rs73

any updates?

Do you mean that once anyone do this, the airbag light will stay on FOREVER even though the ignition is turned back off, seat wire is reconnected, and turn it back on? Cos there's someone on the other thread that's got an engine error message as he accidentally tried to start the car with airflow meter plug disconnected. now it seems he has the dreaded errror message FOREVER even though the car works fine now.

Does the oem nav really need to be moved to under the passenger seat to install a dvd unit in its original spot? Is there no other space behind the dash where the oem nav can be hidden?

You're welcome. Group Buy 29 is rolling now! Orders received: - Kwyjibo - for R32 gtst front slotted rotors and greenstuff pads (waiting for payment to clear)

I'm in VIC and imported through Geoff in WA - and had no problems. He'll be happy to answer all your questions by email within 24 hours or by phone during business hours - can't fault his service so far, even after a purchase is made and the car has landed (which means he has already pocketed his broker fee for sure). That's good after sales service I would say.

That slotted. Special SAU group buy price will be sent via pm. Greenstuff rated at 650C should be good for normal street use. Hard street use - go for Redstuff 750C or yellow 800+ if you intend to take it to the track often.

Well IMHO most of the tempting priced one are normally the early 98 models which means they're now 10 years old, done close to 100,000km or even more and very much modified or abused by previous owner in Japan. If you're really picky you either need to look at late R34 model, perhaps 2001 or 2002, which are still a 6 yrs old vehicle when you think of it, but these should have better conditions than average. Remember that GT-T is not GT-R, so they are cheap in Japan and therefore the Japanese owners may not respect them as much as we do here because we have to pay more to get them. I've now seen early R34 GT-T dips below $20k although as I wasn't looking for one I wouldn't know what they would look like in flesh. But if they're cheap, more likely they're in worse condition.

have you got a pic of what the back of the buttons look like? or where the wires going to for all the various buttons (set, resume, coast, master on/off) ?

Mine only took a week. I was told by my RAW these days import approval should only take 1 week more or less. Is the car at aussie dock or japan dock? I was told if it has landed without import approval and somebody found out about it, you or your RAW could get into trouble as the car was not suppose to be on the ship in the first place before an import approval is issued - that is if everyone plays by the book.

Great to hear.. Group Buy 29 is now open till Wed 16th April! Newbies please read first post at the beginning of this thread...

alternatively if it doesn't work due to ECU issue or firmare? can the buttons be mapped to any aftermarket cruise control unit locally available ?

any update?

sKiZo - VIN sent via pm

I think I've mis-read my auction sheet. It's not 12/03 (Dec 03) but more like 15/03 (Year = Heisei 15 + 1988 = 2003 and March) Now is that gregorian's March or japanese year's March which means my car is a 2003 March model. So I should really get the 96940-AL500 for the 5sp auto gear surround!

It's small. Trust me. I had a sunroof on my r33 and nothing near as big as a other decent size factory sunroof on other cars. Probably not worth passing on the chance to buy other good cars at auction just for the sake of a nissan factory sunroof. On my old car it didn't (or hadn't) leak yet but I've been told of others who had sunroof in their car and they are prone to leaking. Might be a good consideration to get a Nissan without sunroof - save you the long term hassle. But again V35 is a newer model so you may get away a number of years before it may start leaking - which is time for you to sell.

ok, back to topic; the only few reasons a v35 failed compliance is: - previous accident repair that wasn't visible during pre auction inspection because it could have been hidden under the wheel shroud or bumper. during compliance workshop removed bumper to get access to remove xenons. this is a point where something not right (eg chassis rail been cut and re-welded poorly) and was hidden under the front under tray in a way that can't be detected during auction inspection because no one will remove bumpers for every car inspected. - buyer buys the wrong car, e.g buying a model that's not approved for compliance, e.g a diesel variant. this comes down to buyer lacks/not seeking expert advice as to what variant is allowed. - car was extremely modified and compliance workshop can't comply a modified car. by law they're suppose to destroy non approved modified parts, and if they don't have standard parts lying around then it can't be complied untill rectified. - buyer accidentally buys an early model v36, thinking it's a late Model v35. v36 compliance is Not available yet at this time, but will be soon, Not sure when. - something really wrong with the engine it didn't passed emissions regardless new cat converter, air fikter, plugs, etc replaced. can't think of anything else. but so far I haven't personally see/heard one that fails.

maybe cos the v35 is more intended for a relaxed/luxury cruiser - not a performance roadster?

Jarthel, I agreed what G7 said. From the look of it, at the end of the story you're still gonna worry like hell even if you decide to import one from Japan yourself with or without the help of a local trusted import broker or going direct to a well known exporter. Imagine this: as soon as you buy a car in a japanese auction, for a V35 you're gonna hand over at least $20-25k of your money to some guy/supplier in Japan and you just have to get your fingers crossed that supplier is not gonna screw you over. Second, if you don't get screwed in the first place, the car will be sitting on the dock in Japan for maybe a couple of weeks depending which nearest port to the place of purchase, and what ship is scheduled to go to that port and whatever space left on the ship. It's gonna be about a week to 2 weeks wait and its not something that you can ring your broker or supplier on a daily basis and ask them 'is the car on the boat yet?'. You just gotta sit back and "forget about it" that you have a $20+k of your money sitting in Japan doing nothing for 1-2 weeks, can you not worry about that? Once the car got on the ship, all cars are tied down but there are no guarantee that damage won't happen. The open sea is rough, waves can be 10-15m high or more. ocassionally something got loose and bump or scratch. bad luck. If the ship got caught into bad weather it could even sink. It happened in real life - a ship bound to sth africa sank with lots of cars on it -was all over the news a few yrs ago. When the shipping company spend money to salvage the ship & load from the bottom of the ocean, they have the right to charge whoever owns the load (that is you, if your car is on that boat) with a proportional share of the cost to salvage the ship. E.g. cost $2million to salvage, there are 3,000 cars on board and you gotta pay your share of $600+ for an example, and you still end up with a car drenched with salt water that you're gonna have to write off anyhow - cos all the electricals would've been shot and all metal rusted depending how long it was in the bottom of the ocean. The risk is real and it's there. Once the car landed, you may incurr additional charges. For example my car didn't make it to the first boat available because of the documentation delay on Japan side. Could be anything, not a brokers' or exporters' fault, the japanese owner of the car didn't deliver the keys or documents to the auction house immediately after transaction, or could be the deregistration office in japan was late in processing the deregistration documents. So my car arrived on the Australia day long weekend - and as there was no one working, I incurred a couple of days extra of dock fee. Bad luck. Lucky it's not as much as $1000+, only $100 or so. But I got a friend who imported his R33 a few years ago and he incurred $1000+ in dock fee because no one knows when his car landed and on which dock. Bad luck for him but they found his car eventually 10 days after it landed. All these extra unforeseen costs are not included in your initial estimation from your import broker as these are items that is outside anyone's control. (Including if a wharf staff misplaced your car onto a wrong area and no one can find it). Although shipping has improved over the recent years but the risk is still there. Then there is a risk the car is broken into while sitting at the docks, cases where stereos are stolen and dashboard damaged, alloy rims stolen and car left with 4 space saver rims (these are all real stories). If your car survived the ordeals above, then you send it to your workshop which may discover that a car have accident repair beyond what's allowed for compliance. Then it's another risk. You're left with a choice of dismantling the car and send for parts or re-export the car back to Japan at your own cost of shipping and hopefully you'll get a buyer in Japan but either way you will lost a lot of money. So far I haven't heard any V35 that failed compliance from those people I know, but the risk is always there when you are importing. As best as your broker can describe there is minimised risk when using a trusted import brokers. But there are always things that might accidentally got overlooked as not all car conditions are equal, the amount of time vs amount of cars ppl have to inspect on a daily basis in Japan is enormous. After compliance then you can get your car ready for local registration in your state, and the whole process can take a month or 2. In my case it took 2 months. Then you have your car sitting in your garage, all dirty from the trip and you gotta spend time to wash it all up top to bottom, inside out. A lot of effort. Then get some SA Roadworthy Certificate as it's not included in compliance, and bring it over to your SA rego office (called Regency?) and hope they don't give you trouble trying to register an import. This is where getting your compliance done properly is very important, as if you end up with some workshop that cuts corner, they may not do certain things and if the staff at regency is smart to notice things are not as suppose to be you may get problem registering. Looking at all those risk above, you can ask yourself is it worth for you saving $2000-3000 and getting very worried for about 2 months? If not then probably it's time to stop reading of the horror stories on various forums, get out there, and test drive a car that has landed with compliance plate fitted. That way you know the condition of the car as you can see it in flesh, test drive it, listen to anything wrong, and if all good - why not buy it for the right price? If you think it's all worth it and you dare to take the risk - then go for it. Call up one of the brokers and get it all started. Sorry for the long write up - not trying to scare you off, but I'm just speaking from my own experience importing one myself. It's a long process - may worth the money saved - but it's not everyone's cup of tea and not recommended for the faint hearted if anything goes wrong.

I guess if there's less compliance workshop in sa then get it complied in vic and have it trucked to sa. cost $150-250ish probably for transport. better than driving it yourself, less hassle. using a customs brokers to clear your car @ melbourne dock is recommended, doing it yourself may save a bit money but the paperwork or the time you need for quarantine, de-gassing aircond, etc etc probably gonna be a hassle.

and I don't even know where you are so how can we suggest you a compliance workshop in your area that would do it all? we're not asking for address, but at least a state (e.g. VIC or SA or QLD) might be helpful. free plug: for a dealer shop/importer - you can try Carizma or Kamikaze in Victoria. But they will still send their car to a RAWS, they're just importer and dealer. They're not RAWS. And they're probably get an import broker to get the cars for them, so it is not a 'one man show'. If you're outside VIC then I wouldn't know, other ppl on this forum might know.

I think you'll find most compliance workshop would rather concentrate on complying and not becoming a 'dealer'. Trying to be an all-in-one can sometimes be too much to handle for a business to run properly. Just get yourself started by going with any import broker, or if the whole import process is too much for you to handle then why don't you just buy one locally? Either way the price will not be way to far off and you'll get rid of the first part of headache of getting the car into the country and can shop by looking at the cars in flesh rather than just a blurry auction pictures of 320x200 resolutions only.

That's why you should use a good import broker that will advise you which car in Japan that would not pass compliance (e.g. heavily modified cars - certain accident repair - rust, etc). If you buy yourself from yahoo auctions (like a japanese ebay) then you are taking a big gamble.

LOL - I think you two should swap car. That would solve the problem. It that doesn't then its definitely not the car seat that's squeaking... Psst... it's the butt crack that squeaks...

true, if the tyre placard says 40 then go with 40 - save you lots of problem when trying to register it if the rego office wanna do some inspection on the car.

The ones they put on mine are 45 profile too. Wouldn't your 40 be a bit small ? the sidewall will be around 1.225 cm thinner on each side, which translate to 2.45cm smaller in overall diameter. That'll make your car lower by about 0.5" than others. and your speedo might be off by a further 5% because of smaller rolling circumference. The ones they put on mine are Kenda tyres. can't find much info about them, and never heard them either.