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Hello!

I am looking for someone in Sharjah/Dubai who can provide me with reliable information regarding JDM half cuts, full engine swaps, front end conversions, seats, and other sundry items availability and pricing as a possible business venture for other markets in North America and Europe. Honesty and complete disclosure is paramount. I will provide my shopping list, and God willing, the answers I get back would prove fertile enough to go further. The arrangement would have to be where both parties are making decent margin on volume. I live and work full time in Bahrain. I would come there myself, but as soon as those shop guys see me (Japanese/Scottish-American guy), the price jumps, and that's what I want to avoid. I'd rather show up at the deal closure with the cash in hand with my partner and smack it down hard that future deals will come on a regular basis as long as there are no tricks or sleight of hand.

If this fits you, please PM me. If you have recommendations on how I can get this info myself, instead, that is appreciated, too. I've done stuff myself out of Japan years ago until that market basically got taken over (funny, everything wound up in Sharjah and Malaysia), and I have bought a few full swaps out of Sharjah for my own use here in Bahrain for my Nissans.

Thanks for your time.

hey, welcome and good luck in your search.

You may find forum sites like http://www.uaeboost.net/forums better suited for what you're looking to get info on, lots of punks and posers but there are some decent and knowledgeable people out there.

Also a wicked Bahrain based forum for cars is www.gulfgt.com. have you checked that out?

Good luck in your search.

Shukran! I know about GulfGT, since I'm a member there, but I get the vague info like "well, the last time I was there I got the Subaru half cut for BD 300" or something else. The stories and info never line up. You know Ba7rain is like the small town, once word gets out, everybody knows your business. I'm about knee-deep with the scene here, so that's why I jumped out of the Ba7rain gene pool and am trying to get someone more local who probably has better info.

Thanks on the UAE Boost tip. I'll try that. Punks and posers... which forum DOES NOT have them? Hahaha! It's like a dog, they eventually get fleas.

Anyway, thanks!

How hard is it to come by Japanese cars around here? I've been looking and really haven't seen many available. Was looking for something like an Sti or Evo since I knew registering a GT-R would be a pain here.

Have just been looking for RS4's and M3's instead now. Most of what I've seen on the streets with the japanese cars so far is childish stickered up garbage and nothing but mis matched bolt ons.

I have a turbo s14 I built back in the states sitting in storage now that I'm over here. How well do turbo cars handle the heat here? I imagine the summer heat and traffic do a good job of heat soaking the intercooler in a hurry.

J-spec cars converted over to LHD have become almost impossible to register throughout the GCC. Basically, anything older than five years old from the JDM market cannot be registered. Those who had them done before the rules became more stringent are in the clear (grandfathered). A recent occurrence here in Bahrain resulted in Bahraini-owned but UAE registered GTRs being banned altogether unless they are registered here in Bahrain. Only a very select few are registered here, and it is impossible to even get them registered unless you are part of the ruling family. The GTRs that can't get registered had their UAE tags taken away and have basically been regelated to track duty. As for myself, I brought my 180SX here from my home in Japan and kept it RHD. That took some work and pulling some favors (wastah). I also have a UK version RS13 200SX RHD. I bought that one from someone who bought it from someone who brought it here in 1992 brand new and has had tags ever since. Both cars are registered and licensed here, and I have SR20DET in both. My 180SX is my daily driver and I don't have any problems even in the heat of summer. Good coolant and a fan that can pull enough CFMs is crucial, and that's why I chose to revert back to clutch type fan. I don't boost more than factory spec, and I don't have issues with heat soaked intercooler. Traffic for you guys in UAE is ridiculous! Here, it is light compared to there. In the winter, temps dip low enough and the conditions are great for forced induction.

If you want an EVO, we have a few here if you can't find one there. STi may be another issue, though.

Wow sounds rough. Though I didn't think these would be the ideal conditions for small displacement boosted motors. I tested out an Audi S6 today I think I'm going to go that route (the 4.2L v8 sounds good, a nice change of pace for me). Have you ever been on the forums at freshalloy.com? Good site with lots of information and people really pushing the motors to the max now. We have guys pushing 900hp out of them consistently for NHRA drag series doing 9's in the 1/4 on radials.

A lot of heavy duty parts for nissans are being fabbed and researched in the US now. I lived in Japan for a while as well and I'm convinced a lot of the US companies have surpassed their technical ability in the aftermarket. I was never really all that impressed with their tuning over there, it wasn't bad but it wasn't the be all to end all as so many fanboy's and magazines seem to believe.

Check out C&R's dual pass radiator and fan solution, I'm sure that'll give you some extra headroom in the desert heat. I also had my exhaust manifold and turbine housing coating with a heavy duty ceramic heat insulation (swain technology coatings) to minimize heat radiation from those parts and help keep underhood temps down and increase turbine efficiency, something you could possibly look into.

I keep up with things in the USA via 240sx.org, since I advertise there. I do custom work, and my current commission is an S13 240SX with VG30DETT full swap with no cancellations for a client in VA. I've already done one prototype last year for R&D purposes. Yes, there are buttloads of developments in the USA, and the USA has always been known to push something harder than other places, especially with drag set ups.

I found out what you found out after I left Japan a few years back. Yes, the USA has surpassed Japan in a lot of areas of aftermarket performance parts, and I use a lot of parts from XS Engineering, Brian Crower, Innovate, Turbonetics, TIAL, etc. I won't buy Japanese parts anymore, since I discovered that most of their stuff is produced offshore and the mark up is ridiculous. I use my own brand of adjustable coilovers, and I got them made in Taiwan. Did you know that 85% of Tomei is produced in Taiwan? My buddy, Rick Chen, does a lot of their stuff in his factory outside Taipei, especially their cams. Anyway, Japan has been really flat for at least the past 5 years. Nothing new but a lo of gimmicks and even some reachbacks to the 80's.

We have powder coating here, as well. The shipyard here has a business that does all sorts of bit piece work from rust removal, painting, aluminum welding, CAD-based stuff, etc., besides powder coating. I am sure they have it in Sharjah, as well.

My 180SX is running fine. Besides DD, it also serves as my drift and autocross vehicle. I purposely kept things as stock as possible. My 200SX, on the other hand, is something else

Watch out on that brian crower stuff, low quality chinese, not much research into their strokers. Cams are as shitty as JWT and other cheapo cast units. Internals are BS. I've known mark from mazworx for a years (long before the whole import nissan and drag/drift in general took off) and got some good insight from him on that stuff, needless to say I wouldn't touch it with a 10 foot pole. His shop, the strides they are making with their race car and the work he turns out is damn amazing.

That can be said for a lot of brands. Chinese manufacturing processes have caught up with Japan quality standards, especially since they've (Chinese manufacturers) had a lot of exposure to the Japanese marketplace with a lot of different products over the years. There's a huge Japanese investment base in China, as well as investment from the USA, Germany and Italy. With world standard certification being pushed so hard, China has made great strides in conforming to various standards. Ok. Mattel and a few other areas really punched them in the jimmy, but for the most part, Chinese industry hasn't lost much ground. It's really simple business rules. If one can get items manufactured cheaper, have it pass reasonable quality standards, then why not have it manufactured offshore? I'm all for American industry, but trade unions, litigation, laws and more addendums to laws that affect workforce interests, it's really hard to make a product that is going to compete when it comes to pricing. Privateer/small private business in niche markets like aftermarket manufacturing, well... a lot is sold based on reputation.

I like Brian Crower's stuff. I haven't had any problems with his stuff. Previously, I was strongly in with Tomei, but because of their pricing and slow progress on some things, I bailed on them all together. Jim Wolf... I've had success with his stuff previously in the 90's. I can't speak about him now, but when we get the JWT VG30DETT computer for the prototype from last year, we'll see. Everything is pretty much subjective. Some folks have no problems with certain makers and others just have bad luck. It's been my experience that a lot of the bad stuff that happens is because of improper installation/break-in/use. Nothing is bullet-proof.

Anyway, you need to get into something that is gonna suit you if you are here for a while. I don't see why you didn't bring your S14 here. The weather here is not a crippling factor. Nobody is gonna run around full boosting all over the place in the middle of the summer anywhere in the world (maybe way up in the northern territories of Canada and in Scandinavia) unless they are just idiots. There are a lot of fast cars here, and not all Japanese cars. I am sure you have seen that for yourself. I don't know any other place in the world where pinks/big money get run for exotics. Where else will you see a Murcielago duke it out with a Z06? Better than that, see a fully-built, stroked out Nissan Patrol leave a Z06 behind and just walk away from it? Yeah, there are a lot of crappy tuners here, but there are some guys who are underground and you never see them, but you see their cars or the cars they built for someone, and we're not talking about just bolt-ons. Anyway, when you get a chance, head up this way and you'll see what I am talking about.