Vicroads And Legality Of Modifications

[mcmn]

Hi guys,

I'm on route to once again purchasing a car. I'm keeping my eyes peeled for some nice modified r32 gtr examples. I have some major concerns regarding the legality of the modifications, and additionally the legality of the car in general.

The last thing i want is my insurance becoming void due to illegal modifications as decided by vic roads.

I understand the basics in respect to this, i.e no pod filter and fmic etc. However in general:

- If the car has aftermarket exhaust, injectors, fuel pump, turbos, fmic, powerfc, diff, boost controller..

What needs to be done to get this car legal on the streets of victoria, or in the sense of completely legal is this just not possible and there will always be a level of risk owning such cars.

I dont mind the odd police question or three, what is concerning more to me is the voided insurance etc!

Edited February 23, 2006 by mcmn

[R31Nismoid]

Anything that alters emissions, that comes under the EPA:

boost controllers

injectors

ECU's

turbos

AFM's

In essence these can never be made legal.

The test to "make" them legal is $3000, and if you dont pass, you get no refund... no second chance, you must pay another $3000 each time.

Anything mechanical

brakes

diffs

gearboxes

Can be made legal via an Engineers Certification that the car has been modified but in such a way that is legal.

Contact an approved engineer before you make mechanical mods if your unsure of the requirements

There are things like:

exhaust

wheel size changes

1 intake modification (pod filter or intercooler)

These items are a pre-defined list on the VicRoads website as "allowable" mods. You can make these modifications yourself without any repocussions

Refer to thier website (or the sticky thread in this section) for more details.

As far as i understand, if you do not meet EPA requirements, the car is un-roadworthy by Victorian Law

[NateR31]

- If the car has aftermarket exhaust,

injectors, - illegal

fuel pump, - probably illegal

turbos, - illegal

fmic, legal if you have airbox, its pod, or fmic, not both

, powerfc, - illegal

diff, - locked is illegal

boost controller.. - illegal

i dont think there is anything you can do to make them legal

[mcmn]

so all the people here driving around in cars that have such modifications, that are illegal - do you have any concerns that insurance wont pay out?

The last thing i want is to cause an accident, I've never done that in the 7 years of driving, but i'm just looking at worst case scenarios here.

Is there some level of accepted risk taken by all drivers of modified skylines, or is it more a case of people just are not informed?

Thanks again.

[Johnny Cash]

What would you think if EVERY modified car owner, be it rotary, turbo, V8, whatever, all across Australia, united and marched in on Parliament in Canberra. We all demand a realistic approach to modifying cars, a change in the attitude of government and police to modified car owners. And if something doesn't happen and doesn't happen soon, we riot - old school style!

It works overseas...

[dezz]

from reading the JCI PDS, they state that any illegal modification that CAUSED the accident will result in no payout...so there's some leeway there...it all comes down to luck, and interpratation of their own rules at the end of the day...having said that, 95% of the cars on here are techincally illegal....an exhaust is pretty much all it takes, and any car on here that is modified for performance is sure to have an aftermarket exhaust

[QWAK]

when i had an accident i had my modifications listed and the insurance company didnt think twice. mods didnt cause the accident but i think as long as the insurance company has the mod listed on the policy they should cover it. never know with insurance companies though...

[R31Nismoid]

Its all about the fine print as Dezz has pointed out

[Snowman]

I'm proud of you Ash

[_8OO5TED_]

Working for Shannons, I can tell you that here we will cover all mods listed on your policy. If some of those mods are not engineered, or illegal, and you have an accident/make a claim, then as long as the 'illegal' mod was not the direct and responsible cause for the claim, then we will pay out.

Believe me, we have some HEAVILY MODIFIED turbo imports with us....

[mcmn]

thanks matt..

I know who i'll be insuring with

i'm currently over finding a car though - its hard work!!

[RBN1]

this may help

http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/vrpdf/rdsafe/VSI%208.pdf

[[WLDCRD]]

Actually in regards to the fuel system (rails, injectors, regulator, pump), when i got pulled over (booze bus blitz but they made me go up on the grass) I asked about it and he told me its not illegal to modify the fuel setup but it is illegal if it alters emmisions (although extra injectors are illegal). So its not a road worthy issue its an epa issue. So if you do get pulled up and let go, expect that you will most likely get a letter from the epa.

Cos it is a GTR, you are still only allowed to upgrade either to pods or upgrade the cooler. If the cooler is aftermarket, you have to prove that it is the same dimensions as the standard one in order to have both intake mods.

[Kaz200]

Working for Shannons, I can tell you that here we will cover all mods listed on your policy. If some of those mods are not engineered, or illegal, and you have an accident/make a claim, then as long as the 'illegal' mod was not the direct and responsible cause for the claim, then we will pay out.

Believe me, we have some HEAVILY MODIFIED turbo imports with us....

Yes but.... have any of them made a claim? What was the outcome? Also how do you decide if a mod caused an accident or not.. like.. ok I'm trying to think of a quick example..

Say you boost it onto the freeway, are not going over the speed limit.. and like in melbourne there is a really gay entrance to one of the freeways where everyone is trying to enter in two ADDED lanes and everyone else is trying to move to the left lanes to exit not too far up.. heaps of times trucks almost run me off the road because they dont look when they merge left... say I swerved to avoid a truck, lost it, ran into a pole.. say I had an upgraded turbo but no upgraded brakes.. you could possibly argue that if I had upgraded the brakes I might have been able to stop? I don't know, I'm sure someone else can think of a better example. The point is, it would be easy for an insurance company to find a million reasons to reject a claim and even Shannons has in it PDS that it only covers legal modifications.. You know I still haven't heard one story about someone who's had an accident and had heaps of illegal mods and got a payout..

[mcmn]

' date='24 Feb 2006, 10:57 AM' post='1977107']

So its not a road worthy issue its an epa issue. So if you do get pulled up and let go, expect that you will most likely get a letter from the epa.

And what would need to be done to clear this epa issue? revert car to complete stock? i.e exhaust, turbos, fuel setup, etc?

Paul.

[Ant97GTR]

Well that depends Paul...If you got an EPA to take it to a test station just to test for exhaust noise (<95dB) you would just need to make sure that your exhaust was under that limit.

However if it was a full test (ie the Macleod test centre) I'm afraid that every mod that doesn't comply would have to be put back to stock (fuel, ecu, intake, turbo etc etc)

[mcmn]

how often has this happened to you?

what is the likleyhood of this happening? - if the car is driven humanly on the road, all fast stuff is on track and sau organised events

Cheers.

Paul

[m0t4v4ll1]

' date='24 Feb 2006, 10:57 AM' post='1977107']

Actually in regards to the fuel system (rails, injectors, regulator, pump), when i got pulled over (booze bus blitz but they made me go up on the grass) I asked about it and he told me its not illegal to modify the fuel setup but it is illegal if it alters emmisions (although extra injectors are illegal). So its not a road worthy issue its an epa issue. So if you do get pulled up and let go, expect that you will most likely get a letter from the epa.

Cos it is a GTR, you are still only allowed to upgrade either to pods or upgrade the cooler. If the cooler is aftermarket, you have to prove that it is the same dimensions as the standard one in order to have both intake mods.

ARE U SERIOUS?!?!??! MAAADDDDDDDDDD so hold on, what is the dimension of a stock cooler? I think i may have found the answer to my dillemma

[R31Nismoid]

Exhaust db is 89 dB

how often has this happened to you?

what is the likleyhood of this happening? - if the car is driven humanly on the road, all fast stuff is on track and sau organised events

Cheers.

Paul

ive had one EPA (full) and 2 exhaust so far... that was in 12 months of driving my car it the state it was in.

THe gate was hidden, the much larger turbo was reasonably well hidden...

At the end of the day, all it takes it a cop to report you. Its that simple.

And can happen at anytime. If you get pulled over, pray the officer got out of the right side of the bed

[Ant97GTR]

Oh yeah sorry R31nis is correct <89 (its been a while Ash )

Put it this way....in my 1st 3 years of driving my car with a simple muffler (cannon) a little else...being driven under the limit to and from my place to my parents I had 3-4 EPA exhaust notices!!! The last one was a full test conv. after I had other mods fitted.

Never pulled over once for any of the notices.....simply driven past a police officer who obviously had a problem with imports who simply noted down my licence plate and forwarded to the EPA....