Beer Baron

he said it broke a block (stock one) and THEN rebuilt with a GT block.

having seen plenty of cracked RB26 blocks I would personally be going for a N1 block if you are after a genuine 400awkw. either that or if on a budget try and get a early model (89 or early 90) R32 GTR block. They are slightly better than the later blocks but make sure it's in good health and at most on it's first oversize. considering the cost of a new standard block vs a new N1 block it's no contest in my eyes.

maddowse: do not e-stalk other users around the forum for the purpose of posting crap in old threads. if you do it again you will get some kind of ban or moderator preview on your posts. let it go, enjoy the forum and consider this your 'friendly' warning...

sound advice backed with actual real world first hand experience. what more can you ask for? anyway, as above importing is no longer an option so in this case the choice is made for you.

all I can say is this. you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink. you can give a man some bread and he'll be fed for a day, show him how to make bread and he'll be fed for the rest of his life. or you can light a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day, you can light the man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.....

well done mate. great effort and like you said by doing it yourself you've learned lots. It's quite a nice design too.

lol. yeah they are the best ones. when you get folk telling you the way it is. you explain it's not possible to import xyz model, or not financially viable due to various factors and you get "nah, my mates cousin has done it heaps of times and makes heaps of cash doing it", or "that's not what I heard. my mate says it's easy and I can import anything". that is when I say, "sounds great, go right ahead. I must be mistaken"... whilst thinking "what would I know I've only been doing it for 10 years...arseclown!"

everyone is different. the only way to get an answer is to get ahold of one and drive it for yourself. some will say yeah it's fun. some will say it's boring. not everyone wants the same stuff out of a car. do I think it's fun to drive? yes I do. but I also enjoy a lot of other cars... I think a 1984 alfa GTV6 is fun to drive too. it has a de-dion rear end with rear mounted transaxle, 200hp V6, RWD and great balance and sounds fantastic. it's about as far from a GTR as you can get but I like them both.

they are a comparatively low quality cast wheel. most likely the quality of the powdered metal they use and the make up of that alloy is not good. it may not be entirely suitable for the purpose. apart from the casting process the make-up of the material used is pretty important. the fact is you don't have to search too hard to find stories and pics of these type of wheels that have failed without any mis-use or accident. I can't think of one incident I've even heard of a TE37 of the like failing without a BIG accident to go with it. even the cast volk wheels and the other japanese high pressure cast (aka semi-forged) wheels seem to last very well. like I said they are built to a price and as with lots of things in life you pretty much get what you pay for. for the money they are not a bad wheel but personally for track use I'd go with something forged or at the least a japanese made high pressure cast wheel. with the weight on them and the forces they are subjected too they need to be strong. for a basic street car I wouldn't have a problem using the rota wheels or any of the other similar brands that make wheels 'inspired' by other brands designs. at least you paid attention and caught the failure before you had your car damaged or even worse were injured.

ok, I found an app I like the look of. it's the F1 2010 timing app. it looks awesome with live timing for all the races plus you can re-watch any previous session (for instance if your broadcast is delayed you can start the timing when it suits you). it has all the sector time splits, shows who's doing fastest sectors, fastest laps etc. and shows all the cars track positions too. it looks awesome and the reviews are great too but the downside is it's $40 and is only valid for 2010 (you have to re-buy in 2011 etc). I would buy it no question if we were at round 1 or 2 but since we are about half way through the year you'd think they could drop the price to say $20 or $25? does anyone on here have it or even better anyone have a free alternative that is any good?

quote = .. after a session at WP i noticed both of the front rims have a spoke which is cracked all the way through.

which volk racing rims? forged or cast? would love to see pics of that. personally i've never seen this kind of thing happen with a TE37..... I have to say I'm not surprised to see the rota cracked. they are a cheap wheel built to a price. for the money they are good value but in no way are they are high quality top strength wheel. I certainly wouldn't head out on track with them. I've certainly never had it happen with any BBS wheels I've run on various race cars either...

they are built and sold to a price. I would say you would have no problems with it lasting but is it as good as the japanese made exhausts? not in my eyes. another factor often overlooked is sound. most of the exhausts made in china are built to fit a certain model car with a certain pipe diameter and that's it. they most likely have never even laid eyes on the model of car it's going to be fitted too so how it sounds is a lucky dip. the wall thickness, the position of bends, the radius and angle of bends, the number and type and position of mufflers all have an impact on how the exhaust sounds. to my ear the xforce and similar exhausts are easy to pick. and do not make a sound I'm all that keen on. try something like a nice japanese made stainless or even titanium exhaust and they fit beautifully and sound amazing. but you need to be prepared to pay for it. if quality is your ultimate aim then you'll need to pony up and pay for a nice japanese or custom made system. if you just want a basic exhaust that will flow well and not cost a lot then xforce is for you.

lol. good story and sadly one that happens or nearly happens a lot. how many times have you seen people make that 'discovery'? one day they look up car prices on a UK car sales type website. then they realise you can import cars to australia. they then tell you their awesome idea of how they can get an M3 for $20K in the UK and should be able to sell it here for $60K. you then explain about import rules, SEVS, compliance, duty, GST, LCT, CAF, BAF, FOB, WTF... and watch their face sink...

*cough.......... your mate has had the 'awesome' idea that people have been having for at least 25 years that I know of. and that is "hey, I know of someone in japan I'll import cars and make millions". I have no idea why he would want to use the personal import scheme to bring in cars that are on the SEVS register. I guess he thought with a mate in japan he is one up on all the poor fools limited to doing SEVS imports and he can take full advantage of this awesome connection and do a "personal import" instead.... never mind that a PI application is 10 times harder than the sevs VIA application which takes a couple of minutes. makes absolutely no sense at all. if you are doing a personal import then for gods sake make it something different and otherwise unavailable like an NSX. people are not exactly queuing up to buy a 34 or a V35 there are shitloads of them. Consider that to successfully do a personal import the mate in japan would have to transfer the rego into his name, and all that that entails (getting a parking space etc), and keep it rego'd for at least a year then he can apply for the personal import approval and ship the car. I say at least a year as any holidays etc outside of japan they will deduct off his 1 year of ownership. there is lots more but that's the basic gist of it. and that only takes care of the first car. now that the personal import scheme is much more restrictive on how many personal imports you can do in a set period of time it would be even longer before he could do the second one. anyway forget about personal import. it's silly in this case and chances are he didn't even understand what that means. there is a very simply solution which has already basically been outlined. he needs to do a SEVS VIA application and do it post haste! very lucky he bought cars that are on the SEVS register and with plenty of compliers doing them. I doubt he was actually going to do a personal import at all. most likely he just used the term as he thinks that's what he's doing as opposed to 'commercial import' or 'dealer import'.

no you couldn't. doesn't matter if it's from canada or west africa for that matter. same rules apply. even if it did make a difference (which is doesn't) LHD would just make it even more of a hassle. they are not exactly a big dollar car over here. there is a big range in price but a early 90s turbo model is $10K and up and a non-turbo under $10K no problem.

lol. makes me think of the 'rad' 80s song the evening... "in the evening, the real me comes alive.... it's magic! you can feel it!" I do love internet magic.

I should have also mentioned along with the f**kheads in every corner of the industry there are also some fantastic people in the industry. I have worked with amazing buyers/agents/exporters in japan who work like champions for small amounts of money and know cars like no one else. I've dealt with great car dealers in japan who find the most amazing cars and are actually honest in their impressions. I've dealt with dedicated brokers who perform fantastic work for their clients and go above and beyond their small fees. I've dealt with compliance shops that charge a fair honest price and do safe, prompt, appropriate work. I've even dealt with a dealer or 2 in aus that were ok.... so yeah whilst the f**kheads are wrecking things with their bullshit there are still great people that I am happy to work with.

it's verizon. it's supplied by the gov for us. it's my work connection. sadly home connection is not as manly but I can tell you things are pretty damn 'zippy' at work! it's like an interweb intravenous!!

holy roflcopter! just tested again and DL is now through the roof!

just tested my connection. humming along nicely atm! upload is mega! will do home later.

LHD rules are actually a state thing. it varies slightly from state to state what exactly is required. check with the state department of transport body in the state in which you intend to register the car. if you can easily satisfy the requirements of 'personal import' then I'd suggest going that way. the approval process is a little more paperwork but after that it's easier. otherwise the pre-89 rule will still suit you. just look into the rules on LHD vehicles in the state you are moving to.

want to know what is killing (or has already killed) the import industry in australia? it's f**kheads. simple. everyone loves to blame someone else. workshops blame brokers. dealers blame workshops. brokers blame dealers but in actual fact there are f**kheads in every corner of the industry just like there are in the rest of society. there are f**khead brokers with no clue ripping people off by doing bugger all for their fee, there are f**khead dealers who buy masses of cheap cars, screw everyone they deal with for that last cent, wind back kms and charge top dollar, there are f**khead compliance shops who overcharge for work not done, damage cars and just plain lie, there are the f**khead buyers who want every car as cheap as 'their cousin' can buy it for from his 'mate' and they pay late for work etc, there are f**khead legislators too who act without proper consultation with the general public. The target that 'brokers killed the import industry' I think is off the mark. yes f**khead brokers damage the industry just like f**khead dealers, f**khead compliers and f**khead customers do. Brokers initially brought some good things to the industry. For years the vast majority of imports were imported, complied and sold by dealers with little to no transparency in the process. and a mark-up of 100% or more was not un-usual. People charging $40K for a R33 GTST and making $20K profit was what spawned the call for brokers who would guide people through the system for a flat rate, transparent fee. Had dealers been a bit less gung-ho with pricing in the late 90s and early 00's there would be bugger all people importing cars by any other method. Expecting $20K profit on a $40K car was just out of whack and when people found out about it (thanks to the internet) they were pissed off. some great posts by import monster in here too.

lol. anyway, car looks nice mate. i'm sure it'll be good fun.

add angry birds HD to that list. must have for ipad or iphone. will try the others. the marvel comics app looks awesome too.