Good afternoon to any and all,
I recently bought a close to stock imported 92 FD and although I did a bit of research, it would seem that I didn't do nearly enough. I was hoping I could get some help. I'm currently trying to register the car here in California but running into some issues. I went to the DMV at first for a VIN verification, they had done some of the paperwork, but couldn't complete it since it did not have an EPA sticker at the time (I now have one for it). They had sent me to the CHP to finish the process, then when I went to the CHP they told me I need to go to the BAR for a certificate of conformity, but they told me I need to go to the ARB to get the car compliant, who then told me I need to get in touch with G & K Automotive, who makes cars compliant. However, they quoted me $10k and 8-12 months to get the car compliant. I've been trying to work around having to go through that, hence why I now have the EPA sticker. The DMV now has told me I still need to go to the CHP because of it being an RHD. I don't understand why it being an RHD would cause a problem, considering postal trucks are, as well as other imported RHD cars with CA registrations. If anyone has gone through this to get theirs registered I would appreciate any and all advice you may have.

 

California in a nutshell

 

I haven't looked into it closely, but I think I've read that Mazda does not claim that the RHD cars would pass crash testing in the US. Why bother with all that for a 1992 RX-7, considering the US models had the same performance and styling and would be easier to drive on US roads?

 

Unfortunately I have no advice regarding California's draconian registration laws, but this is one of the reasons LHD are worth more in the US.

 

Every site that I've checked befote has shown that Jap models are better throughout the years, but maybe a late year US model would also be good, I'll have to look into that. But I already have the 92 RHD, so I'd rather try and register it now that I have it.

 

Curious on what those sites claimed were “better”.
NADM were only produced as 93-95 models. Subsequent RHD/JDM models were produced thru 2002 with some improvements over the years. But then you bought a 92 which didn’t benefit from any of those. The biggest “better” to you no doubt was price and maybe the odd JDM attraction of RHD.

 

+1, the DMV lists 12 different ways to register a car, and that isn't all of them! its so pointlessly complicated i'm not sure they know how to do it either. if your JDM car is #13, my FC was #14, lol

basically you need to jump through hoops until they give you a sticker. there is no process, you just have to keep trying.
you should also write your assembly person and state senator (there is a state senate and then there is the senator that goes to Washington). they are looking for ways to fix the budget shortfall, you might suggest that the DMV/BAR/CARB is a good place to look..... my assembly person was surprisingly responsive.

 

California does not allow the EPA 21-year old exemption, you will have to get it tested and get a BAR label. Or register it out of state with a PO Box. Or set up a Montana LLC.

 

^^^^^ this.

So your choices are
1. pay the 10k for G&K. (top rank uses them)
2. register it out of state with a PO Box. Or set up a Montana LLC.
3. sell the car and buy a LHD.

I've looked into getting other JDM cars and at the end it's not worth it unless it's your dream car and it's not available here.

 

I'm not sure if it's draconian laws or the fact that California has more cars than any other state by FAR.

LA in the 70's before Nixon created the EPA:


...and now with over twice as many cars on the road:

 

I don't think anyone is denying that smog was real in the 70s, and that regulations including catalytic converters and modern fuel injection played a HUGE role in cleaning that up.

Making people jump through all these ridiculous hoops as this thread outlines isn't solving anything. This is just to punish car enthusiasts.

 

Perhaps I misunderstood what I've seen, but I believe the JDM versions seemed to have better hp, strut and shock setups, and other little quality of life parts in them. Similar to Nissan with their 180sx in JDM, but 240sx in USDM; the 180sx had better performance than the 240sx and had better specs compared to its USDM counterpart the 240sx.

As for buying a 92, you are probably correct, it is a bit counter-intuitive, but I have an appreciation for the older models, and yes the RHD definitely plays a part in it, in both price and looks, but also since there were more of the RHDs produced, I figured it'd help if/when I need parts down the road, given that they are more common to find.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by "SoCalSwede'

they told me I need to go to the ARB to get the car compliant, who then told me I need to get in touch with G & K Automotive, who makes cars compliant. However, they quoted me $10k and 8-12 months to get the car compliant. I've been trying to work around having to go through that, hence why I now have the EPA sticker.

California doesn't care about EPA certification for emissions. They care about California certification. Your EPA sticker means nothing to them. Remember, there were different versions of the car for California (EGR system difference, different ECU iirc). Back then CARB and EPA emission standards were different. Obviously that complexity is a pain in the *** for owners and for manufacturers. There has been a lot of political wrangling over CARB vs EPA emission standards over the years, which we don't need to get into.

So you need to go through the process to make the car compliant, or sell it to someone who lives in a state that doesn't need CARB certification. That's honestly what I'd do. In hindsight, a "here's my plan, what do you think?" thread on here before buying the car would have been helpful for you.

 

Yeah, I probably should've done that to begin with, but I thought that the couple months of looking into all of this would make it easier, but that would seem to not be the case.

 

Is there anything I'd potentially have to worry about when it comes to registering it out of state? I have a company that is ready to register it for me in Washington. Is this something that I should bother trying to do, because otherwise I might just sell it if I'm still gonna have problems with something like this?

 

The way they enforce things is broken though. More emissions are spent carting parts back and forth trying to get cars to pass than if they would just let the handful of older cars get by with just a tailpipe test.

I don't get why they care at all about what parts are installed - all that should matter are tailpipe emissions.

 

The risk point is if you get pulled over with out of state plates (or get ratted by someone), then you will have to explain why the car is not registered in CA. CA DMV has investigative staff for that, apparently it is a big deal with the state as these cars avoid smog check and (importantly), CA does not collect the registration fees. The BAR gave a presentation about this a couple years ago at a SAE conference and they said it was an enforcement priority for DMV at the time.

It's actually a real hassle to get my FD smogged every 2 years, in my area it means a loaded-mode dyno test and there are so few cars now that are pre-OBD 2 that the shops always complain about losing money due to the high upkeep cost for the test equipment, the equipment is broken frequently, etc.

 

Agreed. Maybe they're just trying to make it tougher to bring even more cars to a state that's traditionally the leader in emissions, traffic and wokeness.

 

I live in CA and took advantage of Vermont's law for out of state cars >15 years old.
Cheers

 

Your 92 made the same stock power as NADM models at least as soon as our precat was removed. . They made some changes to the turbos in later models that made more power.
The car doesn’t have struts. Double wishbone. Some shock changes went on in subsequent years but pretty sure your 92, depending on your model, was the same as NADM.
Your car didn’t come with some of the emissions stuff, EGR etc. Probably no AWS either. Not a bad thing in my state, but not really an advantage in CA.
Not sure about passive restraints. Probably not. Maybe that’s a plus, unless of course you’re in a serious crash.
Your transmission has a lower final gear. Probably good in most situations since few commute in them and don’t worry about mileage. But I think the same weak 5th gear synchro that we got and that almost everyone has changed out for the stronger ones that came later.

 

I know it doesn't make much of a difference or anything, but figured I should mention, mine is the Type R A/T (4 speed) with Bilstein Shocks, front strut bar, and 2+2 (another part of the reason I got it, since I've seen that other people supposedly get slightly better insurance rates with the 2+2 config).

 

A Type R with an automatic transmission and a back seat?

 

That's what I was thinking. I don't believe they made a Type R with an Auto unless someone auto swapped it....

 

Yikes....expensive lesson here.

Your only option is to register out of state if you don't want to pay the money to do it right in CA.

 

+1. its really hard to find a shop that will even smog a pre 95 car even for money.

the last couple registrations of mine have also gone really weirdly, this week in fact i brought the paper the DMV sent me for the FC to AAA and the AAA were surprised and confused, and then its expensive.
so i might just go to another state for registration because you almost can't in CA, the whole process is broken