i remember Bill he helped me out a lot when i was in jacksonville. especially when i blew my transmission. I work in k-bay and live in pearl city. the drive isnt that bad at all. about 30-45 minutes to work but in the morning and all throught out the day. but from k-bay to pearl city in the afternoon traffic is alot longer, obviously. i'm guessing your navy, right?

 

Hey Ben! I just talked to Bill this morning (ordered a new power steering pump for my STi from him) and he mentioned that you would be moving out here. PM me if you have any other questions.

 

When i got here from JAX i had to get my car inspected and registered within a month of recieving my car from VPC. I tried to keep my florida tags on my car because my registration wasn't going to expire till SEP 08, but i had to do so much more paper work and it wasn't worth it. Also, in order to get a base sticker you have to have a E-8 or above sign some paper work that you get from pass & ID and bring in a certificate for some driving class on NKO, i think it's called driving for life if your 25 or younger.

I'm not trying to scare you but when i picked my car up from VPC, the front passenger side was smashed in. they paid for all the damages though but it took 3 months. are you aircrew or are you going to be a maintainer? im in VP-9 but i work for CMO-2 as a maintainer.

OT: Oh i think i've seen austinp02 on base a couple times. shakas to you bro im the silver wrx with a BIG F on the driver's side.

 

Stage 2 opensource, full catless (quiet exhaust though), stock suspension, blackout headlights (no HIDs though). I have '06 stock wheels, I shouldn't get hassled about that right? I'll have a vf39 in hand, but not installed.

Yeah Bill is pretty much the man, haha. The JMS meets are getting up over 60 cars now! Yup, I'm Navy.

I'll be a new Nav/Com with VP-4. I've done the "driving for life" thing since I'm 23 so hopefully the whole base sticker thing won't be a problem. My wife and I are going to get our application in for base housing the minute I have my written orders. I just have verbal orders at the moment.

 

I got a guy in my office that has FL plates on his car. He says it is not much hassle at all. PM me if you need anymore info. I never heard anything about an E-8 signing anything and I have been stationed at pearl harbor since 1993. If you do need some paper signed, let me know. Josh

 

Oh I've seen your car several times, but the "F" is for fokai right? It's some sort of gappling club right?

 

the only thing you will will run into for recon problems is your blacked out headlights. if you modify them at all they wont pass recon. that said, as long as you dont drive like an a$$hole and your exhaust really isnt that loud you should be fine without it and with stock suspension it really isnt neccissary to get. fyi the windward/kailua cops leave the suby guys alone for the most part cause we dont cause trouble but other parts of the island are different. as for getting your base sticker papers, you may not need it for pearl harbor but to get it at MCBH you will probably need that signature. its not hard to get and most higher ups will sign it even if they dont know you.

 

yah it stands for fokai. it's a MMA clothing brand from guam and it is a grappling club. i'm just repping guam so instead of having a big guam sticker on the side of my car i'd rather just have the fokai sticker.... plus i love watching MMA.

 

How savvy are these recon stations to mods? Do they KNOW that suby headlights aren't blacked out from the factory?

I'm a pretty laid back driver so I hope to avoid run-ins with any HI cops

 

RECON sux PERIOD. They are strict as fack and will even ding your for your stock stuff.

 

I have JDM headlights, and honestly cops don't bother with them. They would NOT pass recon though, but I'm in the percentage that mike (austinp02) is talking about.
Hey what's up man!

 

fawk...i JUST got those headlights.

 

from what i have been able to determine from the recon laws (anyone feel free to correct me) is that if you have stock suspension and wheels that are within 1 1/2in (could be 1/4) greater than stock size you dont need it. i believe suspension/wheel mods are the only thing that makes you need to go get recon. but, if you do get recon for those you need to have your other engine/performance mods checked and noted by recon and updated each time you do another one to keep it legal. body/engine/exhaust mods are not recon items and you dont need recon for them unless you swap an engine with a different number of cylinders, but they will be noted and inspected if you do get recon and can fail you if deemed unsafe or improperly installed (aka an intake without a mounting bracket). nitrous is illegal and if they find a line or bottle on your car (and they will find it) you will fail. tampering with dot approved headlights (clearing or smoking them) is also illegal and they will not pass recon although the cops usually dont care. OEM JDM or EDM lights as long as they are dot stamped are ok tho. not sure what the HID/headlight color laws are here tho.
Unfortunately the recon laws here are outdated, vague and easily missinterpereted. I believe they were origionally made to keep unsafe beaters off the road but now cops just use it to hastle tuners. The cops also with the exception of a few know very little about what the recon laws actually state and so will try and abuse it and even stock cars get hastled (ask josh). i would study up on it as much as you can and just be knowlegable. as your car stands i think you should be fine but if you continue to mod you will risk being hastled so just drive safe and save it for auto-x. the island is too small and crowded for street racing wich is a dumb idea to begin with. holy crap this is long so i am done :P

 

So concerning my blacked out headlights, during my initial inspection upon arrival I would immediately fail and would not pass until I bought a new set of stock headlights?

Would I be better off to just swap back to stock before I ever get here?

 

Thoughts and opinions wanted :

-Part out '04 WRX, sell WRX
-Buy mint '00 2.5RS, loaded, stock, low miles
-Drive while in HI, where I don't need a fast car anyway, and will be deployed 1 of the 3 years I'll be there.
-Pay off debt with extra money, start saving for drivetrain swap (per diem baby).