Good info. Need pictures!
Good info. Need pictures!
Going to try to borrow my dad's camera and clean the car to spot defects when I take pics, only have a cell phone camera myself.
BTW, my dad bought a RV on Ebay and flew out to buy it. If you are a senior you can get much cheaper last minute airfare from Southwest equal to what you would normally pay if you waited for a deal. Just a good bit of info if you are a senior and want to pick up a vehicle.
So what I`m seeing is that I should sell our Miata and try to land a 323GTR?
Before I paid the $1000 down there was a Familia (323) GTR I wanted to buy. It ended up selling for $2200. I was very disappointed to say the least, lol. You can't bid with this person unless you put the $1000 down first. There were a couple on there before I paid the $1000, the other was a GTAE which had an almost gutted setup no AC, etc. I don't recall what that sold for. I was looking for a better part of a year before paying the down payment and they show up monthly.
http://pacificcoastjdm.com/ here is the link to the site. You can use the auction search feature it says the username and password on there which I think is guest and pacificcoast
Even if you don't want to use them you can see what the cars sell for using the auction histories and what's on there now.
Nissan told me they can get any part for the car. Most of what's on the Skyline is used in USDM vehicles aside from engine and gearbox which are surprisingly common here because people swap that into the 240SXs. Including aftermarket. I assume with Mazda it would be similar except the BPT was sold here of course. Aftermarket and parts for the Skyline at least I could get here and some stuff if I want to keep OEM turbo setup I have to order from overseas.
Then theres sites like this: http://www.nengun.com/
They buy products in Japan and ship them here and usually have good deals. I notice that their shipping cost brings what they sell usually to equal what you see on Us aftermarket sites. I'm guessing they mark up what they themselves are charged for shipping. The intercooler I bought on their site was like $530 + $230 shipping. If I wanted to buy the same from FRSPORT or any other local company it would of been $800.
Well the GTR wouldn't be supported well here. Could also use it as a cheap way to get a nice ST185.... so many choices.
One thing is that England has a LOT of aftermarket for cars that don't have support in the US. The shipping isn't bad either. I bought some Tomei stuff from there for the car. They don't charge you VAT and the difference ends up being the shipping cost. I think on one item the shipping was cheaper than the VAT so I ended up paying less than an Europeon would of.
As far as OEM replacement parts Mazda supports their cars. I'm sure they could get them if you can't otherwise find it.
If you like Italian cars I saw non-evo Integrales on there go for what I paid on the R32. 16v and 8v cars both. 8v being cheaper. Of course Evo Integrales are not legal yet too so during that time those were the top version of that car aside from the twincharged supercar. Europeon cars in Japan usually sell for more than the equivalent Japanese car. Cars like 911s sell for the same price they do here.
People don't seem to be jumping on the AWD cars. The big names go up on American legality, aka Drift Tax cars, it seems but things that people aren't really aware off do not.
I'm waiting to see how you get it past NV smog.
EvanR wrote: I'm waiting to see how you get it past NV smog.
Registering as classic rod or classic car so I don't have to, lol. I have a friend that did the same thing with a Galant VR4.
Before I go do that, however, i'm going to get it smoged to see if it will pass stock.
Registering it as "classic" lets you have only 5000 miles per year on the odometer. It used to be 2500 so IMO it's worth it now. I have already daily driver so this is no problem.
I paid $1000 more than your total to bring a car from Europe (cost of car not included) and had 10-times the headaches...
I'm jealous of your car shipping experience 
But like you said: Now that you have the experience "would you do it again?"
Oh heck yeah! In a heartbeat.
kanaric wrote:EvanR wrote: I'm waiting to see how you get it past NV smog.Registering as classic rod or classic car so I don't have to, lol. I have a friend that did the same thing with a Galant VR4. Before I go do that, however, i'm going to get it smoged to see if it will pass stock. Registering it as "classic" lets you have only 5000 miles per year on the odometer. It used to be 2500 so IMO it's worth it now. I have already daily driver so this is no problem.
You'd better double-check that. the current rule is that even if you register it under any of the Classic/Historic plates, any car built after 1967 MUST pass a smog check prior to its first registration.
EvanR wrote:kanaric wrote:You'd better double-check that. the current rule is that even if you register it under any of the Classic/Historic plates, any car built after 1967 MUST pass a smog check prior to its first registration.EvanR wrote: I'm waiting to see how you get it past NV smog.Registering as classic rod or classic car so I don't have to, lol. I have a friend that did the same thing with a Galant VR4. Before I go do that, however, i'm going to get it smoged to see if it will pass stock. Registering it as "classic" lets you have only 5000 miles per year on the odometer. It used to be 2500 so IMO it's worth it now. I have already daily driver so this is no problem.
http://www.dmvnv.com/pdfforms/ec19.pdf
You only can't register is you failed in the last 90 days and it's on file with them.
Hungary Bill wrote: I paid $1000 more than your total to bring a car from Europe (cost of car not included) and had 10-times the headaches... I'm jealous of your car shipping experience
lol well the shipper told me I was the only person he worked with that had any problems. One guy bought 5 cars and had no issue with any of them.
Cost of car not included? That is insane.
A year ago when I wasn't serious about this I starting looking how to get a Delta Integrale or a AWD Sierra Cosworth but couldn't find any importers it was just buy a car, ship it yourself, do your own paperwork kind of deal that I wasn't comfortable with. What's funny is I found both of those cars for sale in Japan at one point, though rare. If I was on the west coast and wanted a europeon car I would just get one from Japan. If I was on the east coast would be another story though.
What did you get?
kanaric wrote:EvanR wrote:http://www.dmvnv.com/pdfforms/ec19.pdf You only can't register is you failed in the last 90 days and it's on file with them.kanaric wrote:You'd better double-check that. the current rule is that even if you register it under any of the Classic/Historic plates, any car built after 1967 MUST pass a smog check prior to its first registration.EvanR wrote: I'm waiting to see how you get it past NV smog.Registering as classic rod or classic car so I don't have to, lol. I have a friend that did the same thing with a Galant VR4. Before I go do that, however, i'm going to get it smoged to see if it will pass stock. Registering it as "classic" lets you have only 5000 miles per year on the odometer. It used to be 2500 so IMO it's worth it now. I have already daily driver so this is no problem.
Huh. I stand corrected.
Thanks for the info, great to see such a detailed write up on something that interests many here.
Awesome write up. Can't wait to see some pictures.
For those that are interested https://www.dropbox.com/s/2tm2o73ys7lynng/Archive.zip
I am at work so can't test if this is still up but that is the archive that this importer sends with video and images. This is sent after he receives the car so it's of little help to determine whether or not you want to buy it but it is good to know what you need to have ready for when it arrives and so you can see what you bought. It's like a 2gb file of photos and videos plus him checking things like oil and coolant.
He also puts up a youtube video like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TUPfzIt2Zc&list=TLUxahSvalDxeD9duvfkN9sHk7I_tdTewj
This thread is interesting to me as I started the process of import of my 89 Mitsubishi Delica months ago, and I am almost ready to go get it in Canada in August. I am worried that I may run into issues at the border crossing with plates, and such, so I may either go up there with a truck and trailer or just have it shipped to me. My van is an August build so I had to have it shipped to my importers place in Canada first so he could hold it until it became legal for import under the 25 year rule. So far my costs haven't been to bad considering how nice the van is, and the dealing with my importer has been nothing but perfect so far. All in all it is supposed to be around $8500 for my van, but I am sure there will be costs at the border crossing that I am not sure of yet, but I hope they aren't too bad.
Mazdax605 wrote: This thread is interesting to me as I started the process of import of my 89 Mitsubishi Delica months ago, and I am almost ready to go get it in Canada in August. I am worried that I may run into issues at the border crossing with plates, and such, so I may either go up there with a truck and trailer or just have it shipped to me. My van is an August build so I had to have it shipped to my importers place in Canada first so he could hold it until it became legal for import under the 25 year rule. So far my costs haven't been to bad considering how nice the van is, and the dealing with my importer has been nothing but perfect so far. All in all it is supposed to be around $8500 for my van, but I am sure there will be costs at the border crossing that I am not sure of yet, but I hope they aren't too bad.
I did a lot of research into this method, at first I actually bought a car in Canada and was going to do it this way but changed my mind when someone up there gave me a good offer on the car and sold it.
Basically go to a customs broker and have him take care of the paperwork and everything for you. After you have that you can cross the border. This is the easiest safest way to do things.
I've heard of shady things you can do like have a canadian register it and drive it across the border but I think you really do need the customs paperwork to register the car. I havn't registered mine yet because I havn't had time and it also probably depends a bit on yoru state. Nevada told me I would need the customs paperwork.
Great info! Thanks!
Ever since I watched Initial D, I've been dreaming of a JDM AE86 replica... 
To the GRM staff, this has the makings of a great GRM/CMS article.
great write up!
Looks like that dropbox folder is down.
In reply to unevolved:
Great write up
So (assuming you can register and insure the car), you're stuck driving a RHD car in a LHD country?
kanaric wrote: He also puts up a youtube video like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TUPfzIt2Zc&list=TLUxahSvalDxeD9duvfkN9sHk7I_tdTewj
Thanks for all the info, and the Skyline in the video looks great... I hate to say it, but I was lusting the whole time for the 190e 2.5 16 parked directly in front...
Why not BNR32 GTR? Seems like most of the headaches and cost are fixed. Unless you were just set on the RWD layout or had a hard budget cap.
You'll need to log in to post.
