Tethlah

I've been looking into moving to Japan for some time now. A bunch of guys I was in the military with are in Tokyo and love it there, so I've been looking into moving there to teach English. Which I guess is beside the point, but I figured I'd show a legit reason for the move before someone comes and flames me for it lol.

Anyway, I want to take my RX-8 with me. I'm looking into what it takes to take an American (left-side drive) RX-8 over there. But one of the things I was wondering about is if there is any way to convert the speedometer to KPH?

RX8Soldier

iTrader: (24)

yes.
There are 2 buttons on your dash. The one on the right is for your odometer reset, while the other is for Miles/Kilometers.

puppet623

iTrader: (1)

Owners Manuel will tell you in it but just to answer the questio.
You know the 2 rods where the speedo is the left one if u hold it it will change it to kph.
read the Manuel lost of great info :D

and damn u soldier XD i was first

Carbon8

iTrader: (4)

Exporting and importing a car, and you are worried about MPH to KPH

Long and expensive road lays ahead of your, you could buy 3 rx8's there for the price of importing 1.

StealthTL

iTrader: (1)

Like Carbon says, converting the speedo will be the least of thine problems - hear me now, and believe me later!

Your headlights will need to be totally replaced with JDM ones, the brakes will need to be COMPLETELY replaced with new parts, all your mirrors, need headlight washers, prolly a new cat, maybe a new ECU....

Don't just ship it and find out, do the legwork now to see just how insane their inspection program is.

Tethlah

Yeah, I've just started looking into it. Part of the reason I would love to bring my car over is the fact that I have a hard time shifting with my left hand. I have a pretty weak left arm from an injury in the Army (lacerated bicep and triceps along with several bones in my left wrist being broken) and it's enough to just drive with it let alone learning how to shift with it.

Really? New ECU? I really do need to do some more research on it, I only found out this morning that this could be a possibility, and of course the first thought in my head (out of all the things I need to get in order) was "****, how am I going to get my car over there?"

BTW, I did notice that other button, I once pressed it a couple times to see what it did and I didn't notice anything so I thought nothing of it. The car didn't come with a manual, so I downloaded a PDF one and haven't gotten through it all (damage to my retina and nerves in my eyes makes looking at a computer screen any longer than 5 minutes painful).

RX8Soldier

iTrader: (24)

Press and hold for 3-5 sec

RXeligion

With all of the completely bad-*** cars available to drive in Japan, why take an American Spec 8 with you? Sell it and buy a 2002 RX-7!

wilcoes

Cant see it needing a new ECU, What sort of miles/Kilometers has it done?

Its all down to there, Incredibly strict "emissions"..

So no doubt a cat will be required, like was mentioned Lights etc...

But if its done to many miles then it would be pointless coz it will be warn to a degree and will fail on the emissions....

A few years ago you could buy engines for most of the "sporty" Jap cars with 30,000 ish miles on coz they were failing emissions and removing the engines and exporting...

Grace_Excel

iTrader: (5)

I spent three years with the Marines in Japan, cars are so cheap specially in areas near the military bases that I was able to buy an EVO I GRS for $1,500. If you are concerned about shifting with your left hand just consider buying an automatic. Besides, if you're thinking long-term, you will find that the first car you have purchased in Japan will not be the last(I had an AE92 Corolla/Levin, EP89 Starlet, R32 GT-S, and CA9A EVO I GSR). Sailors in Yokosuka cycle through cars as they PCS out of Japan to another duty station and they need to sell quick; otherwise, they cannot leave until they get their name out of that title.

Our cars are 99% made in Japan. Side mirrors can be easily changed(you get a 30 day permit to fix that, most of the time inspectors do not even notice it), headlight washers are not required on all cars, OEM Cat will work just fine since we have a pretty strict (at least CA) emissions than Japan, our brake system will pass(I knew a Staff Sgt who brought his Chevy Blazer and was able to have it registered and sold it to a local without changing almost nothing), the ECU may not need to be replaced because what does Japanese ECU make it so special than USD? But one key thing I learned from the local Japanese dealers: you will not find a LHD that has a manual transmission. So, even if you found a shipping company to transport your vehicle there, your car won't be able to get a JAF registration in Japan. Only because it has a manual transmission, I forgot what was the reason behind that.

Tethlah

It goes back to the difficulty in driving with my left hand shifting. I've actually never had an automatic before....not sure how I feel about driving one.

kevinande

meh, autos suck, but I suppose they jve their place. This is not just 8's I don't like autos at all.

SamiRX-8

What comes to my mind about the ECU thing is that they have a 180 km/h speed limit on all cars if I remember correctly. By changing to their ECU, they ensure that you car can't go above 180 km/h.