help Importing a non-US FZJ-80 to california? (1 Viewer)

[fghanem]

I have a 1993 VXR 1fzf (carburetor) 80 series, (factory locked, barn doors, factory snorkel, rear steps, 5-speed manual tranny, rear AC, and ice box), anyone have any experience with importing to california(LA), or do i need to install a catalytic convertor and it should pass california smog check, no obd1 or obd 2 on it.

Otherwise it's all renewed brand new oem carb and new distributor and runs perfect inside out. would it fail emissions, or what should i do to make it pass, i am clueless to be honest.

 

[WarDamnEagle]

That should be fully compliant at the Federal level. Hopefully one of the California guys will chime in with any potential state-level issues.

 

[shermantank55]

I went down this road before without success. Here's what I learned:

Unless the gasoline powered vehicle (1976 and newer) is converted, certified and tested to meet both EPA and California Air Resource Board (CARB) you won't be able to register it in California. There are a couple of companies that specialize in EPA and CARB compliance for imported vehicles. A friend just spent over $10k getting a Land Rover 110 approved. I believe this is the company that did it. G & K Automotive Services | Foreign Automobile Conversion - https://gnkauto.com/

Here's the CA DMV info:

Imported Vehicle Registration - California DMV

If you have imported your car from a foreign county, you must follow state laws for registering your vehicle and complying with state emission standards.

www.dmv.ca.gov

 

[fghanem]

I went down this road before without success. Here's what I learned:

Unless the gasoline powered vehicle (1976 and newer) is converted, certified and tested to meet both EPA and California Air Resource Board (CARB) you won't be able to register it in California. There are a couple of companies that specialize in EPA and CARB compliance for imported vehicles. A friend just spent over $10k getting a Land Rover 110 approved. I believe this is the company that did it. G & K Automotive Services | Foreign Automobile Conversion - https://gnkauto.com/

Here's the CA DMV info:

Imported Vehicle Registration - California DMV

If you have imported your car from a foreign county, you must follow state laws for registering your vehicle and complying with state emission standards.

www.dmv.ca.gov

thank you very much for the valuable info. yeah mine for sure will not pass the stringent california emissions test, given it's a desert vehicle, being a carb it runs on anything you give it. i guess i will just import to cali and then sell it out of state.

thanks again

 

[Broski]

You could always get a Montana LLC.
If your are selling it and it's a LHD PM me

 

[bhsdriller]

Or register in South Dakota

 

[Racefiend]

Oh man I went through this a few years ago trying to import Skylines into CA. The law says any Automotive Repair Dealer (basically a licensed shop) can modify the vehicle to meet the emissions standard, then send it off to one of the approved CA testing facilities where they run emissions tests. The tests are a lot more than just a smog. They're basically the federal EPA testing for a new car in the year of the vehicle you're importing. It involves all kinds of tests including checking emissions overnight in a sealed chamber.

As an ARD, I planned to do the mods myself. There really wasn't much needed to bring the cars to specs. There's a list of facilities on CA's website. I called every one. All of them had stopped doing the testing as CA had raised the licensing fees to some exorbitant amount and none of the companies wanted to pay that premium....except for one in SoCal, which I believe was G&K. I called them to see how much the testing was. Knowing he had a monopoly, he tried to give me some bull**** about how he had to be the one to do the mods, and it would take 2 months and cost $14k. No matter how I tried to explain the law, he refused to give me a price on just testing. Obviously, paying this shyster $14k would kill any profit to be made, so I dropped that idea.

The only way to get a car imported into CA without paying that A-hole a fortune is to already have it imported into another state, then move to CA as an out of state resident.

 

[DSRTRDR]

why import if you are going to sell it later ? sell it before moving to the US, problem solved

 

[mudgudgeon]

why import if you are going to sell it later ? sell it before moving to the US, problem solved

Profit.
Depending on where he's importing from, there could be a good chunk of change to be made.