My 89 was a 998 auto ( now 1130 and manual ).  AC stuff from engine bay removed, but I retain the dash and blower under LH side of dash.

I can agree with the door rust.  I'm assuming lots of rain but poor door drainage.  The bottom of my doors had been repainted ( slightly different white than the rest of the door ).  It was poorly done as it's bubbling badly now.

Mine is not injection of course (89), but I think all of the late Japanese MINIs, including the latest, were SPI not MPI ( all side mount rads )

edit: oh...and to your original thread title. They must be running low on classic MINIs built for the Japanese market if they are that tight on emission.  I do know that mine had 48,000 on it when I picked it up...and NO rust except for the door bottoms I mentioned ( speedo worked and I believe it to be the original km )

Quick google search about Japan emission standars brought me to this Wiki. And it falls right in line with these cars now being exported because of time and not following the NOX standards and grace period has expired. Just recently I remember reading on the UK Mini Fourm - TMF- those chaps talking about re importing minis from Japan back in the UK. Apparently just like you say, nice late model cars are coming up for sale and that was a rather good reason why. The disussion continued with an acutal UK importer showing photo's of japanese Car auctions. (think 5 story carpark garages packed full ) and he could be contracted to source any vehicle requested. Mini's included.

I would assume these vehicles are being exported more to the 1997/98 regulatoin vs the mile barrier. Hopefully a local could chime in.

As for production numbers - More research needed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emission_standard#Japan

I wouldn't say most but there seem to be more than the norm of Auto's over there.

Is it that most of them have an automatic transmission?

You can convert them to lhd Al but the ones i have seen have to install the vents and evaporator under the dash rail on the right side. The other problem is you have to loose the factory servo brake booster or find a lhd conversion bar (rare) or of course you could go to an aftermarket remote servo.

The big plus with the Jap spec cars is the lack of RUST they are usually still body colour underneath with the occasional rust in the bottoms of the doors, of course the a/c is good in a hot climate too.

Just wondering, how many U K built minis were exported to the Japanese market from  say.............. 1991-2000-

There are a lot of them coming into Canada now, right up to the 1998 models legally because of our 15 year import rule- Of course all are RHD models and most have A/C as standard equipment-And since 1993 (?) approximately, all have fuel injection with S P I and then M P I at the end of the run-

From what l hear on the street (Tim Hortons Coffee Shops), there is a law in Japan that makes cars be emmission friendly at 50,000 miles and they must come off the road or have a new engine installed- I don't know if this is correct but maybe 0ur 3-4 posters on here from Japan can confirm this or otherwise-

I will say,Canada Customs are suspicious of RHD cars but so far have not turned any back AFAIK yet-They are really after the Skyline high horse-powered cars that "Boy Racers" are smashing up almost daily in the U S A-

Also, while on the subject, you cannot convert one of these RHD minis to LHD without giving up the A/C, just ask Malsal about this-

So, what we are getting are minis with less than 50K on the clock, RHD, A/C,/F/I,/ Air Bags and are rust free from what l have experienced-They are well appointed,In fact  Rover at its' best, just before the "Death Knell" of the classic mini-

Yes, some here will say,  at that time Rover was owned by BMW and that is correct but how much BMW had to do with the production of these fine automobiles is a good question-

Some problems l have encountered on some of these minis, are, the clear coat lifting, paint fade (in the colour red) and the chrome strip around the windshields turning an ugly black-All a sympton of a car that has been in the hot sun too long- But other than that just good basic minis-

BIG AL-