So i just ordered a brake hose i need for my stepwgn and it says it will arrive sometime between the 20th of November and the 3rd if December, but has anyone used Amayama before? Is there a possibility of it getting here sooner than that, or am i really just kinda screwed until later this coming month.

been looking into buying a sambar. can't seem to find a classic with supercharger. does it exist?

Also, side question. Are all 4wd superchargers full time?

Heya folks! I spoke with Kevin last night, saw some questions and people asking for proof. Here’s a screenshot of the post in the Michigan Kei Advocates Facebook group.

Hats off to Kevin and Alex, amazing work. We are all greatful!

In a landmark victory this week, Michigan joined Texas and Massachusetts in overturning restrictions on Kei vehicles through successful legal action and grassroots advocacy. The Michigan policy change not only reversed policies preventing Kei and other JDM vehicles from receiving on-road titles and registration but also restored proper titles to owners whose vehicles were wrongfully limited to off-road use only.

Following Lone Star Kei's groundbreaking policy reversal in Texas on April 4th, 2024, we've been actively guiding and supporting other states in their efforts to challenge similar restrictions. Our experience and success have created a blueprint for change. The reversal of three state-level Kei bans in just seven months demonstrates unprecedented momentum in our fight for vehicle freedom and owner rights.

Now is the perfect time to take action, whether your state currently restricts Kei vehicles or not. We've seen these bans spreading across the country, often implemented suddenly through DMV policy changes without legislative oversight. Even if your state currently welcomes Kei vehicles, being proactive and establishing protective legislation can prevent future restrictions from overzealous bureaucrats who might try to limit these vehicles.

While it may seem daunting to challenge or shape state policies, our recent victories prove that organized advocacy works. Despite being a small community, we've demonstrated that when we unite with a clear strategy and consistent message, officials listen and respond.

Ready to make a difference in your state? Lone Star Kei is here to support your efforts, whether you're fighting existing restrictions or working to prevent future bans. Contact us at info@lonestarkei.org to learn how we can help you create positive change in your community.

I'm looking at a 1994 Hijet (Non-Jumbo) which is a fair way. Before I go and view it I wanted to know if the foot space was a bit better than a 2001 Acty?
I had a go in one of those a while ago and my feet were slightly too big to be comfortable driving.
I'm a fairly large person at 6ft 4 with a 36inch inseam and size 11 (UK - 12 in US) shoes, so any experience would be appreciated.

Paid for this in July and it finally arrived in Newark, New Jersey on Monday. Customs cleared it last night at 7pm so I decided best to grab it right away and get it over with. Spent 14 hours there and back to get it. Just got home and got my temp registration and insurance for it.

I purchased this truck on Monday morning and now the waiting has begun. TT2 and will be in Texas.

So I have a DD51T with the F6A engine EFI (from what I can tell). I plan on putting 13" tires on it, NRG quick release (anti theft at this point), tint the windows, try and install LED bulbs to rejuvenate these old tires head and tail lights and swap out the rear work light for an LED work light.

I've heard the F6A loves exhaust mods which I assume means intake mods as well that bring it to life and overall is quality of life for the engine.

Any merit to that? I was thinking of finding a 2" exhaust back to a muffler of some sort and I saw a camshaft kit for the F6A, worthwhile investments at all?

For those who have one, I'm curious about the maintenance on one these vehicles. I love the style and was strongly considering getting one to replace my old MINI.

There's someone nearby with 4 in stock.. the price is right. I'd keep it off highway..just bob around town as a neat daily driver... but even my old daily driver I only put 3,000 miles on per year. We have an alternate vehicle for distance.

Another important thing for me to consider is we don't have a garage, so it would be exposed to the elements, unless I can come up with an alternate solution.

Is it worth it from a cost/utilitarian perspective? Or while cool, does it make more sense to consider it an enthusiast vehicle that money will be sunk into as a passion?

(Aside: Does anyone know the interior seat dimensions on a two seater? I would like to know if my wife could sit next to me inside it, in case it was required.)

(Aside2: CarVX does not seem to have records of any of the chassis numbers from the cars in stock. Would this be considered good or bad? Or is there a formatting trick I am missing?)

(Edit: I called around to some local "international / import" vehicle places, and they said they likely would not be able to work on the Daihatsu Midget II.... seems like any maintenance would have to be done personally.)

I live in USA, am vacationing in Italy and there are many mini trucks. The primary brands appear to be Piaggio and Technopoint. They’re all left hand drive. Does anybody import those to USA? Does anybody know more about them?

My Acty only has a speedo in KPH, a fuel gauge and a bunch of idiot lights; I pulled this out of my 2015 Smart car. Set for tach, speedo in MPH, voltage, oil temp & coolant temp along with a clock & compass. This was purchased off Amazon and plugs into the diagnostic port in the passenger footwell. Note: this pic was taken on a dead end road with no other cars.

I've had a LOT of trouble with my alternator belt recently. (Had it replaced "professionally" 5 times in the last 5 months) but it keeps breaking! What websites do yall use to find parts or to find out if something will fit even if it's not officially for kei trucks? About to try and work on this myself. Thank you so much!

Wondering if anyone has any insight as to why the only other color kei trucks seem to come in from Japan is blue. I get white, standard work truck, makes sense, but why is Blue the only common alternative? Is there a commercial buyer in this color? Is there some kinda regulation that requires a blue truck?

I have read a lot of reviews about importing by people who have used CarsFromJapan and other sites that offer used cars for sale. I have not read any reviews yet of people who have purchased direct from an Auction. Well, I did it and here is my experience.

I actually bought two Actys (1995 Attack Pickup and 1997 Street Van). For the purposes of this write up I will concentrate on the truck.

I used Japan Car Direct (JCD) after searching the web for various auction services. My particular point of contact is Taylor and he has been great. Essentially, I was given access to all of the various auction houses across Japan. When there is a vehicle I am interested in, I send the link to him. He then sends back a video of him translating and describing the vehicle via auction sheet and any additional photos. They do request a 60000 Yen deposit prior to bidding, and their base service fee up to a purchase of 1 million Yen is 79000 Yen.

On August 7th, 24, I purchased the truck. It was rated 3.5, basically the lowest grade you should be buying at Auction.

https://preview.redd.it/eiaclhuyarxd1.png?width=1030&format=png&auto=webp&s=691246b88fce82e74bb831293866bb7461c455ba

Below is a breakdown of the fees I paid. The truck itself was $900 US (this is what your 25% duty is based on for the purpose of importing). The inland transport was the fee to get the truck from the auction house to the nearest port. Ocean freight and Marine insurance is pretty self explanatory. All of the other fees are, JCD (79k Yen mentioned before, they handle the bidding process, coordination of all transportation, handling of all exportation paperwork), Auction Fee (fee that auction house gets for hosting the auction), Export Charges (I'm guessing a government fee), and the WISE fee is system used to transfer my funds to JCD.

https://preview.redd.it/7akrzs4u9rxd1.png?width=748&format=png&auto=webp&s=3c7557a0af103f59f69fecb99aed86fd967c2417

Once I paid the above fee the truck was moved from the auction house to the port to be loaded on the next available ship. Once at the port JCD had a photographer document the condition of the vehicle.

On September 20th, 24, I received notice that my truck was booked on the Firmament Ace leaving Japan on September 29th, 24, and arriving at the Port of Los Angeles on October 18th, 2024. Shortly after that they provided me with electronic copies of the Commercial Invoice, Export Certificate (along with the translation), and the Bill of Lading. I reached out to EasyISF after reading several reddit posts. I used them to complete the ISF paperwork ($25). They were fine but I will not be using in the future, I will explain more later. I was also hit with a another $77.18 bill for additional storage days at the port while the truck was waiting to get shipped.

A few days prior to the ships arrival, JCD sent a DHL package with all of the originals of the Commercial Invoice, Export Certificate (along with the translation), and the Bill of Lading.

I had plans of doing everything DIY on the importing process. Unfortunately, I live in Arizona and it would have required me to go to the CBP office in Long Beach to handle the CBP 7501 and DOT HS4 forms. I was told that the process would take several hours to complete the release which was not feasible. The shipping company required that the vehicle be cleared with customs before I could make an appointment to pickup the truck. I figured I had to find a broker to submit the entry and DOT form via the CBP ACE system. Here is where I will reference the van that I bought. I basically did the same process twice for importing both vehicles. When I began the CBP entry form I initially went with EasyISF since I had used them for the ISF already. They were friendly enough. However, they would not let me import my Acty under the proper import code and they wanted to make me pay a 25% duty for the van which should only be 2.5%. I had numerous conversatitions with them about this and it basically came down to we know more than you and we will not put our reputation on the line for you. I said, thanks but no thanks, I pay enough to my government already. I searched on line and found Eezyimport. I was surprised that their fees were actually better than EasyISF. I emailed back and forth with Eezyimport and their broker agreed that the van was correctly only subject to 2.5% duty. I used Eezyimport for the CBP and DOT on both vehicles. CBP released the van and truck with no issues (I understand that they could comeback in the future and argue about the van, I will deal with that if it happens). The submission was actually very easy through their website, they had great communication, and the prices were right, I will be using them exclusivley in the future. Total fees for the truck were $78.30 to complete and submit the CBP entry form, $41.76 to complete and submit the DOT form, $237.64 for duty and misc CBP fees.

I also had to pay the US side port fees that totaled $128.00.

The truck arrived on time to the port.

Once the truck was cleared in the CBP system which took about 5 business days for both vehicles, I was able to make the appointment to pick both vehicles at the Port of Los Angeles. Side note, it was not until I received the arrival notice on the first vehicle that I realized I would either need to pay a security guard to stand by while I picked up my vehicles per hour, or I had to get what was called a TWIC card. I immeadiatly started the process to get the TWIC card and luckily it was a smooth process for me. I had the card in hand prior to going to the port.

The pick up at the port went fairly smooth. A few things I learned. My batter jumper box was a new fangled type with a small lithium battery. I had never actually used it before. Well, it won't work on a completely dead battery. So, I will need something better for next time. Also, I will bring gas with me next time. The truck started when I finally found it, but it died right away due to no fuel. The port will sell you 2 gallons of gas for $25, and because I bought the gas they were kind enough not to charge me the $50 fee to jump start the van.

I loaded up the 2 vehicles in my trailer and headed back to Arizona. I got them unloaded today. Just a heads up about the inspection sheets. Although they are detailed they don't capture everything. There are a few more dings on the truck than advertised, nothing to crazy. The truck is as good as I believed it was going to be. The van, was also rated a 3.5 and was stated to have a repair on one of the slider doors... lets just say the 3.5 on the truck is better than the 3.5 on the van.

Here is the truck at home this morning after unloading. I plan on fixing up the van, enjoying it for a bit and then selling it. The truck is going to be a full build and then sell it.

https://preview.redd.it/emmhrl4mirxd1.png?width=1299&format=png&auto=webp&s=c565812586f79d68987e68726a2ea7a32258fdc0

The total I have into the truck is $4202.88. Not bad for an attack with 80km on the clock.

The next purchase I make on a Japanese vehicle will be no less than a grade 4 or I would consider a RA grade.

I would highly recommend both Japan Car Direct and Eezyimport.

I have an appointment next month to inspect them at the local DMV wish me luck.

Basically just need a cover/box that’s space efficient since my fishing rods have less than an inch of space to spare. Just want them physically covered by something hard. Thinking a cot would be great as a dual purpose item.

hey all I have always been a fan of the kei cars specifically the vans like the suzuki every, and others like that. Unfortunately because of things like the safety concerns and the difficulties with registering them I haven't been able to justify taking the plunge to get one and I would want it to be a daily driver which is also hard because of the aforementioned downsides. which brings me to my question of does anyone know of a good alternative to these kinds of kei vans that is either for sale in the us or is easy to register in california, has decent safety, but maintains the kei van design language and practical size to usable space ratio that makes them so great. thanks for any help you can give me.

This is a post that I hoped I would never have to make. Last week, I had an accident in my HiJet. Fortunately, everyone is okay. Unfortunately, the HiJet took the brunt of the damage. I'm in the process of gutting the interior to see how bad it really is and if it is salvageable.

I've done minor car repairs and am handy with a wrench. My question is, does this seem like a DIY job or would it be better to take it to a professional?

https://preview.redd.it/h3onnxgk9pxd1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8b2edcef69dbe6c17c331990c042937e53c6cb42

https://preview.redd.it/9dfozygk9pxd1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=58a3564b42dbae2141e3bec6a4051c61f21f990a

https://preview.redd.it/ttnlvwgk9pxd1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5024bb980c77c0f3257546feac9bbe05cf803b2a

https://preview.redd.it/6g9rg1hk9pxd1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e319009c19e733ee9a0681b3abfb06a9955620ed

https://preview.redd.it/c0q4exgk9pxd1.jpg?width=2048&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=cea568d39551940acb5a0e75e1d19ea1ca93aa3e

Apparently they liked my Hijet over on r/cyberstuck waaaaay more than I expected.