Nightcrawler

Looks awesome, and the coming mod list looks perfect. Good work.

If the $600 included the intake, then it is not that bad a deal (depending on what it is). No idea on the air-con, but could be the lower part of the trim under steering wheel has been removed and put back at some point in the past (to get to the wiring under the steering column), and the air temp sensor pipe that connects to it may not be connected. ANY question you can possible think of about V35s/G35s has already been asked and answered on www.g35driver.com - I suggest you go do a HEAP of reading in the 2003-2007 G35 section for every possible thing you ever want know about our cars. http://g35driver.com/forums/g35-coupe-v35-2003-07-14/

If he charged you for that, then you were SERIOUSLY ripped off. A basic service like that should be under $200 and take less than an hour. No, replacing your air intake does not necessarily improve your fuel consumption at all. In fact if you took the stock air box off and put a pod on, then you have probably decreased performance. All the reading I have done on G35driver.com and sites like that is that unless your pod is fully enclosed from the engine bay with cool air ducted into it from the front of the car, then you are probably sucking very hot engine bay air into the intake, which will result in decreased performance.

Generally speaking performance spark plugs are a higher heat range and are suited to engines utilising a supercharger or turbocharger. They will also be gapped smaller so you don't have spark/ignition issues. As far as I know there is no need/benefit for them on a non-FI car. Yes that is AWFUL fuel economy. Get your car on a dyno and get them to look at possible causes and your air/fuel ratios. Sadly your O2 sensors might be stuffed, which is a very bad thing since we have 4 of them and they are around $400 EACH. I use my car for work so do a lot of sitting around idling with the a/c on, plus I do almost exclusively city stop/start driving, and I still average 12-13l/100km. And I drove it like I stole it most of the time

It was nice to see the 2 black ones together - we will have to get Leo to come out with us one day and do a photoshoot with 3 black ones

6). No, performance spark plugs do not increase performance AT ALL. 7). 14 to 15l/100km is very high - most people run from 9-13l/100km depending on highway or city travel. But it will only read l/100km if you have had the English conversion done - if your screen is still in Japanese then it is in km/l - in which case 14-15km/l is VERY good!

^^ excellent, so you are going to let me down on my front bumper group buy, and be a part of this? This is a bit like the headlights group buy debacle that you started then pulled out of at the integral moment as you claimed you were 'selling your car' .... nice form.

^^^ nah Eric is wrong - customs don't actually care what is written on the invoice - if you are bringing in 5 bodykits, then you have CLEARLY exceeded the $1k threshold - and THEN they will work out full tote odds retail, slug you duties on what they think the shipment is worth, and then fine YOU AND the SUPPLIER for colluding to provide a false invoice .... just so you know. Keep shipments under $1k and you will be fine, else bend over and take the duties at around 25% total as per previously mentioned. Sadly due to how amazingly hard we get ripped off here in Aus, often bringing in goods legit from USA and paying full duties you are almost always still HEAPS ahead of prices you would pay locally.

haha yeah man - I couldn't believe what he was writing - and each post got funnier and funnier. Sadly I couldn't fit it all in my sig, but at was all HILARIOUS.

Yes, I believe it is different if not a business. And by my calculation $325 on $2,000 is a 16% 'charge', and that is not including the cost of a customs broker, storage/holding fee while inspecting (which they can pass on to you), and other various charges I have been stung for in the past. From memory I don't think I have gotten out of for an effective charge of under 25% yet. Anyways, yes, keeping it under $1k per shipment is your best bet OP - that is all I was pointing out. And yes Sean, current shipping costs are INSANE - the USA has recently put them up significantly yet again.

Yeah man, but things are a tad different now - I was looking at bringing in 5 bars in one box, and as such could get the price down to around $700 each at the time. BUT postage prices have gone up significantly in the USA in recent months, and I also realised that I will most certainly get pinged by customs bringing in 5 bars (well over the $1k threshhold), so would get stung a heap in customs fees/duties and GST. So I have done the numbers on 3 bars and can get 3 landed here for around $900 each, then about $100 shipping to any capital city.

Yeah if I can get 2 guys interested at $1k delivered to their locality (not sure via what method yet, but obviously I would get the bars sent to me, then rebox them and send to you individually), then I will order asap and they will be here within weeks.

Is that right? How many things exactly have you brought in and gone through this? Is assure you - it is never as low as 5%.

I know you are trying to do people a favour here, but I hope you realise that as soon as you go over $1,000 worth of items you WILL get picked up by customs and have to pay around 25% in duty plus 10% gst on the whole value of parts, duty plus shipping .... so you need to factor that in to what prices you expect people to pay.

Go get a quote from Nengun on the front Nismo bar Shiva - I guarantee you it will be $1k for the bar, and at least $500 for shipping - and even then you don't have a urethane bar - the oem Nismo bars are fibreglass, which means if you hit them/bottom out hard enough they will crack/break. If you and Trav are keen on the urethane Nismo bars, I will check with the USA supplier on shipping times, confirm your orders, get you both to transfer the $$ to me, and we will get this happening! I can't really do anything on rear bars though, as the only way this whole thing works is to buy multiple bars at the same time to combine shipping - I already have a nice D-Max rear bar, so have no need for one.

Well if I can get 2 people interested (and willing to part with the cash up front) I will get urethane Nismo bars at $1,000 each shipped to your door.

Don't let an RAA dufus anywhere near it - last report I heard they didn't know their arse from a Skyline ... take it to a reputable import-orientated workshop like Boostworx, who know these cars inside and out.

OK nissmore .... I have done a bit of digging around, and sure enough it turns out that RISk34 is in fact YOU - how dumb do you think we are? So stop replying in your own thread using a different username, choose which of your personas I am going to delete, and grow up. Ash should we give him a holiday from the forums as well?

Yeah my wife ranted on and on when I told her I was removing dual zone to fit the dual din kit, but hasn't even mentioned it once since/noticed it missing in nearly 3 years ....

Ah yeah, you are correct. But no-one in the history of the universe would want a dodgy non-oem climate control with dodgy rubber buttons. According to all sources the Metra kits only work for a VERY limited amount of time ....

All of the replacement air con setups only have single zone a/c (no idea why). Basically every dual din kit comes with the dual zones button missing. Yours is not broken - that is just how they come. I have read of people desoldering the circuitry off an integrated Bose a/c unit and putting on the double din a/c controls, but it is a pita and not a straightforward job (not to mention even broken double din Bose units runs at $500+ if you can find one). Just live with single zone - seriously dual zone is wank factor and the amount of time you REALLY need it is almost zero. John at Marvey Tech (at Modbury North) is an SAU:SA Club sponsor (if you are interested on becoming a club member once you buy your V35), and he has worked on mine and at least 2 other V35s that I know of.

Oh, and Geoff - you should join the SAU:SA club at www.sausa.com.au - we need more V35s in the club

True, and car dealers wonder why everyone considers them to be absolute scumbags.

But that is just part of compliance. The importer will almost always pull their brand new tyres off and put some cheapies on before they actually sell the car.

These are all typical issues with any import. All of the above items were the same on my car, and it was a fresh import. When I personally imported my R34 from Japan and had it delivered to me, personally delivered to the compliance workshop here in Adelaide, then picked up by me, I had nearly all of the items and then some. I believe technically they are supposed to replace all the seatbelts and install side intrusion bars as well, but none of these were done on my R34 or V35. The compliance workshops seem to run around doing whatever the hell they want ... but what is more amazing is that cars get through the transport authority pits for their first registration with these items not done. The fines for a workshop not meeting all the RAWS rules perfectly is HUGE.