underseat tray

[paultyler_82]

The biggest problem I see with transplanting some of these parts is the fact that Japanese cars drive on the other side of the road and drivers side is on the right. On the under steeringwheel tray, i'm not sure it would fit perfectly, as the panel that replaces it on US cars may actually be a mirror image shape, and if the panels aren't symetrical, it nixes a plug and play approach. If I was able to get one of the Japanese panels, there's always a possibility I could use it and the US panel to make a US-fit panel with the Japanese storage tray in it, possibly make several out of fiberglass. As for the underseat tray, besides having to make up the bracketry to get it to fit, you'd also need to find a way to keep it from catching on any of the passenger sensor wires. Finally, the headlights, they're problematic for two reasons, they're made for cars that are RHD, the beam pattern will be completely improper for US roads, as the upward spike in the cutoff will point toward oncoming traffic, blinding them, and pretty much assuring you will be bright-flashed by other drivers and probably pulled over for failure to dim headlights. Unlike projectors, this isn't a simple fix like a swapped shield, Reflector patterns are near impossible to modify without replacing the entire thing. The other problem with the JDM headlights is the lack of the Amber reflector, US Law mandates an amber reflex reflector on the front side of a motor vehicle, and while some jurisdictions really don't enforce this, you're just asking for trouble if you ever move to or drive through one that does. We could probably could have gotten away with cleared headlights if only Toyota had made those side turn signal repeaters with a reflexive amber shell, that would have satisfied the requirement for a side front amber reflector.

[acrbill]

Originally Posted by paultyler_82

The biggest problem I see with transplanting some of these parts is the fact that Japanese cars drive on the other side of the road and drivers side is on the right. On the under steeringwheel tray, i'm not sure it would fit perfectly, as the panel that replaces it on US cars may actually be a mirror image shape, and if the panels aren't symetrical, it nixes a plug and play approach. If I was able to get one of the Japanese panels, there's always a possibility I could use it and the US panel to make a US-fit panel with the Japanese storage tray in it, possibly make several out of fiberglass. As for the underseat tray, besides having to make up the bracketry to get it to fit, you'd also need to find a way to keep it from catching on any of the passenger sensor wires. Finally, the headlights, they're problematic for two reasons, they're made for cars that are RHD, the beam pattern will be completely improper for US roads, as the upward spike in the cutoff will point toward oncoming traffic, blinding them, and pretty much assuring you will be bright-flashed by other drivers and probably pulled over for failure to dim headlights. Unlike projectors, this isn't a simple fix like a swapped shield, Reflector patterns are near impossible to modify without replacing the entire thing. The other problem with the JDM headlights is the lack of the Amber reflector, US Law mandates an amber reflex reflector on the front side of a motor vehicle, and while some jurisdictions really don't enforce this, you're just asking for trouble if you ever move to or drive through one that does. We could probably could have gotten away with cleared headlights if only Toyota had made those side turn signal repeaters with a reflexive amber shell, that would have satisfied the requirement for a side front amber reflector.

Look at that website. The cars they show are LHD. Thats a Taiwan Toyota site.

[paultyler_82]

Originally Posted by acrbill

Look at that website. The cars they show are LHD. Thats a Taiwan Toyota site.

Wow... so they are... I wasn't even paying attention, well in that case, all parts (except the underseat shelf, because of the wires) should fit fine... this has got to be the only toyota global site I didn't check when I was looking for parts unavailable on US models... There is still the matter of the amber reflectors, of course, but that's minor, and most people won't care, just watch where you're driving, some jurisdictions are pretty tough on DOT/SAE regulations. Even the HIDs will be fine, Taiwan drives on the right, like us, I've got some of the Taiwanese model Cefiro one-piece headlights on my I30, much better than the separate headlight/corner signal units stock on the I30, plus even with a halogen reflector, it has a fairly definite cutoff, I think Taiwan uses the ECE standard for thier headlights, good sharp pattern, better than the blurry or spotty (in halogen applications) DOT beam patterns