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

    • To plug the hole. The engine plant may not have known whether the car it was going into had a gauge or not. It was a long time ago and the integrations might not have been fully modern. Or they might not have cared because the extra inventory and processes to save a few cents on the sender might have cost more anyway. But please tell me you are not still confusing the idea of a pressure gauge sender, and an oil pressure light switch. The switch will be out there. In a separate hole. Probably with only one wire running to it. Running the light.
    • Blower needs to go low on the exhaust side, displacing the AC and PS, which you have to decide whether you want to keep and how and where to relocate if you do. Electric option for PS is, at least, helpful. Sadly, there is no workable 12V electric AC of any value. Whilst the blower is the last compression step before the throttle, and so it might seem a good idea to have it near the inlet manifold (as mentioned above), you probably want it to go through an intercooler first, so, having it on the opposite side of the car facilitates that air flow path. The turbo discharges into the blower, so proximity of the turbo's compressor outlet to the blower's inlet is nice. But then you might want to intercool that too, before boosting it again....which would probably be a ball ache. Routing pipes out to the front and back could be a bit shit. If there was room for (at least) a small (but preferably larger) water to air core on that side, then that would probably be the best approach. I guess a reasonable alternative would be to locate the blower where the alternator is (more or less, associated with the inlet manifold, per Matt's thought), and somehow incorporate a water to air core into the manifold, sort of like they do for modern blown V8s. The big difference here though is that those V8s have only the one throttle (upstream the blower) and only the one compression step (the blower) and no need for too much in the way of bypass/blowoff valves. Whereas in a twin charged 6, you do need to think about one or two bypass valves associated with the 2 compressors and you would prefer to have the intercooling done before the air has to pass through the throttle. You'd like the throttle to work approx the same no matter what the compression is doing. But if it is located in hot air stream before a cooler, then sometimes the air will be real hot, sometimes it will be quite cool, and the throttle mapping/response will be quite different between those two cases. The throttle, if sized for hot air, would be too large for cold conditions. It's all a ball ache.
    • Package SC on exhaust side. Remote mount turbo. Still a fair bit of room when you get creative on the inlet side of the motor too. Especially if you can get really creative with the welding, and effectively build it into the bottom of the inlet manifold. Would definitely take some design work, and some trial and error, to make sure flow works well still! Might be easier to just start with the Nissan March though... All the work is already done for you...
    • I'll sit down and get a post together 馃榿
    • The factory oil pressure sender is no longer in the car that's what is confusing me. In the Taarks adapter I have an aftermarket Bosch style pressure/temp sender and the factory temp sender only. Oil pressure is perfect. Where does the factory oil temp sender go to if there were never any gauges? Why was it there from the factory?
  • Create New...