buying parts from Japan

[igor]

Guys, has anyone ever bought parts directly from Japan? If so, who did you deal with? I get stuff for my other car from UK and Germany, it works out about 300% cheaper than getting them in Aust. Is the math similar with Japanese parts? (Bought a MU a month ago, want to start stockpiling bits and pieces for an eventual eventuality).
Cheers.

[elysian]

Most of the parts on/in the MU can be sourced locally from the various Holden models available here.. ie: TF Rodeo, Jackaroo and Frontera .. if it's the 2.8 TD engine (4JB1) , bits for this engine are readily available , the 3.1 engine bits are a little more rarer, but still fairly easy to get ..

about the only part not available is the rear tailgate .. that is uniquely an Isuzu MU part .. so you'd need to get one from another MU ...

It may be possible to get parts from NZ too, as they have a larger volume of MU's that got imported than we did in Aust.. we only got about 250 allowed for import , NZ didn't have a restriction ...

[Yarno]

I have used this guy for Soarer parts before www.f1kits.com/index.htm never bought any MU parts from there though, as said nothing rare enough on them to be worth it... and anything that is will cost to much in shipping.

[geeves]

Where are you?
In NZ and to a slightly lesser Aus amount the isuzu 4wd is very common and parts quite reasonable to buy

[igor]

Thanks, everyone!
geeves, I'm in Perth, W. Australia, out of the above mentioned 250 MU's, WA must have got about 20, and about half of them have died by now, it seems. I'm well aware that most parts are quite common, but I've noticed that even the most commonly available stuff often retails in Australia for 2 - 3- 4 times more than everywhere else in the world. H^%*EN dealers are the WORST when it comes to this. In the past, I found that getting belts, tensioners, gaskets, even a crankshaft pulley (!!!), etc., etc... online from Europe was A LOT cheaper than buying them off the shelf here. I'm not some stingy prick, but I don't enjoy the local parasites charging me $400 for a $100 part (with postage from the UK!!!!). Therefore, there is a chance, that one can pick up, let's say a turbo, directly from a Japanese supplier for $3-400, instead of forking out $900 to some local reseller. I just don't know where to look, it's all in bloody Japanese... hence this post.

[geeves]

Almost all Mu parts are common to the Rodeo of the same year except the motor if you have a 3.1.
Holden prices its stuff a bit strange here as well. Bits you cant get anywhere else are quite reasonable but stuff that everyone sells is out of this world price wise