OK here my prob...I'm getting station in Japan in March fo three years... the lude is staying back... I want to boost my car so bad but... I won't get to use it since from what my plans are now is staying garage at brothers house... should I get a kit or just save up the money to get boosted after I get done with my tour in JAP... ?

 

thats a problem??? think of all the tight cars there..By a Type-S lude, and import it back...

 

Sell your Prelude before you leave. Save all the money that you would have spent on Turbo. Buy a bad-*** car in Japan (Lancer Evo, Subaru STi, Supra, Skyline, etc.). Import that car back to the States.

Andrew

 

well I tough about buying stuff for the lude over in jap... and also about buying a car overseas prob is that you still have to make it us legal and from what I hear is a B**** to do that...

 

I think you should boost

 

let me guess...umm. r u going to the navy? well im shipping out to japan also, (navy) and also plan to boost my lude. hehe

lude owners do think alike

 

I've heard that it's much easier for miltary and governement personel to import "grey market" vehicles...

Either way, IMHO, it would be pretty foolish to sink a few thousand into a car that you will barely see for the next 3 years. Save your money now. Sell the car before you leave. What's the point of having it sit idle and depreciating for 3 years? You'll have even more cash available when you get out of the service. Then you can get a nice new car...

Andrew

 

Three years from now, you could buy a lude just like the one you have for less money and use the difference + some savings to do whatever you wanted to it. Or, you could just buy one in Japan. I've also heard it's easier for military people to import cars.

Edit: I've also heard that you can import a Prelude as long as the engine is not in it when it's shipped. Then you just have to throw it back in once it's here. Not sure how much truth there is to that, but I recall having seen it done with a new Honda ITR.


[Modified by Regal, 4:27 PM 11/22/2002]

 

Anyone ever read what MotorX has to do to import Skylines? they had to crash test one to meet FHSA or whatever it is requirements, and then make it emmisions compatable.. and those tests are $70+ pass or fail. if you fail you have to go back and try again!

My suggestion to you is to save up your money, get in touch with tuner company in japan, and get parts from them to ship home. You can find some crazy honda shops over there (Spoon, Jun, Mugen, etc just to name a few all around honda ones) and get the parts for less... speaking of that.. tell me how much you can get mugen stuff for! LoL

 

yes I am... where you getting station in japan...

military you can bring it but you got like a deadline to make it us legal... I think that's the catch you still have to do the same no exceptios...

oh yeah I tough of making myself a jap parts salesman lol once I get there... but that depends if I even get time to do that while station over there....

I'm not selling the lude... it got sort of sentimental value now after all the BS I had to go through to get it...

thanks for all the comments

 

I think you should sell the Lude, stash the money, save while you're over there and either bring another one home with you (completely tricked out of course), or buy another one when you get back. I got my Lude used, with really low mileage and it was Honda certified (no charge 100k mile warranty, sweet ). And how sweet would a Mugen'd out RHD 5th gen real Type S be around the way when you get back? If you don't want to sell the car, pick up some parts over there and send 'em back; I wouldn't blow some cash on soemthing that you won't get to enjoy for awhile. Just MHO.

Mmmmm, Mugen parts...*drooling in lap*


[Modified by heihachi, 10:31 PM 11/22/2002]


[Modified by heihachi, 10:31 PM 11/22/2002]

 

It's a lot easier for Military type folks to get cars imported into the states though. There is a guy on http://www.preludeonline.com (maybe even H-T too) that goes by the handle "Dr. James". He used to be in the Army, and he gave me a few tips a long time ago on what it would take to import a J-spec car into the US.

Not sure what your rank is, but depending on what service or what branch you are in you may be able to have the military ship it back, the only thing you have to worry about is making it smog and street legal. IIRC there are no crash tests required, but you may have to do something about the glass and side impact beams. The only thing is in order for you to be able to keep the car legally in the US, you can never sell it or change ownership.

For getting info on shipping a car back check with you local TMO (Traffic Management Office) if you are in the Air Force. Or if you are in the Army, Navy or Marines I believe you can talk to your ITO (individual travel office)...It may be the same unit that is responsible for setting up your household goods shipment.

BTW I'll see if the thread where I asked about importing cars is still on PO.com, it was in the off-topic forum posted less than a year ago, but I dont know if it has been purged already.