puffdepyropunk

I was looking at cars the other day and was wondering how much it would cost to import a car and change it to US specs and what not. Just Curious. Not like i could ever afford it. So what would need to be done and how much do you guys think it would cost?

Mi4Dub

ask mi4lude. he trying to get his nissan from japan and he said something like 15k$

Tiny Tim

I was actually/still am looking at getting a 99 Type R imported. Everything came out to about $22,000. You have to get it registered in NY, and they have there own insurance company they deal with. If i can think of the website, ill post it up here.

puffdepyropunk

Yea cuz i have found website that have cars listed as really cheap. Like FD's listed at like 5-6k with only 50k miles and dirt cheap Skylines(GT-S's) and HONDA integras. Just wondering if it would be worth it to the person who was buying it. They would definately have a unique ride tho. Around hear at least.

Josepi

Yup...but you wouldn't be able to use the engine due to the lack of emmissions controls....

It'd be easier/cheaper to get a chassis with a blown drivetrain, import a front clip and swap everything over...

soulDistortion

It's not worth it if you want a car that is completely legal to drive on the streets. I don't mean "legal" but actually legal.

For cars with an obvious american equivalent, it's much cheaper, and a lot less hassle to just get the front clip, put it on, and call it a day.

For cars without an american equivalent, you're going to have to spend an assload of money the same way MotorEx did: you have to make all the safety and emissions equipment conform to US standards (and it's pretty extensive and detailed), and then crash test 3 entire cars (IIRC) to show that the modified cars will meet federal crash standards.

sil80er

what about buying a wrecked usdm type r and cutting out the vni plate in the firewalll and off the dash and putting in on the us type r. with all the damn conversions going on around here i think it is very possible.

soulDistortion

vin swapping is a felony.

sil80er

yea but it beats paying to have it legalized

theJUMPoff

.......until you get caught.

keep in mind that there are millions of people wanting only to import the baddest cars from japan over here, but think about the amount of import/export companies that are actually legit. i can only think of around 3, one being motorex.