Legalization.(humor me..not really a?)

Being an american citizen in the military, im going to go against what ive read(about 4 million times) and use the freedoms i fight for to toss a question out there that really hasnt been answered by anyone. It has been asked 70 thousand times, but everyone wants to know what it takes to bring a skyline to the states. I personnally wouldnt be able to tell you, people in japan dont care about importing things out of japan, hell we have the skylines and right hand drive rx-7s and supras and all that. What i want to know is, if the market for these is so big back in the states, and people are looking for a straight no nonesense answer to what it actually takes, y cant us bunch of"at home experts" come up with a collective set of ideas....specific ideas about what has to be done...isnt there anyone with a legal one that will just look at there car a little closer and show what has been done to it....there has to be someone who has seen a japan spec and a "US Spec" somewhere in there lives and somehow tell the difference. Hell, i can tell a factory weld from one done by a person....even a new factory weld(for something like body braces or crash protection)

So, Collectively, without the crap about motorex and rbmotoring and some dude named sean.....HAs anyone seen the difference....and if so, how bout helping someone out???

Other then that, i have some theories of my own, but wont share them until ive gotten through all the "stickies" and the search that came up with 750 matches.

Have a Nice Day

That is a valid question, point, statement. The only problem with that is, unless the person works for or used to work for either of those companies, has been to a country where and "unmodified" skylines are they wouldn't have a clue as to where it has actually been modified.
It would take a current skyline owner in the states a fair bit of personal time and effort to not only strip his car back and also photograph virtually every bit of the body and undercarriage. Then post it up on a website so those who know what to look for can look them over.

Until such time it will only be speculation.

Here's a couple of the Petitions (in PDF) of what all had to be done to the vehicle to make if fit US specs. Obviously, the structural modifications are not shown of the public record because the are protected so no one is able to steal Motorex's research and development to make the vehicle fit US crash test requirements. Which is legal, only the crash test results have to be public.

http://dmses.dot.gov/docimages/pdf42/69783_web.pdf
http://dmses.dot.gov/docimages/pdf42/69794_web.pdf

It's not nearly as easy as welding a couple of support beams in like people think. As far as the structural modifications, it doesn't matter if you know or not, because it still has to go through an RI for them to verify the work required has been done. And only Motorex, so far, because of petition and the private information, can do that. Which will cost the same for them to verify it as it does if they did the work.

I'm in the military also, and have checked every option, idea, etc. and they all lead to them. Plus, what really pisses me off, is that they won't even touch mine. I have a 4 dr R32, which the didn't test so they can't do it. And when they did the petition, they didn't specify 2 or 4 dr, just GTS/GTR. So I had though 'thank god I can go to another RI!' But none of them would even consider it because as soon as they heard Skyline the said 'no, call Motorex.' Even after I explained to them that mine needed a new petition and Motorex blew me off. Ok, I'm done and I won't go into how I really feel when I hear that name.

Anyways, the true barrier is US Gov Bureaucracy. Considering the Skyline can go to Austrailia, England, mainland Europe, etc. etc, with little to no modifications! A big deal is made about US emissions, a humerous thing really considering the US is the only country out of those + Japan who hasn't signed onto the International Kyoto Clean Air Act. Japan, England, most of mainland Europe and maybe more have a nationally required annual or bi-annual vehicle inspection (structurally, leaks, etc as you know) with varying emissions inspections. Something only required by certain states. Very few being as hard as the non-US inspections.

Okay, Now comes the hard part(i hopen people try to read this) We down here on the island have heard many things about this, Owning a skyline, i look at it very long to try to find where things could and would change. My father is an auto body mechanic(not making me an expert, but i know what the back the innereds of a car are supposed to look like). My other thing is, what makes this car any different from trying to title and license a street rod for example, or a car bought at a junk yard and apply for a new title where an inspector has to look at the car. I know its kindda the easy way out and not really something done by the regualr person. The only thing is getting the car into the country(or at least parts of the car). What makes it legal to ship the whole car over and piece by piece put it together on a different frame(the skyline isnt a sepperate car altogether...there are other cars with the same basic, or modifiable parts) it sounds expensive, but what makes a car shipped for parts only and can that actually be gotten if you plan to do the work. again, humor me.

Well, like you said, getting it into the US is the hard part. As far as getting it on the road, I personally don't think it should have to go through any modifications (remapping the computer for US fuel is a must, but if the owner/importer decides not to, it's his car's funeral). The car is safer then a lot of neglected US vehicles I've seen, and a hell of a lot safer then a motorcycle!
But, that's if I ran the world (or at least the US vehicle import requirements), I don't. NHTSA runs the US vehicle safety and EPA runs the US vehicle emissions, they have quite different views then you and I.

As far as bringing in the car in parts. You can, take it to one of the junkyards on the seawall by Mitzugami (I think I mispelled it, been a while) and they'll gladly cut it in half. The problem with the parts only import, the chassis/body cannot be intact, if it is it has to go through the legalization. You mention putting it together on a different frame. The problem is the Skyline in a unibody chassis, the body and it's frame are together. True it shares a lot of basic parts with other vehicles. Like the Maxima, 300ZX and 240SX. But the vehicles it truely has extremely simuliar components with, are not in the states either, the Ceferio and the Laurel. But that only applies to the R32 really, because as the Skyline developed with the R33 and R34, it did become a completely seperate vehicle from the rest of the Nissan line.

First off i would like to introduce myself, my name is Dave and i am a skyline enthusiast, and have good knowledge of constructing web sites. I am willing to help in any way possible to knock out this monopoly, and if i have to put up a collection of all our research than i will do it. I will import and legalize a skyline myself if we can figure this shit out... also, if anyone is looking for the best auction site in japan i've found Rizubi cars, and it seems good. <rizubi.com/aucent.htm> click: R1 member USR:rizubi1 , PW:37440. Maybe some people including myself in the near future can import a skyline for show use and figure this shit out!! I will throw out all my cards and team up with anyone willing to accomplish this feat. So basically IM IN!
contact me at: [email protected] if you wanna chat, or go on aim... Peace, and Good luck to all, DAVE

Ok I should be in bed recovering but I'll bite.

Socalraceclub/SKP and swift_r32 first welcome to AF. I'm the friendly and not so friendly mod depending on how someone has rubbed me on a particular day. :naughty:

Shannon you're post was quite interesting and intriging to say the least, but there are a couple of small details I think you need to understand first. I'm trying to beat tyndago to the punch and he's not so forgiving but also is just as relentless as I am.

MotoRex has done well in protecting the crash data for one. While there is information available they've used the confidentiality act and privicy acts in the states to protect their interests. All's fair in love, war, and business. I'm sure you can understand that.

While obtaining certain information is easily done as shown by the links provided by GTES-t that isn't all of the data nor does it provide what needs to be actually done. That is the hidden "secrets" everyone is trying to figure out. At some stage some bright cookie is going to import a person who would know what to look for on any and all structural changes, and cosmetic changes done to these cars. See you don't have to be a rocket scientist if you know what to look for.

Now on the wiring part. I can tell you that any of the R32's coming will probably need 80% of the wiring and looms replaced to pass inspection. Why do I say that? Well considering they are over 10 years old and most are brittle. As far as lighting, based on pictures of complied cars I've seen in the states nothing has been changed. It is possible that bulbs however have been to "US spec" ones don't know as I've never seen any numbers or such.

The emissions part. Well I can tell you guys right now the base setup wouldn't pass early 90's standards if that is required let alone today's standards. The GTR's are detuned something cronic from the factory and the amount of unburnt fuel that passes through the exhaust is phenominal. How it would stack up in other states again I wouldn't have a clue so can't really comment on that part of it.

You know I would love a trip back to the states, "hint" "hint" to visit family again. Yes I'm originally from the states, the chicago area to be precise. However I would love to have a go at stripping back one of the complied GTR's there and see just what it is that is structually changed. Being and engineer "tool maker" by trade I can spot things quite easily and also having been around and owned these cars for the past nearly 6 years there isn't much I would miss if it were added or removed structurally.
The wiring part again would be so easy to spot. I've had mine apart so many times chasing a damn electrical gremlin it isn't funny.

So if either of you are REALLY serious have a think about it. I'm willing to make either of you some sort of deal which at the end of the day would be or could be very bennificial to both sides. One of the main reasons is I've considered on moving back home (USA) and dammit I want to bring my car with me. However at this stage i refuse to pay an additional $15,000 USD or nearly $30,000 NZD to comply my car, and honestly I'd like to also see them be made easier to get there in the long run.

Have a think, seriously. Flick me an email if you wish.

is there any 1 in japan that knows what motorex does exactly, and is there anyone that legalizes skylines to us specs while they're still in japan?
swift

The emissions part. Well I can tell you guys right now the base setup wouldn't pass early 90's standards if that is required let alone today's standards. The GTR's are detuned something cronic from the factory and the amount of unburnt fuel that passes through the exhaust is phenominal. How it would stack up in other states again I wouldn't have a clue so can't really comment on that part of it.


that wouldnt be a hard thing to fix. put in some spark plugs that produce 3 times the spark as normal plugs (forgot what they are called! sorry!) but they burn up all the unburnt fuel and produce cleaner emissions. i forgot what they are called, but you need them for dry shot direct port nitrous systems.

Swift NO one outside of two companies really knows what is done, so don't kid yourself or believe that someone in Japan would have a clue as to what needs to be done.

Oi_boy umm not a bright idea on these cars. They really don't like a lot of spark flying around. Spark isn't the issue anyways is the amounts of fuel that is used. Most generally it would be more a new cat and some fine tuning that will get you past but again this is speculation as I don't know the figures nor have I seen test results from emissions on these cars.

hey Razor GTR you're back. what happened to your back injury??

hey Razor GTR you're back. what happened to your back injury??

Its healing slowly but getting there. I still have little feeling in my index finger but overall I would say I'm back to about 80% physically outside that little detail. Accupuncture works wonders :)