Looking For Registered Importer?

[Sicky00]

Does anyone know any Registered importers back there in the states? I need someone to help me import my 180 to Las Vegas. Any help is appreciated.
Sicky

[sil240sxrwd]

Cant you do it through the military??

[Sicky00]

The military will help me ship it but I need a RI to actually accept the car into the states. Makes no sense how it works but I guess thats what I have to do.

[mr peas]

will it matter if the importer doesnt specialize in importing from japan? i have a frien din the bay area whos dad imports things from korea for a living.

[msaskin]

I'm no expert on this, but you're going to have a VERY hard time legalizing the car for the US. All of the loopholes that existed for importing cars and legalizing them were closed up with various pieces of legislation passed in 1999.

I believe that foreign diplomats and people on military service are allowed to bring a foreign vehicle to the united states and register/drive it for up to a year without problems, after the year you must give proof the vehicle was shipped away, crushed, or that it will not be registered anymore (i.e.; track car)

~matt

[iser]

just be prepared for an empty wallet and laggy customs.

[vegas_touge]

matt is a bit off in the importation things there...in vegas its a different story as we are STUPID leniant on emissions and what not

importing a S chassis (S13 and S14...NO S15) can be done legally and the car can be registered...you MUST hold onto the title of the car (this is the key point here)...a simple way of importing the entire chassis to america can be done by first...REMOVE THE ENGINE AND SHIP IT SEPERATELY!!!...second import the chassis...3rd bring the title with you...when the car gets here bring it up to US safety standards (you have to replace the windshield and bumper supports...can be done very cheaply from any local junkyard...find a KA24de...swap the motor into yer RHD chassis...go get the car checked out for safty and emissions...after you pass the safety and emissions tests...take the car and paper work to the DMV and request a change of VIN number...they will create an american VIN for you for the car...then after the car is all nice and legal...put yer SR20det or CA18det back in and enjoy life with yer RHD 180sx

[msaskin]

Now to correct lennon...that is what you used to be able to do prior to 1999. Prior to that federal law considered a RHD version of a LHD vehicle sold in the united states to be equivalent in every way...you could just ship it over (motor and all), change over the bumper support/glass/etc., and register it.

In '99, federal law changed such that RHD vehicles are not considered to be the same as their LHD counterparts. In order to be considered similar, an importer must modify the vehicle to meet US DOT specs, and then submit a number of vehicles (5 in total i believe) to meet safety/crash testing. This is what motorex did to be able to legalize skylines.

Here's the trick, someone has to have done that work in the past X number of years for the S13 chassis, just like motorex did for the R32/R33/R34 chassis. All you need is to find the paperwork that proves the crash testing was done and the proper modifications were made to the car. When you have motorex legalize a skyline you're basically paying them $25K+ because they did the testing and they have the official paperwork...that's all. Beyond that all they really do is change bumper supports & glass, which is probably a total of about $2K worth of stuff including their labor.

Basically, you're paying for someone elses knowledge...that's it. Start searching for who has the DOT records certifying the RHD S chassis cars :)

~matt

[vegas_touge]

matt...were talking about a chassis that was sent to this country since the late 80s...youre going into all this jazz about importing a SKYLINE...the S chassis and skylines are 2 totally different stories...the skylines were NEVER made or imported here to begin with...therefore they have much heavier restrictions placed on importing that car...the S chassis is quite easy to get into and registered in the US...ESPECIALLY if you remove the motor...ive seen TONS of legalized RHD S chassis floating around the west coast...most people just dont feel like paying the shipment fees and having to wait 3-6 months to get the car outta customs...there arent many differences in the safety specs of a RHD and LHD S chassis (save for the bumper supports and windshields)...ive spoken to the DMV about importation of the S13 and S14s before...and it aint hard to register them here

ant btw...motorEX does a little more than you think for legalizing skylines there buddy ;)

[msaskin]

We'll leave it at this: do your own research. neither lennon nor I personally own an imported car, and as such, can't give you the exact details on what is involved.

Side note: my buddy steve in florida has a motorex imported R32...trust me, motorex didn't do much at all except charge the original owner a butt-load of money.

~matt

[vegas_touge]

damn it matt...i was enjoying the argument here BAH...but yes that is quite a valid point...find people in cali who have imported S13s or AE86s and get the info from them...but i do know the key point that you HAVE TO HAVE in order to get the car registered is the ORIGINAL JAPANESE TITLE...without it...the car is worthless and cant be registered

[Sicky00]

Yeah, actually you are both right in what you were saying. I have been looking into this for years. The thing is you guys are going about it the difficult and costly way. All I want to do is ship this car (customs&taxes coursesy Uncle sam) as a parts only car. Than buy a 240sx and swap my front clip, engine/tranny, suspension, interior,etc into the 240. Then the car is legal since the 240sx has the VIN already. NO conversion or legalization needed. I just want to ship the whole car since Gov. will pay for the costs instead of me stripping it here and paying USPS piece by piece. Thats why I need to talk to a RI to see if they can help me import as a parts car. You guys are definately up on your importing stuff though. LOL Thanks. SO did anyone know a RI? LOL

[RBPowered240]

call sean at RBmotoring.. they will prolly chage a lil fee to acept the car..

www.rbmotoring.com

[Sicky00]

I have been trying to call them but cannot get a answer. Maybe I am calling at the wrong times or on their days off, not sure. I wasted my time talking to motorex. They were not very helpful. You know the shop hours and days for RB motoring?

[msaskin]

If you aren't going to be using your RHD car on the streets here then you don't need to worry about anything. There is no papers necessary to import a "parts car". It's the same as importing a car for racing use. You can bring japanese (or european, etc...) cars into the USA for non street use without any regulations.

~matt

[Sicky00]

Yeah there are still regulations on that. Per NHTSA web site you have to have a letter from the vehicle importer specifying that the vehicle was only built for race use. Fat chance nissan will buy off on that one for me. LOL. Also have to pull the engine out to ship as a race only vehicle. Im trying to avoid too much work. If I pull the engine I may as well just get a container and strip the rest of the car. Sux this has to be so difficult. Let me know if I have missed something though or if you know of some way to actually bring parts cars in. IF it was that easy then why is this not being done every day? BTW, Im doing the RHD swap also if I can get the whole car back there. Thats why Im pushing for the whole car to come back.

[msaskin]

Quick search found this...important is the section on importing a vehicle not originally made a racing vehicle:
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import...ing/Racing.html (http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/Racing/Racing.html)

EDIT:
also, here's the list of approved foreign vehicles
http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/ELIG071404.html
funny how I don't see a silvia and/or 180sx/200sx listed, yet there's "all of these RHD 180's running around the west coast"

methinks you may have better luck bringing in the car for racing use, then just riveting the VIN tag from a junker (but not totalled w/ the DMV) 240sx instead of bothering with the RHD conversion. there's a TON of work involved in going RHD with a LHD car.

~matt

[Sicky00]

Yeah, using a vin from another car will get the my crushed pretty quickly. Are the 180s you see on the west coast really 180s or 240 with the same swap I was talking of doing. Its tough but I want to do things the right way so I dont have to worry about trouble later. All the work involved in the swap is the fun part. LOL Its not like I will have anything better to do. Im moving from Japan to Vegas(dont know anyone or anyplace in the area). I will need something to keep me busy.

[msaskin]

Originally posted by Sicky00@Oct 6 2004, 03:31 PM
Yeah, using a vin from another car will get the my crushed pretty quickly. Are the 180s you see on the west coast really 180s or 240 with the same swap I was talking of doing. Its tough but I want to do things the right way so I dont have to worry about trouble later. All the work involved in the swap is the fun part. LOL Its not like I will have anything better to do. Im moving from Japan to Vegas(dont know anyone or anyplace in the area). I will need something to keep me busy.
Quite true. The only hard part of the RHD conversion is doing the under-dash wiring (remember, ALL OF THE WIRES need to be mirror imaged) and cutting/replacing the firewall.

I'd say the best bet to get the vehicle into the country if you're planning on swapping out parts is to bring it in through an importer as a race only vehicle. Strip out what you need, then junk the rest. Send the gov't the paperwork showing the vehicle has been scrapped, end of story :)

As for the different VIN thing: yeah, it's real sketch to do that. I know of a few EVO owners around the country whose cars are insured/registered as late 90's mitubishi mirages, and they've got the VIN plate to back it up :-x

~matt

[vegas_touge]

yes they were REAL RHD 180s...most of them import the 180sx typeS(SR20de) models and swap out the motors...since the SR20de was made here in the states...the car has no problems passing emissions

[RBPowered240]

only problem with using the VIN number off a US 240 is that is considered fraud.. IE... a FELONY... big jail time.. the VIN number is all over the car.. in places u dont even know about or can see..

if anything just swap it all over to a US car... the RHD isnt as hard as it seems.. ill be doing it in the next 2 weeks or so

[cfinch]

Ive talked to some people out here in socal that have registered rhd vehicles. Im not gonna say for sure since I havent walked into a dmv and done it myself but bring the car in with no engine in the bay and have all the customs papers to prove it. Then you swap in your engine and get a new vin issued and register it as a kit car. All you need is a bootleg smog and bam there ya go.

[Sicky00]

Ahhh, I got tired of calling all over the states to diffrent importers. I gave up and have already stripped the car and am in the process of boxing it all up now. I will try to ship what I can with all my household goods and the rest I will mail. This will be easier in the end anyway. I hope. Thats what I keep telling myself anyway. Thanks for lookin out though!

[cfinch]

mail me some stuff while your at it :D