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Old 01-07-2014, 09:18 PM
Big Shooter Big Shooter is offline
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Join Date: Nov 2013
Location: Saskatoon, SK
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Haha that's funny! That was the same day I had my friend go fetch it for me. Sure didn't look that nice after traveling the grimy salty Canadian winter roads on the truck to Saskatoon though.

So I picked it up when it arrived on the 23rd. As it was freezing out, the battery was flat, so the lady at the auto carrier depot brings out a booster pack and rests it right on top of my fender. Luckily for her it was near Christmas and I was in good spirits, so I held back from really tearing a strip off of her, but I definitely let her know how I felt. Thanks for the scratches bitch! Some people are hopeless.

It was pretty damn grimy when I got it, and half of the lights worked, the blower motor didn't work, and the Pirellis on it made for a treacherous, slow drive back home. I put it in the garage, put a charger on the battery, and didn't touch it again until the 26th, when I gave it a through cleaning and put some fresh oil in it. After charging the battery properly, all of the electrical things seemed to be working properly so I was happy about that. I was also extremely happy with how nicely it cleaned up!











I can't wait until spring to give it a proper polish and get off all the residue from sitting in Japan for so many years.

I need some daytime running lights and sidemarker lights to pass safety inspection, as well as a third brake light, so I installed some LED strips. Turned out pretty well IMO.



I also had an ABS light which required me having to disassemble the ABS pump and replace the electrical ribbon inside with 16 ga. wires as it must have degraded over time. Kind of a pain in the ass, but if that's the worst of my problems, I'm laughing. So far, this car is easily the most pristine I've ever owned (only 44,000 km on it), and drives like an absolute dream. I was also pleased to discover it came equipped with Bilstein Racing Dynamics struts and springs, a strut tower bar, and stainless braided brake lines. And a fully upgraded stereo system! Aside from a few little quirks here and there, I am absolutely in love with my new daily driver.

I also got lucky in that it came with all of the keys for the center caps! (Albeit, 3 different ones which is kind of inconvenient) As far as I can tell, these appear to be legitimate Alpina wheels. They have Alpina part numbers engraved and everything.

Scooter, I contemplated selling my JZX81 to buy a stock-ish 5 speed JZX100 to use as a drift beater. They actually aren't all that expensive, you just have to know where to look. I've purchased my cars through a number of different exporters over the years. I got this E36 through JPC Trade, and needless to say I won't be dealing with them again. Totally incompetent service. But yes, I got into it before it really became a big thing, probably around 2004 is when I imported my first car.