soo is it worth it?...black on black right hand drive automatic rx7. i can always convert to a 5 speed later. i'm getting a killer deal cause i know someone who knows someone...but i'm sketchy about how hard it would be to do the conversion. I kow people have done it...but buying an automatic rx7 generally isn't a good idea...or so i hear....but the fact that its' "jdm yo" might make it worth it.


gimmie input.

 

Switching the trannys isn't hard. Getting a RHD car registered is. What's your trick?

Dave

 

good luck

 

ouch...another sucker is found every day.

do a search on this man. you will have a very difficult time. it isnt worth the cash. spend the money and get a low miles fd instead is my advice.

j

 

my trick is that i live in SC....so it isn't really tricky at all. no emissions. i have a serial number assigned to the car by the state and regester it. insure it as a custom car....as long as state of SC signs off, i can insure it. DOT gibbons come out and look at the car...."oh it has doors, and bumpers, and lights, and turn signals...yer good" my dad use to regester alot of grey market bimmers and mercs.






or find a wrecked FD and regester it as that car (JOKING...don't come arrest me)

 

I just dont see the point of buying a RHD car. I can see if RHD is all you ever knew how to drive, but its not. I personally would never want a RHD vehicle. Have fun misshifting!!

 

do a search on what man? i've already seen the car in person. and driven it.....so who's the sucker?

 

ouch...you guys are harsher than freshalloy...thanks for the opinions about my driving ability and the person selling the car.

 

It's never been done legally.

Considering that every FD is equally 'JDM', I'd prefer to not have a car that could be impounded and insurance revoked if somebody had a reason to look closer. If I was in an accident with someone who was driving an illegally registered car I know I'd pin their *** for it, and I doubt I'm alone. As well, every cop that sees you driving an RHD could have your car re-inspected, at least in my state.

Dave

 

Cause it is JDM, DUH

 

well if you do it and want a 5 speed tranny let me know. I have one here that I would let go for cheap. It needs a 5th gear synchro

 

yea i'll most likely switch to 5 speed once i get regestration taken care of....also...if the state of SC's department of transportation says the car is legit and issues a serial number for the car to be driven legally...then it wouldn;t be ILLEGAL. thats the point behind getting the serial number.

see how that works...SC state says it's LEGAL...then it's not ILLEGAL...

 

and i'm sure you'd love to "pin their ***" but that has little to do with this topic. actually pinning anyone's *** has little to do with me buying an rx7.

 

And to think we almost made it a week with another thread like this.


And just a little tidbit of info, the federal government could give a **** about SC's registering the car. It will still be illegal. For more info, search "Fumanchu" or "DomFD3S" and "importing"

 

http://www.scdmvonline.com/forms/4038.pdf

http://www.scdmvonline.com/forms/401-A.pdf

 

Sounds really cool. I hope it works out for you. Driving a stick RHD is easy, in fact I find it more comfortable then a LHD. The only catch is passing on the left hand side your vision is a little blocked unfortunately.

Raven

 

Easy come, easy go. There are much higher authorities than whoever issues the number. You're obviously much smarter than the rest of us and don't need our help for anything, so why is this thread even here?

Dave

 

goodluck and have fun making left turns....JDM is not everything...I would only own a RHD car if I am in a city that you drive on the left side of the road...to each his own though..Just as long as you enjoy yourself.

 

Hey man, good luck with your endeavor.i live in summerville and we have a couple rx7 guys that hangout.it would be cool if you could get this done.

 

*** it turns out i actually am much smarter than you...

anyway...i never meant to argue about this with any of you...just asking if it was worth it to get an automatic, and as it turns out people are saying that the manual swap isn't so hard. So i'll call up the dmv and have em send someone out to take a look at the car and get it regestered.

i'm really sorry you guys are so bitter about this topic. i'll tell ya what....when i get it regestered i'll post my tags on here to prove it. And i'm sure that there will be federal agents swarming around my car trying to get it crushed or siezed.

just cause you haven't done it yourself doesn't mean it can't be done. and i would suspect that living in califoria would make it totally impossible due to emmisions and other dot standards....but i'm in south carolina...most anything can be done in sc. I have friends with regestered skylines in sc...insured. it's not really as big a deal as you make it out to be.

you just have to apply yourself instead of bitching about what you can't do on a forum.

thanks for the info.

 

coolvete....if i pick it up this weekend i'd love to meet up with some other rx7 owners in the area. i'll PM you if all this work out this weekend.

 

Two final words:
Some states would be much tougher to move the car into the US than others. SC is pretty podunk about stuff, that's for sure. However, you'd think that after 9 years since the FD wasn't imported, out of the thousands of registered users here, someone would have managed to bring in an FD. And even if you did, IMO it's a waste of effort to bring in an automatic 93-95 model anyway. There's nothing special about it except RHD - so perhaps everyone in the past wasn't lazy, they might have had wiser priorities. JDM might make you the coolest kid in study hall, but you won't fool many people here.

Now if you really were smart and could apply yourself, you'd have run a SEARCH and answered your own questions about the swap.

Dave

 

Emissions is at a FEDERAL level, not at state level. Just because your state doesn't inspect for emissions, doesn't mean that there isn't a basic federal requirement.

Your bull$hit starts w/ you trying to register a non-legal car...as a "custom" car. You're right that if your state DMV registers your vehicle...you can insure it. But my advice to you would be that IF you were to get involved in an accident...and your insurance company realized that your vehicle is not legalized to be driven on US roads...you risk losing your insurance coverage. Worse, you could be blacklisted from getting insurance w/ a company (I know someone who is blacklisted w/ 21st century insurance). And even worse, if you are under your family's insurance plan...you risk having your entire family's insurance coverage dropped.

 

Just because you've seen the car and driven it...doesn't make you a sucker. Buying it and then getting caught...that makes you a sucker.

 

Since you must have missed it the first time, it is not a California thing, South Carolina thing or Alaska thing... the problems all lie with the federal government. I urge you to search for what I told you earlier if you want to learn what I have spewed forth so many times on this forum.


**edit** Dom has entered the building