US DOT conversion

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Author Message   yureg Posted on Thursday, July 04, 2002 - 05:30 am:    Does anyone know how to convert a non-US DOT standard to a US DOT standard? My brother-in-law works in UAE and he has a 91 Defender 110 but wnats to ship it to US.   Leslie N. Bright (Leslie) Posted on Saturday, July 06, 2002 - 11:47 am:    Can't do it with a '91.... has to be a '93 110 only, and, it's extremely cost-prohibitive.... it'd be cheaper to find and buy one of the D110s that is already over here. Going through completely legal channels, that is.... you could pull it into pieces, ship it over as parts, then reassemble it. FWIW.... -L   dont import Posted on Monday, July 08, 2002 - 01:06 pm:    shipping and then putting it back together is not really legal... will it get past customs..probably.. will it be legal..no it is still a 91 110 the people that you need to worry about is the national highway transportation safety administration..they are the ones that deal with the legal issues as to what you can drive on american soil...customes only tells you what can enter the ports... big difference that most in the land rover community don't understand..   Spreken Ze Dutche Posted on Monday, July 08, 2002 - 05:27 pm:    You guys are barking up the wrong tree, Look to Germany to import from the customs restrictions are diffrent and German spec LR are LHD and meet the the DOT requirments. Importing from the UK is way too restrictive   Leslie N. Bright (Leslie) Posted on Monday, July 08, 2002 - 09:55 pm:    Well...... You can't register it as a '91 110, true, but...... You can go buy a bunch of parts and build your own from scratch, so, just use you own vehicle as your parts source, then register as a home-built.... FWIW.... Oh, what the heck does Germany have to do with taking a vehicle from the UAE to the US??? German Rovers still aren't legal, LHD doesn't matter... -L   Ken Posted on Monday, July 08, 2002 - 11:39 pm:    Go to www.spanishtrailrovers.com check out members for Paul and Caroline Soomsawasdi.They have a Defender 110 tdi they imported. They can probably give you some info on the process. If I remember correctly they paid around $36,000 to purchase, import, and have an authorized specialist make all the changes. Not to mention the months of time it takes. There is only 7 authorized centers in the U.S. to do the work located in major ports of entry Miami, Huston, and the rest I cant remember. Hope this is of some help it ruined my day to find out how expensive it and time consuming it is. Ken   eric Posted on Tuesday, July 09, 2002 - 11:30 am:    here is the link that has all the rules...a 91 can not be brought in period. like i said before you the take a part put back together that some here say you can do will get you past customes but not the NHTSA. At any time they can come and inspect a truck..also realize that if you have a semi legal vehicle for instance a 67 110 with a 300 TDI and get in an accident even a crapy lawyer can screw you. There are more than seven but not all RI do their own EPA testing. The process takes about 4 months at best and at a price of 36k for a NON US spec 110 thats hardly worth it in my book...I'm pretty familiar with the process of importing a truck from europe. In Feb i imported my 91 MB G wagen at a cost less than the 36 figure thats out there...if you are going to bring in a truck from germany do it the right way and go thru an RI or make sure it really is 25 years old and not just creative vin switch parts truck or what ever people do. A few years back i was going to do this with a 110 and talked with the people at NHTSA, they considered any truck that was rebuilt outside of the US is a new vehicle and must meet that years requiremnts and a truck that was built here must contain a certain amount of its orginal type parts, ie a coil sprung 67 rover with a 300 TDI is questionalble..also i don't know how they got the 110 on spanish trails properly cert as i understand the RI is supposed to make the truck identical to a US spec on which would require a different rear bumper, roll bars, and the 3.9 engine...there have been alot of RI over the rears that have brought stuff in, done the paperwork for the Gov but not the work on the truck and i wonder if that is the case in the spanish trails 110. (not saying it is, but in my experience and conversations i just wonder) i imagine there will be people that post here after me that can give examples of friends that have 67 110 or whatever but in my discussions with people at the NHTSA and RI its is possible for those people to face some serious issues...not worth it in my book.... my advise would be to go by the book, make sure the truck is totally legal to begin with and then make sure you keep it legal by going thru the proper channels...but its really cheaper to just buy a NAS 110...the cost of importation alone is about 15k..best to call an RI and discuss it with them..they are the ones that pay to be certi by the FEDs to do this and have been doing it for a year and years..give them a call and don't listen to any people that have "creative" ways around the system...those ways are only creative until the gov learns about them..then they are not so creative... btw i used GNK in california for my G wagen... any ways here is the link http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/rules/import/   Ken Posted on Tuesday, July 09, 2002 - 08:22 pm:    Spanish Trail has a link under tech then go to info and you will find a brief description of how he legaly brought in a 93 D110 200 tdi. It talks a little about the 200 tdi work but not much. I was under the impression by someone else who has imported vehicles that it just has to meet all safety and emissions specs not an exact duplicate. but what do I know I've never done it. They also have links to NHTSA and the list of importable vehicles less than 25 years old wich includes 94-98 disco. Ken   Al Oliveira (Offroaddisco) Posted on Saturday, July 20, 2002 - 04:28 pm:    Also from what I've read you can import a 91 but you need to file a petition first. At the time I was looking into it the cost was $500 (I think) for the petition and there is no refund if they tell you that you can't import the '91. The '93 D110 already has been petitioned and since D110's were imported that year it was easy to prove that the '93 could meet all safety specs.