It has been a really long time since I have found myself on this forum and I know that you guys are the ones to ask anything Rx7 related. I am stationed in Okinawa Japan and I want to bring a 92 type r back to California. Getting the car to Cali is the easy part. Registering the car and getting it to pass smog is another story. I have a good feeling I can do it but if there is any advice anyone can pass my way it would be greatly appreciated. Even links to more info would be awesome. When I go to the DMV will I be able to register it as a 3rd gen model that was imported to the states or will it be flagged as a type r and make more hoops for me jump through?

 

The state of California is your biggest obstacle. Federal is fairly easy. If it's been 25 years from the build date it doesn't need to conform to DOT and EPA anyway. If your home of record is not California then I recommend you check that states laws regarding importing, titling and registering. You will still need to fill out the federal forms. If it's not 25 years old yet then it's going to be more complicated. Look on homeland securities website regarding laws about importing cars into the US.

If California is your home of record... Probably the hardest state to do business in.

 

I bought an out of state RX7 and during registration, which required an inspector to check the car, all he did was look under the hood for the original Emission Sticker. It was there, it had passed smog already and that was that. Not sure how much tougher it would be for your car but that was my experience.

 

When I imported my RX-7 I got a letter from Mazda that said it conformed to US Spec for 49 states...
Guess which one it didn't...

 

I am considering changing my state of residence. Thanks for all your advice. Really quick, I found a little bit more info on the CA dmv website and there is an exemption for active duty personel. If the direct import car was acquired while on active duty in another country and was registered in their name for one year or more they are exempt from EPA, DOT, and CARB. Even though I qualify for that I still need to meet ARB standards. As far as I understand the car needs to pass whatever smog test the ARB throws at me and I'm good. I have some decisions to make and hopefully that info can help someone else. Thanks again for everyone's input.

 

I was wrong about being exempt from epa dot and carb standards. so i will try and say it differently. cars that were not produced to comply with epa, dot and carb cannot be registered in cali. except if you were active duty in a foreign country and the car was registered in your name for more than a year. Shity thing is you still have to comply with all those things stated earlier. I am just going to wait to buy an fd until I get back to the states. good luck to anyone else thinking about doing the same thing.