Importing a Chaser

>I'm seriously considering importing a jzx100 Chaser to Canada from Japan.
>I am able to do all the work on it.
>I plan on DD'ing it but I might also just keep it as a summer car.
>Is there any reason I shouldn't import a car? >Or more specifically why I shouldn't import a Chaser?

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Don't, they are not very good. They are posers cars, driven by try hards with more interest in looks than performance

Because of this the prices will be sky high because JDM yo

Any recommendations for performance sedans? I liked the idea of having a 1jz because there is a good amount of upgradability in the engine from what I've read.

Sounds like you need a cresta

>1jz
>rwd
>manual

Well for one, it better be a fucking TourerV to be worth the effort.

For another, just do it faggit. It's not like there's a shortage of people doing it already.

Are they not nearly identical cars?

>same chassis?
>same engine

In my city I've seen one Cresta and no Chasers or Mark II's

Yeah but the cresta is a big bigger. Not by much tho.

Alright thanks, I'll look into Cresta's then

Move to Vancouver/

It's so amusing to see leafs and burgers to get so excited about old jdm cars that us, Russians have been driven for more than two decades now.
jzx100 is an awesome car. Here in Russia It's old now and mostly used by douchebags and wannabe drifters. But overall it's reliable and it's a fucking jz. You can't go wrong with it. You can listen to whoever you want to but my personal advice - if you have chance to get your hands on relatively low mileage Chaser just fucking do it. You won't regret.
youtube.com/watch?v=0KNVzS1oFrA

You can't just buy one that already is imported to Canada?
>Here in Russia


nobody cares, as shitty as our 25 year import laws are id rather have em and live in the US than not have em and have to live in Russia.

Are you retarded?

There is only one manual jzx100 on kijiji and there is no way I'm shelling out $26,000 for one of them.

Nice video

kek, this but in New Zealand. I'm about to sell my car and look for one either here or from Japan.
If you're importing watch out for hidden rust, it's best to find someone over there to check over the car first.

Crestas are sedan which means door trim around the windows. Mark II and Chaser are hardtop and the glass has no trim around it.

and that's in Canada not just Alberta

oh, I did not know that, does that make any actual difference aside from looks?

Nah. The chasers and mk2s are easier to get into without the door trim in the way, that's about it

>watch out for hidden rust
If you are buying car from auction you can translate auction sheet to see if any rust is mentioned.

Cool, thanks

I will be going through B-pro or jdmconnection and they say they will translate the sheets for me. So rust should be fine

You can translate it yourself. Google translate has character input, you just scribble japanese and it works.

I'd imagine I can't bid on or buy something without an importer, so would I just look prior to showing it to them?

you can actually. there are plenty of gray market sites for importing japanese cars. they will gladly take your money, ro/ro load your shitbox on a boat, and send it to your nearest port.

the rub is that anything can happen to your car (including falling off the side of the ship lol) and you are responsible for doing the DMV-on-steroids tier paperwork once it hits the port. also, you are buying a car completely sight unseen and have zero recourse if you bought a lemon.

so yeah. thats why people go through dedicated importers. paying the extra 5-6k$ alleviates those issues.

lol, I think its best I stay with someone that will make sure all goes smoothly

i live in the PNW and i know a couple of guys who gambled and won. they bought a couple of hi-aces/delicas and flipped them to the hipsters who wanted a cheaper alternative to the 15k VW vanagons.

lol, well done by them

It is a gamble though. Every now and then you hear of people purchasing something and it arriving looking similar to the pictures but a different vehicle with different problems.

At worse I know of a guy that had his vehicle sized because while the make was the same the model was a different name, although same chassis and everything, and customs weren't having any of it and claimed that it was not the vehicle on the entry.

Wow that sucks. While I wish I could do that and luck out I'm not willing to risk my money

Yeah at the end of the day it's buying sight unseen. My friend imported a 32 gtr to flip and when it got here it had some rust issues and some aftermarket parts that were illegal for the road, ended up spending more to fix it than he sold it for.

im super tempted to gamble every time i go on tradecarview and see the cheapo kei cars.

>muh special snowflake
just buy an old lexus you weeb

I want a car that is rwd, is manual and that I can get some decent power out of. Make some constructive comment like suggesting a model/engine or gtfo

there are plenty of rwd celica's available in the states and they are cheap.

As far as I know they dont really have great engines. also I dislike the 4th gen celica bodies

Anyways. If I were to import a jzx100 how much should I be planning to spend?

>Toyota R engine
>a bad engine

its the same one thats in the trucks from that time period. reliable af, easy to work on, and plentiful aftermarket support.

I want a decent amount of power that I feel is much more easy to achieve through something with a bigger and more powerful motor to begin with, I m sorry if I am a bit ignorant about the Celica as I don't know much about them

I have one here in the states. They are fun cars but theres a couple of things you should watch out for. The rubber bushings in the differential and subframe tend to go out so expect to replace those at some point with poly or solid ones. The valve seals on 1jzs also start to go out at around 160k kms so those will need to be replaced eventually as well.

Overall it is a great car though. The 1jz makes solid reliable power. With basic bolt-ons (intake, 3in exhaust, front mount) and turned up boost you can make 325whp no problemo. Most of the suspension stuff is the same as U.S. cars except for the front coilovers/lower arms and the rear brakes. For example when I blew up my differential drifting I went to the junk yard and got a 50 dollar is300 dif and axels. Any part you need motor and trans related is available online through north american based stores like driftmotion or suprastore. I definitely recommend picking one up. Theres a pretty good online community for any questions and concerns you might have at the jzx forums (Australia based) or jzxproject (north american).

Just whatever you do don't go too crazy with the build all at once. You'll find that certain things you'll still have to order from Japan if you want quality (or cool jdm parts) and that takes time/extra money. My car has been down nearly two years because I got over my head on a full rebuild. I have pretty much rebuilt or replaced every single component of this car. It will be back up and running before the end of this year.

Looking for a jdm sedan? Buy a fucking aristo. 2JZ for life.

only problem with those is they come with auto only so a rather expensive and relatively complicated manual swap would have to be done if thats what you wanted (stock auto ecu would freak so you'd have no choice but to go standalone if you swapped the trans). The vvti 2jz also comes with really shitty ceramic turbos that blow up after 12psi of boost. So if you're looking to make power you'll have to upgrade those. It is also 600lbs heavier than the jzx100 in stock form.

Don't get me wrong the aristo is a great car but if you're looking for a performance vehicle rather than a luxury highway cruiser I'd opt for the chaser.

If I am importing would I be better off importing a Mk3 Supra 1jz? I like them both visually equally so I'm kinda in between. The only reason I would rather a Chaser is because it can fit four. But if a Supra is that much better should I maybe consider one of those?

Cool! That's a lot of info, thanks. Would most replacement parts come off a ls300? When you say tuned up boost do you mean with a boost controller, or an actual ecu map?

I've driven my brothers Chaser and love it. It's a great car.

420whp @ 22psi on a GTX3076R.

His was originally auto and he did a manual swap which was relatively straight forward.

If you can't find a factory manual Chaser, just get an auto and swap in a r154.

Cool, I'll check that out as my local importers have a couple of automatic chasers, but nothing in a manual.

They're good. I'll outline some of the common problems. Proof I know what im talking about is because I own one. Pic Related.

Bad idle is usually caused by a dirty MAF and throttle body, easy to clean but don't break the TPS because they're about $100 to replace. As with the previous guy talking about Diff bushings buy the TRD ones they're about 200-300 but they're good, can go solid if you prefer. If you want to go crazy on defi gauges and what not be aware that's it's expensive 1k+. Rear brake pads can be an issue to get at times but project mu makes good ones so get them. Get a manual one if you can, auto to manual swap is fairly straight forward but its still a pain assembling it all and then you'll have issues with the auto ecu and power FC unless you swap to manual ecu, you'll have to get a lsd as well. It always ends up more expensive swapping. You can get swap plates for t56 gear boxes which are much stronger than the r154 which is kinda weak in terms of toyota boxes. S1 interiors look cooler imo but either way they're cool inside. The drivers window regulator sucks and probably will go bad if it sounds crap. They're not super good on fuel and in japan they're run on 100 octane, so either re tune or find a good petrol station.
Be careful with the rocker covers as they crack very easily. The trd/three spoke steering wheel goes for about 1k so get one with it if you can, starlet wheels fit them but they're a funny gray. Also try to get one with the boot already welded if you plan to remove spoiler, it's a pain to do because the metal is thin as fuck on the boot. BC br coil overs are great on it, i love mine. Dont go over 10 inch wide on the rear tires and 18 inch on the wheel is best. No more than 8.5-9.5inch on the front wheels or you'll hit the guard hard. The Exhaust hangs low so prepare to destroy it if you buy a nice one.

In terms of mods, the best initial bang for buck is a downpipe from the turbo... will cont..

cont..
after the downpipe you'll probably hit boost cut and you'll need to buy a piggy back ecu like power fc, new this can cost 1k. The rest of the setup is as some other guy said here, front mount, exhaust, highflow turbo, bigger injectors above 350-375hp.

uhh other than that... green ones suffer from paint peel and spidering, so prepare for a repaint. TRD ones look guud but if you trash a side skirt or front bumper it'll cost you mega aids. Also finding a lip for them is hard (you can use a wrx lip, can't remember which year though. If you have a parcel sub and want to replace it be aware that most 8 inch ones don't just drop in and you'll have to sound deaden the shit out of the shelf to stop it rattling. If you remove it you'll be constantly hearing the fuel pump because its right under it in the boot. On that note the boot is actually pretty small in the chaser.

If you want mad chu chu, you can disconnect the stock bov or put in a blocking plate by tracing the bov. If you unplug the battery for a while the ECU will reset and it'll have to re-learn to air flow and may stall/be shit for a while, just drive it until it relearns. It's made much worse by a dirty MAF and intake. Be careful of running a pod, its not great for them and the stock intake is arguably better.

You can fit the supra brakes for an upgrade and I think the IS200/300 ones as well.

Best wheels in my opinion are the t7r, te37 and work meister sp1....

The headlights use HID Philips bulbs and they're expensive as shit.. you can convert to halogen but it sucks when you do. If the auto leveler isn't working it probably isn't plugged in. To remove the carbon dash trim you pull on the coin holder/thingy by the steering wheel and it'll pop out, then pull from behind on that.

You'll have to get a new doubledin stereo, i'd recommend headunits like the joying ones, they're Chinese but they work awesome. You'll have to trim the dash a bit.
If you have any questions lemme know

One last cont. Dont break a windscreen. They're horrifically expensive to replace.

Wow thanks, I really apreciate all the info you gave me. I don't really have any questions aside from where the best place to buy a downpipe, do people sell bolt ons or will I be welding one up myself?

Don't listen to cunts like this OP, the best car to get is the one that makes you happy.

Well said.

No problems. HKS make a bolt on and so do a few other companies. Best places to look at manufactured parts like that is nengun, they have a giant list/range of bits. Probably worth getting familiar with yahoo auctions Japan too, that's where you'll find it cheap second hand.

oh and for standard bits check out amayama

>import GEE TEE ARU to burgerland
>everytime I drive I'm surrounded by drift kiddies and people DUDE LMAO JAYPAN N SHEIT

I swear.

What did you expect. They're rarer than lambos there.

Sweet thanks, I'm gonna go to bed, but all this info has been really great and I'm definitely saving it for when/if I eventually get one. You and the other posters have made me want one a lot more so if I do get one I'll make sure to post it.

Awesome man, looking forward to seeing it. Follow pages like JDM auction watch to see the cars coming up. They just featured some chasers

Will do, thanks

Thanks dude heaps of good info here. I was gonna do the manual swap but you're right I'd rather just get one with all the expensive stuff done already.

>canda
>RHD insurance
Prepare your anus OP

This is triggering me. Toyota R series is a shitty engine if you plan on doing anything performance wise. It's weak from the factory (both in performance and build) and It's not overbuilt like the JZ series, and the 2nd gen celicas are a terrible chassis. Structurally weak, and very little aftermarket support compared to other cars for the price. Also, he's a leaf so importing cars isn't weeaboo there. I'm not mad user, just disappointed

From what I remember prices for clean JZXs before importation are pretty low, only if you're buying one already imported do the prices climb

You have to wait till 2021 to import one as that's when the first ones will be 25 years old, unless you aren't a burger.

that seems like a lot of effort just to get it crushed :^) florida I assume

Is it really that much worse?
One of the guys I asked said 12-14k, I'm not sure how reasonable that is
leaf

Not OP, but what are the automatic versions like? Utter shit or bearable?

Autos are good for a daily but don't expect to keep up with the manuals. It kills the fun of the noise too. It's called the a341, you can get a shift kit from MV Automatics in aus which makes them handle power better and shift hard but its not like a semi auto where you can "paddle shift it" you'll have to move the gear lever all the way up to D. Above 300hp you'll need a separate oil cooler for the trans. Overall they're fun but no lsd and no blipping to down shift which is heaven in these cars.

yep florida titled. Daily drove it for a long time and even got pulled over in it. No issues.

How'd you get it into the states? I want to get one here but I feel they catch it on the boat