'that friend in japan'

[Nathan-Mugen]

Hey guys, i had a-bit of a thought, and wanted to know the feasibility of it.

as we all know, you can call your Honda spare parts department for pretty much anything, including a brand new complete engine if you need. If i was wanting parts from the JDM FD2R, could I get someone in japan to approach their spare parts department over there and say "hey, i need a steering wheel, or a door frame" or things like that and them get them to post it to Australia. Is something like this doable? or are type r parts very limited?.

[aaronng]

Doable but they might need to order it in if it is not in stock. Not sure if they would do a door frame over the counter though. :p

[Nathan-Mugen]

ah ok cool. just a few 'finishing touch' things i was looking for on my project car, clusters, steering wheel, that sort of thing. i know Honda Australia does it. just wondering about over there.

[Philip Lee]

on my recent trip to Osaka, i visited a Honda dealer to get some parts for my EP3.

apart from communication problem (they speak no English at all), they could pretty much order most parts in (some parts like key is not possible as they don't sell blank key so u must have your key number which would need to be JDM i assume).

they don't have a counter like the parts department here. they would ask you to sit down at a table (a JDM chick will come over and ask if you want a drink) and a parts guy will come over to take your order. they then go back to their computer to find out the parts number etc and will place the order for you once you confirm and pay for the parts. i asked them to ship the parts over to my hotel and they arrived in 2 days.

they didn't really ask me for my VIN so i assume normal Type R parts should be fine.

however i am not sure if they will ship the parts to overseas tho.

[Nathan-Mugen]

yeah that was my main concern. i would have to get someone in japan to buy it. and then get that person to ship it to me. kind-of a 'sneaky' way of getting type r parts :p haha, but so long as they don't ask for VIN i guess it is plausible

[Philip Lee]

well the parts i ordered were cosmetic stuff like front grill, side type r stickers etc so they didn't ask for VIN.

if you order a full engine, that might be a different story (although i doubt it).

however with the key, even if i give them my VIN, without the key number they will not sell me one, even blank (uncut) ones.

btw it's not too hard for your friend too. they will probably have to go over to a dealer to order the parts, once they arrive at your fd's place, he/she can just post the box by EMS. maybe add some extra packaging depends on the parts.

wasn't too hard at all, even for me with no knowledge of Japanese. (thank god for my iphone tho, as the translation app was the only way of communication....)

[wassup]

Automotive Stores like Super AutoBacs has a spare parts desk where customers can order OEM parts and also parts from the likes of Spoon, Mugen, Toms etc They also have staff that speak other languages