Kaitou

Ayo! I've been looking at Rx-7s for years always been a fan of rotary power.. but its kinda difficult to find FD's to buy at decent prices... Heres the rub.. I've found several Japanese exporters willing to part with this awesome car for only a 5-8 grand.. they usally come with like 70-120KM on the Chassis.. so my question is has the FD been brought from overseas and crash tested as stated buy US customs ( you need to have three of the same model.. and they destroy it) and if so how much does legalizing cost? all help is much appreciated. I've looked thru the search and found -jack- so thanks again..

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

Nothing past '95 has been tested.

Nathan Kwok

It'll cost more money than its worth for only one car. It would be cheaper to buy a new 2002 RX-7 and fly back and forth to Japan to drive it. Not only do you have to crash test them, but the '96 RX-7 doesn't meet '96 Federal crash test standards for side impacts, so you can crash them and then they'll say, sorry, it didn't pass. It also doesn't meet OBD-I requirements so it won't pass Federal smog testing. Just getting over those hurdles alone would cost... well, a lot. You'd have to retrofit side impact beams on the doors, substantiate it with engineering reports, and create a new ECU that includes OBD I, and substantiate that as well. There's probably other things as well. Sorry man.

Kaitou

So If I find a RX-7 from before 95 how much would the legalization be round-abouts?

thanks for the useful info

Mahjik

iTrader: (1)

I'm not sure. Check with US Customs, they will be able to answer any questions.

However, if you are going to get a '93-95, you may as well get one that is already here in the states. I'll bet that after freight and customs charges, the price will be the same if not more than the '93-95 FD are selling here in the US.

reza

I think there is round-abouts
A lot of the old style Mini Cooper brought in the US as 1968 or 1969 models, though they are actually year 2000 or 1998 for example.
I don't know much about the detail, whether it applies only to vintage cars....perhaps someone can look into it....

JoeD

You are looking at upwards of $25K for everything to be legal.

John B

Lots of money.

BATMAN

hmm for that i will talk to Jason from Rx-7 store and he will sell you one for 20- 30k all done. to your door . :P

legal-z

actually, if you get an fd from 93-95, you may be able to get a letter from mazda that says the car met all us standards for the year it was produced. many cars from the late 80's on are "world cars". which means the factory sold the same basic car in all world markets. if the car you're planning to import has the same specs as the cars sold in the us, you wouldn't have to do anything if you got that letter from the manufacturer, which is not as hard to get as you might think. i have had experience with motorcycles such as the suzuki sv650 which was sold in canada as an s model before the s model was avaiable in the us. since the mechanics of the bike were the same, suzuki gave me a letter stating that and i did not have to do any federalization. as for the fd, i'm not sure if all 93-95's sold throughout the world were the same. if they were, you might be able to slide one in without spending much $$.
andy

Crackers

Yeah right, its still RHD and is not going to get a letter from Mazda. They wont do it.

Little 7

I don't think it is easy to get licence for a RIGHT HAND DRIVE car into the US. First, you need to pay extra $$ to the custom when you ship it. Second, how did you get to pass every test.? However, if you think licence it is not hard. I can help you to contact some agents to get a good FD. For example, I just saw there is a shop in CA has a JAM S15 with 30000km. It sold for around $10000 but they won't help you to register. The car is in excellent condition. Like the Skyline, it hards to get the licence if you don't have the crash report, as I know only motorex can do it but they won't help people unless they buy the GTR from them. PM me if you want more info

Crackers

I have alot of paperwork and crap allready done and what not to Import RHD pre 96 done allready and its still gonna be a PITA to do. Hence why I stoped my Research. Below is a link about my progress

https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showth...threadid=37303

BrianK

The short answer: you can't bring one in to the country.

The long answer:

RHD Drive vehicles are not considered "significantly similar" to LHD vehicles, which means none of the tests that were performed on the LHD vehicles are valid for RHD vehicles. You can request that Mazda petition the NHTSA to establish that the RHD RX7 is substantially similar to the LHD vehicle, but I can assure you, they won't do this unless there's a good reason.

Cars that were not originally manufactured for sale in the US do not have EPA certification to be in the US - you would need to get an EPA cert to register the car. It is possible that the EPA will allow you to alter the emmissions equipment on the car to conform, but this eliminates the possibility of importing a 96 or newer 7 because the RX7 cannot pass ODB-II emmissions requirements

The only other ways to get a non-US car into the states is to either do it temporarily (which requires you to be a citizen of another country visiting the US), or as a show & display vehicle. NHTSA will not grant a show & display permit to a car that had a model that was for sale in the states.

If you're really interested: http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/index.html

mazdaspeed00

iTrader: (6)

if your willing to go through all the trouble of bring a jspec FD to the states i would think it would be easier to fly around the country and find the right FD here in the US. it seem like that would make more sense.

apneablue

reza

Would you be able to import a 2002 model as 1993 or 1995 model year? Have someone backdate the newer RX-7 to an older model on paperwork in Japan.

I think a lot of the Morris Mini Cooper are imported this way.

IPMSP

Well what you should do is by a crashed RX7 you will get the title and then you can use that title for the newer one and switch out the vin numbers i have a benz that i brought in from Iraq about 2 months ago and It has worked so far.

MR_Rick

iTrader: (7)

it deppends on the year of the car, I have a Co-worker that was station in Japan and he got a 97 Skyline it cost him $5k for the convertion all that was done was add the side and front impact beams, change the windows to glass and add all the emission stuff. the part that get expensivei s changing it to OBD II (1996+ are OBD II not OBD I like stated above wish is harder) but he went and got a stand alone ECU and he was okay. he drive this thing everyday! with all and RHD. I'm not sure if forthe FDis different since there is a company that import the Skyline but he went on his own since it was a lot cheaper than buying you own at Motor Rex ( I believed that's the company's name) with shipping and convertion came out to $23k for a GTR V Spec

DomFD3S

What do you HONESTLY think about this???? Common sense tells me that this is ILLEGAL.

IPMSP

You can have it shipped to meixco or canada and then drive it across the border that works alot of the time plus it is fun.

vudoodoodoo

It would cost more than to buy a MINT condition 95 FD.

vudoodoodoo

It would cost more than to buy a MINT condition 95 FD already here.

DomFD3S

This is heresay information unless proven otherwise. I don't care what people say. There are a lot of talkers, but VERY few actual people who have proven that they were able to do so. Even out of the FEW people who have been able to import cars (whether Nissan Skyline, RX-7, yadda yadda yadda), there are fewer who have imported cars 100% LEGALLY.

For all those people who are trying to import the cars w/o ensuring 100% legalization. Try to scam the government? Fine. Go ahead. But your lies/deception will only get bigger when you get into an accident and insurance companies among other people start to piece together the information. Sooner or later, you'll get caught.

wonder1and

I say do what IPMSP said to do... buy a wrecked FD w/ salvaged title, that is the same color as the wrecked one. Import it to Canada or mexico and use the U.S. plates from the crashed one. drive it back to your house and cut the stamped vin off and weld the old one on while cleaning it up and making it look like it has always been there. along w/ the tag on the dash, and the sticker... blah blah blah... you get the idea... That would be completly illegal and I wouldn't reccomend it unless you wanna have the bragging rights for driving an RZ around. I guess it depends on your determination.
-Ryker