REPOST FROM 6-16-2005


Yup....I got all of that. I obviously didn't try to use my USDM bumper beam I slotted the bumper bracket on the JDM bumper but it still didn't move it up enough. I had to use the bottom hole on the bumper with the top holes on the chassis (if that makes sense). Anyway that issue is all fixed. My big problem is the hood latch. I'm assuming everyone's car is slightly different because you refer to slotting the latch so it could move back towards the windshield. Well that doesn't work for me. I have to move it back about an inch!! So there's not enough latch to slot, I ran out of metal!! I also tried moving the female portion of the latch more forward on the radiator support (why do we call it that....it's a tie bar!!) That didn't work either. My solution is I have someone in Japan locating a EF6/EF7 tie bar, that's a bolt on affair.

My big question is with so many people doing this why do vendors STILL think all you need for this conversion is a EF8 tie bar You would think they would know by now that the bar is the same as ours except for the vent hole.

BTW...You may be hearing from me soon. My car is going to be a replica of your car. I'm painting the belt mouldings Rio red like the rest of the car, and leaving the bottom trim black. I even have the same ITR steering wheel, and SiR wing. It's funny I decided on this a while back and always wondered what it was going to look like, then the other day I came accross your Rex.....very slick. The only difference is I'm going to keep the carbon fiber hood exposed, or at least I'll try and see what it looks like. Also the engine is a little different

Thanks for the tips
-John

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