What can become legal?

[lovenismo]

Hey fam soon enough I will be headed for Camp Zama 25 miles SW of Tokyo. Most likely Ill spend 3 year over there and I was debating on what kind of car I should get. Out of the skylines(which is really what I want, an R32 GTR) there seems to be no way around Mototrex and if I registered my car as a show car I could only drive it but so much unless I could find a way to roll back a digital odometer. Now out of the silvias which JDM models can get FULLY LEGAL here at home. Also what "big body" nissan also flexes the mighty rb26 so I can do a little research on its potentialIt was only a couple of weeks when my 89 240 was stolen raped then totaled.(those heartless bastards!) In 6 months or less I be moving up from the Oregon National Gaurd to the real regular ARMY and because I can select my geographical placement, outside of Tokyo sounds nice to get back whats missing in my life.

If yall can let me know whats allowed and what can be made allowed and whats not allowed at all I appreciate it guys.

[lovenismo]

Nobody has a clue damn and I thought mopar guys were a little...backwards

[nab911]

Well there are ways around motorex. There are some candian companies that can get cars US legalized but i couldnt give you any names.

[PGBrian]

you should be able to use your military status to get a car back easily.look into it more.i don't know t he facts, but i am PRETTY damn sure that because you are a serviceman, you are allowed to bring a vehicle back to US and not owrry about it.R32GTR is a great choice by the way.don't bother with the silvias.

[lovenismo]

What Silvias are ill-legal? What about a R32 with a SR20 lightwieght purposes? Could I get the car sent in pieces and put it together over here

[PGBrian]

no silvias are legal here.well maybe an old old old silvia.

r32 with SR? No. that is improper thinking.

[driftercs13]

for canadian companies to import the car to their country it must be atleast 15 years old. the big body nissan you are talking about is what we call a q45 over here. i believe they come with an rb26dett. if you tear apart a car and then bring it and put it back together it can not be registered becasue it does not have the proper paper work form customs that you will need to get it registered. that is how i got mine over, except for not tearing it apart but just pulling the motor and declaring it as a parts car.

[PGBrian]

and guess what turned 15 this year1989 skyline GTR

[marshun]

even if you get the car in canada, it wont be legal in the states. motorex cant even legalize **** at the moment. they've been stuck for a long time. they ****ed up their paperworks a while back. so...... no luck for you mang.

[mrflip69]

Since you're a member of the service, you should have the option of declaring your state of residence (can be anywhere you want... *hint* Texas, Florida, or some other emissions free state) There are legit shops other than Motorex that do the legalization work which includes all DOT and EPA modifications. It's a long list, but if you're really interested and up to the challenge, you'll do your homework.

[drifter_for_life06]

many peopel i talk to say that due to being overseas that the shipping is Free and legal. That's one of the reasons i wanna enlist

[sclick55]

LoveNismo, Congrats on your decision to come on active duty. Also congrats on getting Japan, it's pretty hard to get that assignment. As far as shipping goes, you are generally authorized to ship one vehicle to and from OCONUS duty stations, and yes you could put your home of residence down as a state with no emissions tests to work around that (though some states require you to get an emissions test and out-of-state permit anyway), however, that won't solve the problem of getting the JDM vehicle certified as legal here in the states. My suggestion is to pick up the parts that you would want to put on a USDM240 while you're in japan and save yourself shipping by shipping them as household goods when you PCS. Hope this helps.

[Pilgrim]

I agree with sclick55

Shipping a car from Japan is a cumbersome, and expensive proccess, even for a service member.

Strongly consider buying a reasonable Sylvia there (they are dirt cheap) and making many fun mods... then when you PCS take the good parts and have them packed and moved for you (Things like an RB25DET ) You'll be much happier in the long run and save yourself a TON of money... and be able to rebuild once you're back CONUS.

Several Friends of mine tried to bring back their cars fro Okinawa and found it so expensive that they could rebuld the Car in the US for about 1/4 thecost providing they shipped the rougher to get parts.

[lovenismo]

I heard something like the s13 and s14 silvias could become legal but the s15 couldnt for some strage reason. Why the skyline cant become legal I heard because they made the engine illegal and the body is illegal due to crash safety standards so even if I tried to get it sepereate I couldnt get it through. Im still reaching my goal of getting a R32GTR. Also who knows the difference between those "neo" rb blocks I see in the australian silvia (200sx) anybody know the deal. If there is something worth checking out with the blocks maybe Ill build one and put it in a s13 over and pull it back out when its time to go home and transplant that into another s13. Damn how come I just cant bring atleast one or the other back Silvia or Skyline and get it all legit. Somebody has done this all before share the wisdom...

[marshun]

Since you're a member of the service, you should have the option of declaring your state of residence (can be anywhere you want... *hint* Texas, Florida, or some other emissions free state) There are legit shops other than Motorex that do the legalization work which includes all DOT and EPA modifications. It's a long list, but if you're really interested and up to the challenge, you'll do your homework.

other companies could i guess. but motorex is the only one's who have shelled out the cars for crash testing, paid for the paper works and all that stuff. it would take a pretty long time to have another company import them solely on their own.

for now though i guess it would be good to just save money.