Coming Soon

[griderjn]

i hope i am not just re-posting what everyone has already read;

but i asked a few questions and got no answers over there.

finally found this part of the forum, did not realize this place was so segregated.

I just found out that there is a very good chance I will be moving from Japan to London.

I am not 100% yet, but I am hoping that I can bring my car:

silver 1999 six speed manual J-Spec Altezza RS200z.

I am in the process of doing quite a bit of scheduled maintenance

(100,000k: timing belt and assoc parts, water pump, oil and filter, spark plugs and flushing the radiator),

and as I have already dropped a small fortune in Yen at the local Netz (Toyota) dealership,

I really do not want to sell this car yet.

Also, I am fixing a lot of small stuff, like windshield wipers, battery, alternator, possibly starter (having some electrical issues since the car sat for about two years before i bought it), exhaust is slightly rusted out from the cat back (can you say Fujitsubo?)...

Which reminds me, what are the emissions rules over there?

So, I thought I would post in here to get a feel for the local Altezza/IS200/IS300 crowd.

I was wondering how available the 2JZ-GTE is over there, as I am also considering a swap.

Although I am stockpiling quite a bit of TRD stuff for a rebuild, and trying to source a JUN stroker kit (for the 3S-GE BEAMS)

I would be very appreciative for information on importing my car;

that way I can figure out whether or not it will be worth the hassle.

Since my car is technically a Toyota, where would I go for parts, Toyota or Lexus?

I know that is kind of a silly question, but I thought I would throw it out there.

[gsportcars]

Seeing as you have the better 210BHP 4 cylinder engine i would advise that you stick with it as it is easily tuned.

You will have no problem sourcing parts for the car here. There are plenty of Altezzas over here now. To get your car through the SVA or new IVA test here I think it needs to be pretty much standard from the factory. This test is needed to get it registered as a UK car.

I have heard of modded cars being SVA'd but I would assume they are done through the back door if you know what I mean.

Toyota supply the parts for Lexus over here anyway so it would be Toyota you would go to.

As for emissions you will have no problems. The car should pass the emissions fine unless there is a problem with the car.

There are plenty of Altezzas for sale over here so you would have to consider the cost of shipping the car against the cost of selling it to buy another similar model if/when you get here. But considering the work you are having done to the car it would probably be a safer bet to bring it with you as then at least you know it is in good working order.

[F_O_R_D_Y]

if you are not sure here is the web address of the goverment department that deals with vehicle standards, it should have all the details of the iva and enhanced iva which is what your car will have to pass to be able to be used. if this proves mind boggling i would recommend contacting a uk importer for some advice.

www.vosa.gov.uk

hope this helps

[Robin H]

I think most of your questions have been answered on parts and tuning, there's not a problem in getting parts plus you've got the added advantage of knowing jdm shops in japan

I found my tezza over here so as not having the headache of finding 1 and importing it

there are a lot of auto's over here you have to look a bit harder for a 6mt

you car shouldn't struggle passing the emissions test, but your road tax may cost more due to the test being now being about emissions rather than engine size.

I'm not sure what the law is with importing cars over 10 years old is. I had in my head that they where slightly different from importing newer models

out of interest why is yours a J spec RS

[sparkystav]

No, as long as the vars still got some time left on the Japanese MOT you can import it now, modded or not,

theres a huge article on it in Redline last month.

[griderjn]

man, you guys rock!

not sure why no one replied to the other thread.

i really appreciate all the info.

oh, and Robin H, i put J-Spec on there because i did not realize that all of the altezza's over there were imported from japan.

i thought they were european spec, my mistake... i am slowly learning.

just throwing this out there, the closer i get, and know for sure that i am coming to london,

i will try to put a list together of some hard to find items that some of you may want me to bring with me.

but for altezza's, i am not going to bring anyone a japanese geisha or anything!

[Robin H]

i am not going to bring anyone a japanese geisha or anything!

bugger haha

yeah mate defo intrested in goodies you can bring over

[griderjn]

robin,

what stroker kit did you use? (RS220?)

i am looking at the jun stroker kit. any opinion on that?

how do you feel about the 295 trd cams? i have been eyeballing those every time i thumb through the trd catalog at Netz.

going tomorrow for my quick shifter kit!

i think that a stroker kit with some cams and a higher comp head gasket will do me until i can afford new motor or new car?

i already bought trd head gasket that changes compression from 11.5-1 to 11.9-1.

i am not quite ready to force induction with a turbo or supercharger.

but we have time

how high is the octane over there generally?

[F_O_R_D_Y]

i think standard unleaded over here is 95 and the super/vpower depending where you buy is 98. hope this helps

[MacRS200]

i think standard unleaded over here is 95 and the super/vpower depending where you buy is 98. hope this helps

Yup, the highest octane (from a pump) is Tesco super at 99 RON AFAIK. It is a petrol/ethanol mix, I use it in the Tezza.

[Robin H]

I'm running a TODA 2.2ltr low comp set up with boost, so can't coment on performance on a high comp set up.

I was running the engine for about a year before I fitted the turbo kit I also had a TRD 4.5 final drive kit fitted at the time so even though the car was 20bhp less at the wheels there was a lot more torque but this could also be down to the diff (not fitted on the car now)

TODA do both 2ltr and 2.2ltr on both high and low comp internals costing about £2500 I think

I'm running a stock head with 0.7 bar boost so a few mods required before turning the boost up more so I haven't even started looking into the head