Victoria Police - T.m.u

[KezR33]

Shit, it's Wednesday now, but anyway.

Ask whether or not their attitude towards imports comes from experience, or is a general attitude that all police officers eventually pick up regardless of whatever or not they deal with imports on a frequent basis. I just don't understand why they hate "hoons" so much.

[R31Nismoid]

Only thing is, when I was replacing the filter etc on my Mazda, I asked vic roads to be put through to someone to talk to about mods on cars and their legality, I said here is what I am doing;

1. pod

2. Front mount

3. BOV.

He asked if the car had any of those as factory part, I said yes it has smaller front mount and plastic BOV, but no pod. He said I could change all teh parts because the Pod was the only thing not fitted as factory item. Didn't matter if the cooler was larger or the BOV was after market as they were there from factory, after all he said you can't always get genuine parts on an old car so you have to be able to put aftermarket on.

Makes sense really, if you think about it. Pod was dry element so no probs. Got epa tested and put through pits as part of compliance and all passed no problems

Why are you ringing VicRoads?

Its EPA - so check with the EPA.

[BeEnAr]

ramg vicroads first, they then put me through to the right department and also spoke to EPA after reading through the allowable modifications pdf that the vic roads guy sent me. Just sharing some info that maybe a lot of people don't know.

BOMBTRACK - You are correct, in their eyes it was only one modification, the pod. Upgrade parts were not frowned upon because they were replacements of stuff that was there. It was impossible to find a genuine FMIC for the mazda which is why I queried EPA & VicRoads. Aftermarket was fine as it was already factory optioned with a front mount.

This is where it gets tricky and people get confused with the legalities and what not. If in doubt, call tehm up, they are more than happy to tell you what is and isn't ok.

[R31Nismoid]

What do you mean a lot of people dont know?

The EPA thread (that is a sticky in this section) has links to the documents that clearly, in plain english, spell out the rules.

If you ring around trying to get different answers from people so be it, its still illegal as per the documents supplied by the EPA.

You can use replacement parts if they are near in volume/size to that which the car came factory with.

However if you go from say a 300x40 cooler to a 600x80 - thats not replacement, thats serious modification.

[BeEnAr]

Well when I did mine it passed no probs is all I'm saying. Was about 2 years ago but none the less it still passed, and it went from small stock size FMIC to larger EVO sized one. Same with BOV, went from pissy little plastic to GFB aftermarket one.

Maybe in the last 2 years things have changed but I doubt the laws have been re-written in that time with the paperwork to go with it.

Seems a lot of people still don't know because there are threads put up all the time with the same questions about the same things and everytime the responses are similar, "use the search function" or "read the sticky"

Edited to say - Just saw this as an example (I thought some1 was playing funny buggers for a sec)See Here

Sorry to the OP for going semi off topic for a bit

Edited January 14, 2009 by Dirk Diggler

[R31Nismoid]

The BOV isnt a mod, so forget that. As long as it operates in the factory way, you can use any BOV you want as emissions wont be altered.

If you went from a recirc BOV to ATMO - then you run into problems.

As for the cooler - if its only a mild upgrade then often you'll be hard pressed to be pinned, if you look at what i said above about going from a small cooler to something as big as a fridge, then you will find that you will get pinned. EVO coolers are not that big anyhow, so again you probably were lucky and got away without being noticed, and good for you. Doesnt mean the next person will.

There are often ways to 'work' within the confines of the law. Turbo upgrades technically are illegal, but if you change the wheels inside and the housings are the same size, how is anyone going to know they flow more? So using that methodoligy you can get away with a reasonable enough amount of mods for a street car.

Its the dumb people that go big highmounts, external gates, bling bling bling engine bays and so on that cry foul when they get busted, but really its thier own stupidity thats lead to it. Vic is a fked place for people who modify cars, thats just how it is here and there is little one can do about it so you either get smart, or get busted.

And last of all - it was a Mazda, dont take this the wrong way, but its an obscure car that wouldnt normally get a lot of attention so you could get away with things... where as you take a Skyline or VL turbo to the EPA and the guys down there know where every little thing needs to be plugged into and so on.

And of course the responses are going to be the same when people ask.

When there is a EPA dedicated thread, which has pretty much ALL the questions, and all the answers... how else can you explain it?

Its like anything, some people just dont get it.

The EPA laws to the best of my knowledge have had no signifigant changes, the only changes are additions of newer cars as they are released with the RPM test points and so on.

[dezz]

How about you all stop posting off topic shit in this thread..?

[Phatboy]

How did the talk go?