Hi Larry. I don't think it's mandatory, but it's worth the expense. I've only imported one car since the new laws came into effect and I used a broker to take care of it (SM Hewitt). I always use a broker to streamline the border paperwork, and the additional cost of them getting the AES stuff done was (I think) about $50. Money well spent, IMO.
Sorry it took so long to reply but I don't often check in here for messages.
No I didn't take a log of photos cause this project kind of mushroomed on me. Check out the post by Darrel in the 912 forum, he has lots of photos of his restoration. I'll try to get a link if you haven't seen it.
I saw a couple of your pics of your front suspension pan post on the RDnorm post. Did you by chance do a photo log of your project from start to finish? I am getting ready to launch the same type of repair and was looking for some start to finish photos to see what others have run into.
