Importing R32 GTR, Experience and Build Coverage
#16
06-06-2015, 03:43 PM
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Sin City
Posts: 32
Rep Power: 12 
The turn signal lever is on the right hand side of the column, I try to flip a ghost lever on the left side every time.
As far as specifics about my car that you may or may not have to deal with if you chose to get a modded or stock one. The car has a Nismo twin disk clutch...imposible to get going in first without chattering...not a big fan.
It has 60mm turbos, they sound amazing but just like any bigger turbo they don't spool until way late...since I haven't changed the fluids or tuned the car for 91 yet I am not taking it anywhere near redline so when I shift it falls out of boost and feels sluggish...even if its only for 500-1000 RPM, that short burst of turbo bliss puts a smile on my face every time!
Brakes feel good, not even in the same ballpark as the BBK I had on my E92 though.
The coilovers feel great, not to stiff/bumpy with very little body roll, feels very well balanced and solid.
Right now the car feels a little apprehensive, once I get better at the stiff clutch and feel more confident that everything is in good working order and tuned properly Ill be able to tell what its really capable of.
#17
06-13-2015, 09:24 PM
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Sin City
Posts: 32
Rep Power: 12
Update:
The car is officially registered! Not without some consternation though! Even-though I had the CBP, EPA, NTSB, and MCO which are all the documents required by NV law to title a grey market vehicle, the supervisor at my local DMV shop decided to be a grade-A 'C-U-Next-Tuesday' and told me that she would need to see the entire ownership history of the vehicle in notarized bills of sale in order to allow the vehicle to be registered. Asinine, I know, luckily after countless hours on the phone with the state registration legislators I was able to have them call the branch manager at another DMV and talk them into signing the title paperwork. So long story short, even if you have all the legal documentation, you are still at the mercy of willfully ignorant government employees who will work harder to get out of doing work than putting in the lesser effort to be helpful and reasonable.
Regardless, I have my plates and temp title now, meaning this car will be infinitely easier to sell/register in the future.
I took her into a local drift/JDM shop and had all the work listed in the previous posts performed. Come to find out the car is in near perfect shape and the shop informed me that I did indeed have a HKS GT-SS turbo kit with heat wrapped downpipes. Great little bonus!
I drove her home in the 105 degree Las Vegas heat and to my surprise the A/C was able to keep the interior icy cold (which is much more than I can say about my old 2005 Audi A4). On top of that the coolant and oil temps never seemed to climb above normal operating ranges which surprised the hell out of me. The engineering and quality of design in this car is unprecedented considering its age.
Finally getting to open her up and hear those turbos sing was a blissful experience as well. The partial throttle release compressor surge sounds like that of a big single 2JZ and the low RPM hissing gives way to a turbo whistle that seems unachievable with small twins only pushing 1 bar. Granted it has been a few years since I've driven a turbo car so I'm probably overly giddy.
Here are some shots of the interior and the plates that I worked so hard to get!
:dblthumb:
The car is officially registered! Not without some consternation though! Even-though I had the CBP, EPA, NTSB, and MCO which are all the documents required by NV law to title a grey market vehicle, the supervisor at my local DMV shop decided to be a grade-A 'C-U-Next-Tuesday' and told me that she would need to see the entire ownership history of the vehicle in notarized bills of sale in order to allow the vehicle to be registered. Asinine, I know, luckily after countless hours on the phone with the state registration legislators I was able to have them call the branch manager at another DMV and talk them into signing the title paperwork. So long story short, even if you have all the legal documentation, you are still at the mercy of willfully ignorant government employees who will work harder to get out of doing work than putting in the lesser effort to be helpful and reasonable.
Regardless, I have my plates and temp title now, meaning this car will be infinitely easier to sell/register in the future.
I took her into a local drift/JDM shop and had all the work listed in the previous posts performed. Come to find out the car is in near perfect shape and the shop informed me that I did indeed have a HKS GT-SS turbo kit with heat wrapped downpipes. Great little bonus!
I drove her home in the 105 degree Las Vegas heat and to my surprise the A/C was able to keep the interior icy cold (which is much more than I can say about my old 2005 Audi A4). On top of that the coolant and oil temps never seemed to climb above normal operating ranges which surprised the hell out of me. The engineering and quality of design in this car is unprecedented considering its age.
Finally getting to open her up and hear those turbos sing was a blissful experience as well. The partial throttle release compressor surge sounds like that of a big single 2JZ and the low RPM hissing gives way to a turbo whistle that seems unachievable with small twins only pushing 1 bar. Granted it has been a few years since I've driven a turbo car so I'm probably overly giddy.
Here are some shots of the interior and the plates that I worked so hard to get!
:dblthumb:
#18
07-10-2015, 11:50 AM
Awesome. Would you mind PM'ing me your "all in price" for purchasing and registering the vehicle? Basically, what I can expect for a similar condition car and getting it on the road.
That thing is PERFECT.
That thing is PERFECT.
#19
07-10-2015, 04:41 PM
saw this car in person out and about it was so clean thought I was back in tokyo. real nice car!
#23
08-18-2015, 05:44 PM
Join Date: Oct 2013
Location: Sin City
Posts: 32
Rep Power: 12
Update:
Replaced wheels with Nismo LM-GT2s, put on HKS Hiper-D coilovers, removed tint, installed Impul shift ****, replaced all speakers with new Pioneers, and did a whole slew of paint/chrome/interior repairs...she is as good as new now!
Replaced wheels with Nismo LM-GT2s, put on HKS Hiper-D coilovers, removed tint, installed Impul shift ****, replaced all speakers with new Pioneers, and did a whole slew of paint/chrome/interior repairs...she is as good as new now!
#24
09-23-2015, 03:30 PM
How to Register/Finance/Insure
For those of you that are wondering what you need to register and title a grey market car like a GTR:
- NHTSA Form HS-7 (DOT safety equipment waiver under 25 year rule)
- EPA 3520-1 (Emission exemption form)
- Manufacturers Certificate of Origin (confirming the build date and the car is in-fact 25 years old)
- CBP-7501 (DHS form confirming that the car is legal for sale in the U.S.) Most Important!
- Depending on your state, Vin inspection, standard registration form.
The NV DMV had a fact sheet that they referenced on Grey Market Vehicle registration, so be sure to ask your local DMV if they have such a resource, it will greatly expedite the process.
If you are thinking about getting a loan to cover the car, there are two roadblocks. Most banks will have no problem loaning to companies who have dealership license, however a lot of the importers are still working that out and while they have a legally registered business, they do not yet have their dealership credentials. So you will have to get the loan based upon a private sale. This was actually better for me because NV doesnt charge sales tax on private sale cars. The problem was banks typically will not loan to a private sale without a copy of the free and clear title, which none of these freshly imported cars typically have. So what I ended up doing was getting an unsecured personal loan at a higher interest rate, pushed the first payment due date out 60 days, and will secure the loan when the title is produced by listing my bank as the first lien holder at which time they will reduce the interest rate to a significantly lower percentage essentially revering it to the original auto loan APR.
Insurance:
Since most insurance companies will only see this car as a 25 y/o Nissan, you may have a hard time getting full coverage for what it is actually worth. The way around it is to find a company that has a collectors or rare/valuable clause that allows them to set the market value of the car. I was pleasantly surprised that for $25k coverage of the value of the car with the standard 300/100 and zero deductible, the car was only about $35 a month to insure.
For those of you that are wondering what you need to register and title a grey market car like a GTR:
- NHTSA Form HS-7 (DOT safety equipment waiver under 25 year rule)
- EPA 3520-1 (Emission exemption form)
- Manufacturers Certificate of Origin (confirming the build date and the car is in-fact 25 years old)
- CBP-7501 (DHS form confirming that the car is legal for sale in the U.S.) Most Important!
- Depending on your state, Vin inspection, standard registration form.
The NV DMV had a fact sheet that they referenced on Grey Market Vehicle registration, so be sure to ask your local DMV if they have such a resource, it will greatly expedite the process.
If you are thinking about getting a loan to cover the car, there are two roadblocks. Most banks will have no problem loaning to companies who have dealership license, however a lot of the importers are still working that out and while they have a legally registered business, they do not yet have their dealership credentials. So you will have to get the loan based upon a private sale. This was actually better for me because NV doesnt charge sales tax on private sale cars. The problem was banks typically will not loan to a private sale without a copy of the free and clear title, which none of these freshly imported cars typically have. So what I ended up doing was getting an unsecured personal loan at a higher interest rate, pushed the first payment due date out 60 days, and will secure the loan when the title is produced by listing my bank as the first lien holder at which time they will reduce the interest rate to a significantly lower percentage essentially revering it to the original auto loan APR.
Insurance:
Since most insurance companies will only see this car as a 25 y/o Nissan, you may have a hard time getting full coverage for what it is actually worth. The way around it is to find a company that has a collectors or rare/valuable clause that allows them to set the market value of the car. I was pleasantly surprised that for $25k coverage of the value of the car with the standard 300/100 and zero deductible, the car was only about $35 a month to insure.
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