Japanese car imports

[djnitro30]

Hi,

I'm considering importing a subaru impreza & I'm a little unsure about the SVA tests. I understand that if the cars under 10 years old it needs a SVA.
Does this mean that it doesn't need a SVA Test if I buy a car first registered in march 1996 & it arrives in the UK in April 2006?
Any help would be greately appreciated.
Thanks

[masong]

That's the gist, i think you can get around it, but just hope that happens before the law changes again...

[Guest]

you would just require a mot if your car is over 10.you would only be required to fit a fog light,very easy d.i.y job,there are a couple of ways to do this either fit a new fog lamp or you can wire up a light in your existing rear light. i prefere the second option as it looks a lot better than having a horible lamp hanging or cut into your bumper! The spedo converter would be optinal but you might aswell fit it as they are very cheap and relatively easy to fit.I have imported a few imprezas,great cars but not many decent ones left now!,you looking for any paticular model?
my 1996 mica blue wrx may be for sale soon if your interseted it was a grade 4 has 1 jap owner and full history with the original auction report 56,000miles has been well maintained and is in exelent unabused condition.Only thinking of selling to upgrade to a type R!
If your interested or just wanting a bit of advice feel free to ask

[djnitro30]

Thanks for that. Its made it a lot clearer.
I'm hoping to get a wrx sti ra in dark blue. How much were you wanting for your wrx?

[darkblue]

was looking to get between 4-5k prob nearer 5k i know there are cheaper ones to be had but u get what u pay for!!
you wiil be wanting the v-limited edition then i would go for the version 3 but these were not made until late 1996 so you will need a sva unless you wait until the car is 10 years old! or you could just go for a version 2 but i think i would probally go for the version 3 as it has more power and torque,revised engine,bigger brakes etc

[Hammer]

Darkblue,

I was wondering about the foglight thing, I'm not into electric's on cars so was having a guy come round at the weekend to have a look at it for me, I have a Legnum VR4 not on the road yet, need the MOT so need the foglight and as you say dont want to fit nasty thing hanging off the back, I had noticed that a number of wires in the light clusters are not plugged in and if you do plug them in they come on when you turn on the front fogs supose you could put fogbulb in but would need to disconnect it from main lights as I also noticed that this light comes on with the main lights but only when you put the extra plug in , and by the way mine is oct 96 but is not going to need a SVA so the man who is going to sort out the paper work for me says but I think this maybe a case of watch this space for an update on that one hopefully in the next 2 weeks and I hope that it's not going to be a story and the whole thing doesn't go down the

Hammer

[glanma]

Hammer - the fogs should only be possible to switch on if the main beam is on, and then they must be capable of being switched on and off independently of the main beam. I bought a Uk spec rear cluster for mine and re-wired my existing connections to suit - although I know you won't be able to do that!!! (been dying to slot that one in somewhere!) But yes the bolt on lights are a bit nasty really unless there are no options.

[darkblue]

hammer,
not really clued up on your motor but what i have done a few on imprezas is to convert the drivers side reverse light into a fog! your still going to have to fit a dash mounted switch somewhere to switch it on and off,here is a quick guide to how i have done it.
i bought a switch from a subaru breakers from an english spec car and fitted it int an existing space in the dash,i took the live feed from the lights,ran the wiring through the car following and securing it to original harness.Then i disconected the reverse light and connected my new wiring up to the light,fit a red bulb bit of tinting spray and the jobs a good one!
Its a relatively easy d.i.y job if u are mechanical/electricaly minded
like i say this will be ok for a mot but dont think a sva tester would appreciate your handy work! what i do is just fit the fog for the sva then convert the back light afterwards.
like i said not clued up on yor motor but would have thought you would be able to something along the same lines or is ther a uk spec cluster available? Very interested to see if your sva man can come up with the goods

[djnitro30]

What do you guys think about an accident repaired Impreza? I've been advised its only had a right fender & bonnet repaired. Because of this the car is available at a very good price. Is it worth taking the risk or would you not touch it with a barge pole?

[djnitro30]

Thanks for the info on your car darkblue. Sounds like a sweet deal but I think I'll keep looking at imorting one myself.

[darkblue]

No problem!
to be honest i would feel like i was taking a risk buying a accident damage car that i could not view in person.could have had damage to inner wing or front panel and impreza engines dont take kindley to front damage because of the engine layout more often than not the cambelt covers are broken and belts and pulleys are damaged.But if the car is repaired then i take it there is no problem.like i say its just my opinion but i would like to check out the car for myself to check for damage and the quality of the repair.
Dont let me put you off though its just my opinion, a mate of mine imported a accident damaged repaired impreza last year and the repair was an exelent job and it turned out to be a minter and it was a bargin price and better than some grade 4 stuff i have seen!! so there is some bargins to be had i must add though he did get the car checked out by an auction agent we had been using,had the repairs have been poor or signs of a serious accident he would of advised us against it.
so to sum it up there are some bargins out there i suppose you have just got to trust your agent,we had purchased cars from our agent before so we knew we could trust on him,
hope this helps, you still looking for a sti ra?

[Tez]

Regarding damaged cars we can check at certain auction halls.

We check anyway and if it is a bad job we will call you before we place the bid.

Just let us know your requirements and we will keep an eye out for you about the quality of repair.

[gavinjacques]

Hammer that ralliart place officially imported a few legnum/galant vr4's should find out what they did how they did it. i know on my pajero i modified it so one of the brake lights became the fog light. took some explaining but were fine once they understood.
what someone needs to invent is a neon surround for the rear number plate that glows red .... ie foglight would have no nasty lights fitted anywhere then!!!!

[glanma]

Hammer - You can always wire up your high level brake light as a foglight too if you have one, that's been done before a few times. Might not work for an MPV or big 4x4 depending how high up it is though, they may have them a bit too far north, so to speak. Msdunn showed Romeo how to wire up his inner pair of brake lights as fogs, so if you have 2 seperate brake lights each side thats another option.

[msdunn]

heres a copy of the post from romeos thread - the fogs have to only be able to work with the sidelights on - and i would recommend doing it with the outer of the two lower lights.
i have done this loads of times on pajeros - and a few times on other cars - the basic principle is the same - and all you need is some cable, crimps, relay and a test light.
just take your time and it is not too difficult.
make sure you do the conversion with a relay though - i have seen it done without and it means you lose 2 brake lights forever for the sake of foglights you may never use


[quote="msdunn"]ok - i don't have a diagram - but i could probably get one together for you if you don't understand what i am about to write

you need a five pin relay, about ?4,
it will have pin numbers
85,86,87,87a and 30.
run a live from your front sidelight to the foglight switch (you will have to source this, you prob have a blank you can remove to slot one in.
from the switch run the cable undr the carpet to the rear of the car, and somewhere on the inner wing(i don't know the layout of an fto) is where the relay should go.
connect cable from pin 85 to a good earth.
the cable from the fog light on the dash (the switched live) and a short cable should go on pin 87.
the short cable from 87 goes in a short loop to 86.
find the brake power supply to the inner lights, cut it and take it to terminal 87A.
the other end of the cable you just cut goes to terminal 30.
now on the other side of the cluster, cut the inner brake light cable, tape up the live in side, and connect the one to the bulb to terminal 30 as well.

it sounds harder than it is, but it is worth it, especially as the fto has a nice rounded rear end

a bit like kylies[/quote]

[img]http://uk.geocities.com/buysomepegs2000/wiring.PNG[/img]

[djnitro30]

msdunn, glanma,
I see your discussion about fog lights. is it possible to buy a uk spec rear light cluster & fit them to a jap car? I thought you might then be able to wire straight to the fog light in that.

[glanma]

Usually you can - that's what I did with mine. I bought the UK Previa o/s cluster and and then adapted the wiring to suit. Then the n/s inner tailight was disconnected, leaving me with the two outer brake lights working and the single foglight on the o/s. Thinking about it now I could perhaps have wired both inner lights as foglights instead, although at the time I was concerned about the brightness levels in regard to the ESVA so opted to go for what I knew was a kosher reflective foglight built into the UK cluster. Plus I wasn't sure how to go about that method at the time!!