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Okay, I need to clarify something.

I am not in this business. I was sick and tired about all the BS about OEM swaps and decided to research this topic and found people in Europe who are capable of delivering what I need. They have a track record doing the same things with USDM and JDM models for much wider range of cars, not only V36, I'm still interested in this topic just because the same swap can be done on Series 3 E51 Elgrand which I have atm.

Given the guys will come from overseas to do the work, you either need to trust them or not; any warranty will be useless here once they fly back. However, I'd imagine nobody would make hundreds of cars somewhere else and then travel for 21+ hours just to rip off poor V36 owners in Oz for $500 a car given the cost of replacement equipment circa $2k

Edited by Zveruga

Yep fedor karmanov and his people. Fully aware of him.

Point I'm making is when you present an idea someone else sees a cheap way of doing it with disastrous results.

Worse when they start hacking on harnesses and render the car useless. I'm told this is the case with this one.

Problem being is this. We both know the car is unique to japan and nothing else direct swaps into it without modifying hardware or software.

Doing hardware as we know is expensive. Doing software on it requires a custom solution that few want to pay for (and the reason I quit doing it) .

E51/E52 el grand are similar platforms to these cars but few are going to play with those. Those vans are in English in Singapore and for what it's worth I have the service manuals for both.

Now in saying that I can almost bet someone tries to swap the main controller in one and destroys something.

IIRC these problems have been happening since v36 landed here.

Many smart chaps bought random US gear from eBay and tried to replace the units and failed.

Adding more story to the list does not change anything and this story has nothing to do with what we're discussing here.

Hundreds if not thousands cars have been converted in Russia in the past few years, now we will have the same tech but with Australian-specific firmware.

Okay, I need to clarify something.

I am not in this business. I was sick and tired about all the BS about OEM swaps and decided to research this topic and found people in Europe who are capable of delivering what I need. They have a track record doing the same things with USDM and JDM models for much wider range of cars, not only V36, I'm still interested in this topic just because the same swap can be done on Series 3 E51 Elgrand which I have atm.

Given the guys will come from overseas to do the work, you either need to trust them or not; any warranty will be useless here once they fly back. However, I'd imagine nobody would make hundreds of cars somewhere else and then travel for 21+ hours just to rip off poor V36 owners in Oz for $500 a car given the cost of replacement equipment circa $2k

Now you see why I stopped.

Okay, I need to clarify something.

I am not in this business. I was sick and tired about all the BS about OEM swaps and decided to research this topic and found people in Europe who are capable of delivering what I need. They have a track record doing the same things with USDM and JDM models for much wider range of cars, not only V36, I'm still interested in this topic just because the same swap can be done on Series 3 E51 Elgrand which I have atm.

Given the guys will come from overseas to do the work, you either need to trust them or not; any warranty will be useless here once they fly back. However, I'd imagine nobody would make hundreds of cars somewhere else and then travel for 21+ hours just to rip off poor V36 owners in Oz for $500 a car given the cost of replacement equipment circa $2k

Its not about ripping people off.

Its about if something goes wrong the day after they jump back on a plane, the owner is left with an issue they need to sort out themselves with no recourse.

to be honest, i hope it works out, because the demand for these conversions will become more and more as more modern cars hit Aus from Japan,

good luck with it all.

Yep fedor karmanov and his people. Fully aware of him.

Point I'm making is when you present an idea someone else sees a cheap way of doing it with disastrous results.

Worse when they start hacking on harnesses and render the car useless. I'm told this is the case with this one.

Problem being is this. We both know the car is unique to japan and nothing else direct swaps into it without modifying hardware or software.

Doing hardware as we know is expensive. Doing software on it requires a custom solution that few want to pay for (and the reason I quit doing it) .

E51/E52 el grand are similar platforms to these cars but few are going to play with those. Those vans are in English in Singapore and for what it's worth I have the service manuals for both.

Now in saying that I can almost bet someone tries to swap the main controller in one and destroys something.

Absolutely agree.

People (Fedor and Ko, and his competitors, too) who found the way to make it spent quite some time with test cars and stands to make sure it all works. Any random guy buying stuff from eBay would just screw up his car with 99% probability. Just to say it again - it is not easy, but it is doable.

The only thing I would disagree is the uniqueness of electronics - on the software/locale side, yes, it might be the case but this is not where changes are done. The approach we are discussing here works pretty much across JDM, USDM and even EU cars successfully. Many importers of US cars to Europe (the market whose size makes our tiny JDM import market cry) have these boxes fitted for years already.

Yes, unfortunately many cars have to have their components replaced, however this had been done many times on a such widespread model as the V36, so it hardly requires any proof that it will work. The same solution successfully works for cars as complex as the R35, converting from USDM and JDM to other regions.

The turn-key solution is expected to cost US $2.5k or some nearest number depending on car type, model, etc. It is not cheap, but brings all the goodies like FM frequencies, DVD playback, native Oz touchscreen navi, steering wheel controls, like in ADM models. One need to decide whether it's worth $2.5k or not. It is hardly can be done cheaper than that, though due to the cost of components involved.

As of the E51 conversion, it has been already implemented, check this out:

Pay attention to how's lovely the English controller buttons look like, too.

The E52 conversion was known for years, as they as easily doable as the V36 Series 2, I believe you understand what I'm about. Like this

Edited by Zveruga

Its not about ripping people off.

Its about if something goes wrong the day after they jump back on a plane, the owner is left with an issue they need to sort out themselves with no recourse.

to be honest, i hope it works out, because the demand for these conversions will become more and more as more modern cars hit Aus from Japan,

good luck with it all.

Fair enough. Actually being in the first batch in Australia is not for faint-hearted and I was trying to make it very clear. Will definitely post a report on how it will all pan out.

  • 2 weeks later...

I see points in both cases here, but if you (Chris) is doing all the research because HE wants to sort it out for his own vehicle etc, then it would be kind of monopolizing to not help out his fellow nissan enthusiasts OR guide them in the right direction. If he is doing it to make a business out of it (doing the research for other people etc) then he is well within his rights to charge whatever he wants.

/endthread

To be honest I quit doing this a fair while ago. So as far as having a monopoly on it. No. There are plenty of people in oz capable of doing this but they will all refrain from sharing due to the amount of whinging that's associated with it.

  • 8 months later...

Serious question as i'm looking at V36's,

Given you'll be charging for this and your confidence in the product, i take it all work will come with the relevant warranties?

Hi u can visit my website or give me call

http://japtoenglish.com.au

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