JPDDEP

Through some miracle, I actually washed the car today!! https://www.instagram.com/p/BlcFHXGBJvL/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link Japan is in the middle of the never-ending heat wave we call summer at the moment...pretty days, but hard to motivate yourself to get out of the house hahaha. Hoping to get the new steering wheel installed soon, now that I have a boss kit and all the tools. Stay tuned!!

New update coming soon! Here's a teaser ;)

Thank you! They're around, but I don't think there's a huge market for them. In general prices are probably about the same, maybe a bit less. I got pretty lucky with mine and paid, according to Google, about £3100 including all the paperwork. That said, I have only seen 1 or maybe 2 more that were close to that good of a deal in the 10 months since I bought mine.

Cheers! We got really lucky with some perfect weather that. And yeah, the Skyline isn't too bad hahaha Tuned by Top Secret, makes about 380AWHP on HKS GT-SSs...I am quite jealous of it...and yet my completely standard little Starlet on decent tires can keep up in the twisties pretty well ;)

New pictures!! We've had some absolutely lovely spring weather here lately, so some friends and I took a little trip up the Toyo Tires Turnpike in Hakone. Cars and cherry blossoms...lovely stuff.

Fantastic!! Ok, first thing you absolutely must do is visit an UpGarage. I guarantee you will find at least 1 rare/cool part you have to have. Second, Daikoku Parking Area. It is the best car show in the world every Friday night and you never know who or what will show up. Third, Toyota Megaweb and the Toyota Heritage Garage. They always have rotating exhibits, but even the stuff that's always there, like a mint condition 2000GT, AE86 Levin, or the race 3SGE out of the JGTC Supra are always just awesome to see. When you find yourself in the city, shoot me a PM. I freelanced a bit as a tour guide when I was a grad student here, and it'd be fun to focus on the car stuff for once

Sorry for the lack of updates, everybody! Work's been busy, budget's have been tight, and I've been saving up for what is basically Japan's equivalent of MOT. But I'm glad to say that as of yesterday I am free and clear and on the road for 2 more years! On another plus side, got to take a look at the car up on a lift, and this little thing is SOLID underneath. Coming from AW11s and AE86s, having a rust-free Toyota is quite the new experience hahahaha. So now I'm free to start planning mods again! ...as soon as I pay off the 87,921JPY the inspection cost me... Anyway, big stuff planned for this year, both in terms of mods and new drives, so stay tuned!

Ahhh, that makes sense. Cheers for a quick answer, unfortunate though the info may be hahaha.

I apologize if this exists somewhere already, but I've tried searching with no results. Are there any other options for rear brake discs on a Glanza V? Particularly, ones from another Toyota or maybe Honda that might fit? I've looked everywhere, but every major Japanese manufacturer has discontinued the rear discs and all I can find are some no-name ones on Yahoo Auctions JP for something like 240GBP per pair, not including shipping. I'd love to be able to order something like IDWorkz OEM replacement set, but I'm assuming that shipping to Japan would be unrealistically expensive... I assume to find other discs that might work I'd need to know the bolt pattern, OEM diameter, and hub bore, correct? Oh, and just to make matters more annoying, I've got an ABS car. Thanks in advance to anyone with info!

Thanks, gents! As soon as I manage to find some Starlet friends, I'll make sure of it ;) Now that I'm actually looking, it's weird how rare EPs have become... But just in terms of the driving roads, I cannot recommend Nagano Prefecture highly enough. Went out to visit the Mrs' family and ended up discovering some really fantastic drives.

ROADTRIP! Got super lucky at UpGarage last week and picked up a gently used set of 185/60R14 Dunlop Direzza DZ102s, which then got put through plenty of highway miles as well as attacking a few JDM twisties. Gotta say, really impressed, especially considering what I paid for them. Tons of grip in the dry with great turn-in response and very confident in the wet, even at highway speed (which admittedly in Japan is 80kph, but still). PICS!

New pics!! Met a friend on Friday to get some rolling shots for our fledgling Youtube channel, and a few of them turned out pretty good! ;) And just for the hell of it, a shot of my friend's TopSecret tuned R32...because he has a much nicer car than I do...vastly less reliable, though hahahaha In other news, going on a roadtrip up to Nagano next week to visit the fiance's parents, so this week needs to see new tires get put on! Got a few options, so based on price and availability, we'll see what I end up with. Also...just now realized I put this thread in the wrong category...very sincere apologies for that...rather embarrassing

Ok, all good to know.

Glad to have a first-hand report about it! Cheers for your input

Thanks, folks ;) Currently looking around for a boost gauge and a decent satnav. What do people think - shell out a bit more cash for a new SARD Or try to find a cheap, used GReddy? *google images for your reference *

Hello, all! Time to get an actual build thread going! Mods will likely be fairly slow, since I'm on a seriously limited budget (curse you, Tokyo cost-of-living!!!) but I'll at least try to add pics whenever I do something interesting with the car. We'll start it off with this: the pic of my car from Daikanyama Cars & Coffee on the 13th. Apparently one of the organizers had a pretty nice camera and was taking shots of everything in the parking lot, even though my EP didn't technically meet the "GT cars" theme...thankfully lots of other people didn't either, hahaha. Anyway, thanks for checking out my EP! I'll try to keep things updated as often as possible and hopefully score some JDM goodies along the way. Oh, speaking of - the yellow and green sticker in the window is not because I am "JDM tyte yo," but because Japan considers me a "new driver" and I am legally required to have it on the car for a year.

Hello, everyone! Allow me to preface by saying that, as an American living in Japan, I am probably the least qualified to actually join these forums, so do please forgive me for that...but this is pretty far and away the best source for English Starlet info hahaha With that out of the way, I'm Grant, and like I said, I'm from the US, but have been living in Japan for the past 5 years. After far too much time putting it off, I finally got my act together, got my Japanese license, and saved up enough for a car. And I stumbled across a little gem of a Starlet that no Japanese person would consider buying but that was absolutely perfect for me! The basics: 1997 Starlet Glanza V 1331cc 4E-FTE, 133HP C56 5-speed Completely stock everything Full maintenance history/paperwork 110,000km It's got a little bit of body damage you can't really see in pictures. The rear bumper has a pretty decent scuff, there's a long scratch down the passenger door, and a noticeable dent in the hood next to the intercooler scoop. But with the exception of one 2-3mm spot on a front fender, no rust anywhere on the body or the undercarriage, no leaks, A/C blows cold, engine pulls strong...it's a pretty great little thing. Went to test drive it back on 6/23 and put down $1000 on it not long after. Total price of the car, including the 5 weeks of paperwork to get the title into my name: 460,000 yen,or just over $4100. Not a bad deal, I feel like. So, why would no average Japanese person have bought it? 1: It's more than 10 years old, i.e. junk in the eyes of all non-car people. 2: It has more than 100,000km, i.e. junk in the eyes of all-non car people 3: It will need it's shaken (roadworthiness inspection) done again in March next year, i.e. too much PITA in the eyes of all non-car people 4: It has some minor, but noticeable body damage, i.e. junk in the eyes of all non-car people Fortunately, though, thanks to all that...perfect car for a stupid Gaijin who's willing to put in the DIY time. Plans for the rest of this year: get it ready to pass inspection in March - New tires (Either 185/55/14 Federal 595s on the stock rims, or get some 15x6+35 BBS Basketweaves off Yahoo Auctions for a bit nicer fitment) - New brake pads and front rotors - And probably a decent Nardi/Momo wheel and TRD shift knob, because they're cheap and easy and the OEM ones are pretty tired-looking Plans after passing inspection: - Intake/Ex. Manifold/Exhaust - Raise the boost to ~0.8bar - E-manage and tune - Shocks and springs - Rear swaybar - Confetti Recaros if I get lucky on auctions/at UpGarage I'd like to get it to something like 160-170HP within a couple years, but more than anything, I want to keep it a reliable car I can travel with the Mrs. in, go to meets at Daikoku with, and maybe occasionally do some gymkhana or mini-circuit time attacks. Anyway, here's my new project for the forseeable future!