Which Exporters offer a front-cut/front-clip service?

[jdmvip]

Does anyone know what kind of tools/machine they use to cut the car in half?
Anyway I think it would be interesting if there are Exporters who specialize in this service.

My idea/preference is if they offer a reduced shipped rate, or if the auction fees can be waived if you just want some parts of the vehicle.

For example if you wanted a car from auction just for the engine or transmission, could they give a price break if you just left the rest of the car?

I'm guessing though that most Exporters wouldn't want to deal with anything but the actual cut and shipping it out.

If that's the case hopefully they could offer a break on their fees.

If anyone knows examples of Exporters that do this and the fee/cost break down and procedure I think a lot of people would be interested to know more about this.

[FtGF]

Yes count me in as someone who would be interested!

[JapanCarDirect]

Hi Guys,

Yes half cuts must be a great way to go, especially if the 15 year rule no longer applies!!??

The half cuts are done either as:
1) Nose cut - in front of the front pillar (engine room only)
2) Front pillar - behind the front pillar keeping the dash intact
3) Center pillar - behind the front seats
In addition to the type of cut, the price ranges with the parts that are wanted and unwanted. They can also remove and crate engines for export as well. Engine removal is around 14,000yen+ and crating is 5000yen+.

Of course all of this involves using containers, so we would would be better to fill one up to cut down on everyone's costs.

As for getting the vehicle at auction, you wouldn't be looking at any break in cost because you only wanted the engine and some parts. But I would still recommend getting vehicles from auction as we can be certain of the mileage and history of the car. From this end, the work would be pretty much the same, but with an intermediate stop at the car cutter's yard. A lot of Mongolian and Filipinos work at such yards and specialize in half cut imports. In Russia also, before the laws were changed vehicles were cut and both halves were sent and reassembled to avoid local taxes.

I don't know all the ins and outs, but I do know that where there is a will there is a way. What say, lets team up, get a bunch of members on board and send a container of half cuts and parts.

[Griffinpwr]

This is great info, I believe there will be an increase in the amount of 'hybrid' imports with jdm engines especially with the ban in Quebec. I know of a guy near here that has an IS300, recently pulled the stock 2JZ-GE for a 97 VVTI 2JZ-GTE and plans to have the swap completed this summer.

[jdmvip]

Good post Scott, I was thinking 3) is the best option.
This would work best by shared container if a bunch of people got in on it.

I'm also not condoning reassembly if it's not legal, it all depends where you live of course. I was thinking for myself that it might be a smart option if someone needs a new engine or transmission.

So which Exporters actually offer this service?
I know some that do, but none that I would trust or that have a good reputation.

[Tsuchiyama]

Our company is based in Japan and offers these services.

There is more info and slideshows available on our website TS-EXPORT com

From the homepage go to ABOUT then PARTS.

There's also a free report you can grab which has some tips on how to maximize your profits on parts containers.

For Logins to stock and price information go to CONTACT and I can email you some more info than is available directly from the site.

You will then be able to run the numbers and see if its something you'd like to investigate further.

Hope this helps.

John TS-EXPORT com

[BenC]

i want a 180 nose cut...
then i can get the engine AND a new front end

[Braden]

If your buying the whole car at auction, why not spend the little bit more money and just ship the whole thing instead of cutting it? Then you can take what you need, part it out, and probably be cheaper than just the cut.

just food for thought

[Tsuchiyama]

The key issue here is landed cost per item shipped. Basically the more stock in the container, and the more valuable that stock is the lower the landed cost per item and the higher your profit.

The way to do this is to only ship the stuff that you can actually use or sell. This usually means fully dismantling the vehicle so that you are only sending stock and not sending anything that will end up as scrap.

Remember, a lot of your costs in importing are fixed costs, sea freight, container drayage, Japanese freight forwarding and customs clearance and local landing costs. These are costs that apply regardless of what you have in the container.

You can ship up to 15 cars fully dismantled in a 20 foot container - perhaps even more depending on your requirements. More info here:
http://www.ts-export.com/faq.php#75

Of course, you should have the choice. So if you want some cars with minimal dismantling in your container, just find an exporter with a licensed dismantling facility who can do this.

The cheapest way to ship whole cars is actually to combine them with parts shipments. With full containers, the interior and trunk of the whole car/s lined with protection and packed with small, light, high value parts, nobody will ever beat you on landed costs.

There are pictures of mixed shipments of parts and whole cars here:
http://www.ts-export.com/page.php?page=about_parts
Scroll down to PARTS CONTAINERS to view the slideshows.

[Tsuchiyama]

Does anyone know what kind of tools/machine they use to cut the car in half?

There are basically 4 options:

Oxy Acetylene
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxy-fue...ng_and_cutting
Crude and quick. Simply called "gasu" in Japanese. This is still used by most dismantling yards in Japan. Cuts are messy and valuable parts can get damaged with this. And its dangerous. Remember, with half cuts you are cutting right over the cut fuel line which is still dripping with fuel.....

Fires in a dismantling facility are not a pretty sight. I've seen a couple. They're very hard to put out and spread very quickly. Insurance companies have rules and penalties for facilities that use oxy for a reason. And burnt out cars don't have a lot of value. Best avoided.

Rotary Steel Cutters
These are like angle grinders with a large cutting blade. They are fast, but because they throw up sparks they damage the stock - say goodbye to any nearby panels, glass, seats, dashboards, etc. - and because you're cutting near the fuel line...dangerous. Again not recommended.


Air Powered Jigsaw Cutters
Its a long time since we've used this option (1990's). But we found it slow and limited by the blade choice. The blades we used were just high end hacksaw blades.

Electric Powered Jigsaw Cutters
This has been our weapon of choice for over a decade. Its also the most common tool used for cuts by body shops.

Best cutter we've found is the Hitachi. I can't recall any problems with them.

We used the Makita Recipro for a few years - and still have several Recipro cutters as backups - but the heads get worn and wobble very quickly and need to be serviced frequently. It's a well known problem and its likely they'll fix it sometime. They may have already fixed the problem.

The best blades are the Lenox. The new Lazer series is the best we've ever used. We used Bosch before that, but the Lenox have been better.
http://www.lenoxtools.com/pages/prod...noxlazerblades
The ones we're using at the moment are 9114R 14TPI 1.8mm 229mm long.

Hope this helps.

John