[sims]

Yep, Yet another reason I love Canada We have a law that stats the any car 15 years or older is considered classic and does not need to met the emissions and crash specifications. Due to this we can legally import cars from pretty much anywhere in the world and as long as it can pass a provincial safety is legal to drive and insure.


I bought something called a Celica GT-4, it’s called a Celica Alltrac stateside. The cars are pretty much identical but the JDM version has an extra 25HP and torque, 225HP/225 lbs torque stock.the extra HP is due to more aggressive tuning, it has a ceramic turbo aswell instead of steel.
it looks just like a regular Celica of that generation, but with wider front and back fenders and a hood scoop/vents.

it uses the same engine as the MR2 Turbo, the 3SGTE. Its one of the best 4 bangers ever built, nearly indestructible 2 liter turbo. That and its AWD, not FWD . Toyota actually built these cars specifically to kick ass at WRC. Any of you remember the Castrol WRC Celica you could win in grand torismo 2? Its white with red and green stripes and stuff(search ST185, if you played GT2 you’ll probably remember what I’m talking about) Toyota kicked serious ass in the early 90’s with that thing.

the car in itself is pretty rare, they only brought something like 2500 alltrac’s to US and I believe less then 1000 to Canada during the life span of this generation. There are only 3 in Wnnipeg that I know off.

I figure with the Winnipeg winters we get, something build to dominate in winter, but still has crazy potential for summer will make a great car.

I’ve been asked by a lot of people why I didn’t just get an Alltrac in Canada, let me try and explain. Cars in Japan are like toys to most owners, due to the population and general lack of space no one drives like we do over here; it’s almost solely for pleasure in a lot of parts of Japan so the cars get very little use. They also have so much pollution in Japan that they have tax law’s making it advantageous to get new cars every few cars if you do use one so older models don’t get a lot of use. Suck if you’re a car enthusiast in japan, but it works out nicely for myself. Cars there are also MUCH cheaper, I Paided 2K less for this car (and everything that’s included with getting it to the docks in BC) then the last one I watched sell in Canada and it had 150+ K on it and was in no wear near as nice of condition, it had also been through 15 Canadian winters.

The car I bought Has 43 kilometers on it, that’s like what, less the 25K miles? Its had one owner and has all the service records for the car and no accident history. The car looks amazing, Mint inside and out (the hood however does have a large scratch and will need to be painted) there isn’t even any wear on the steering wheel or shiftknob . Its also bone stock witch was important to me, I hope to do as many mods to this car as possible myself. The car took me about 3 months to locate but I am extremely picky.

The shitty thing is that I will not have this car for another 3-4 months, It was build in June of 91 and because of this is not legal for import until June of 06, it will be in storage in japan until then. I actually purchased the car in late January but decided not to make a thread until closer to the arrival date…. Then made this thread anyways a month and a half later :P

Here are some pictures of it, they took right before being put in the storage lot, it’s a little dirty and the pictures are not great, but you get the idea. . It will likely have different rims apon arrival, I’ve got the company who’s importing the car for me searching for a nice set of forged lightweight wheels for me in Japan, wheels there are also dirt cheap.












let me know what you think 

[Jackalope]

the altrak is hot, I met a guy who had one rallied out pushing 550hp, very badassed.

btw, I am jealous of yalls ability to get cool cars. i want a gtr very badly.

[ThatHideousStrength]

Sweet, but those hub cabs gotta go!

[sims]

Originally Posted by Jackalope

the altrak is hot, I met a guy who had one rallied out pushing 550hp, very badassed.

btw, I am jealous of yalls ability to get cool cars. i want a gtr very badly.

there is allready about 5 GTR's in the city right now, another 20 GTS-ts
A GTR in this condition landed will cost you in the 16-20K range stock though, they arn't cheap. Alot of people have imported GTR's for much less and they get all upset because its a peice of junk that has been trashed on for 15, but what do you expect when your buying a dirt cheap sports car.... comon sence needs to come into play.

you can however find mint mint mint cars, a guy in the city has a GTR that will be in the 550HP range come summer thats in even nicer condition then my car, he paid over 20G's for it though.

[sims]

Originally Posted by djmihow

Sweet, but those hub cabs gotta go!

Hey now! they're rims :P just not very nice one's, as mentioned i'm allready working on getting a nice set of bronze of gunmetal 17x8 wheels.

those rims will be used in winter with winter times mounted on them.

[Dustin]

Congrats on the All-Trac, awesome cars.

[Stevv]

Very nice and all, but its right-drive, is it legal to drive like that?

But more importantly, will you be able to stand it?

[Nebor]

Right hand drive?

And the top mount has to go.

[jag_e_fattig]

sweet car sims. with some nice 17's that thin is gonna be gorgeous!

Originally Posted by Nebor

Right hand drive?

And the top mount has to go.

i talked to a few guys in sweden with RHD supras they imported from japan. one guy said it only took him about a week to get comfortable with it.

i agree about the top mount. that thing has to go

[ThatHideousStrength]

Where is the top mount?

[sims]

Perfectly legit, infact a RHD car is legal in the US aswell, importing one from Japan however is not.

I don't think driving it will be bad, it will take a little getting use to shifting with my left hand, driving won't be a problem, think driving from the passenger side, I've never felt it would be hard to drive from shotgun. The pedal and gauge layout is exactly the same.

as far as the Top Mount, Screw you guys, TMIC's are the shit :P less turbo lag due to lack of IC piping, the cooling is unfortunately much less effective then a FMIC and you are very space limited. If it wasn’t for lack of room any intercooler setup would be top mounted.

Luckily for me they sold an RC model in japan and Australia that had a factory top mounted water to air intercooler that will easily handle the 320-360 HP range I’m shooting for, and it will be cheaper then going FMIC.

[sims]

Originally Posted by djmihow

Where is the top mount?

the intercooler in the top of the engine, attached to the turbo.

[superman]

gotta love the celica, i think it was the 76 liftback that made me a celica fan.

[Jackalope]

sucks that you cant go through the drive thru now...

[jag_e_fattig]

Originally Posted by sims

as far as the Top Mount, Screw you guys, TMIC's are the shit :P less turbo lag due to lack of IC piping, the cooling is unfortunately much less effective then a FMIC and you are very space limited. If it wasn’t for lack of room any intercooler setup would be top mounted.

i call shenanigans on that statement sims! the "less turbo lag" is true to an extent but the time it takes to fill the extra volume is very negligible. all the turbo volvo guys who switch from the stock intercooler to 26"x23" units off power stroke diesels actually experience decreased spool times from the higher flow through the intercooler and less pressure drop. and thats going to a unit almost three times larger than the stock cooler.

Top mounts also have a nasty habit of getting heat soaked in stop and go city driving due to it being in the top of the engine bay as opposed to being exposed to tons of airflow in the front mount position.

my two cents

[sims]

Originally Posted by jag_e_fattig

i call shenanigans on that statement sims! the "less turbo lag" is true to an extent but the time it takes to fill the extra volume is very negligible. all the turbo volvo guys who switch from the stock intercooler to 26"x23" units off power stroke diesels actually experience decreased spool times from the higher flow through the intercooler and less pressure drop. and thats going to a unit almost three times larger than the stock cooler.

Top mounts also have a nasty habit of getting heat soaked in stop and go city driving due to it being in the top of the engine bay as opposed to being exposed to tons of airflow in the front mount position.

my two cents

True be told its not huge difference, but any difference is a difference none the less, I've seen people spend tons of money for more minuet things. Plus if I can upgrade to something like a top mounted water to air intercooler witch will likely be even more effective them a FMIC then why not retain it? A loss of preformace no matter how small is still a loss right?

I’ve heard of the heatsoak issues, stock I can’t see it being a big problem, wull see what happens once I start upping the boost.

[randomtask]

Originally Posted by Jackalope

sucks that you cant go through the drive thru now...

I didn't even think of that!

[Da Lucky 1]

Very Cool.

Im planning on buying a GT-R in the summer.

edit: who'd you buy through?

[sims]

I'm importing it through A company called http://www.j-specimports.ca/

They’re based out of Australia


Be careful with the GTR’s, there is such a high demand and the car has been come so hyped over the years that a lot of companys will try and pimp anything they can get there hands on, I’ve seen people, even after spending a lot of money end up with junk.

How much are you looking to spend?

Originally Posted by randomtask

I didn't even think of that!

I extremely rarely get fast food anyways, and when I do its because i;m out with someone so it won't really be a problem, I plan to go through bank drivethroughs backwards :P

[Da Lucky 1]

looking at spending about 12-13g

do you think i could get a decent one for that price?

[sims]

Originally Posted by Da Lucky 1

looking at spending about 12-13g

do you think i could get a decent one for that price?

In all honesty, probably not. depending on how stubern you are and the amount of work your willing to put in, you could watch actions like a hawk and hope to find something that looks to be mint for cheap, but you still risk getting something thats hasn't been mainted as well as it should have.

to find something in the same condition my car is in your look at upwards of 15+ G's. I personally wouldn't get a GTR, they are amazing cars but you pay such a huge premium to get one and an even larger premium to get a nice one. You can find cars with similar preformace for atleast 25-35% cheaper.

you can get a FD RX-7 or 300ZX for example in mint condition for 10-12K. in the next couple years the MKIV supra will be avbl for import and next year the first WRX's and evo's will be for sale.

I chose the car I did because it has all the advantages of a JDM car with very few of the disadvantages. I would not want to own a car that was never manufactured here. Anything, anything breaks, you’re fucked. A local guy broke his windshield, his car was off the road for over a month and it cost him a huge chunk of change to get a new one.