Silvia legal in America?

You should be thankful, thanks to CARB. California, specifically LA has some of the best air quality in the US! :cool:

Oh wait, seems according to the American Lung Association, Southern California tops the pollution scale for every single statistic :blink:

http://lungaction.org/reports/sota07_cities.html

Yeah, but if we didn't have the emission laws it would be A LOT worse.
 
Yes. What do you think Acura is for? All the Honda models which need to be modified to be imported.

You've just explained Acura and Infiniti to me. I never understood why there was a separate name in the US for basically identical cars, but now it makes sense! Same with Cadillac, Saabs underneath. :D
 
You've just explained Acura and Infiniti to me. I never understood why there was a separate name in the US for basically identical cars, but now it makes sense! Same with Cadillac, Saabs underneath. :D

Well, I dunno about the Caddy/Saab, but for instance the Acura RSX is the Integra, the TSX is the Accord (in Europe), the G35 was the only Skyline we ever got. NSX obviously is the same name... I can't think of any others from Japan. Then there's Saturn with the Astra and the Sky (Opel GT), erm... Yeah that's all I can think of.
 
I would point out that Acura Lexus and Infinity has next to nothing to do with modifying a car to make it legal and everything to do with trying to create a Luxury brand that is seperate from the cheap economy roots of honda nissan and toyota. When they were created the idea of a Honda or Toyota Luxury car was laughable because they were known for selling very inexpensive spartan cars so they needed to create other brands so that anyone buying one of their cars could say it's a lexus or it's a infinity not it's a toyota or a nissan...
 
Well, the worst part (and the most crippling part) is that your legislators gush about "the way of the future" while still having ridiculously antiquated regulations. And since a car company can't just say "oh, well we're just not going to sell the car or let anyone drive the car in California", CARB is pretty much federal law.

EDIT: You never answered my question about the Skyline motor! :mad:

Speaking of US restrictions, what I hated was the fact that almost all US ECU programs are from 1992, which restricts some cars from getting proper economy. I mean, the Chevrolet Aveo- piece of s*** hatch, size of a thumbtack, and gets max 30mpg?!
-BTW, I know from experience. I visit the states every year.
 
I forgot about the LS1. Use that. :mrgreen:

LS11.jpg


I know a local guy who has a Silvia. I don't know the R## series, as I only memorize those for the cars I own, but it looks like a RHD 240SX with different fascia and tailights. And it's fast as stink. He bought it from someone who brought it back to Georgia (the best state for importing) when they came back from serving in Japan in the military. That's pretty much the best way to do it.

That, or start your own museum, like Jeff Lane did. (www.lanemotormuseum.org)

My friend says that the Silvia is lighter than U.S. 240SX's, as the glass is different and the doors don't have the side-impact beams required by Ralph Nader's NHTSA.
 
It sounds like it's as fast as it is ugly.
 
My friend says that the Silvia is lighter than U.S. 240SX's, as the glass is different and the doors don't have the side-impact beams required by Ralph Nader's NHTSA.

Things that need to be added. For federal legal; Crash testing, side impact bars, DOT approved glass, DOT approved tires, DOT approved headlights and OBD system. The OBD is the most costly item as it is very difficult to design and intergrate it into the factory ECU and wiring.

To lay it out, for the only registered importer of Skylines in the US, the modifications alone are in the $25,000 range.
 
Things that need to be added. For federal legal; Crash testing, side impact bars, DOT approved glass, DOT approved tires, DOT approved headlights and OBD system. The OBD is the most costly item as it is very difficult to design and intergrate it into the factory ECU and wiring.

To lay it out, for the only registered importer of Skylines in the US, the modifications alone are in the $25,000 range.


how sure are you about the 25K cost for modification? i had heard much closer to 10k-15k I mean if you do the math they were selling R32's out the door for 35K that only leaves 10K for car purchase shipping and import/export fees and that doesn't seem right?
 
I love cars, but I honestly don't understand why people rail against CARB. Sure, some of it is a pain (and I'm a big believer in true tailpipe emissions should be the deciding factor), but ultimately, the high bar for emissions set by CARB is a damn good thing.

You think Los Angeles has bad air quality? Back when dirt was still clean and I was a child (we're talking the mid-1970's) the murk was a hundred times worse. Compared to then, it's entirely clean. Obviously, more has to be done, but a huge amount of progress has been made. I for one have no interest in seeing emissions standards weakened. For the life of me I don't understand why so many of the so-called "green" countries around the world are so far behind on emissions controls. But much like crash testing and safety requirements, the rest of the world came to the table decades after the US did. And still, most engines sold overseas aren't even 45 state -- much less CARB -- legal. Too polluting.

What are the advantages of a Silvia over the US market 240sx in any case? You might consider it far easier to import just the parts you want (assuming the main body is common) and keep the existing VIN. It's not that hard to transplant a front clip onto a car, for example, and then you'd be 100% legal.

Steve
 
how sure are you about the 25K cost for modification? i had heard much closer to 10k-15k I mean if you do the math they were selling R32's out the door for 35K that only leaves 10K for car purchase shipping and import/export fees and that doesn't seem right?

JK Technologies, LLC is the only registered importer in the US, that can legally modify the Skyline for EPA, DOT, NHTSA and the FMVSS approval. They did the crash testing for Motorex, and are the only ones who have a ODBII ECU modification. The exact cost is $26,000.

I will not go too deep into this, as I could create walls of text pertaining to the importation of Skylines into the US.

Here is the list of cars you can legally bring into the US:

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/elig050108.pdf

This is the RI list:

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/web_complete_RI_list5108.pdf
 
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