Going to japan. Can I bring S15 back to California

[Nightrida]

i was wondreing if I can do it really want one. Can I bring one back to the USA?

[ca18guy]

Quick answer, no.

[s15dude]

Yeah you can. But when it hits U.S. shores, customs will prolly take it and give it to the EPA and CARB and then you will never see it again and will have lost the 20+ k you spent getting it.

[Nightrida]

Why can't I bring one back. whats the problem. Is it the engine. why? wouldn't it be the same shit if I did a front end conversion and then and engine swap. i hear people talk about that. Why is it ok then. Its the same engine isn't it. SR20DET.

[SR20Fastback]

Well its not really legal to do the swaps in the first place.

[Nightrida]

So what the hell do I do then!!! I want that car.  A real one not a conversion

[SR20Fastback]

Try talking to motorex about it. They dont currently import them, but Im sure they could. It would probably be a good pretty penny though. www.SkylineGTR.com is their site.

[blink0r]

If you really want one THAT bad, move to Japan. It's the easiest way to get one.

[Nightrida]

why can't i jsut bring the doby of the car back with an egine that is emissions legal in the sates and then put the real SR20DET engine back in it since everyone else does it with there 240sx.
Do you guys think that that is possible. If so i might as well bring a Skyline back. Tell me what you think

[Tuck&Poke]

its not just the engine.  bumpers over in japan dont make the 5mph bumper law.  meaning if you hit something at 5mph or less nothing happens to your bumper.  emissions arent as clean either.  you also gotta insure it as a kit car.

[Nightrida]

So what do I need to do to the cars in order to get a silvia S15 or a skyline over here and be sneaky so that I don't have to go through motorex and get charged like 16Gs for there work. There has to be a way to do. Does anyone know!!!!

[ajbarnes1]

join the military. <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/eh.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':eh:'>

[Nightrida]

I am in the military that is why I willb egoing to Japan for six months. That is why I want to bring a car back with me when I come back to california. I just need a way to do it. I'm a Marine. i will be going to Okinawa for six months.

[SR20Fastback]

Why dont you call the state patrol? They will know about what needs to be changed than we do.

[Tuck&Poke]

str8 from motorex heres what you gotta do to get it legal:

Once the vehicle arrives in the United States, it will take approximately 2 weeks to clear customs. The vehicle gets the EPA modifications then it goes to the emissions lab for testing. The EPA testing will take approximately one week. Then the vehicle has a 15 day EPA hold. Once the vehicle is at our facility again it will take us approximately 2 weeks to make the necessary modifications and take the required pictures of the vehicle. Once the vehicle has &nbsp;been modified , and a compliance package put together &nbsp;and sent to the Department of Transportation , the vehicle goes into a mandatory 30 day DOT hold. &nbsp;
and
Then what happens is anything that is different between the US DOT legal vehicle and the vehicle from overseas would need to be changed to be the same as a US model. For example - headlights , tailights , mph speedometer cluster. The DOT no longer accepts right hand drive cars as being substaincially similar to the US model unless the manufacturer provides information to the DOT stating the vehicles are substancially similar.
Additionally the engine in the vehicle must be available in the US or the engine must be certified for the US.

[DuffMan]

There used to be a loop hole for people serving in the military over seas, where they could bring back pretty much any car they wanted. I'm not sure if it still exists, but I think it does.

[Nightrida]

DUFFMAN
Can you tell me more about that military loop hole thing. Is that really true. If so is it still in effect?<img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='???'>?

[ca18guy]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Nightrida @ May 12 2002,11:33)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">DUFFMAN
Can you tell me more about that military loop hole thing. Is that really true. If so is it still in effect?<img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/confused.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt='???'>?</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
I'm in the military, the loophole doesn't exist anymore. Just let it go, you can't bring one over. It's not the end of the world.

[DuffMan]

Like I said, I know it USED to exist, but don't know anything about it. If ca18guy says it doesn't exist anymore, than I think he would know better than any of us.

[mistert]

the only way to own it legally will be to provide crash testing data (probably will mean paying for several cars and then the facilities to crash them at and gather the data), modify many parts, and let the DOT and EPA have their way with it doing testing, and let them rip it apart and put it back together. after that you will be able to import and modify and make them legal. it can be done, but at great personal expense to you

motorex said they could do it, but that the price of them would be ridiculous compared to what you get. you'd pay something like $35-45k for a decent car that would cost you $15k to get in japan (a good used example). motorex itself said its not worth the money

you could do something like try and import it as an s14 or something, maybe swap in a ka24de as well, to ease the DOT and EPA testing process, since this is a US approved engine

the cheapest way you could legally own something very close to an s15 would be to weld a full s15 body onto an s14 chassis (i've heard several times this is doable, but i dont know for sure). im not sure if you could put in the s15 dash as well, i figure thats possible with enough work, and we all know you can put in an s15 sr20det and 6-speed.

either way, do the research. it'll take you alot of time, but you might just find some way you can pull it off, its always possible. i dont see you being able to do it legally without finding some sort of loophole that hundreds of people have been tryign to find themselves. im sure this topic has also been covered on FA a whole lot

[Bbandit]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Nightrida @ May 11 2002,3:29)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">i was wondreing if I can do it really want one. Can I bring one back to the USA?</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
if you do go to japan ... can you bring me some sushi? i'll send you my check before you go to japan &nbsp;<img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/thumbs-up.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':thumbsup:'>

[blink0r]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (Nightrida @ May 11 2002,4:47)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">So what do I need to do to the cars in order to get a silvia S15 or a skyline over here and be sneaky so that I don't have to go through motorex and get charged like 16Gs for there work. There has to be a way to do. Does anyone know!!!!</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
YOU CAN'T! There are companies who import skylines, but they sell for about $90,000us for a GT-R Vspec. Quit being an idiot and listen to us.

[KoukiS14]

You strip your interior, ship that bitch as a race car, and ship all the interior parts seperate. &nbsp;I wanna do this with same color S14 as the one I own now, plate the 240, title it, and put all that shit on my Silvia. =) &nbsp;

If you get pulled over, everything will match... Here, in Indiana, cops are stupid enough to buy the "I converted my car to RHD" thing. &nbsp;

Actually, I'd love to have a U13 Bluebird (like our Altima) with Attessa AWD and SR20DET. . that would be a cool car to drive here.

-Rob

[luey02]

I wonder how that GT-R from chicago got it's registration... &nbsp;maybe you should ax him..

[SimpleS14]

The closet you'll ever get to having a S-15 is changing the front end, swapping the engine and tranny, changing the seats, and the dash cluster. &nbsp;<img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=';)'>

All that is cheaper than importing the real thing.

[nrcooled]

The program that you are probally thinking about is one that manufactuers offer on USDM vehicles i.e. ford will allow you to pay on a vehicle while you are overseas and then they will allow you to come back Stateside and pick up your car or truck at any dealership and then you make the remaining payments. &nbsp;There is no way to be able to get the JDM model and bring it over w/o all of the redtape that is invovled.

My mother is in logistics (importing and exporting) and she told me that it is an ugly process. &nbsp;If you go to Europe its easier to bring a MB or BMW over to the states but that's because the restrictions are a lot closer to US spec not that this helps at all but for future reference <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

Sorry but its not easily doable <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/crazy.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':crazy:'> Trust me I have already discussed this to death w/ her and one possibility is to bring it over as a race car but you can't title it and it will be a trailer queen

[ca18guy]

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote (nrcooled @ May 14 2002,05:57)</td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">The program that you are probally thinking about is one that manufactuers offer on USDM vehicles i.e. ford will allow you to pay on a vehicle while you are overseas and then they will allow you to come back Stateside and pick up your car or truck at any dealership and then you make the remaining payments. There is no way to be able to get the JDM model and bring it over w/o all of the redtape that is invovled.

My mother is in logistics (importing and exporting) and she told me that it is an ugly process. If you go to Europe its easier to bring a MB or BMW over to the states but that's because the restrictions are a lot closer to US spec not that this helps at all but for future reference <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':)'>

Sorry but its not easily doable <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/crazy.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':crazy:'> Trust me I have already discussed this to death w/ her and one possibility is to bring it over as a race car but you can't title it and it will be a trailer queen</td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>
Thats true, but the military loophole there refering to is different. If you could prove that selling and buying a different car was a finacial hardship on yourself, you could get an exeption to bring your foriegn car back to the states but the thing is you could not resell it once you get to the states. Either way it's not around anymore.

[nrcooled]

No shit never heard of that...It would be pretty cool if was still around <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':p'>

[rotaryknight]

CHRIST.....thick headed is being nice.

Ok first of all yes you can import a S15...you could also bring it in as a rolling chassie to make it easier to pass customs. &nbsp;BUT you will not be able to legally drive it on the road. &nbsp;You can make it all pretty and park it in your living room.

MotoRex spent a lot of time and money to crash test the Skylines, EPA, CARB, etc etc. &nbsp;I'm not talking about the kinda of money any normal individual can bring up.

This topic has been brought up time and time again in the Rx-7 forum....especially since the Rx-7 already exists here in the states.
1. After 96 you now have OBD II which makes emissions harder. &nbsp;The car is not equipt with ODB II. &nbsp;
2. &nbsp;For the Rx-7 Mazda does not consider the RHD and LHD Rx-7 the exact same car.
3. &nbsp;The S15 was never in the states so there is no crash test information. &nbsp;If you are serious and not some punk kid then you can look at this site for information how to make it legal, registered importers (yes MotoRex is one) and cars that are legal to import. &nbsp;http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/ or you can contact [email protected] for more info.

Just like on the Rx-7 forum people cry and bitch about not gettin this or having that. &nbsp;Hey it's a fact of life. &nbsp;They made them good in Japan and gave us the crappy motors and designs here.

Plain and simple. &nbsp;If it was easy then someone with more money, time, knowledge and just plain common sence would have done it along time ago. &nbsp;Don't think you are the only one who want's things from Japan. &nbsp;I even have a friend who brought over his own GTR and can't register it. &nbsp;Sucks huh.

[nrcooled]

Alright get this

I just called the Travel Management Office TMO and the scoop is this; you can bring a vehicle back but you have to pay for everything. &nbsp;The millitary will only help you so much but all the finacial hardships are your burdon. &nbsp;So 15k for a used S15 then shipping 2k then all mods to meet US spec 2k.

So if you need more detail call the TMO in Okinawa or Courtney or where ever you are going in Japan and speak w/ them to get the exact process. &nbsp;But there is no way around having to register your car and you need a title to do that and w/o a good VIN that won't happen

[rotaryknight]

Yup that sucks...on the Rx-7 forum we have a guy in the service stationed in Okinawa. &nbsp;His car is beautiful but he has to leave it behind. &nbsp;He can't get it registered in the US.

[matic 240sx]

well since alot of cops and people are stupid this is what you do..

1st. you buy the car in japan.

2nd. you bring the car in the states as a race car/off street use only car.

3rd. you go to the junk yard and purchase a wrecked 240sx.. &nbsp;Even if its a total piece of crap. &nbsp;

4th. &nbsp;you remove all vin numbers from s15 and switch with 240sx.

now its a rebuilt 240sx with silvia "conversion" just say its a mad bondo job. &nbsp;now your driving a silvia in the states... &nbsp;people do it with stolen cars all the time... trust me on that. &nbsp;Im not sure if its been done in a way like this before but u never know... &nbsp;if i had the money i would try it..

[rotaryknight]

Actually if he is trying to bring the car to Cali....cops are not that stupid. &nbsp; CHP is very very informed about what is legal and not. &nbsp;There are 5 officers who's job is to find out what the trends are, surf the net, look are street racing sites etc and then hold seminars to inform the rest of CHP.

Given there are idiots out there but there are some out there that really know. &nbsp;I know an officer who can list off what companies have CARB exemptions. &nbsp;This guy looked at my FD and said "hey there are no CARB legal single turbo upgrades for this car...." &nbsp;

This is also the same office who was interviewed in Super Street and scared me and the writter with the amount of knowledge he has.