Differences and drawbacks of going JDM.

[kevinpsw]

There are at least 3 JDM manuals on the market at the moment and they are on my really rather short short-list; there's not much around that I can afford. One is quite close but the other two are a 4-700 mile round trip respectively. I can spot the obvious differences: headlamp washers missing, different front valance and, potentially, an odometer that still runs in km. What else is different? Different exhausts and wheels?

What are the drawbacks of grey imports? Extra insurance costs? Likely not to have fully documented SH from its time in Japan (well, not one you can read anyway). Dubious mods (wheels and exhausts)? Are there parts that would be difficult (time consuming) to source? Are all the stickers etc in Japanese?

I do realise that JDM mileages will often be low.

What sort of price premium should there be UK spec over JDM?

[britlude]

stickers are in japanese, tho some are multi-language. radio will need a frequency shift gadget, available from ebay (18Mhz should do it, mine had one) importers usually put a gadget onto the speedo to convert it to mph, and change the Kph legend.... interestingly i saw an early UK supplied/spec one, and it had the tweaked japanese speedo (the 0-180 covers more degrees, finishing just past 4 o'clock position, rather than the UK 3 o'clock!) .... OMG that sound so bad... i'll have to get my anorak

no foglamp... you will get, however, get extra lighting at the back as standard, and 1/2 height switchable aerial so you don't rub it off on garage doors!


has anyone ever used headlamp washers anyway????

[dan the man]

yeah the brake lights are extra bulbs across.. is it tail lights also anyone?

want my x to have the extra lights as safer and looks better

[britlude]

6 sides and 4 brake plus the light sabre wing light

[dan the man]

so the 4 brake are they dual bulbs with sides?

then 2 extra sides?

noticed my new facelift lights have 3 spaces in each so could wire therm up this way?

6 sides and 4 brake sounds cool. no 3rd strip for me either unfortunately..uk cars are so toss. well early ones

[britlude]

jdm cars have all the toys way before the UK ones! yes, 2 dual bulbs and one single sidelight each side!

[Lankstarr]

rear brake lights look much better on a JDM IMO.

Different front valance? - please explain!

Dont forget the lovely rear bumper... no Euro smile just a lovely one piece bumper - If I ever get my hands on one!

HEadlight washers are worst bit of the car... JDM front bumper also on the list!

[kevinpsw]

By front valance I meant the lower part of the front bumper.

[mart155]

Hi All, New member here and hopefully soon to be NSX owner which is why this post caught my attention.
So, reading between the lines then there are no major drawbacks with JDM cars.
Is there an easy way to do a rear fog light conversion into the rear cluster somewhere?

I curently have a JDM Toyota Soarer and have converted the inner brake lights into Fogs.

[britlude]

i converted the inner pair of brake lamps to be brake lamps as normal, or on as fog lamps via a relay when required. there was only ever one NSX factory, so they all came from the same place anyway, just the JDM cars got all the toys first. if you already have a JDM then you know the type of things typical of the Japanese market... labels in Japanese, most interior legends in english, and so on!