Once again, starting a JDM import process. Dangerous considerations.

"Kanaric" (Kanaric1)
04/19/2019 at 13:10 • Filed to: None

For over 15 years i’ve wanted a R33 GTR. Specifically a Vspec in the color posted or Midnight Purple. I have a no compromise budget to accomplish this and i’ve started the process. I don’t plan to do much modding to it, anything I do would keep it streetable. While a Skyline is fun to drive if I want a car that makes power from low RPM, for autocross which I enjoy, but giving me my JDM happiness it’s just really not possible.

As much as I want a GTR I also want something else. Something that won’t be too fast for me. Something easy to drive. Something that would be good at autocross. Something I can put a small responsive full boost at 3000rpm or less turbo in. I also realize that I am not an expert driver and want something with such niceties like ABS.

Yes, maybe that.

I talked with Pacific Coast Auto on what I can expect to get these cars from and these Celicas are very inexpensive. In my own research it seems they are also way overbuilt. Supra brakes, very good air to water intercooler, etc. The only thing it is missing for me I want a modern turbo, which i’ll have to figure out what twin scroll options there are. EFR 6258 would be what I would choose but I haven’t found any twin scroll internal gate manifolds to fit that turbo like you can find for the RB engines. Also no small twin scroll turbos I can find are external gate. Full-Race sells that turbo and a twin scroll EFR manifold for the 3sgte but oddly not one for internal gated turbos of a reasonable size. I would be going with Link G4 as well for management. It seems everything else on this car, injectors, fuel pump, supporting hardware, etc is all up to the task of what I would want unlike how in the Skyline GTS-T I had to upgrade literally everything.

This is what I call a dangerous consideration. Buying two at once and hoping to not drown in the costs of doing what I want with them. I believe I have the means and one night I might just do it on an impulse.

DISCUSSION (32)

Party-vi > Kanaric
04/19/2019 at 13:32

For me I’d have the GT-Four or a Mazda Cosmo.

Cash Rewards > Kanaric
04/19/2019 at 13:41

Id imagine you’re going to overpay for a r33 gtr in their first few years of availability. Buy the Celica, wait for prices to drop on the gtr, then sell Celica and buy gtr.

This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja: > Kanaric
04/19/2019 at 13:58

So many awesome jdm vehicles that I would love to own, but frankly I don’t think I’d ultimately be happy living with a rhd vehicle on a lhd continent. Also, I consider myself to be lighting quick with the right manual transmission but having to relearn the reverse of what has become impulse at this point doesn't sound all that appealing. I'm sure I could, and I'm sure it would probably be fun, but could I ever get as fast and accurate as I am now? I dunno.

MonkeePuzzle > Cash Rewards
04/19/2019 at 13:58

^ this appears to be a solid plan. I hadn’t even considered the tax on the R 33 because it is only recently available for import.

syaieya > Kanaric
04/19/2019 at 14:18

I keep flip flopping on buying an FD and making it what i want or just waiting on a 99spec in the color i want and being 95% of the way there without turning a wrench.

The price will most likely be the same

ranwhenparked > Kanaric
04/19/2019 at 14:25

Congrats. I just had my RHD car purchase fall through, because the vehicle I want is apparently on display 20ft in the air and the owner decided it's too much of a hassle to take down/doesnt want to break up the exhibit.

Chinny Raccoon > This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja:
04/19/2019 at 14:36

Quite a lot of them made it to Europe in LHD form.

Shifting is the easy part, the more difficult parts to live with everyday are tolls, parking machines and drive through places. Depending on the vehicle visibility can be tricky.

ZHP Sparky, the 5th > This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja:
04/19/2019 at 14:37

Have you driven RHD before? The logistics of being on the “wrong” side of the car/lane/windows might be a pain – but you seem to be talking about relearning shifting? It’s not a mirror image…i.e. you’re not learning to clutch with your right foot and the opposite of the shift pattern you’re used to, obviously. You’re just doing what you used to do with your right hand, with your left hand. I grew up in a RHD country and travel back and forth quite regularly, and it really doesn’t take that much getting used to. If you’re driving competitively and split seconds make a difference for you, maybe it matters…but anything short of that, it really is a non-issue. I’m right handed too, for what it’s worth.

If it’s the right car for you and something you’ll enjoy, just don’t let the side the gear lever is on be the thing that’s stopping you. Even if it is a bit of a change, it’ll be a fun challenge you can visibly see yourself improving with.

Kanaric > This is what we'll show whenever you publish anything on Kinja:
04/19/2019 at 15:02

I have a Skyline GTS-T right now and driving a rhd vehicle isn’t even slightly annoying but where i live there are no things like toll booths. Most of that shit is IPASS RFID stuff now anyways though.

The orientation of the car didn’t take me any effort or time at all to get used to. Just jumped in and did it.

Kanaric > Cash Rewards
04/19/2019 at 15:02

I’m buying before availability and storing that in Japan until it’s legal to avoid that. My importer will hold a car for 6 months. If I get past 6 months and it jumps in price then ya. I should have enough time to find a car tho.

Kanaric > ranwhenparked
04/19/2019 at 15:03

wtf? that’s a strange problem

Kanaric > Party-vi
04/19/2019 at 15:03

I’d have a 20b cosmo for sure if they didn’t just have a 4 speed.

Kanaric > syaieya
04/19/2019 at 15:05

If it were me I would get the 99spec but I want to do minimum work. If you were doing a bigger build i’d go with the lower spec car to start.

Kanaric > MonkeePuzzle
04/19/2019 at 15:08

GTR isn’t available to import until 2020. The GTS-T R33 has been for a year or two now.

syaieya > Kanaric
04/19/2019 at 15:28

Im really not looking at too much.

I love the 99 spec front, plate holder and all. The brakes are plug and play the best bang for buck. The 99 wing is just that bit extra over the early cars. And they offered the blue color i love in innocent blue mica .

Maybe a turbo update, some wheels, and some survivability modifications but that comes with the territory anyhow.

As long as i can accept the trade of left hand drive for an obd2 reader im golden.

Im not used to buying turn key cars, every vehicle ive ever bought had a laundry list the length of my arm

Nick Has an Exocet > Kanaric
04/19/2019 at 15:34

I would go R33 GT-R but the ST205 is super cool and comes with the whole homologation history. If you’re not feeling the performance of the GT-R, the historical aspect of the GT-FOUR is cool.

Kinja'd!!!

Unfortunately, the ST205 wasn’t nearly as competitive as the ST165/ ST185, which were absolute beasts .

Kinja'd!!!

12and35 > Kanaric
04/19/2019 at 15:37

You and me both. Favorite Skyline and favorite color. If I could find an Autech 4 door R33 in Midnight Purple....ohhhhhh droooooool

Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious > Kanaric
04/19/2019 at 15:48

And here I thought I was the only one who preferred the R33 most. I don’t care that it’s mechanically the same as a 32 but heavier. I don’t care that it’s not as insane as a 34 or a 35. All turbo’d Skylines are plenty fast, whether RWD or AWD.

But the R33 is the prettiest.

(Not only am I a weirdo for liking the R33 most, like you, but I was off the GTR hype pretty fast. GTS for me...love RWD so much.)

Kanaric > Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious
04/19/2019 at 16:48

Technological difference between R33 and R34 is basically in the AWD CPU which both can be upgraded by the same aftermarket computer replacement. Everything else about the car is basically the same and IMO it looks better, I think the R34 is ugly.

The big difference overall is:

R34 Better AWD Computer (which is bad by today’s standards anyways first mod i’d do is a DO-Luck AWD controller for either car)
R34 Has the 6 speed getrag which is weaker than the R33/R32 5 speed.
R34 has the cool LCD screen gauge display which i do like
R33 has longest wheel base of the 3.

Other than that they have the same engine, same turbos, about the same weight, fits the same wheels, same suspension, etc.

Kanaric > 12and35
04/19/2019 at 16:49

Autechs will be on my list but I probably wont find one.

Kanaric > Shour, Aloof and Obnoxious
04/19/2019 at 16:52

BTW I have a R32 GTS-T and it is VERY good. If I wanted to keep it I would need a RB25 swap. RB20 even with the dual bb billet wheel turbo I have is too laggy for just 320whp. That amount of power with a RB25 with how light the R32 is would be the perfect RWD skyline.

12and35 > Kanaric
04/19/2019 at 18:37

I can’t remember but I think they only made like 400? I think?

Tfitz > Kanaric
04/20/2019 at 02:30

My local rhd place (shout out to rhd specialties in Washington state. Def check out their inventory btw ) had a Cosmo but with a 13b and a manual swapped into it. Wish it had been the 20b but you can't really get too picky with a hard to find car like that

Flavien Vidal > Kanaric
04/20/2019 at 09:20

R33 GTS25T are only available since December 2018 or so...

GC8 was the last good Subaru > Kanaric
04/20/2019 at 12:41

Learned how to drive mine in Japan and had n o probably flip-flopping back stateside. This is a “ problem” overblown by people with haven't tried it.

Kinja'd!!!

Flavien Vidal > Kanaric
04/22/2019 at 18:23

One quick thing also concerning US legal Celica that I don’t think Derek has seen yet, which would explain why he defined them as “very inexpensive”... They really aren’t anymore. I’ve been trying to buy a US legal ST205 for a little while now... Prices have skyrocketed very quickly on them. The last two I tried to get went for over 1.3 million yen. They were decent, average mileage, one even had a bodykit that I would think lowered the value... But nope... I probably won’t buy one anytime soon, at least not through auction or not until I see that some money can somewhat be made on Celica that expensive. You can buy decent R33 GTS25T for the same price and I think hey are much better investments...

Kanaric > Flavien Vidal
04/24/2019 at 10:42

He said they were like 700000 to 1 million yen so you might be right.

Flavien Vidal > Kanaric
04/24/2019 at 10:52

Yeah nice ones UA legal are a lot more now... 1.1 to 1.4 million yen seems about average. I haven't seen a single one go under 1 million...

B_dol > Kanaric
05/17/2019 at 12:45

Awesome car and color, one of the best achievable future classics today. The RHD and import hassle knock it down on the project car list though - I could get pretty far into a mental 90s BMW project for the same funds.

What i really need is a test drive!

Kanaric > B_dol
05/17/2019 at 13:57

Importing actually isn’t that difficult if you use the people I use.

I just have to trust the Japanese auction inspection sheet. I already know I will like how the car drives so all the test drive would do would be to make sure something isn’t wrong. The inspections there are very thorough. Still it is a risk buying sight unseen, just not as big of a one as a US car would be with how things are here.

B_dol > Kanaric
05/17/2019 at 14:11

What’s the door-to-door cost and timeframe looking like aside from the actual cost of the car?

Kanaric > B_dol
05/17/2019 at 16:53

The company I use charges 200,000 yen which is $1800. That is the entirety of the co st of all the services and fees to get it past customs and legally in the US shipped and everything.

After that it depends on how you want to get it to your house and what registration fees are in your state. Obvious if you are in California you will need to get it modded to pass smog which i’ve heard was anything from easy to insanely difficult. My state it doesn’t matter. Any car over 21 years old doesn’t need to be smogable.