Planning on buying Japanese market parts from a Toyota dealership?
Please read this...
Don't ever walk into a dealership and ask for "JDM parts". Not only will the parts guys not take you seriously, a lot of them won't want to deal with you because it's obvious you don't even know what you're talking about.
If you want to get (and say this...) "Japanese Market" parts from a local Toyota dealer, you have to supply them with the part numbers. They have no way of simply looking up part numbers for the pieces you're after because we are not in Japan. The only reference charts they have access to deal specifically with cars sold in North America.
As for looking up parts when you have the part number, it will either have to be searched for on "DCS" or "InfoStream" (current Toyota parts guys, feel free to correct me on that). Those systems act as a kind of direct link to the Toyota Universe. If the guys at the parts counter don't even know how to look up a part number in those systems, I suggest you take your business elsewhere because it probably won't be worth the hassle in the long run.
Keep in mind that not all Japanese market parts are accessible to Canadian dealerships. I'm not sure how the cookie crumbles at Toyota's parts distribution department, but you'll find that there are some parts that can be brought in to US dealers, and some parts that can be brought in to Canadian dealers, and other parts that can be brought to both. Learning who can bring in what depends on your ability to get off your butt and actually ASK at a Toyota dealership, or to ask others to see if someone else has already looked into it.
One thing....please don't harass Toyota employees by making them go out of their way looking up dozens of part numbers and the like unless you do actually intend to BUY! Toyota parts people are usually very busy and besides you, still have to deal with the never ending line of regular customers who are trying to buy parts so they can go on using their cars to take their kids to school, get those groceries, or make it to work the next morning. There's no mistaking the fact that the majority of AE86 owners are generally "interested" in everything ever created for their car, but lets face it, most owners are cheap and get more excited thinking about the nifty things that could be bought instead of actually spending money. I find this somewhat ridiculous, because these parts are CHEAP when you consider the fact that you're paying for authentic Toyota parts, brand new, which are over 15 years old.
Above all else, bear in mind that being able to buy parts originally designed and produced for a completely different automotive market isn't a right, but a luxury that people in most COUNTRIES do not have. So don't be an ass, okay?
Migs
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