insurance (settle)

[Jimbo2000]

i've been thinking about these

my insurance company and they say that any modification is cool as long as its legal.

are power fc's and electronic boost controllers considered legal?

if they're not what do the rest of you do, as i could live with the fact of having them stolen and not have them covered (only just)but if i have a serious crash and the assessor see's them would they refuse to pay?

thanks peeps

James

[Jimbo2000]

btw the (settle) part was for the insurance thread flamers

[akeenan]

ring up and tell the insurance company your thinking of buying the following a power fc and boost controller and see what they say.... then say something like ok its still in the works etc etc..... then ring back.

[Jimbo2000]

thanks for that akeenan

okey dokey just called em and they said you basically have to ask the cops in your state cause they're the ones who are gonna pull you over for it.

so the next question is are they leagal?

[predator]

congratulations, you just crossed THE GREY LINE

[Jimbo2000]

i dont get it

seriosly what do all you dudes with these things do, they aint cheap to replace neither is the whole car if the insurance company refuses to cover

[Jimbo2000]

boomp

[DaiOni]

unfortunately, pretty much nothing is actually 100% legal - inc ecu

[franks]

james, the way i see it is this:

the only people who are interested in the legality(?) of your modifications are the RTA. When they become "illegal" is when you start filling your car up with cocaine or start installing machine guns as anti-car-jacking mecahnisms. the police are the ones who try and keep the roads safe from unroadworthy vehicles and thus you get defect notices.

so if your interested in whats legal, or what should be more appropriately termed "road worthy", you should start at the RTA website. from there you'll find a plethora of pdf files which basically say, any modification to your vehicle should be checked by an RTA authorised workshop who can then give you an engineer's certificate deeming it as "roadworthy" and thus free from defect notices (in theory).

in your case, an ecu is indirectly associated with your intake system so i would say it would need to be engineered as it has rather large bearing on your fuel mixtures and hence emissions.

[Jimbo2000]

thanmks franks some good info

how do i find an engineer and what happens if they dont want to pass it then will they dob you in?

[predator]

no.. its not the engineers job to report people, nor is it the EPA's job to report people - generally a cop takes it upon themselves to do this with only a rough understanding of the rules as set out by the RTA or EPA, etc. Often they're wrong, often they're not You are probably best asking in the Sydney area actually specific questions - as the rules and enforcement tend to vary a lot between state and state.

Basically any device that alters the emissions is considered illegal, so that would include a PowerFC and boost controller. But depending on who you are pulled over by, and who inspects your car the definitions seem to vary.

THe problem is there is no definitive "list" of what is legal and not legal by any of the main traffic authorities, and there damn well should be to properly clear things up once and for all. Often you have to wade through pages of obscure ADR's to find what you're looking for, and even then not everything is properly explained with relevence to common items out there in today's cars.

[Jimbo2000]

excellent thanks for that mate

[franks]

so in your case, a powerfc looks just like a stock ecu. so there's a fairly minimal chance a plod could tell you have an aftermarket ecu from looking either in your engine bay or interior. that said, i doubt they'd know what a bleed valve looked like also.

i've heard one story where an insurance company went to the extent of contracting a mechanic to inspect a vehicle for mods that would voided his insurance claim. sure enough, the ecu was found to be aftermarket and the claim was void.

moral of the story, tell the whole truth or prepare for the worst circumstances...

[dAVE]

you could always pull off the casing of the apexi power fc (top and bottom) and replace with your factory ones... then it looks genuine ... unless they opened it up with a screw driver..

[unwritten law]

or u could say ur stock ecu clapped out (somehow) and you had to replace it with an aftermarket one hehe....

[Jimbo2000]

Originally posted by unwritten law

or u could say ur stock ecu clapped out (somehow) and you had to replace it with an aftermarket one hehe....