Jump to content
SAU Community

Recommended Posts

Hey,

So i bought an R33 Turbo a little while ago. Im a P plater and i just moved to QLD where P platers cant own a turbo car. I dont drive around boosting or do anything dumb. I was at the servo filling up and the cops pulled in next to me. One came over to check my license, no reason why, then he went and popped the hood. Asked if its a turbo (played dumb and said i have no idea, its my first car).

Its got a new K& N pod filter it in, the turbo is not visible at all. the question is- Does a non-turbo R33 still have a pod filter? Can the cops really tell if its a turbo on the spot as its pretty well hidden in the engine and an aluminum plate also blocks the chance of maybe seeing it.

Link to comment
https://www.sau.com.au/forums/topic/348920-p-plate-turbo-r33/
Share on other sites

Hey,

So i bought an R33 Turbo a little while ago. Im a P plater and i just moved to QLD where P platers cant own a turbo car. I dont drive around boosting or do anything dumb. I was at the servo filling up and the cops pulled in next to me. One came over to check my license, no reason why, then he went and popped the hood. Asked if its a turbo (played dumb and said i have no idea, its my first car).

Its got a new K& N pod filter it in, the turbo is not visible at all. the question is- Does a non-turbo R33 still have a pod filter? Can the cops really tell if its a turbo on the spot as its pretty well hidden in the engine and an aluminum plate also blocks the chance of maybe seeing it.

did the cop walk over and just open the bonnet?

neither a turbo or non- turbo come out standard with a pod filter but both of them can be fitted with an aftermarket one, and in NSW at least it is almost always illegal to have one fitted.

the cops dont have to just see the turbo to know its a turbocharged car, it will say it on the vin# plate in ur engine bay, ur car will probly have badges saying its a turbo, and i would think your car should have an intercooler of some sort in it which is a bit of a give away..with the metal plate over the turbo, i assume your talking bout the heatshield over the turbo. this is there to stop heat transferring off ur turbo onto other engine components liek vacuum lines, wires etc. ive never seen a non turbo 33 engine but i wouldnt think it would still have the heat shield there, someone might correct me on that?

so yes most cops, in particular highway patrol will be able to tell if a car is turbo with only a very quick inspection.

if ur allowed to drive a turbo car anyway you have nothing to worry bout, but being on ur p's id be making sure you try and do everything by the book so you can stay out of trouble

good luck mate

Yes the police can tell, a simple registration check will reveal it as a GTS-T. Cop would have to have no idea what he is looking for to not spot a turbo in the engine bay. Pod filters can be put on any engine, there is nothing turbo specific about them. Admitting about lying to police on an Internet forum with specific details is something to avoid!

Be aware that insurance companies know about the car being turbo too, and that driving a turbo car on P plates carries with it more implications than the possibility of a fine from the cops...you're giving insurance a valid reason not to pay out on a claim.

Other than that, safe driving :)

Yes the police can tell, a simple registration check will reveal it as a GTS-T. Cop would have to have no idea what he is looking for to not spot a turbo in the engine bay. Pod filters can be put on any engine, there is nothing turbo specific about them. Admitting about lying to police on an Internet forum with specific details is something to avoid!

Be aware that insurance companies know about the car being turbo too, and that driving a turbo car on P plates carries with it more implications than the possibility of a fine from the cops...you're giving insurance a valid reason not to pay out on a claim.

Other than that, safe driving :)

Birds, although you can put pod filters on any engine i have found some auto's don't like them (idle problems when fitted).

If the cops had any brains they would use wikipedia to understand turbocharging, then inspect exhaust manifolds. Once you know what your looking for, even low mount turbos stand out like dogs balls.

arent the P plate laws country wide now???

if not and your still a P plater from wherever and already had the car and was legal there, then you shouldnt have an issue (other than having an exposed pod filter which cops love picking on for no reason, turbo or not)

With the stock airbox in place DE's & DET's look pretty much identical at a glance. Get a cop who knows what to look for and all it takes is (as has already been mentioned) a look at the exhaust mani for your story to come undone. Get a cop who knows Skylines and (providing you don't have the boot badging) all it takes is a look at your quarter panel GT badges.

I don't know why you would run a pod filter anyway if you're driving a car you aren't allowed as it will just give them a reason to look a little further, chuck the standard airbox back on and it will look heaps less suss.

With the stock airbox in place DE's & DET's look pretty much identical at a glance. Get a cop who knows what to look for and all it takes is (as has already been mentioned) a look at the exhaust mani for your story to come undone. Get a cop who knows Skylines and (providing you don't have the boot badging) all it takes is a look at your quarter panel GT badges.

I don't know why you would run a pod filter anyway if you're driving a car you aren't allowed as it will just give them a reason to look a little further, chuck the standard airbox back on and it will look heaps less suss.

True that and a hell of alot less induction noise! Have also seen the odd GTR with blue/white GT badges instead of red/white.

Edited by Shazza24

Yep that's true some vehicles do have issues with running a pod but people still use them on anything and everything.

Don't know about the rest of OZ but a pod filter is legal in Victoria, covered or uncovered, as long as it is your only intake modification. But two intake mods and you are up for an EPA notice even if you play dumb to the fairest of cops. A front mount counts as a mod, as does an aftermarket BOV, even plumbed back. Also, they are catching on to alot of things down here...some of the police know more about the cars than their drivers. The last one who checked my car popped off the kick panel with a screwdriver to see if I was running an aftermarket ECU. Did not expect that...

The BOV on the crossover pipe should have been a dead give away. The plate will show its a DET motor. The cluster will show the boost gauge. The manifold is different. The obvious redirection of piping from the throttle body.

I wouldn't risk it man. Its a hefty fine. You cant just remove the turbo either. Its not if the car is turbo charged or not, its what the car was registered as. If you have an NA car and bolt on a turbo, its gonna be registered as a NA car and its legal to drive, but if the cop sees the turbo you will be defected and what not.

yeah pods are legal in QLD as long as they are secured with a bracket.

and yes, pods can be fitted to any car.... well actually to and engine. you could put one on a lawn mower if you really wanted to. pretty much no cars come with them fitted as standard though.

as for a cop being able to tell, if they know a bit about cars they won't have any trouble spotting the turbo hanging off the exhaust manifold, whether you have the stock airbox or not.

Don't forget that you are now able to apply for an exemption as a P plater whilst driving a turbo. Check with your transport office to see if you fill the requirements...

This, I don't know how it is where you are but in Vic you can apply for an exemption if it's your work car and your employer specifies you need it (Works out well if you're self employed except you can only technically drive it to and from work related things) or you can get an exemption if it is a 4 door with less than 125kw per tonne.

yeah pods are legal in QLD as long as they are secured with a bracket.

and yes, pods can be fitted to any car.... well actually to and engine. you could put one on a lawn mower if you really wanted to. pretty much no cars come with them fitted as standard though.

as for a cop being able to tell, if they know a bit about cars they won't have any trouble spotting the turbo hanging off the exhaust manifold, whether you have the stock airbox or not.

my DC4 Integra R came with one. but was covered in a stock box, standard crap looking paper filter one, but still a pod lol it was pretty cool

when i got done in my 32 the cop noticed my blitz bov, my boost gauge was illuminated also a trio of boost, oil temp,oil presure, under my cd player and i also had no p plates on lost my licence for 3 months, $500 fine.

since then that 32 was crashed by a friend, so i got a bt1 turbo vl then a supercharged stato and im about to get another 32 but its going in my dads garage until i can legally drive it in a year till then im stuck in a excel lol

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now


  • Similar Content

  • Latest Posts

    • So, that is it! It is a pretty expensive process with the ATF costing 50-100 per 5 litres, and a mechanic will probably charge plenty because they don't want to do it. Still, considering how dirty my fluid was at 120,000klm I think it would be worth doing more like every 80,000 to keep the trans happy, they are very expensive to replace. The job is not that hard if you have the specialist tools so you can save a bit of money and do it yourself!
    • OK, onto filling. So I don't really have any pics, but will describe the process as best I can. The USDM workshop manual also covers it from TM-285 onwards. First, make sure the drain plug (17mm) is snug. Not too tight yet because it is coming off again. Note it does have a copper washer that you could replace or anneal (heat up with a blow torch) to seal nicely. Remove the fill plug, which has an inhex (I think it was 6mm but didn't check). Then, screw in the fill fitting, making sure it has a suitable o-ring (mine came without but I think it is meant to be supplied). It is important that you only screw it in hand tight. I didn't get a good pic of it, but the fill plug leads to a tube about 70mm long inside the transmission. This sets the factory level for fluid in the trans (above the join line for the pan!) and will take about 3l to fill. You then need to connect your fluid pump to the fitting via a hose, and pump in whatever amount of fluid you removed (maybe 3 litres, in my case 7 litres). If you put in more than 3l, it will spill out when you remove the fitting, so do quickly and with a drain pan underneath. Once you have pumped in the required amount of clean ATF, you start the engine and run it for 3 minutes to let the fluid circulate. Don't run it longer and if possible check the fluid temp is under 40oC (Ecutek shows Auto Trans Fluid temp now, or you could use an infrared temp gun on the bottom of the pan). The manual stresses the bit about fluid temperature because it expands when hot an might result in an underfil. So from here, the factory manual says to do the "spill and fill" again, and I did. That is, put an oil pan under the drain plug and undo it with a 17mm spanner, then watch your expensive fluid fall back out again, you should get about 3 litres.  Then, put the drain plug back in, pump 3 litres back in through the fill plug with the fitting and pump, disconnect the fill fitting and replace the fill plug, start the car and run for another 3 minutes (making sure the temp is still under 40oC). The manual then asks for a 3rd "spill and fill" just like above. I also did that and so had put 13l in by now.  This time they want you to keep the engine running and run the transmission through R and D (I hope the wheels are still off the ground!) for a while, and allow the trans temp to get to 40oC, then engine off. Finally, back under the car and undo the fill plug to let the overfill drain out; it will stop running when fluid is at the top of the levelling tube. According to the factory, that is job done! Post that, I reconnected the fill fitting and pumped in an extra 0.5l. AMS says 1.5l overfill is safe, but I started with less to see how it goes, I will add another 1.0 litres later if I'm still not happy with the hot shifts.
    • OK, so regardless of whether you did Step 1 - Spill Step 2 - Trans pan removal Step 3 - TCM removal we are on to the clean and refill. First, have a good look at the oil pan. While you might see dirty oil and some carbony build up (I did), what you don't want to see is any metal particles on the magnets, or sparkles in the oil (thankfully not). Give it all a good clean, particularly the magnets, and put the new gasket on if you have one (or, just cross your fingers) Replacement of the Valve body (if you removed it) is the "reverse of assembly". Thread the electrical socket back up through the trans case, hold the valve body up and put in the bolts you removed, with the correct lengths in the correct locations Torque for the bolts in 8Nm only so I hope you have that torque wrench handy (it feels really loose). Plug the output speed sensor back in and clip the wiring into the 2 clips, replace the spring clip on the TCM socket and plug it back into the car loom. For the pan, the workshop manual states the following order: Again, the torque is 8Nm only.
    • One other thing to mention from my car before we reassemble and refill. Per that earlier diagram,   There should be 2x B length (40mm) and 6x C length (54mm). So I had incorrectly removed one extra bolt, which I assume was 40mm, but even so I have 4x B and 5x C.  Either, the factory made an assembly error (very unlikely), or someone had been in there before me. I vote for the latter because the TCM part number doesn't match my build date, I suspect the TCM was changed under warranty. This indeed led to much unbolting, rebolting, checking, measuring and swearing under the car.... In the end I left out 1x B bolt and put in a 54mm M6 bolt I already had to make sure it was all correct
    • A couple of notes about the TCM. Firstly, it is integrated into the valve body. If you need to replace the TCM for any reason you are following the procedure above The seppos say these fail all the time. I haven't seen or heard of one on here or locally, but that doesn't mean it can't happen. Finally, Ecutek are now offering tuning for the 7 speed TCM. It is basically like ECU tuning in that you have to buy a license for the computer, and then known parameters can be reset. This is all very new and at the moment they are focussing on more aggressive gear holding in sports or sports+ mode, 2 gear launches for drag racing etc. It doesn't seem to affect shift speed like you can on some transmissions. Importantly for me, by having controllable shift points you can now raise the shift point as well as the ECU rev limit, together allowing it to rev a little higher when that is useful. In manual mode, my car shifts up automatically regardless of what I do which is good (because I don't have to worry about it) but bad (because I can't choose to rev a little higher when convenient).  TCMs can only be tuned from late 2016 onwards, and mine is apparently not one of those although the car build date was August 2016 (presumably a batch of ADM cars were done together, so this will probably be the situation for most ADM cars). No idea about JDM cars, and I'm looking into importing a later model valve body I can swap in. This is the top of my TCM A couple of numbers but no part number. Amayama can't find my specific car but it does say the following for Asia-RHD (interestingly, all out of stock....): So it looks like programable TCM are probably post September 2018 for "Asia RHD". When I read my part number out from Ecutek it was 31705-75X6D which did not match Amayama for my build date (Aug-2016)
×
×
  • Create New...