when i was shooting for 5 to 600 hp someone told me the easyest way to reach it was just nos but i didn't really want to do that in the 1st place. and the more i've been reading it i'm even more against it. but yeah, i've been reading a lot the last few days and finding out more and more as i go, i haven't asked a question i don't think since i started this topic :P anyways. thanks for all the info, and if pa doesn't register the car then (which i'm not sure if it will or not, he's never sold to pa) then he says that nj will for a fact. and i'm moving there in about 3 weeks so lets hope lol. anyways. thanks for all the info u guys have included in this thread. and yeah 400 or 450 hp is what i'm shooting for, but 1st like people have pointed out in this thread and others, i'm going to make sure the car is running perfect and replace anything that is wrong with it. and then start upgrading the supporting mods (ecu, intercooler, etc.) then i'll upgrade the turbo's and everything. and i'm also not doing any of this myself, i'm going to find a very good rx7 tuner and have them do it all. and take anything they have to say into serious concideration. i'm not good under the hood and i don't pretend to be but anyways, thanks again i'm going to go back to researching more

 

If you read the laws, it's illegal. Just because I can easily get my hands on pot doesn't make pot a legal substance. By the current letter of the law, what that importer is doing is illegal. It might not be stopped, or it's easy to lie your way around it, but neither of those things makes it legal.

I live in the same state, and if you had read what I linked you'd realize that's not true. If your importer provides you the documents to register it in PA, you should seriously question if they are legitimate. The only point it makes is that fraud is still possible. Yes you can lie on paper and sign your name and they won't always catch you, congratulations.

All you need is one well-informed cop or insurance agent or DMV person to speak up about legality and you will have nothing at all to support your case. These cars are brought in illegally, and at any time it could be impounded.

There is a very disturbing trend in these importation discussions: that if someone else fraudulently imports a car, it's the idea that it's ok because I'm not getting caught. It's not about whether the law makes sense - that's a fair discussion. But it seems so many posters here are perfectly unable to read black and white and understand it. Are you also willing to argue that because I drove by a cop at 10 over and didn't get pulled over today, speeding is not illegal?

Dave

 

just get a US model, you get to skip all the red tape to drive your car without worry of the cops or **** ton of paperwork. besides its easier.

 

If you plan on having someone else do all your work for you on the car then I would suggest taking that 10k and setting it back as a "oh ****" fund, building another 10k up and then start doing your mods. Not only are parts very expensive for these cars but labor will help eat up that 10k really fast. These cars can be tempermental and it doesn't take much to cause a whole lot of misery.

 

well, i have a few uncles that are very good mechanics they have both worked on imports and "American Muscle" as they call it. So I'm just going to have them install all of the parts (with me watching so i can learn ) and then I'm going to find a good rx7 tuner to take it to. does anyone have any good recommendations for someone in the pa / nj area?


Thanks,
Snippy

 

KD Rotary for one.

Others:
https://www.rx7club.com/forum/showthread.php?t=137694

Dave

 

They are not even close to being the same animal.

Not to mention the fact that your car will be completely illegal here in the US, and if you're ever stopped by the police they have every right to impound it and send it to the crusher. It's WAY more BS than it's worth.

Find a US model and go from there.

 

Dave, I agree 100% with everything you said. Again, just because you can get away with it, does not mean it's legal, and you have no way to defend yourself if you're caught.

All kinds of people think they can do illegal stuff with impunity, and it often backfires. Michael Vick comes to mind.

Dave

 

"Resolved that one without too much stress or money" in attempting to register an illegally imported car in California, the home of ultra-strict emissions and registration laws? Riiiiiiiiight...

 

What's even more disturbing is that people are constantly being mislead by importers who aren't giving them all the details or individuals who "know someone" who registered a RHD car, so they think that they'll be able to just waltz right into their local DMV and do the same. The chances are very good that it won't be...
A trend that's been going on for years, unfortunately...

 

+1 on last guy's post. lets also not forget that he may get the pleasure of watching his beautiful FD getting crushed by the cops. such kindness from the great state of california.

 

also, to get the car into cali all they did was make the car pass emissions. (visual and sniffer test, this is what i am told anyways). i get the point that its illegal to import the rhd rx7. u can stop repeating it. i've already said thanks for the info and that i understand that its illegal.

 

also, thank you for the link and refer.

 

If you understand that it is illegal why would you make the ridiculous assertion that "to get the car into cali all they did was make the car pass emissions". The two more likely possibilities are they they either bribed a DMV official or swapped VINs, both of which are felonies. I suppose that you are trying to be clever and pretending ignorance in the vain hope that you can claim not to be an accessory to these types of felonies when you import your car.

 

You were told wrong. The VIN numbers won't work with the CA DMV system, because JDM cars only have 12 digits, while US cars have 17. There's no way it can get input into the system, and thus, no registration.

As moconnor stated, the more likely scenario (if they're not completely BS'ing you, which is also highly likely) is that they swapped VIN tags, which is a very risky strategy no matter how you look at it.

No offense, but this isn't just for your benefit. It's for all the others who hopefully have enough reading comprehension and common sense when reading this thread (and the hundreds of others pertaining to the same subject that literally come up every friggin' week) to realize that attempting to illegally import an automobile is fraught with major risks, both financial and personal.

 

Boom right there. They will put the parts on for you sure. Sounds fine. BUT the mechanical quirks of a rotary are way different. It is a completely different machine. Adding parts is easy, making them work together is hard for someone not familiar with this stuff.

 

i said they have both worked on rotors and piston engines b4. and one i have them install everything i'm having it shipped to KDR performance to have it tuned and and everything. (not driving it, don't want to run all those mods with having the ecu and everything untuned.)

 

Why do you not seem to understand that this car is not going to be legal to drive? Do you understand that the police are going to pull you over (driving on the right hand side is a VERY VERY obvious way to tell something isn't meant to be here, unless it's a mail delivery vehicle), seize your car, and have it crushed?

But what the **** ever - do as you will. Just don't expect ANY sympathy from anyone when this happens.

 

The confusing thing is that the cops aren't informed about this stuff, and they are happy if they get a registration and insurance info. But if they happen to know importation, want to give you a hard time (similar to exhaust fix-it tickets), you will have no protection at all.

Have I heard about this happening before? No. But it can happen, and every year the regulating bodies have tightened down on illegal imports. It's getting more likely, not less.

Dave

 

ok, for all of your people that think this is illegal you are dead wrong. I'm importing my car and its going to be 100% legal, its being brought threw a registered imported and everything. It cost me about 3,000 dollars more. All you have to do is get a letter from Mazda saying that the right hand drives have the same crash test ratings are the same as the left hand drives. You also have to bring it up to dot and emissions standards. (about 500 dollars for the 92 JDM RX-7) You can register it with the 10 digit vin number in any state once the registered imported signs off on it and registers the 10 digit pin number in the department of highway safety and transportations computers. (This is for any state!, even cali where u say their system doesn't take 10 digit vins! cars b4 1970 or maybe its 60 but i think 70 had less then 10 digit vins and people are still registering those cars all over the united states, so the system does vin numbers that are less then 17 digit no matter what state your in.)

Also, if you don't get the letter from Mazda saying it had the same crash test ratings (which i don't see why they will not give me on, they have for many other people). Then you can just convert it to left hand drive and that solves that problem, and once its in the states you can do anything you want to it. even save all of your old parts and convert it back to right hand drive. Because once it is registered and everything its just like any tuners in America that are converted from LHD to RHD. It cost about 500 for you to get all of the standards up (not including the LFD conversion if needed) and about 2500 for this importer to get the federal emissions dot and vin number registered.

So for all of you guys that think this is 100% illegal, IT'S NOT!!!!! And thanks for knowing all of the facts and putting me down and telling me I'm dumb for doing this. It just shows how much you know and how nice you are about things that you don't know everything about like you think you do.


And for all the people searching for this I'll add some keywords to this post so that you know it is legal (just buy from canada instead of having to pay all of the shipping cost from japan) LEGAL JMD IN U.S. US that should do for anyone searching.

Once again, thanks for putting me down when you your self don't know all of the facts, or even most of them.



Thanks,
Snippy



(from what i see most people on the forums are not like this, lets just hope it stays like that)

 

And for your info, once u get the letter from Mazda its fine. You are aloud to drive right hand drive cars in the u.s. as long as the crash test ratings are the same as left hand drive standards. And also for your info if it doesn't pass then you just convert to left hand drive and get it legal for the us. Once that is done, you can convert it back if it has been imported by a registered importer! Its 100% legal, because that registered imported has said that it meets all standards and is now legal for the u.s. (he has to have it tested by the feds for emissions and dot, but thats it. Once that is done and it passes (for about 500 dollars it will) its legal to convert it back to right hand drive, but from what i hear it has the same crash test rating and Mazda will back that up and give you a letter that says so.


So, I'll say a few things once more. RHD cars are not illegal in the U.S. (someone else that has their facts wrong). And I will do what ever the **** i want because my car will be 100% legal. And I would never expect sympathy from a very rude mean person that knows nothing about what he's talking about.


Thanks, REALLY, Thanks!
Snippy



P.S. here is the list of registered importers.

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/...list010807.htm


and also, here is the guys info that I'm having do my import charges $ 2500 dollars + parts to convert it but you can do that your self, maby even less since it comes from Canada and may not have to pass us emissions just have a active registration in Canada and pass the Canadian ones (this is what i hear anyways so don't take that as a fact just yet I'm researching it more), because of some North American trade agreement between the U.S. and Canada. which brings the total for this guy to about 2grand + the money for parts to bing it up to par, about 500 dollars.

Anyways, here is his info. US SPECS

121 NORTHWAY DRIVE, HAVRE DE GRACE, MD 21078

usspecs@aol.com


telephone 443-502-2331
Fax 443-502-2331


So thanks guys for putting me down so much (really, i would of never found the registered importer if you didn't) But please do everyone a favor, stop bullshitting and find out all of the facts b4 you post, we don't need misinformation going around now do we?

 

FDs are a money pit tho, u sure you want to spend all that extra cash just to get a RHD? you may need an engine rebuild to be done and all that money you are using to import it legally could be used for that. it aint cheap man, and unfortunately an engine rebuild is a rite of passage every FD owner must take inevitably.

edit: also the reason these guys are puttin you down is because they dont want to see another FD sent off to the graveyard. these cars are on the endangered species list and to see them thrown away is a shame be it through illegal importation, poor mechanical work, or an irresponsible owner who cant drive for **** thus wrapping it into a tree.

 

no, i know that its expensive. and i'm not worried about that . I'm getting about 9k worth of parts into my car. I've talked to dave from KDR in pa and i showed him my list for everything. he said thats just find everything works like clock work. I'm thinking i will be getting somewhere around 450 to 500 hp with all the support mods (every single one of them, 1st thing that went on my shopping list) and the engine right now is at 60k miles once i get all my mods installed i'm going to save up the 3 grand to get it street / race ported and rebuilt also. (it will take me about 3 to 4 months to save that up, i already have it but its getting invested in stocks so i'm just going to save it up) i'm also putting another 5k into ground affects paint rims and a nice sound system with a lcd touch screen for a head unit that has built in nav. I've planned this out the t and researched a lot since my 1st day of deciding to buy a RHD rx7.

Well, Thanks. (for the advice, but i can afford it)
Snippy

 

Sigh...
Just because you're bringing the car in through a RI doesn't mean that it's "100% legal".
Uh huh. Why don't you show us this letter that's so easy to obtain when you get it?
Um, you're a bit confused here. It's the federal "Department of Transportation" and "National Highway Traffic Safety Administation" that need to sign off on the car for it to be 100% legal. The car needs to be on this list in order for it to be eligible for importation.
Hate to burst your bubble, but there's the little detail of automobile "brand" and "year of manufacture" that gets input as well in the California DMV computer. Anything that doesn't match up properly puts up red flags that quickly put a halt to your registration process.
Well, gee, that was a simple and inexpensive solution...
He won't be able to get emissions "registered" because the car is non-comforming, so you will be responsible for any federal emissions testing. The VIN cannot be registered with the feds because it hasn't conformed to FMVSS; look up that acronym and the term "crash testing"...
Everything I've stated is printed out in black & white in the NHTSA, DOT, and U.S. Customs websites (for starters, check out question 12 on the FAQ sticky). Everything you're stating is second/third/fourth/hundredth/thousandth-hand mis-information from someone who told you...
Well, that solves everything, doesn't it? You don't even have your car yet...
You need to study up, Snippy. You've just been schooled...

 

mazda sends u a letter back saying what standards don't match the dot standards emissions standards. as long as you fix those and have proof that you have fixed those problems then you don't even need to have emissions done to the car for it be be legal. but a dot inspection has to be done no matter what. and you saying he can't get emissions done for me? well by the way he made it sound, he had to get emissions tested and we both had to be there when it was being done. but once mazda japan sends back the letter saying that it needs a pre cat installed to pass emissions thats all that needs to be done and then you can skip the federal emissions test and just get the state one done when u get your inspection done. This car can be brought into the country and it can be legal. thats all i'm saying, and it doesn't cost 100k like i had seen someone post either in this thread or in another. the imported said the most it will cost in total is 6 grand if i have done nothing to the car at all. but since i have done everything to the car, just waiting for the letter to come back to see if i need to switch it to lhd for a week or 2. (hoping it says i don't, if it does then theres no big deal with that as long as i can find a junk yard that has one, that might be a bit hard.) and no, because this registered importer is bringing the car in it will be 100% legal, if its not and dot finds something wrong with the car when they inspect it he can get fucked over for signing and saying that the car is. So i doubt the guy is going to risk his company and make it so the car is half way legal.


and if u really want to see it then i'll scan it for you once i get it. it takes 5 to 10 business days to be sent back with what the car needs to meet the standards if it doesn't already (which we all know it doesn't).

and you posted


The VIN cannot be registered with the feds because it hasn't conformed to FMVSS;


thats the main idea in sending the letter to mazda.... So they say yay or nay on the car having the same stats as its American counter part when it comes to crash testing.... And if it doesn't they include a list is modifications that need done to the car to bring it up to par..... The most drastic step like i said is changing it to left hand drive. then switching it back once it gets registered and is legal in the sates, once you do that you can do anything you want to your car.

This guy i'm dealing with has been importing cars from japan for along time, and he only imports cars from japan. I'm sorry if i trust what he is saying over you. even tho you have stated, everything you are saying is in black and white on all of those websites. I've found information all over the web saying the same things, and also telling you how to fix those problems.


it looks like you are the one who needs to do some more studying. Since this guy has imported skylines, rx-7s, supras, etc. and he is still a registered importer then he must be doing something right.