Attn: Legacy Owners in Japan

[SSLegacyGT]

This post is for all Legacy owners in Japan, and is regarding aftermarket parts that are available here. I'll be in Japan for the next year, and I want to take advantage of this by buying high quality aftermarket parts for my 97 Legacy sedan, and not having to worry about shipping/import fees. I've visited some sites on the internet (SYMS, Trial, Cusco) but haven't been able to find out much simply because of the language barrier. I am currently living near Gotemba/Fuji, and I'm looking for actual retailers in this area or nearby (i.e. Tokyo). Any suggestions? Good places to start looking? Any help you could give would be appreciated!

Derek

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[shirokuma]

Hello,

There's several of us here. Just let us know when you are getting near to getting here, and we can help you out. Best places to shop are probably in/near Tokyo, but there are probably out some that direction also. LegacyB4 and AnotherB4 are also over here with me.

Paul Hansen

[SSLegacyGT]

Thanks for the reply, I'm here now, aboard Camp Fuji on the outskirts of Gotemba. Any places near here or are they all pretty much in Gotemba? Any suggestions on the best place to go? Also, english speaking sellers would be helpful. I'm afraid I'm ignorant when it comes to japanese

-Derek

[shirokuma]

Originally posted by SSLegacyGT
Thanks for the reply, I'm here now, aboard Camp Fuji on the outskirts of Gotemba. Any places near here or are they all pretty much in Gotemba? Any suggestions on the best place to go? Also, english speaking sellers would be helpful. I'm afraid I'm ignorant when it comes to japanese

-Derek

I really don't know that area, to be honest. When AnotherB4 gets online, he may know. I don't think there are going to be any english speakers out there, there is only one I know of, and he's a mechanic at Autowave in Tokyo. How long are you here for?

Paul Hansen

[anotherB4]

Get ready to spend some money

You are on board with some people who have an incurable modifying habit

For 2.5s, the market is pretty limited...

What are you looking to do? Engine, exhaust? Suspension? Other bits...

We are here, and we may be able to "help" (help can be advice, or lightening of the wallet - often severe when people spend time with us just ask some of the other victims)

Cheers

[froggert]

the wheel rooms at the major stores are amazing. bling bling all over the place.

try babel.altavista.com when surfing japanese websites. it's not perfect, but will give you an idea of what you're looking at.

roger

[SSLegacyGT]

Yeah I expected to spend money, but I get paid extra just for being over here. I don't want to get too extreme, but I heard that Cusco supsension components were excellent and I wanted to get strut tower braces and and upgraded sway bars. Mostly, I wanted to look around and price, that's hy I wanted to look at the stores physically. Maybe pick up a body kit before I leave, simply because they are much more expensive in the U.S. (the few that are available). I have no car here, but I should be able to take a train into Tokyo when I need to. Oh yeah, I'll be here for a year, so there'll be plenty of time.

-Derek

[SSLegacyGT]

OK a friend of mine said Autobacs is a good place to look, as well as the dealers. Apparently the dealers offer a lot in the way of performance parts. I heard the older B4, the one similar to the 96-99 model year body style looks good from the factory. Anyone have any pics?

-Derek

[froggert]

my scanner doesn't work, but the jdm bd/bg is very similar lookswise to the usdm ones. different bumpers, grilles, headlights and foglights. body-colored moulding and side markers.

autobacs and autowave seem to be the japanese equivalent to pepboys except much higher end. they've got walls covered with ti exhausts, coilovers, and wheels.

[shirokuma]

Originally posted by SSLegacyGT
OK a friend of mine said Autobacs is a good place to look, as well as the dealers. Apparently the dealers offer a lot in the way of performance parts. I heard the older B4, the one similar to the 96-99 model year body style looks good from the factory. Anyone have any pics?

-Derek

What kind of parts are you looking for, exactly? I owned a 9 1/5 Legacy twin turbo RS Sedan for a year+, and have a fairly good idea of what is available for it. There is, if anything, more parts for those cars than the current B4's, but you may have to do more catalog shopping for them, because shops are concentrating on the current B4 as far as on-hand stock.

Paul Hansen

[SSLegacyGT]

See, that's the problem, I don't really know what I want until I see it. Mainly, I was looking for body kits to be cheaper here, not sure if that is the case. Pricing things on some of the japanese websites, it looks about the same as US prices, just more variety. Where can I pick up some of these catalogs? I know some people who'll translate them for me
On another note, who is going to the JGTC race at Fuji Int'l speedway on May 4th? You bet I'll be in the crowd ...


-Derek

[anotherB4]

Sorry, we're (Paul and I) involved in a race and event on the 5th at Tsukuba...

Expect the traffic to and from that circuit to be ferocious on the day (every man and his dog will be there because of the public hols). The race should be awesome though, and the new Cusco Imprezza looks evil

Some others may make it though.

[SSLegacyGT]

Well, this is when it's nice to live mere kilometers from the track. Only one bus stop and a walk

Are you racing at Tsukuba or helping out? Make sure to get pics, as I will....

-Derek

Edit:

Out of curiosity, how good are the scrap yards here? Any chance of finding a not-busted up B4 grill for my model year, and anything else I can pull off?

[anotherB4]

Derek,

<jealous that you can get to that race

Just so you know, the B4 only appeared as a model name on the BE - the BG era equivalent is the Legacy RS.

The short answer is yes, there are some breakers (though I'm not familiar with them), I happen to know some 2nd hand places where one can sometimes find some very interesting stuff (suspension, etc).

Cheers

[froggert]

if you've got a 98 gt, the jdm legacy rs/gt grille may not fit properly. they use a front grille similar in size to our legacy l models.

[SSLegacyGT]

I have a 97 GT, I didn't know there was a difference in the grill between the L and GT models.

-Derek