 795d266d-a034-4b8c-89c9-d83860f5d00a.mp4       This is the R34 GTT oil sender connected via an adapter to an oil cooler block I have installed which runs AN lines to my cooler (and back). There's also an oil temp sensor on top.  Just after that video, I attempted to unthread the sensor to see if it's loose/worn and it disintegrated in my hand. So yes. I am glad I noticed that oil because it would appear that complete and utter catastrophic engine failure was about 1 second of engine runtime away. I did try to drill the fitting out, and only succeeded in drilling the middle hole much larger and now there's a... smooth hole in there with what looks like a damn sleeve still incredibly tight in there. Not really sure how to proceed from here. My options: 1) Find someone who can remove the stuck fitting, and use a steel adapter so it won't fatigue? (Female BSPT for the R34 sender to 1/8NPT male - HARD to find). IF it isn't possible to remove - Buy a new block ($320) and have someone tap a new 1/8NPT in the top of it ($????) and hope the steel adapter works better. 2) Buy a new block and give up on the OEM pressure sender for the dash entirely, and use the supplied 1/8 NPT for the oil temp sender. Having the oil pressure read 0 in the dash with the warning lamp will give me a lot of anxiety driving around. I do have the actual GM sensor/sender working, but it needs OBD2 as a gauge. If I'm datalogging I don't actually have a readout of what the gauge is currently displaying. 3) Other? Find a new location for the OEM sender? Though I don't know of anywhere that will work. I also don't know if a steel adapter is actually functionally smart here. It's clearly leveraged itself through vibration of the motor and snapped in half. This doesn't seem like a setup a smart person would replicate given the weight of the OEM sender. Still pretty happy being lucky for once and seeing this at the absolute last moment before bye bye motor in a big way, even if an adapter is apparently 6 weeks+ delivery and I have no way to free the current stuck/potentially destroyed threads in the current oil block.
×
×
  • Create New...