Importing Kits

[LoBelly]

I think that if I were to start afresh then I would be looking very seriously at some of the US kits.

Mostly because of the inclusions, that is the amount of stuff you dont have to buy.

It is true that some items like the lenses, seats and belts may not meet the ADR's but overall - even when you have to purchase those items again - the price is very good.

The points mentioned by 400TT are fair enough but practically speaking they would all have to be addressed in any ICV build anyway.

If you line up an engineer in advance s/he will probably be able to guide you on equivalancy of standards so that you'll know what you can and cannot use. You might then be able to do a better price (even marginally) with the supplier on the basis that some parts cannot be used - or the supplier may have an alternative (possibly pricier) part that is ok.

Its the economy of scales thing that kills us on price here. Its the reason Ford Australia won't be doing its 6cyl anymore - the economies of scale have overcome the tyranny of distance. (that and the FTA)

Its great that G-Force publish thier prices and give you the options. They would be a contender in my reconing. An order from FinishLine or other supplier might help close out the parts list.

My kit was old and incomplete when I purchased it, find all the bits was extrordinarily time consuming, even with the good advice available here. I also had to make a number of things.

After all that the idea that you can have practically everything you need arrive for a set price is very attractive and for me would outweigh the possible inconvenience of having to do a RHD conversion. Most of the US kit makers have pretty good photos of their frames and since it will be in bits swapping any brackets etc shouldn't be too difficult.

Last bit of advice - do your sums carefully

I just ordered about half a pallet of goodies and while the price still worked out to be better than available retail here it was nothing like being the super discount that it looked like after applying the conversion rate.

The shipping from the US was $477 ($567AUD @.84c) but it cost me $1319 to get it out of the Customs Clearance agents warehouse after the addition of GST and thier 8 different fees (there was $0 duty on my 1965 race car parts).

[400TT]

Originally Posted by LoBelly

The points mentioned by 400TT are fair enough but practically speaking they would all have to be addressed in any ICV build anyway.

You sure about that. I must not have the courage and conviction required.

I worry about getting a chassis beaming and torsional tested, I expect it's quite possible that a US chassis would not pass our tests, so modifications would need to be made. I've built numerous Oz Cobras and already knew before purchase that the chassis already had torsional testing papers.

Also who has installed anti-intrusion bars. My Cobras have always had these pre-installed and approved.

Also changing from LHD to RHD worries me as I expect it would require anything from minor chassis modifications to major chassis modifications depending if the drivetrain is offset.

Also there are limits to how complete the vehicle can be and how much work can be done by one supplier. From what I know, a rolling chassis is about all an overseas manufacturer can do for you, otherwise it's not considered an ICV.

Plus if it's a vehicle that's eventually going to be registered, it sounds like there are extra registration processes when the chassis is imported.

I've seriously considered getting a US kit approved here, but the process is fraught with problems, hidden expenses and possible lack of registration at the end. It used to be easier, but as we know, nothing is easy these days.

Makes getting a local approved kit registered, a walk in the park, relatively speaking.

[Strw]

Thanks everyone for your advice. This is obviously something that will have to be explored further before any decisions can be made. I was mainly looking in this direction because of price.

400TT - The kit comes complete but not put together everything is in boxes so it may still be called an icv and allowed to import.

Scott