can anyone give me an article or tell me why there are so many jdm engines shipped over to the us with low miles on them. I am assuming it is because of your strict emmision laws but i want to know what the law is exactly. thanks for your help.

 

think the emission laws are pretty standard, but don't know really..........

so many low kms engines because;

- a small country with so many mountains that long drives are not common
- a really expensive freeway system
- good rail and flight network
- cheap cars
- over average desire for new things

eric e

 

just googled "japanese emission standards" lots of hits

this doc says, "curent japanese standards are considered less stringent than current us or eu

http://www.worldenergy.org/wec-geis/.../NZConf/03.pdf

eric e

 

Becuse there are a lot of people who think they are a good bargin. Personally, I have never seen one that lasted more than a few thousand miles.

 

to add to Eric's list - sports cars from rural areas (and some northern urban areas) are often driven less due to snow. I never used to drive my FD in the winter.

I can't think of a reason why a typical JDM block would be any different to a USDM block (in terms of reliability). But a used block is a used block - always a gamble.

 

the engines are low mileage because the Japanse consider a car with over 100,000 kilometers to be old or trash. In miles 100,000 kilos is something like 70,000 miles or so i think. For the most part the engines are not all that great but they were a bargain about 5-6 years ago before the DRIFT invasion. Now that everyone seems to buy into the rumors that japanese engines are stronger, better and faster people are spending way to much on JDM engines. The engines do have higher HP ratings but that is due to less smog restrictions on them as well as japanese cars using a much high octane gas. Any engine can pass smog here if it is cleaned and has a good tune up, but they are strict with registration.
Also the japanese people are very materialistic in a sense. Most people think a car is an "old car" if it is over 5 years old. Where as in the US an old car is a very broad term that generally refers to a POS.
ok work is over thats all i have to say for now.

 

Actually Japanese cars that are older get more penalties and pay higher taxes. Some people just dont care but most are just trendy and want new cars. Thats one of the reasons why the motors are low in mileage. Plus you can get just about any where in Japan on the subway or bullet train.

 

that older car, higher taxes is a bit of a myth - my car is a 93 - the only difference is that shaken was an additional 10,000 - no big deal when it's 100,000 anyway.

 

what is Shaken?

 

registration (roadworthy) check - due every two years for most cars (new cars get a grace period - 3 years (iirc) - which is one of the incentives for getting rid of the car within that time period). My car's shaken (pronounced 'shar ken' btw) cost 110,000yen last year + repairs (only thing required was to replace a leaking diff seal - which was done for under 10,000). It's not as bad as people make out - if you look after your car.

 

i do "user shaken" for all my bikes and cars

i think the FD works out something like

2000en - cost of test
500en - stamp duty
25,000en - 2years 3rd party insurance
58,000en - weight/engine power tax

not really worth doing it yourself unless you have a garage, tools and a japanese wife for the paperwork but it is quality bonding time with your car and the money i save each time generally goes to another tool, last time was a wheel alignment tool

 

hey man,

that's not that bad... I don't understand the part about doing it yourself (with g/f''s help?))?

I've got an fc lined up for semi daliy/track..... 90 I think... . if you are able to shed some light that would be awesome. cheers.

 

due to gov. pressure the shaken test centers are now supposed to "help" people doing a "user shaken" in the old days you HAD to go to a garage but now you don't. the younger guys are usually quite friendly, but the older guys can be rude as helping newbies is hard and does them out of a cushie retirement as a shaken shop...

it's best to go to a good book shop with a japanese speaker/reader and buy a book on doing the test yourself, it goes through everything you'll need to do

you and the japanese speaker/reader will need to be able to do the test in normal working hours mon-fri, 9.30am-4.30pm. we do it now in about an hour if there are no probs

1st it'd be a good idea to go into the shaken test center office and get all the forms you'll need. this is the most difficult part as they often ask YOU what forms you'll need. take your hanko, current shaken form, proof that you paid your last plate tax etc.
ask for the checklist of things to do. it doesn't actually have to be done before the test nowadays, up to 2 weeks after is ok. it has lots of little boxes to check for; brake lining left, airfilter ok, muffler ok etc and some weird stuff they even they don't seem to understand like secondary air intake system piping???could be turbo pipes, hard to say, they don't seem to know or care, you have to use n/a for lots of stuff

before you take the car in you'll need a booking, this is done by a computer over the phone

once in there present all your paperwork, pay for the test, get your new 3rd party ins. etc. this is where you'll part with almost 10man for an FD

they'll give you a green test form

take this to the start of the test line. a young guy will check your; chassis number, wheel nuts, lights, horn etc. they are giving the car a complete visual test here in about 2 minutes, if everything looks ok, things will go smoothly. if the car looks low, rusty, has bad tyres, glass etc this is where they'll stop you

if there is stuff about your car you are not sure will pass you can drive to the test center and ask these guys directly. probably they don't want people doing this but when i had a scratched windscreen this was the only way to find out what the limit on scratches was

only 1 person is allowed in the car at a time during the test, there are little speakers at each stage to tell you what to do and lots of electronic screens to watch for other instructions

1st test you slowly drive over some floating wheel alignment plates on your way to some rollers that will test your front/rear/hand brakes and speedo

then a machine will come out and test your headlights on high beam, (has caught me before and is a pain as it doesn't say where your light is pointing, just that it isn't pointing right)

next test is to put an exhaust probe up the pipe for co2 readings etc.

finally drive over the pits and a guy below will check the exhaust for holes, look for brake fluid/oil leaks, check the engine mounts and driveshaft boots, (these are often split on 10 year old cars) he will also get you to run through the horn, wipers/washers, lights again etc.

if all is ok your form is stamped off and it's back to the office to get the new shaken sticker

if it's not all ok they give you 2 choices

1. go home, fix the prob. and get back that day before 4pm and they'll just check that bit is now ok and stamp you off. ok for things like headlights out or height needs a little lift and you have the tools at home. NEVER TAKE THIS OPTION

2. they transfer all your test data and paperwork to a special memory and you have 2 weeks to fix the problem. ALWAYS TAKE THIS OPTION

if you go for option 1 but for some reason can repair it same day or get back to the center after 4pm all your test results and paperwork get wiped from the computer when they shut it down and you have to do the whole test and paperwork again from scratch

the actually test isn't as tough as people make out, for example they never seem to check the brake discs for grooves or wear, sit in the car and check how the gear lever moves about or even that the car has new coolant etc. all this stuff is supposed to be done at the pre-check

eric e

 

I read your long text about Shaken and i must findout that there was in Japan the same tests like here in Germany.

The only thing it was we need the emision controll before we can go to the other Tests. The Emision test was here the biggest problem because they checked it 30 seconds at 600 to 900 idle speed and 30 seconds with 2500 to 2800 idle Speed.
Maximum CO output was 0.3% and the oxigen sensor must be at 0.97 to 1.03 area. When this was OK you can get to the TUV and they will check your car from front to rear, lights, wipers, Glass, Brakes incl. disks and pads, oil and waterleaks and rust and the best is when you changed everything on your car like Exhaust, Wheels, Suspension or every other thing you need an permit to drive this on your car. If you donīt have this you donīt become the stamp on your Numberplate.

OK i donīt have any of these problems because i was working as master mechanic at an mazda dealer and so i can do at my cars the emision controll self and the guy from the TUV who do the check was a friend from me and so he gives me without problems the Stamp and all permits for the changes on my cars.