v6er

Hey does anyone here bought their fd from japan? because im interested in buying one and how did the car turn out for u. thanks

Smitter

whats the deal with the importing legislation. are they still changin it come jan 1? havent heard andything on this as of late

Chris_72

Hello,
I have had 6 JDM vehicles and i can say flat out - Most sports cars have the **** kicked out of them... so plan on engine and transmission work. I have a 1991 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo, and a 1992 Mazda RX-7 Twin Turbo.

- The Nissan had gear 2,4, and 5 grinding; a cracked flywheel, clutch was worn right out of it, dead knock sensor, and a worn out driveshaft support bearing.
A grand total of $2300 in parts only. I do my own work (timing belt and water pump were extra)

- The Mazda Needs a new motor (nothing new there!) and has a worn out clutch.
The grand total is around $4000 for parts (yup, thats a 3mm seal performance motor!)

If you are broke, DON'T DO IT!!!
If you want a great budget vehicle look for a Nissan 240, or Integra GSR...I had one of each in highschool. I got a good job, and now im playin with the big toys...

Thats my 2cents... I don't mean to **** in your snow, but I could never have these cars on a budget...

Old performance = high maintenance...

Canadian_jdm7

Hey i didn't know there was another rhd 7 in burlington, what colour is yours?

Terrh

iTrader: (7)

yeah GL finding a running FD. They're few and far between.

1.3Ldreamcar

iTrader: (1)

He speaks the truth, I imported an Mk3 supra, and a '92 FD, and both where super LOW miles, and needed lots of $$... my FD has a great engine, but needed turbos, tires, hoses galore, downpipe, a few gaskets, and pretty much the entire bracking system... about $11K for the car + 5K parts/labor.... but still a great deal for what my FD is IMO.

GT34

Yeah like what chris was saying, it will need a rebuild. So now here's your chance to really bring the life out of the engine and do some porting work to it and get rid of the 40+ vac hoses that WILL cause you problems down the road if they're original.

I like JDM's because they're cars that get new beginnings. It's your chance to rip one appart and learn more about the car. They're cheap because lets face it they're beat on and can be crap. But there are some dimonds out there and most of the importers find them and exploit them with higher sale values.

It's not cheap so make sure you do have some money put away to go towards getting the car legal. But it's gonna be worth it in the end.

TurboMazdaSpeed

i work for a place that imports them

weve had 2 FD's with broken LSDs when they got here yet they didnt tell us that on the auction sheet (auction sheet told us the car was very good condition 4- 4.5/5)

other then that nothing too serious. and i havent heard from any customers of there engines going yet! replaceing all the coolant hoses would be a good idea when they get here because lots sit for a very long time

for my rx7 one of my coolant hoses blew while i was driving and my fuel pump was near death. just my 2 cents. expect to fix somthing!

Fyrious

i've never imported a vehical, however i've been researching for the last year and a half about whether to get a RX7 or Supra.

I think it comes down too the site. personally, i've seen sites that sell rx7's for $7000-8000, and you know that they've probably been beat on good, or have the
back window smashed out.

However, there are also many sites where you can import a RX7 or Supra in good condition, like turbo said above, with a grade of 4, and you know your getting a decent car. a lot of sites will also have someone inspect the car for you in person, so you know exactly whats wrong with it.

the RX7 is a car that requires a lot of maintance... a lot. so no matter what condition the car is in, expect to have to do repairs and other work.

these DON'T have to be expensive cars. if you put the time into searching for the right car (and don't rush, personally after reviewing many sites and models, its better to wait for the 93+ models instead of the 92 models), you'll get a car in decent condition, then spend a good $2000 on reliability mods, aftermarket Rad, vacuum hoses, AST, downpipe, etc. And you'll have a car that should last a while, so long as it isn't a daily driver car, and you yourself don't beat on it day after day.

although make sure to give that car a run for its money, its a sports car, so from time to time... treat it like one.

snoik

well i've imported two cars now a 1990 skyline gts-t and my new baby a 19992 rx7 and both have been in the condition i was told they would be and had planned for except for minors, ie. my skyline needed new clutch tires and battery, which i expected well had to change tires anyways cause japanese tires are illegal here, my rx-7 rear main seal was leaking and my tires again, but thats it and planed on doing all the basic reliability mods just for the reliability, but i never paid over 8k for either of these landed. you dont have to spend a ton , it all depends on the exporter you go through.

Fyrious

^ exactly

just take the time to do some research and you'll be fine.

brent clement

I don't own one however I have 3 customers with fd's and 1 needed a clutch(runs beautifully), 1 needs turbo's(otherwise good runner) and the other one runs beautifully(came with a cat back and chipped ecu). The big thing to watch for is modded cars that have a lot of the upgrades taken out before the sale. You could be buying a car with a ported engine that had a pfc removed from it. (just an example) Which means your engine is on borrowed time since it's not tuned properly. It's really a buyer beware market, but then again, it always is. You get way more car for your money in my opinion, these cars are generally very clean underneath, but most do seem to have been tracked or beat on.

v6er

ya if you really look around you can get a good one for like around 8k but then maintainance is another story

kao393

i just bought my FD. its JDM. it came with a busted motor, like totally busted. when i first got it, it can barely make it onto the trailer it was hauled on. everything else was great tho. it was sort of a diamond in the rough.

i dont know much about rotaries. but the guy selling the FD did and has been building them since they came out.

now, the FD is as reliable as the sun with loads of mods to boot. at 332 whp its a little beast. it takes time, and a lot of know how not to mention elbow grease.

if you want reliability go for a nice 180sx or something. my brother has one. they are cheap, fast, and reliable to start out with.

FD was one of my dream cars when i was a kid. i wont regret buying it and driving it sure as hell is fun.

hope this helps,

i bought my car from 4kruzn

www.4kruzn.com
great guys to deal with, and their knowledge and experience is what makes em the best.

Terrh

iTrader: (7)

the one thing I can say about my GT-R is HOLY CRAP, it looks like a california car underneath.

I've had "rust free" cars before, both my 10AE's have never seen a winter as far as I know and don't have any rust on them - and this car is easily 10x cleaner. I'm not sure my GTR even knows what rust is. It's probably as clean as the average 2007 canadian car.

another thing I noticed while I was under there was that GTR's have HUGE rear diff's. 6 bolt axles and everything. These could be a good upgrade for rx-7 guys if someone can manage to import them reasonably cheaply.

thebisnac

iTrader: (5)

I'm one of the guys that "brent clemment" mentioned having a jdm FD. And all i can say it was more thne worth it! The car is mint runs beautifully, even though it's taken apart now for lil plans....

i paid 8200 bucks for mine, plus another 1000 shipped from BC to barrie ON into my garage.

Like most other people have said, you just have to look around for the right one, and ask a hell of a lot of questions to the importer..and get the answers you need from the inspector of the car over in japan (at least thats what i did in my case..)

if oyur looking at a place to go with..i suggest www.jdmconnection.ca. You will be dealing with William. He knows his ****! He was definitely one of the most informative and helpul people i have ever met when it comes to importing

hopefully you can find a decent one!

v6er

damn it now i want one pretty bad

v6er

well i dont mean to ruin this thread but i gota get 15 posts to send private messages

v6er

bump

v6er

sorry

v6er

here we go please dont bash lolll im sorry

Interlude

Out of all the JDM RX-7s I have seen, none of them were worth buying, even though they were really cheap. Once you fix it up it, it is probably going to cost more than a good condition one from the states.

snoik

whats a good condition one run for in the states?

Canadian_jdm7

Interlude, My JDM 7 has not needed any serious repairs, and has saved me thousands.

dradon03

iTrader: (2)

I think the important word is YET.

All FD's I have ever seen require maintenance that is simply because of the age of the car.

All JDM's I have seen in the Montreal area are parts cars, I have seen parts in these cars I never knew existed a Panspeed dash sticks out in my mind but for the 1 great part the rest is junk. Too bad.