Any Stateside Eunos Cosmo owners here?
04-03-13, 05:55 AM
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Any Stateside Eunos Cosmo owners here?
Evening gents. I'm in the position to acquire a Cosmo early next year after I complete a 6 month deployment. A '94-'95 JCES Cosmo is actually eligible for import under the show and display rule, cool right? Well I'm worried about how much it will cost for a registered importer to "legalize" it, are there any Cosmo owners here or does anyone know of someone who's paid the coin for a RI to make it road legal? I emailed a few shops, just waiting on a reply.
No this wont be my DD, I'm aware of the 2500 miles a year rule, but just looking for pricing on the legal process only.
No this wont be my DD, I'm aware of the 2500 miles a year rule, but just looking for pricing on the legal process only.
04-04-13, 02:12 AM
#6
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04-04-13, 02:24 AM
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Is that so? Emissions shouldn't be a big issue I would think. I thought it meant the whole deal with testing bumpers and modifying speedometers.
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04-04-13, 08:44 PM
#8
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Based on the image you posted it only mentions the EPA, so that would be emissions. if it said DOT standards, then I would think it means the whole deal. Again I'm just going off what you posted there, and from what I had understod about the Showcar rule, I havn't imported anything so don't take my word for it.
04-05-13, 07:22 PM
#10
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04-06-13, 09:28 AM
#14
I'm pretty sure that a show car does NOT require modification to DOT or EPA standards due to the exceptionally limited mileage it would accumulate each year. As for DOT Compliance, this is an expensive and incredibly risky/sticky proposition.
This would be the first modern rotary engined car brought into compliance by someone other than the manufacturer. No RI that I am aware of has the experience with rotaries that I would deem necessary to do the job properly. Simply put, it needs a rotary shop to be done right, since we all know what normal 'mechanics' do to them...
There would have to be a few Cosmos subjected to crash tests, just like when the R33 Skyline was first imported by Motorex. While one could use a 13B Cosmo for this (structural parts are identical), it would still mean sacrificing a few of them.
Considering how finicky and unforgiving to tuning errors rotaries are, the only shop I think would be able to approach the car properly and already have the necessary parts/resource/knowledge channels available is Mazdatrix. Racing Beat would come in at a close second though.
Contact them and see if either would consider becoming an RI for this project. Depending on how things pan out, it might be possible to get Mazda Corporate in Irvine, CA to lend a hand as well in the manner of manufacturer statements regarding bumper/glass/seat belt performance in order to skirt the crash testing requirements. They do have a 20B Cosmo in the basement after all
With only ~5000 made, a 20B Cosmo is rarer than a Delorean...there aren't enough of them out there to screw this up with. When you find one that you're interested in, PM me the chassis number so I can run a build sheet on it. I want to ensure it is exactly as described and not butchered with ill-performed modifications. The last thing I'd want to hear about is it catching on fire because a previous owner shorted out the CCS wiring by trying to install a double din stereo...
This would be the first modern rotary engined car brought into compliance by someone other than the manufacturer. No RI that I am aware of has the experience with rotaries that I would deem necessary to do the job properly. Simply put, it needs a rotary shop to be done right, since we all know what normal 'mechanics' do to them...
There would have to be a few Cosmos subjected to crash tests, just like when the R33 Skyline was first imported by Motorex. While one could use a 13B Cosmo for this (structural parts are identical), it would still mean sacrificing a few of them.
Considering how finicky and unforgiving to tuning errors rotaries are, the only shop I think would be able to approach the car properly and already have the necessary parts/resource/knowledge channels available is Mazdatrix. Racing Beat would come in at a close second though.
Contact them and see if either would consider becoming an RI for this project. Depending on how things pan out, it might be possible to get Mazda Corporate in Irvine, CA to lend a hand as well in the manner of manufacturer statements regarding bumper/glass/seat belt performance in order to skirt the crash testing requirements. They do have a 20B Cosmo in the basement after all
With only ~5000 made, a 20B Cosmo is rarer than a Delorean...there aren't enough of them out there to screw this up with. When you find one that you're interested in, PM me the chassis number so I can run a build sheet on it. I want to ensure it is exactly as described and not butchered with ill-performed modifications. The last thing I'd want to hear about is it catching on fire because a previous owner shorted out the CCS wiring by trying to install a double din stereo...
04-06-13, 10:16 AM
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This would be the first modern rotary engined car brought into compliance by someone other than the manufacturer. .
the bad news is that it probably won't pass an EPA test, there's no precat, so cold start emissions are likely too high. even worse is when you put a precat in it, the carpet catches on fire, which rumored to be what killed the US version.
if you search around they had tentative plans to bring it to the US badged as an Rx8, but the prototype burned down, and i'm sure the single digit fuel economy didn't help....
04-06-13, 06:17 PM
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Great info gentlemen.
I'm not really looking to sacrifice any Cosmo's for the cause, as Akagi mentioned they are super rare. The 90-91's are only a few years away from being 25, so that's another consideration, IIRC there is a '90 for sale with ONLY 32,000KM's on it.
I emailed a couple of RI's about the show/display import with no answer yet.
BTW the while catching on fire thing sounds...exciting lol. Did one really catch on fire from a CCS short out?
I'm not really looking to sacrifice any Cosmo's for the cause, as Akagi mentioned they are super rare. The 90-91's are only a few years away from being 25, so that's another consideration, IIRC there is a '90 for sale with ONLY 32,000KM's on it.
I emailed a couple of RI's about the show/display import with no answer yet.
BTW the while catching on fire thing sounds...exciting lol. Did one really catch on fire from a CCS short out?
04-07-13, 04:28 PM
#17
While I cannot say one way or another about if someone had caught their Cosmo on fire by hacking up the CCS wiring, I do know that ignorance has no demographic...
As J9FD3S stated, there were plans to offer them stateside under the Amati brand (North American sibling brand to Eunos), but a prototype catching fire seems unlikely. My hunch is that its emissions were just too heavy as a whole as its displacement is 50% greater than a FD. Trying to reign it its emissions probably meant leaning out the mixture too much and risking detonation. Next time I talk to Koby, I'll ask him about it.
OTOH, a LHD 13B-RE Cosmo could have been done...
Also, I'd like to point out that the 20B Cosmo DOES have a pre-cat integrated into the main downpipe. This is downstream of the short downpipe section that the O2 sensor is threaded into.
Here is an example of the Precat/Main Downpipe: JCESE
(Admins: Link is for informational purposes only)
This is in addition to the double-barrel 'shotgun' main cat, which then feeds into the Y-pipe (well, it's not technically a Y-pipe but does widen at the rear) and finally to the mufflers.
Something else that MIGHT work in your favor is the Substantially Similar clause. In short, if a manufacturer advises the DOT that a non-US spec car is substantially similar to one already that is already compliant, certain items are passed without examination. Considering that both the JC Cosmo and HC 929 are descended from the HB platform, they share similar design cues and could nudge a decision towards this loophole. It's not as close as let's say a 1995 Mitsubishi Mirage sedan and an Lancer Evolution III GSR, but gets the idea across.
As previously stated, the best course of action would be to just wait till it is 25 years old...
As J9FD3S stated, there were plans to offer them stateside under the Amati brand (North American sibling brand to Eunos), but a prototype catching fire seems unlikely. My hunch is that its emissions were just too heavy as a whole as its displacement is 50% greater than a FD. Trying to reign it its emissions probably meant leaning out the mixture too much and risking detonation. Next time I talk to Koby, I'll ask him about it.
OTOH, a LHD 13B-RE Cosmo could have been done...
Also, I'd like to point out that the 20B Cosmo DOES have a pre-cat integrated into the main downpipe. This is downstream of the short downpipe section that the O2 sensor is threaded into.
Here is an example of the Precat/Main Downpipe: JCESE
(Admins: Link is for informational purposes only)
This is in addition to the double-barrel 'shotgun' main cat, which then feeds into the Y-pipe (well, it's not technically a Y-pipe but does widen at the rear) and finally to the mufflers.
Something else that MIGHT work in your favor is the Substantially Similar clause. In short, if a manufacturer advises the DOT that a non-US spec car is substantially similar to one already that is already compliant, certain items are passed without examination. Considering that both the JC Cosmo and HC 929 are descended from the HB platform, they share similar design cues and could nudge a decision towards this loophole. It's not as close as let's say a 1995 Mitsubishi Mirage sedan and an Lancer Evolution III GSR, but gets the idea across.
As previously stated, the best course of action would be to just wait till it is 25 years old...
04-07-13, 10:23 PM
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Agreed, the 25 year old rule might be the way to go. Thanks for all the information though, it really is a help. I'm actually taking a look at one that's local to me tomorrow.
04-08-13, 06:27 PM
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As J9FD3S stated, there were plans to offer them stateside under the Amati brand (North American sibling brand to Eunos), but a prototype catching fire seems unlikely. My hunch is that its emissions were just too heavy as a whole as its displacement is 50% greater than a FD. Trying to reign it its emissions probably meant leaning out the mixture too much and risking detonation. Next time I talk to Koby, I'll ask him about it.
