R33 Skyline defected

[Blakeo]

My R33 got defected this afternoon, I understand they will go over the entire car at the pits. 

My car has a few aftermarket suspension arms in the rear, gktech camber arms and hicas delete. Do I need the HICAS to pass pit inspection? 

Also engine bay wise, it has a FFP aftermarket turbo (still on the factory exhaust manifold), aftermarket fuel rail, I will need to fix the breather system at the moment it goes to a big catch tank. It also has a Nismo 1.5way diff does that matter? 

Thank you. 

[niZmO_Man]

I suspect return everything to standard besides the diff (if it's not too aggressive)

[The Bogan]

Where was this?

[Ben C34]

Location matters.

I have been through regency in SA with a mini spool, so you would assume a 1.5 way is fine. Don't change stuff just for fun.

[BK]

Aren't you Perth mate ? What was the specific on the defect ?

[Unzipped Composites]

Regardless of what was on the sticker, they will send you for engineering certs on all the mods. The pits here have really cracked down on modified cars, they get in a lot of trouble if they get caught not pulling you up on things they are supposed to so 99% of the time they will. To be honest, most of them will see a pod filter and just send you to an engineer for certs on all mods.

Engineer will send you for emissions test (should be an easy pass as long as you have a decent cat). They will also want a dyno print out showing that you meet the 180hp/tonne rule, so will send you for a dyno run - engineer needs to be present when this is performed. 

Unlikely to get the suspension arms past the engineer, so I would swap those back. HICAS likely won't be an issue.

Will need to pass an exhaust volume test. 

Intercooler needs to have mesh in front of it.

Otherwise all your standard things, no oil leaks (and clean any residue well if there has been one, don't want to fail because it looks like you have one when you dont), all lights work and correct colours etc.

 

The really painful bit is, you need to apply to get your pre-approval for modification before you can engage an engineer. This can take months. Mine took 8 weeks from the day of application. Then they can request anything they like from the engineer - my pre-approval letter requested a swept volume test (on a stock engine) and brake and swerve testing (this means hiring Barbagallo so your engineer can take your car for some hot laps). 

 

If you still have all your stock gear, it will be much quicker and easier to swap it all back to stock - with the caveat that you could get stickered again the next day and have to do it all over again. Engineering is nice, but it is expensive and is a fkn slow process. If your car isn't TOO heavily modified, it may not be too bad. But all depends what they ask for on that pre-approval. 

[BK]

Man don't say that Martin, I was thinking of moving to WA.

So I take it I've got no chance of getting my two 32 single turbo GTR registered there then ?

Here in the NT we have yearly over the pits inspections for cars over 10 years old and it goes through everytime.

[Ben C34]

1 hour ago, BK said:

Man don't say that Martin, I was thinking of moving to WA.

So I take it I've got no chance of getting my two 32 single turbo GTR registered there then ?

Here in the NT we have yearly over the pits inspections for cars over 10 years old and it goes through everytime.

Come to SA mate, we have nothing!

[Unzipped Composites]

12 hours ago, BK said:

Man don't say that Martin, I was thinking of moving to WA.

So I take it I've got no chance of getting my two 32 single turbo GTR registered there then ?

Here in the NT we have yearly over the pits inspections for cars over 10 years old and it goes through everytime.

 

No its certainly possible. They have just cracked down on people doing it 'the wrong way'. Ie, modifying first and getting approval later. It makes it harder. But mainly because a lot of people, like myself, use their car as their daily and don't have another car. Then when you get stickered and the process of getting it all engineered takes months and months, it just makes life really hard.

 

If you get approval before you modify your car, or your car isn't your daily and it doesn't matter how long it is deregistered, then its quite easy. Just a little bit expensive. And a bit restrictive, they might not let you do the mods you want to do. But they're pretty good for the most part, they wouldn't care at all about the single turbo conversion. Just have to comply with emissions and the 180hp/tonne thing, which is... navigable 👀 some things are impossible, race seats etc. 

 

I'm also not sure how the car being registered in another state prior would affect things. I feel it would be treated like a deregistered car and you would have to go through the process, but perhaps it is slightly easier I dont know.

[Blakeo]

On 2/19/2021 at 9:21 PM, Unzipped Composites said:

Regardless of what was on the sticker, they will send you for engineering certs on all the mods. The pits here have really cracked down on modified cars, they get in a lot of trouble if they get caught not pulling you up on things they are supposed to so 99% of the time they will. To be honest, most of them will see a pod filter and just send you to an engineer for certs on all mods.

Engineer will send you for emissions test (should be an easy pass as long as you have a decent cat). They will also want a dyno print out showing that you meet the 180hp/tonne rule, so will send you for a dyno run - engineer needs to be present when this is performed. 

Unlikely to get the suspension arms past the engineer, so I would swap those back. HICAS likely won't be an issue.

Will need to pass an exhaust volume test. 

Intercooler needs to have mesh in front of it.

Otherwise all your standard things, no oil leaks (and clean any residue well if there has been one, don't want to fail because it looks like you have one when you dont), all lights work and correct colours etc.

 

The really painful bit is, you need to apply to get your pre-approval for modification before you can engage an engineer. This can take months. Mine took 8 weeks from the day of application. Then they can request anything they like from the engineer - my pre-approval letter requested a swept volume test (on a stock engine) and brake and swerve testing (this means hiring Barbagallo so your engineer can take your car for some hot laps). 

 

If you still have all your stock gear, it will be much quicker and easier to swap it all back to stock - with the caveat that you could get stickered again the next day and have to do it all over again. Engineering is nice, but it is expensive and is a fkn slow process. If your car isn't TOO heavily modified, it may not be too bad. But all depends what they ask for on that pre-approval. 

I was thinking the same thing, I'm pretty certain they will be hard on me. 

Bit of an issue going back to stock, I'll need everything - intake manifold, injectors, maf series 2, series 2 ecu etc. See how I go finding that stuff locally. 

I already have modification permits for my coilovers,intercooler and exhaust. 

Regarding the rear arms, I'd need to find stock parts too.. Bit of a bust up. 

Will see how I go, and post back with results for anyone else wondering. 

I live in Perth W.A

[Blakeo]

Unfortunately WA Police/Transport Department is all over it now. I went to quite a few different inspection centres and none of them have any/much leniency now they're all by the book. As a couple inspection centres I use to use got taken out for passing off cars not compliant apparently. 

Time to get it engineered

[BK]

I wish you the best of luck with the outcome of this situation. What do you think the cost of that will be ?

$2k, $5k, $10k ?

[Unzipped Composites]

It really depends on what they ask you for. They asked me for a swept volume test, and brake and swerve testing. Just those two things, plus the engineers report, would have brought me up to about 3k. Then you gotta factor in dyno time, emissions tests, the price of actually fixing/replacing things. Its an easy 5k for most cars. I would probably budget 10k and just be happy if you come away with change.

[Kinkstaah]

Depends heavily on what you did 'wrong'. Usually these guidelines are fairly straightfoward to lay out. You may just need people to sign off things if you meet the criteria initially. I found it a pretty simple process in one of (the?) hardest state to get engineering done.

BUT I knew what the guidelines/rules were before I started any work!

[Unzipped Composites]

4 hours ago, Kinkstaah said:

Depends heavily on what you did 'wrong'. 

 

It doesn't really. I got stickered for clear front indicators. That's all they put on the sticker. Pits wanted engineer certs for every mod, which is just what they do now because they were getting in so much trouble for turning a blind eye. 

So these days a yellow sticker is virtually guaranteed to require engaging an engineer. You can't engage an engineer without pre-approval to modify. The guys that write that pre-approval letter can ask for anything they like.

 

All my modifications were done 'by the book', they met all the requirements for getting ticked off straight away. But it still was going to take months of having the car off the road. You still have to pay for the tests to be done. It is simple and straightforward, but it isn't pain free or cheap. Its a slow process. Too slow if its your only daily driver. If you have another car then it really isn't that big a deal.

[Kinkstaah]

Sorry - What I meant to say by 'wrong' is how far your mods are outside of the guidelines as to what can be certified.

Not sure what you mean about 'pre approval to modify'. Sounds different to here. But yes, it makes sense to have another runabout to at least own while the engineering is going on if the time it takes is paramount.

Given you can get a cheap runaround cheaper than a Turbo kit, if you're serious about engineering a car it shouldn't be too bad.

[Unzipped Composites]

Yeh, here they want you to get approval before you start modifying. It isnt illegal to upgrade your turbo or ecu or anything like that, but you are supposed to fill out a form with a list of your intended modifications to apply for 'pre-approval' which is basically a letter from the head of the Department of Transport that says yes you can do these modifications, provided you meet such and such conditions. That letter then enables you to engage a mechanical engineer, without that letter you aren't allowed to get engineering approval on any modifications.

 

Then the engineers job is to make sure you comply the conditions listed on the pre-approval letter, which will always include the maximum 180hp/tonne rule, and emissions testing, etc. And can also include other things that the Dept. Of Transport just throw in, like swept volume tests etc.

 

Easy and straightforward if done the way they want you to do it. Hard, frustrating and expensive if you've already done the modifications. 

[Kinkstaah]

Ahhh, technically the way in Victoria is you are supposed to Engage the engineer (VASS) before you register the car. This is why you can't engineer only a specific mod, the entire car as a whole must pass with all modifications done to it.

You then have a VASS cert and a RWC and you can then register your modified car. I did my conversion and had the registered, but off the road while the V8 went into it. I did have to drive it to Sydney to get the Emissions test for Victoria (lol - IM240) so during that solitary drive if I got defected well, it'd be moved around on a trailer most likely after that.

But that didn't happen, so here I am. I am very jealous of the more lax emission laws in WA, and as a bonus you can get it done inside your own state!

[Eran1]

I’m guessing some of you might be also on club permit. I’ve heard  cops tend to be much more forgiving on cars on club permit.  Not sure if this holds any truth though tbh.

 

that sucks though mate I feel for ya. I got defected on my old wrx for noise. It was the worst following months.

[Unzipped Composites]

I actually don't feel the police here are too harsh. Before I got pulled over and defected, I hadn't been pulled over once in 12 years of daily driving my 34. And while the things I was actually defected for were crap; clear front indicators lenses despite amber bulbs, and too LARGE an exhaust (not too loud, it wasn't, specifically too large)... to be fair, my car was perfectly defectable. It was still registered as an NA, so the 500hp turbo hanging off the side and external gate venting atmo weren't the most legal things. Race seats, etc. Plenty to sticker me for if they had known what to look for. 

 

I also gave them a reason to pull me over. Made a mistake and pulled out in front of a guy on a scooter. I saw him last minute and stopped, he saw me early and stopped, so it was all good. But cops were there and saw it and pulled me over and from there I was in trouble. For the most part though, in my experience if you dont give them a reason to pull you over and defect you then they probably won't.