EG6 VIN help

[Hondarally]

Now, before this thread gets moved, and I get told to use the effing search function, I have spent a few hours trying to find a conclusive answer to my question, and so far have come up short of what I'm after.

A little background:
I have an imported EG6 Civic SiR, which was brought into the country in 1996 and built into a rally car from new. When it was imported, it was issued an Australian import VIN, and has held rego in 2 states (with different owners).

I am now trying to register the car in QLD (as a dedicated rally car) under the conditional rego, or "C-plates". In order to do this, there are several hoops I have to jump through, and I have everything covered except for one thing. QLD transport need copies of the original import approvals, in order to register the car under the "C" plates.
As I am the 4th owner, these papers have gone missing at some stage in the car's life (I have contacted each of the previous owners, to no avail)
"No problems" I hear everyone say. "Just send off to DOTARS to get copies". Great idea, except they need the original factory chassis number off the car, not the Australian issued import VIN. Again, no problem, i read off the code from the factory compliance plate, but am then told by DOTARS that there is no record of this number ever being given import approval.

Oh, crap!.

I'm pretty sure that the number I gave them is incomplete. From searching these forums, I have determined that Honda used a 17 digit VIN, and have found the various pages on these forums and in the FSM showing what all the codes mean. The number I quoted was EG6 - xxxxxxx (obviously numbers in place of all the little x's). Now, from my research, I have determined that the number should look more like

JHMEG639??S3xxxxx.

This makes it an EG6, built in Japan, 5 speed 2 door, 1995 model yadda yadda. The bit I'm not certain about is the two question marks, which come up as "fixed code" and "auxiliary number". Would anyone know what these numbers are meant to be? I can not find the original chassis number stamped ontot he chassis anywhere. The manual tells me that it should be on the firewall, on the passenger's side of centre (RHD model) but there is nothing there. That's where the Australian issued VIN is placed, but upon removing that plate there's nothing underneath. I have searched all the other spots, but come up with zip.

Being a rally car, there's a good chance it's had repairs in the engine bay (in fact I know it took a ht in 2007, and required replacement of some of the front RH structure). It is possible that the section carrying the chassis number may have been replaced at some stage in its life. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, as once the car is issued an AUstralian import VIN, the original chassis number no longer matters to Australian rego departments (or so I thought)

Is there anywhere else that the number might be located?
Can anyone with a JDM 95 model EG6 confirm what the numbers might be? This is only to satisfy myself - I'm not going to try and guess a number to issue DOTARS. I'm in contact with several other people to try and find the original chassis number, and would like to confirm through the numbering convention used by Honda at the time.

I'd appreciate any help in the matter. This car was built to run in the ARC, and won its class in 97, so has some pedigree. I'd like to keep using it as a rally car - would be a waste to convert it to a track car, or stick to khanacrosses and sprints (fun as they may be)

Sorry for the very long winded first post, and sorry if I'm asking questions already asked by others, but hopefully you can see that my queries are a bit more specific than the usual "dude - where's me VIN?"

Thanks all in advance.

[dorikin]

The JDM EG6 only has a chassis code and a production number which is located on a blue plate riveted to the radiator support as well as stamped on the firewall (just above the fuel filter) just like the following:





http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_YyMh5kw1He...00/EG-B16A.jpg

http://image.superstreetonline.com/f...+vin_stamp.jpg

http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...9/IMG_0703.jpg

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_p1Xg-sh7Yn...0/DSC08680.JPG


JDM models do not use the JHM characters, only the chassis code and production number as above. You will find JHM chassis codes used in cars built in Japan for other nations such as Australia and the US.

JHM is a code to identify the Manufacturer, Make and Type of Vehicle:

J - Position Nation of Origin = Japan
H - Position Manufactuer = Honda
M - Position Vehicle Type = Passenger Car, built in Japan

[Hondarally]

thanks for confirming that. The blue plate on my car is exactly like the one in your photos, with a EG6-number (7 digits following).

From reading the manual, I thought that there might be a JHM prefix chassis number somewhere on the car. What you say about the prefixes not being used in JDM cars makes sense now and explains their absence.

I spoke again to the original owner, and the number he gave me is the same as what's on the car. This is the same number I quoted to DOTARS, yet they say there's no record of this car ever being imported.

Sounds odd.

Just to confirm, the 1's are all number 1, and the 0's are all zeroes on those plates, right? No letter O or letter I which could be confused with a number? (the 1's look pretty obvious to me, but you never can be 100% sure with 0's)

[dorikin]

The 7 digits following the chassis code are ALL numbers (production number). FWIW the first three digits of the production number generally identify the production year. It usually goes something like:

100 - First Year
110 - Second Year
120 - Third Year
130

I take it the FSM you're reading is from the US? Most manuals available online are US based which would explain the JHM theory.

Perhaps take a photo of your firewall (flat section above the fuel filter) and post it up here. I would also take a very close look at this section of the firewall to see if it has been tampered with.

[xclusive_eg8]

yes the vin should be almost top dead centre of the firewall...but it will also be on the old rego papers

[grifty]

yes the vin should be almost top dead centre of the firewall...but it will also be on the old rego papers

only the new vin number will be on the rego paper as the old one is not used anymore.

[rpm boy]

bumping up an old thread as id also like to know how to work out the date of manufacture of my eg6

[grifty]

bumping up an old thread as id also like to know how to work out the date of manufacture of my eg6

I dont know how you can accurately check, but the seatbelt dates give you a fair indication. The seatbelts are usually 2-5 months older than the car itself.

[EG9]

Seat belts might have been changed to meet ADRs when your EG6 was imported so dates on the seat belts may not be the build date of your car. Mine were two years out. I found a production date in my EG on the back of one of the plastic interior trim pieces (July 1991). Coupled with a 100XXX production number in the mid 500s I'd say that is about right.