buying s13?

[01SaturnL200]

sup guys i am new here.....lol



i am in the process of getting a S13 Silvia imported.....my friend is sellin me the car for 500 and he is gonna pay to have it freighted ......i dont know y....but how much is it gonna cost to have the car made street legal in the US? i really want this car....it has the SR20DE(non-turbo) in it....u can still get a turbo off a sr20det correct?

i appreciate the help!!:boink:

[spindrift187]

An SR20DE that came in an S13? Am I mistaken or isnt that the motor from the old Sentra SE-R's? I've never known a SR motor to come in an S chassis car that was non-turbo.

[240Dave]

Yeah, they had non-turbo silvias.

Expect to spend well over $50,000 to legalize a silvia in the USA.
OR
Your silvia will never be legal in the USA...

IIRC the sr20de and ser20det engines are build differently so you can't just add a turbo and be all good.

I recommend just buying a 240sx and swapping in an sr20det. It is likely going to cost a lot to ship a whole car across the ocean...especially since it will never have a title or insurance.

[spindrift187]

No ****?! Never knew that, any site I could go to to take a look at them? I figured I woulda heard about a non-turbo Silvia by now. A guy offered me the same deal but I thought he was tryin to give me a motor outta the SE-R

[MyFirst240SX]

buy an hurt 240sx of the same year
take the vin and regestration from that car and put it on the silvia then
BaM a highly modded 240 is legal

[soulDistortion]

Uh, what the hell are you talking about?

Altering VIN numbers is far from legal. In fact, it's a felony.

And remind me again how a non-turbo Silvia is considered "heavily modded"?


You would be better off just buying an s13 240sx, and getting a front clip from an s13 Silvia, because there is no way in hell you are getting a Silvia street-legal without spending an enormous amount of money.

[mrmephistopheles]

too bad it'll be completely illegal for having been VIN-swapped.
if you get caught, you get a free ride to and stay at your local federal pound-me-in-the-ass prison.

SR20DEs and CA18DEs came in Silvias too.

[01SaturnL200]

holy crap?! 50000 grand for a bone stock s13? wtf? ok first off y is it gonna cost 50000 for a car that is not even worth that much?! and second my friend has hook ups on frieghting..... :D anyways....i am still gonna try to get the car here in the states....if anything i can get a wrecked 240 and do some MAJOR swapage....

thanx guys:)

[mrmephistopheles]

cost is high, because the vehicle has yet to be legalized. (i.e. crash testing, emissions testing, the like) As far as DOT and EPA are concerned, the car could've come from Mars. The only way that this could ever be circumvented is via a letter from the manufacturer saying that there is NO significant difference between the japanese model and the domestic model. Since that is not true (and for them to cover their ass in the future to prevent a lawsuit), Nissan won't do it.

[MyFirst240SX]

its really state pending on the swaping of the VIN, in SC i could really never see any reason why cops would check all the vin's to see if it matches ler alone the engine. In somewhere like cali where i hear thats a big thing i wouldn't do it
just my .02

[01SaturnL200]

well this sucks.....i am gonna get it weather its legal or not :D

thanx for the info guys

[Yoshi]

Can I ask what the advantage is, getting a real non-turbo silvia over a 240? IIRC the SR20DE engine puts out less power than the KA24E, and has less torque, so what's the point? So you can say "I'm JDM Y0!"? If you got the hookup with shipping, bring over a SR20DET while you're at it, or have your friend get a real silvia K's... they're really not that expensive, and it'll cost you the same to "legalize" no matter what.

Of course there's the sensible thing.
Get a Skyline.
It'll cost your the same in the end, why not get a far superior car?

[01SaturnL200]

i am thinkin of just buying the car....and then just have it....work on it when i can if i want to...i will still have my saturn to drive...but i want this silvia street legal or not...i can always just save money to get it tested later after i get it :boink:

[720_datsun]

Originally posted by MyFirst240SX
buy an hurt 240sx of the same year
take the vin and regestration from that car and put it on the silvia then
BaM a highly modded 240 is legal hey i did that before to my integ

[SlideStar]

Originally posted by soulDistortion
Uh, what the hell are you talking about?

Altering VIN numbers is far from legal. In fact, it's a felony.



ya .... if you get caught. :naughty:

[720_datsun]

Originally posted by SlideStar
ya .... if you get caught. :naughty: see if you get caught. how the hell they gonna catch you unless they run your vin numbers, which ive only seen done at races and like twice.

[SlideStar]

Ya I'm saying "go for it" even if they do run your
Vin number it will come up as a 240sx..
.... just tell the cop you did the conversion. :D

[Eyescream]

This thread is pretty much retarded.

Why would anybody want to go to the trouble and expense of importing a car they can't even drive around legally that's gonna be slower than if they were to just get a USDM car and put a motor or turbo kit or whatever on it. At least that way you can have insurance (which most states require by law now).

[spindrift187]

Say you swap the VIN's, what's going to happen when you get into an accident? Insurance and the police will look at your car, someone is going to know that's no 240sx you're driving. So once you say "conversion", they're going to check the car out more and more and eventually notice what you did and next thing you know you got jailtime/large fine. And like someone else was saying, all for authenticity of a slower car, I'm sure it would be nice and all to have the RHD but is it worth this much of a pain in your ass?

[gdrum]

Its not true, you can get it legalized depending on where you live, and who you know. These days its litterally all on "who" you know. We have 1 jdm SIR rhd, and 3 jdm rhd ludes, all titled and plated. 100% legit. Yep.....but we live in indiana where emissions isnt **** so its all on who u know.

[01SaturnL200]

well i live in Louisiana...and emissions down here are....what are emissions? lol:rolleyes: anywho...i do know some ppl

[KoukiS14]

Yeah. . you can't actually legalize a Silvia in the U.S. anyway. .even if you get it here, you will never be able to plate it or insure it.

You can only take it the track.


and yes, non-turbo Silvias were very common. and. . also, yes. . the turbo components WILL bolt onto the engine, but compression is different, and n/a SR has no piston squirters, to my knowledge.
prolly a few other items. . .

and yep. . if you COULD legalize it. . 25k - 50k USD to make it go.

[KoukiS14]

Originally posted by 01SaturnL200
well i live in Louisiana...and emissions down here are....what are emissions? lol:rolleyes: anywho...i do know some ppl

I live in Indiana. . and there's no emissions to worry about. .
I looked into importing a vehicle. . cause . . Japanese cars are INCREDIBLY cheap for an awesome car with low mileage.

I REALLY wish we had a grey market here. I'd be more than willing to help take some of those nice used cars off the hands of Australia and New Zealand. . . and England. . and Germany. . bastards. .

I want a grey market.


My opinions: The USDOT feels that these cars are unsafe, HOWEVER, it is legal to drive an SUV, and even more incredibly, a motorcycle (without a helmet in my state)

[01SaturnL200]

well my current plan as of now is to bring it to the US as a "parts car" i am gonna use the engine front lights rear and other parts on a american 240sx w/ a blown engine....those are my PLANS i am still tryin to get just a shipping quote :bash:

[240Dave]

Why would you put a lesser engine into your car?

From everything I've read (and based on every other N/A variant of a turbo engine i've ever seen [300zx, mr2, etc...]) the sr20de is different from the sr20det, so you can't just slap a turbo on and go.

[01SaturnL200]

i am not getting the car for the engine....i want the body that is all i am after if i can just get a wrecked 240 w/ a good engine then i will do that...but i hate the looks of the hatchback i want the coupe version :)

[MyFirst240SX]

Originally posted by 01SaturnL200
but i hate the looks of the hatchback i want the coupe version :)


that kinda sounds like a personal problem to me:p