I already knew that! but why burst anybody elses bubble.....+ this passion is just as if not more extreme in OZ & the UK ! anywhere else?

 

gonna go down the line and try to answers most of the Q's

Like i said i just picked the car up over the weekend, but so far the car has:
-Apex'i GT spec down pipe
-Apex'i N1 cat back
-Apex'i test pipe (no cat)
-Apex'i Intake kit
-Apex'i N1 Pro 52mm coilovers
-Nismo front strut tower bar w/ master clyinder brace
-Nismo rear strut tower bar
-Apex'i GT spec FMIC (not on the car in the pic's) did't have the time...
-Apex'i Power FC (not on the car yet)
-Apex'i AVC-R boost controler (not on the car yet)
-Nissan N1 headlight housings (black, lightweight headlight housing's also not on the car in the pic's)
oh..And the wheels SSR's Competitions 18x9.5 (16.2lbs!) with 265/35/18's all the way around

I still need to get the FMIC, Power FC and boost controller on the car, then i can up the boost from stock, .7bar to about 1.2 bar, re-map the factory japanese fuel map, pull the factory top speed limiter (120 mph). after proper tuning i'll be right at or a little over 400awhp, so tuning will give me about another 100 whp. so it will really wake the car up.

but. yes, I defentally have plans to make BIG, BIG power, actually working on something now.........but you'll just have to wait and see.....

BAZ, here's the basic walk through...Over a year ago i went to MotoRex to look at some GTR's I had a budget that i wanted to stay in or around as close as possible..(50K) so that put me in the R32 and R33 price range. R34 start at about 89-90K. They had some 32's and 33's their and I looked around. It's just really personal preferance from their and what u want to do with the car....got to drive a stock 32 and 33, and i was sold...so i told them that i wanted one.....
The search begin's....(for 500 bucks) they have scouts in Japan that search for the car that you're looking for...year, color, miles .ect....
over the next few months i got several calls from the shop, "we found a black 91 with this many miles, we found a white 94 with this many miles........and so on.." until they told me about my actual car....the i said "do it"....
then you go back to the shop and fill out paper work, they require 13% of the total value car up front, but i knew that the shop had to use their own $$$ to buy the car in Japan first so i said "if i give you more up front can we bargin more on the final price of the car" Of course we can....b/c it's less money out of their pockets....so i gave them half up front..
that was at the end of July last year.....and they told me that the car would be ready in 3-4 months...
Yeah right!!!
two months into it the shop told me that it would be ready on the 15th of November...
Nov 15....no car...
i would call the shop and they would not take my calls. for weeks...
then i'd finally get ahold of them and they would just tell me a few more months...
then they told me it would be ready by the end of January.....nope...
the car was in the states by late August...but it was just sitting in Custom's warehouse....
Custom's, EPA, and DOT also have mandatory hold that they place on the car....
My car sat in the customs warehouse for about 7-8 months... don't ask me why b/c no one ever gave me a stright answer...or they just didn't know..???!!!
I flew in to see the car at the warehouse just to make sure i was actually getting an acutal car!
the car made it to their shop by late Feb early March..
they then start the modification process to make the car EPA and DOT cirtifiable.
they have to weld 5 extra cat's in the exhuast to pass emmissions, they change the spedo from khm's to mph, put extra crash bars in the door's ect... then they send out paper work saying that they have completed all the mod's and wait for the registration papers to come back....
The shop would tell me, we have all the mods done were just wait to hear back from the DOT and EPA....
oh...!!! and did i mention that when i saw my car for the first time it had 17K more miles that what we aggreed on!!! I was pissed!
In the end, I got my car, when i went to pick it up....i noticed that they had not completeled a single mod to the car that is required by the DOT or EPA....!!!!
Turn's out that they tell them that they have all the stuff done....if they don't send someone to check the car GREAT we get the release papers,, if they do send someone out......then they do all the mods, last minute.....So, my car is un moded....(which i actually perfer b/c it's add about 100lbs, and i like the khm speedo!) I have a temp tage on my car that is good for 6 months!
and sould get my paper work in the next couple of weeks...

Granted this is much more stressfull than you can ever amagine. and their is many other little things that i haven't gotten into...but the car is absolutly awsome!
if I would have known at the beginning that it would be this much of a pain in the *** i wouldn't have done it...but i stuck it out. and I am one happy man!
If you plan on getting a GTR your self....give your self 2 years.....if you get it sooner......lucky you!!!
b/c their are several guys that have waited over a year....
I just called twice every week and bugged the hell out of them....!!! I guess it paid off!

Jet864: Look around their's lots of info on Dad's SC on this forum....

here's some more pics'

enjoy

Paul

enjoy!

 

Actually!! after the ending of the R34 in 02 the R32 became the most desireable GTR to own, due to the fact that it was the original...
finding a clean 32 in Japan is considered a gift!!

 

Oh my god!....hope you got an even better discount by this time?

 

WOW! It sounds like the conforming process is just a bunch of expensive paperwork and bribery for the gov't! Personally, I wouldn't want a conformed car either if I didn't have to. Amazing the prices Motorex changes for doing......what? Sure, the importation costs time and money. And the car sitting in customs for 7 months! WTF! What are they doing to it.....quarantining for SARS??? I'm sure there is a legitimate waiting period, like 30 days or something, but 7 months is pure BS. Glad you stuck it out. I bet you'll never sell that car. So when the feds send you the registration paperwork, then you'll get your VIN? Is your insurance expensive? (it will be if you tell them your HP figures! ) Looking forward to seeing the results of those mods!

 

That is one sweet R32 you got yourself man!!
Congrats Paul!!

 

Wow, they do things a lot different in Arkansas(or at least did 5 years ago, I don't know what their requirements are today to become a dealer) than they do in Florida.. where I am a licensed, Bonded & Insured Dealer. In Fl you cannot call a "storage shed in your yard" a "dedicated structure for business" due to zoning. In Fl your "car lot" has to be commercially or Industrially zoned so you can't use your residence or any part of your land in any way to setup a Dealership because it's not zoned for that type of business(Car Dealership). Also in Fl you need to be Bonded($25,000) and Insured through a Garage Liability policy...

In Fl it definitely cost more to start and operate(don't forget you actually have buy your inventory & pay for advertising, etc...) a dealership than to conform one JDM car to US standards(trust me) but I didn't open a car Dealership just to import JDM(or other non US) vehicles and drive them(that wouldn't be cost effective). If I do decide to import one and drive it around for as long as I want I can without any hassle whatsoever though... and then I could just sell it to another Dealer if I felt like it.

 

Having lived in Florida as well, I don't doubt your statements, as Arkansas is definitely different in lots of ways. When I was speaking of car lots in front of people's homes, that only occurs in rural areas, where there is no zoning. Even in Arkansas cities, that would not be permitted. However, I do know that AR is not as regulated as FL, at least it wasn't then. So, I realize that getting a dealers licence on the cheap would only work in certain areas. States like Florida, California, NY, etc, would certainly not qualify as cheap in any way when it comes to owning and operating a business.

 

Beautiful R32 buddy! A couple of my friends here in Australia have R32's and R33's (obviously popular here), oh yeah, also doesn't the A'PEXi Power FC control the fuel map?

I had my fun with an R34 GT-t up against my Soarer... opened a can of whoopass heheh

Jose

 

Wow! Nice car! I've always wanted a R32, R33, R34 GTR. I guess i just have to wait till 2007 when they bring the GTR here as an infiniti. Cant wait!

 

Wowm congrats on a beautiful and rare car!

 

Yes it does, mines going in this week!

then i'll be able to get rid of and restrictors, up the boost and re map my fuel.......more power...here i come!

thanks again everyone for the comments!


and as soon as the SC gets out of the shop (3 months) i'll post some vid's of the cars going head to head!!


take care,

Paul

 

Now that sounds like must see TV!!

 

Not been here for quite some time.
Hope you are well paul, any news, or updates?..i was intrigued to see how you got on, especially the final outcome with motorex!!
And yes i STILL have my soarer here in the U.S.A.

Baz.

 

Nice car any mods done to the car? I just realized this is 8 months old.