Bringing euro 325i to the U.S.

[MikeDE]

Ok ok.....i'll keep it till you come back for it:nice:. I have an open spot right next to my Touring.

[Eric]

Hmm send it to Mike maybe he could hide it in his barn.

Next question did you ship a car to Europe via military? Because for quite some time you had to ship one to your duty location in order to receive the allotment to ship one back.

There have been changes to the JTFR regulations so this might not apply anymore. Check with your local TMO and if you don't get answers you like enquire about it as they are public regulations.

See page 39

http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/share...RV2_AFSUP1.pdf

It's not a problem Greg, my wife did NOT ship a car over when she came over, but we shipped the jeep on her orders without a hickup.

At any rate, I think he's shipping the E46 on his orders, and doing the E30 on his own... At least that's what I deciphered from this thread.

[Eric]

http://tte-racing.com/index.php

Mark and his wife are really nice people, and I know they do car storage. I'm pretty sure ring-racing does car storage, but I'd suspect they are pricey.

TTE always has lots of nice E30/E30 M3's at their shop, so i'm sure they will take good care of your MtechII.

[M-technik-3]

Hmm send it to Mike maybe he could hide it in his barn.

Next question did you ship a car to Europe via military? Because for quite some time you had to ship one to your duty location in order to receive the allotment to ship one back.

There have been changes to the JTFR regulations so this might not apply anymore. Check with your local TMO and if you don't get answers you like enquire about it as they are public regulations.

See page 39

http://www.e-publishing.af.mil/share...RV2_AFSUP1.pdf

[Eric]

I know your pain man, I was one year away with my junkyard 520i. It would have been the perfect wintermobile here in colorado... or a v12 transplant recipient...

ANyways, I would say the best option is to just store it for 2 years. You've been in k-town for a long time minus the year in korea, don't you know somebody who can look after it, or a storage area that will keep it with a montly fee?

I know a few places up at the ring that store cars for british guys. They keep the car down on the mainland, then just take a 30 euro ryanair flight to Hahn. Saves them all the gas and ferry fee's, plus a ton of time with the drive!

I'd bet it would be cheaper and MUCH less hassle to just store it for 24 months instead of swapping all the parts, and getting the feds involved.

[Dirtboy]

The reason for Registered importer is because of all the shit ass jobs that were done in the early to mid 80's. Typical of greed.

I'm just really bummed I couldn't make it 2 more years. And there's no one here I would trust to leave my car with. Would have loved to reach 25 years and not have to go through all this...

[M-technik-3]

The reason for Registered importer is because of all the shit ass jobs that were done in the early to mid 80's. Typical of greed.

[Dirtboy]

I am pretty sure I still have a bunch of U.S. spec e30 parts around here. bumpers, lights, motor mounts and pos. a few other things. I converted a u.s. car to euro before it went back to the states about 7 years ago.

PM sent.;)

[Dirtboy]

OWNERS may not federalize their own cars. Must be done by a registered importer. Be aware of this prior to purchasing and attempting to ship a car VIA the US military.

I was a USAF Customs inspector for 5 years and we at the time were very aware of details. Now I can't speak for the US Army but I'm quite sure they know the rules as well.

If you want to bring a car back find a special ie 320iS and have that federalized. A standard 325i is not worth it. Garner ALL the parts and CLEAN em good so Customs and Agriculture does not reject your shipment. Then build you own euro car.

Yeah I know that I can't do the conversion. Gotta go to the importer (just another way for the govt to suck money outta us). I'm just replacing the parts that are hard to find in the states with parts that are very common. I know how rare MtechII parts are (BTW they're still available here new, ask me how I know... :P).

And a 325i may not be worth it to most people, but it is to me and that's all that matters. No way I'm selling this one... lol.

[M-technik-3]

OWNERS may not federalize their own cars. Must be done by a registered importer. Be aware of this prior to purchasing and attempting to ship a car VIA the US military.

I was a USAF Customs inspector for 5 years and we at the time were very aware of details. Now I can't speak for the US Army but I'm quite sure they know the rules as well.

If you want to bring a car back find a special ie 320iS and have that federalized. A standard 325i is not worth it. Garner ALL the parts and CLEAN em good so Customs and Agriculture does not reject your shipment. Then build you own euro car.

[mikeedler]

the stock euro exhaust is the same as a u.s. system

[Cabriolet]

im glad to see you bring her with you and doing it the right way, not cutting the mtech kit, gl on all the paperwork. you might be able to get a used cat + down pipes to put on to get her here also.

[mikeedler]

I am pretty sure I still have a bunch of U.S. spec e30 parts around here. bumpers, lights, motor mounts and pos. a few other things. I converted a u.s. car to euro before it went back to the states about 7 years ago.

[Dirtboy]

From someone that has went through this, the feds go by the build date on the car. Being 23 years old, you don't have to go through EPA which saves a ton of money. My 323i was around $4.5k IIRC and took only around 3-4 months

If you have the rear fog option just go ahead and replace it with a US switch to trick them at customs.

Yeah, I thought I read somewhere that I may not have to go through EPA.

And what do you mean about the fog light switch? I was going to take the front fogs out and leave the rear fog in and just put a single button switch in the light panel. Or even put just a blank in the switch panel...

Does that mean you're selling an e46 over here in Germany? Let me know.

NOOOOOO WAAAAAAAAAAY MAAAAAAAAN!!!!! LOL

my advice is to ship the parts back much cheaper find a chean shell here get it painted and you will still save money. I know a guy who does vehicle importing and he said a guy spent 6k getting a 325 imported to usa. Plus they burn the non us parts so definitely ship all those separate. You know that you can not touch the car until it has been federalized here? So anything you want done do it now if not you will be paying labor for a specialist company to do it. Don't waste your time buying and fitting euro bumpers they will be burned. Just get a set of US bumpers shipped to you install them put standard h4 bulbs in and make sure you have the sidemarkers. Airbag wheel? Idk I would change the exhaust for a stock us one and emiission controls also.

I got the bumpers out of the junkyard here, $20 for both. I'm just looking for US bumper trim to put the side markers in. I know they may change out the bumpers, that's why I just got some from the junkyard.

I've got no air bag. Probably change out my steering wheel too (brand new MtechII). And the whole exhaust is going in with my furniture too. No way I want to loose that.

[dude8383]

Jumping into this thread because I'm very interested to see what the process is like!