ahha I see your at it again..

 

actually you guys are still wrong about my intentions. One, it was not be cool or "mad jdm yo" or trying to pass my car off as being an "actual" japanese car. It's more about love and respect of the cars roots in japan. I love everything about the japanese culture and about 10-15 years ago when touring cars were becoming a fad and sport compact car magazine and the like started posting articles about how to race out any given production compact car i was hooked. I want to go full "jdm style" just out of pure enjoyment. Not to show it off as be "authentic" just as a completed hobby. Same way any given person would restore lets say a '57 chevy. Most people shop for years, searching for an "authentic" chevy part. My idea's the same. If I could import a "real" fd from japan at a decent price and not have to deal with the emmissions regulations and hassell from the DMV I probably would. I appologize for going off earlier. I just hate being called a "ricer" I didn't think my idea was all that stupid. if it is, what about all the guys here who are putting "spirit R" badges or "efini" badges on their cars, when clearly they are not any of those. In that case, they are rice to right?

 

well you let me know where i can pick one up. I have a contact through cork sports, and a gentleman there is willing to sell me a front clip for $3,500. And to finish the job, the same body shop I have brought all my cars to, is willing to custom make me a dash (to my own specs) plus do the wiring and all the little finishing touches for $3,000. So you let me know where I can get a U.S. 50 state street legal fd imported and registerd for $6,500. If this were true, every 16 year old shmuck in my city would be driving one. And you know what? I'd still want one!

 

well i want one too. but if you sold your current FD you could buy a JDM one, impport it, and legalize it for the same price as buying an FD and making it RHD. you can get a '93 FD in japan for around $8,500 USD. shiping is another $1200. even if legalizing costs up to $2,000, that totals to about $11,700. it is still cheaper than buyign a USDM FD and making it RHD.

 

well I don't know how the emission laws are where you live but in California they are very strict. I heard it cost a whole lot more to legalize a car for the state of California. R&B motoring down here in So. Cal imports skylines, and silvia's and most of their cars start around $30,000 or so. They are all 50 state street legal, pass all emission's test, pass U.S. crash test specs, all without harming the performance of the cars. I had talked to an old nieghbor of mine before he moved, who imported a civic Si-R. He said it took about 2 months before he could get his car from customs. Then it took another 5 months trying to get it to pass the smog test and through the endless trips to the Department of Motor Vehicles. He said after all was said and done, he wish he wouldn't have even bothered. But if what you said is accurate. I would be so greatful if you would name your source. It's worth looking into. If everything is cool, I just may go ahead and just import one. I just don't want to be stuck with a car that I can't get parts for easily. (one reason I never wanted a skyline) Plus no matter what I decide to do, i will most likely do a complete write up on my experience, and share it with you all here.

 

i dont have one singe source. i just researched this topic a lot a few years ago when i was contemplating importing cars from thailand.
it will take a lot of paperwork, but since the FD is also sold in the US, it will make everyting A LOT easyer. since the FD is already sold in teh US, you do not need all crash test standards stuff, although you may need new glass. and the JDM motor shouldn't have any more problems than the USDM ones in passing emmisions. if my TII can do it, any properly running FD can. dont base your assumption on all the people who import skylines and other cars not sold in the US. you can also apply for a "show/display" licence. but its kinda hard to get and you can oly drive your car like 2500 miles in a 12-month peiod.

 

i think rhd drive stuff is sweet i wont lie it is pointless but its an attention getter and i also like the new doors that rx7 store has come out with i would do them both if i could and had the money so go for it dude even if it is pointless i will be jealous

 

how is it converting your car to make it look like how it is in japan rice? maybe he wants it that way.

 

because there is no reason. and it will look exactly the same. i can understand jdm lights, bumpers, lips, or trim pieces, but the only difference in a RHD conversion is you will be sitting on the other side; the side that is more cramped for space in the engine bay and has more weight on it already. its fake. people will only think that your car is JDM but its not. same concept as having fake spinners, hood scoops, or side-exit exhaust.

 

Two things:

1) It's been done. I think his handle is "Kinetic." Check w/ saburo, he knows the guy's handle for sure. He's still looking for a few RHD peices tho, since they're obviously hard to come by.

2) If you really want a SHOW ONLY car, and you're serious (read: don't waste my damn time if you're not, and I'm serious), I have a RHD JDM FD from Japan, clean title, great shape that I'm going to be selling. Buy her, go for the 99spec or Spirit R look, and you'd be straight. The car might be tagged and titled for a some more $$ (don't start a long thread about how this can't be done, because there are loopholes, and it's def. possible). That way you could actually drive the car But in short, buying an already RHD FD is MUCH cheaper than doing the conversion, given that you're looking at lots of parts and LOTS of labor.

 

Amen. Updating a car to JDM bumpers, lights, etc. can be a good thing. Large OEMs update cars to improve on a previous design. Drag, downforce and aesthitics are all part of the car-evolving process. Changing all of that will, in a sense, modernize the car. Moving a steering wheel from one side to the other will make for a bunch of headaches and wasted time in my opinion. The only reason I can see to make the FD a right hand drive car would be to get some of the right-hand-drive-only Mazdaspeed parts which are over priced anyway.

 

The smell of **** is strong in this one.

 

Hallellujah! There is still some sense left in this section.

 

Not for long. The little kiddies are slowly taking over. Going to resemble honda-tech soon.

 

what was there to BS in my post? all i did was tell him that importing cars that are already sold in the US is easyer than cars not sold in teh US. damn...why didnt i just say that?
or do you not think i was actually considering importing cars from thailand? if you can buy cars over there for $3,000 that people are willing to spend $10,000 on, why wouldnt I look into that?

 

Jeff, actually he's right about importing a vehicle for show ONLY. But I think he's wrong (IIRC) regarding the mileage. IIRC (and it's been a while since I read all the laws and stipulations) you can't drive it AT ALL. I don't remember how it works (if they issue you a VIN or not), but the car is 50-state ILLEGAL (that's NOT legal), and can't be driven period. No mileage, nada. You can't even get operational tags for it (there is such thing as non-operational vehicles, but I dunno if that's how they classify these).

In short, you can very well import vehicles for show only or off-road use only. But it's not exactly easy...you have to show the Feds quite a bit of work to convince them it's really going to be used for such a purpose, so they will grant you such a license. Also, I don't believe emissions or crash testing is necessary because again, you can't drive it on the streets AT ALL.

 

You are right Ramy about the importation of a car for show purposes, but he wasn't referring to that in the beginning of the post. He believes that if the car was sold in the US, it is easier to legalize a JDM car of the same model. He couldn't be farther from the truth.


If you want to know the truth about importation and legalization, search for posts by DomFD3S or me. We have explained it nearly 30 times.

 

Yep, you're right Jeff. FYI for the original poster, if a car is already here, the law stipulates that you CANNOT import it's non-US counterpart. You actually have to prove there are significant DIFFERENCES for them to even consider your petition to import the car.

Ditto w/ the RHD vs LHD. If the car exists here as LHD, importation of it's RHD counterpart (even if it's the EXACT same year etc) is strictly forbidden.

Both rules are pretty common sense if you ask me. They're basically saying "don't waste our time importing something we already have"

 

it can still be done though

 

It can, by going through loop-holes and not being 100% legal. I don't know about you, but if I dropped 20k on a car, I wouldn't want to worry about if the feds are gonna find out.

 

Jeff, the sad thing is, it's really a Catch 22. People who can afford to have it done the 100% legal way usually wouldn't waste their time on RX7s. They're usually ballers who can drop practically $100K on a Skyline, or even higher, hundreds of thousands of $$ on cars like the Porsche 959, which is now 50-state legal (provided you pay the shop for the legalization fees). And on the other end of the spectrum are us poor folk who are stuck trying to do it the cheapest way possible, through loopholes and what not.

 

ya with the 'loop holes' , my 92 type-r rhd is fully ca legal, not a vinswap either, still 10 digit vin

 

little something

 

Thats all fine and dandy, but it is still not 100% legal with the United States Government.

 

You rang?