DOT approval/imported car federalization on a GC8 WRX

I'm thinking of turning over my E34 touring for something a little more interesting: a GC8 Impreza WRX.

A buddy of mine from England (living in the US currently) and I were discussing this earlier. GC8 WRX's are going for GBP 2-4000 at the moment. Apparently, it costs about $500 US to become a registered importer. He has the shipping connections (dad works for NATO) but what we're concerned about is getting the car through customs, and what exactly is required to make it US road legal. The GC8 Impreza was obviously sold here, so we're under the impression that swapping crash beams, lights, and emissions stuff should get us though an inspection and allow us to get a US VIN# attached to the car.

Does anyone know any more about this process? Any useful gov't links for me to look up? Are we stupid for thinking of attempting this? Any and all help is appreciated.

I would suspect it would be much easier to leave the body in Britain and bring the other bits here.

pilotbraden wrote: I would suspect it would be much easier to leave the body in Britain and bring the other bits here.

That's actually harder in every single way other than getting it through customs - and as a registered importer, customs SHOULDN'T be an issue. Swapping crash beams, headlights, and tail lights is a lot easier than building an entire car...we think we have it figured out, I just need to know what (if anything) we're overlooking.

However, I also suspect that taking a US-spec GC8 shell and swapping in a US-spec STi drivetrain out of a wreck will be much faster, drive from the correct side of the car, and not blind oncoming drivers with the mis-aimed headlamps.

I don't know, you may have a tougher issue with the OBD stuff to be honest. It might make it a less profitable venture. You might be better off importing bare shells, and installing north american components.

Duke wrote: However, I also suspect that taking a US-spec GC8 shell and swapping in a US-spec STi drivetrain out of a wreck will be much faster, drive from the correct side of the car, and not blind oncoming drivers with the mis-aimed headlamps.

That may very well be true, but it's not what I'm trying to do. Also, thanks for insinuating that I'm too stupid to align headlights correctly.

sachilles wrote: I don't know, you may have a tougher issue with the OBD stuff to be honest. It might make it a less profitable venture. You might be better off importing bare shells, and installing north american components.

WRX's were sold from 92-95 in England, so we're primarily thinking of cars that would be pre-OBDII. In WI at least, anything 1995 or older is exempt from emissions/inspection. I guess that would come down to the DOT inspection, which I am severely lacking info on...

SlickDizzy wrote:

Duke wrote: However, I also suspect that taking a US-spec GC8 shell and swapping in a US-spec STi drivetrain out of a wreck will be much faster, drive from the correct side of the car, and not blind oncoming drivers with the mis-aimed headlamps.

That may very well be true, but it's not what I'm trying to do. Also, thanks for insinuating that I'm too stupid to align headlights correctly.

It's not a question of aligning, the glass is fluted to direct light in the opposite manner it is on this side of the Atlantic.

Cone_Junky wrote: It's not a question of aligning, the glass is fluted to direct light in the opposite manner it is on this side of the Atlantic.

I'm aware of that - during federalization, DOT-approved lenses need to be swapped on, as I previously noted. There are a lot of junked Imprezas in the yards around here with perfectly good headlights. Maybe I've been drinking too much beer lately, but the whole idea of this is that a $6500-ish investment for a running, driving UK-spec WRX with DOT lenses swapped on is more unique, cheaper, and a lot less work than building up a turbo car based on US components.

SlickDizzy wrote: thanks for insinuating that I'm too stupid to align headlights correctly.

With composite headlights its not just a matter of aim as the flutes in the lenses are also cut differently for RHD countries. At least I know thats the way Volvos are.

Honestly I think you would find more buyers for "conversion kits" for LHD US cars than for complete RHD vehicles. And personally I think parts swapping is much easier and ultimately faster than sorting through all the red tape required. Even if you can get the whole car in and registered in your state, you may not be able to sell it anywhere else due to emissions law variations.

As much as I'd love to drive a GC8, I can't imagine wanting one (especially RHD) enough to pay more than a newer WRX. 02-03s are coming down in price, so I'm not sure I see any chance to make money on this unless there are a ton of people pining for an earlier coupe.

How many would you anticipate bringing over in a year? How much would you estimate the bottom line to be for a potential customer?

Strange you should ask this, as a friend of mine is running around in a GC8 WRX STi Type R right now, imported from Japan. And let me tell you, it's an absolute BEAST to get those through customs. Unfortunately, what once was very easy, has been tightened up, due in no small part to the whole Motorex/Kaizen mess. It used to be all you had to do was ship the car, claim it as a kit car, have 1 precursory inspection done to CYA (turn signals and stuff) and you were golden. But, new regs dictate that if you try this, you need itemized documentation of EVERY single part on that car. Multiple inspections, etc etc. In other words, it can be done, but it's not going to be easy. IIRC, he's due for his final inspection this week.... and this whole process started around June of last year. I can give you more of the gory details if you'd like.

From a business standpoint, that's all up in the air. I'm thinking of it more as a personal vehicle, and a testing of the waters to see if we can actually pull off this importation stuff. If we can successfully bring one or two over, and they generate some real interest, then we'd consider importing customer cars. If not I'd just use the knowledge to start bringing over cool E36 M3 that's falling outside of the 25-year rule: e.g. Peugeot 205 GTi, Lancia Delta HF Integrale, etc etc.

mndsm wrote: Strange you should ask this, as a friend of mine is running around in a GC8 WRX STi Type R right now, imported from Japan. And let me tell you, it's an absolute BEAST to get those through customs. Unfortunately, what once was very easy, has been tightened up, due in no small part to the whole Motorex/Kaizen mess. It used to be all you had to do was ship the car, claim it as a kit car, have 1 precursory inspection done to CYA (turn signals and stuff) and you were golden. But, new regs dictate that if you try this, you need itemized documentation of EVERY single part on that car. Multiple inspections, etc etc. In other words, it can be done, but it's not going to be easy. IIRC, he's due for his final inspection this week.... and this whole process started around June of last year. I can give you more of the gory details if you'd like.

PLEASE, I need all the details you can provide.

Happy to help.

So it started like this. At one point, his car had been shipped to florida (which was the only real entry point into the US as far as seaports) at which point, the process was begun to title it as a kit car. But the dealer that did it was a moron, and gave up about halfway through. He instead had the car trucked to CA, where he "got a title" (read didn't do squat, because CA had put the screws to all grey market folks) and drove it around as his personal vehicle. At some point, he moved to MN, where his intention was to title it under MN kit car laws, which would give plates to a skateboard and some flashlights. In the meantime, MN regs changed to be more in line with the rest of the country in regards to legal importation of a vehicle. You can still do it legally, but you have to provide crash test results, change all the other equipement (crash bars and whatnot) and get em smogged before they'll cut you a legit title. The kit car option is all but gone. If you do it, it's possible, but you basically have to prove you bought every single part on the car through a legitimate importer (no more grey market half-cuts) who in turn had legally imported the parts through the US and brought them through customs. A lot of it has to do with clean air regs, and people "defeating" Emissions by swapping motors and claiming either pre-emissions or gray market. As I said in my previous post, it's taken him a good 7-8 months to get this all done, and as of right now, while the car does have plates and is insured, it's technically a Subaru Legacy, at least until it clears the last inspection. Your best hope is the 25 year rule at this point. I've been looking into the same thing myself, because there's piles of cheap R32 skylines in Canada, but I can't even legally bring the things across the border anymore. I'd have to hire a Canadian dude to drive it across, have him sell it to me in Seattle, get temp plates, and pray to god I didn't get pulled in Montana.

Importing cars is something that has always interested me mostly because I want a Lancia Delta HF Integrale and a MG Metro Turbo.

I'm interested in a Cosworth Sierra which should now be old enough to import legally. Let me know if you think you can find me a LHD RS500.

93EXCivic wrote: Importing cars is something that has always interested me mostly because I want a Lancia Delta HF Integrale and a MG Metro Turbo.

As someone who actually owned a Delta HF Integrale (lived in Italy), it is most certainly something worth being interested in.

Then again, what I thought was an awesomely fun car to drive back when I had it (late 90s), would probably be quite a bit less fun now, owning a 300hp wrx which is better in every way except looks. Not to mention the maintentance difficulty of having a Delta in the US (it was hard to get parts for in Italy!). Think of it as trying to get parts for an Integra Type R, except doing it in Zimbabwe when you can't speak English or Japanese....

That said, if I could ship one over under the 25-year rules, I would do it in a second - and probably will someday.

I thought you guys had a "white list" of cars that were allowed to be brought in (<25 y.o.)? Make sure it's on the list.

very, very few cars on that list. Most were outlawed when uncle Sam decided he no longer liked his own swiss cheese laws, and tightened them up. They've go so far as to start seizing cars they feel weren't legally imported.

I thought it was legal to have a car in the States that was not for road use-like racing, show display or a private collection.

NHTSA page on importing cars: http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/import/ EPA document on importing cars: http://www.epa.gov/oms/imports/420b10028.pdf

The car may cost $6500, but it will probably cost you at least that much again to get it properly Federalized once it gets here. There were some loopholes in the system that made it worth doing for a few years back in the 1980s, but that time has long passed - these days it's just not worth the effort in most cases.

All good information, thanks! Those NHTSA pages are really helpful. I'm going to do a bit more research into this.

SlickDizzy wrote: WRX's were sold from 92-95 in England, so we're primarily thinking of cars that would be pre-OBDII. In WI at least, anything 1995 or older is exempt from emissions/inspection. I guess that would come down to the DOT inspection, which I am severely lacking info on...

Not that it matters much to me if you want to burn cash, but you really should read those EPA notes a lot closer. When importing a car into the US, the EPA has a LOT more say over it than WDOT.

But it is your money.

If you back up one level on Stuart's link, there's more import info at the EPA- http://www.epa.gov/otaq/imports/

SlickDizzy wrote: Also, thanks for insinuating that I'm too stupid to align headlights correctly.

Whoah, no insinuation here! I don't think you're too stupid to do anything you set your mind to. But the optics for a RHD car are going to be designed to throw the majority of light biased towards the left, just as the optics of a LHD car are designed to throw the light with a bias toward the right. I've seen enough JDM front clips to not be convinced that you could turn the adjustment screws enough to overcome the optics, that's all. Sorry to hit you the wrong way, man.

I'm following this, because I'd like to import an Accord Aerodeck once they become eligible under the 25 year old rule. 3 more years for the ones I'm looking at.