Defected Saturday Night (sydney) 7/11/09

[phrensta]

Ha, only had the car for four months (r33 GTS s2), never gotten a single fine in 10 years of driving then Saturday night i got pulled up heading home from Randwick to Newtown by two bike cops. I wasn't sure why they were pulling me up, so i asked them what the deal was, blah blah blah, "Operation" something or rather " looking at modified vehicles"

I thought cool im sweet, my r33 isnt too modified, and what is done i can't imagine it being illegal. Popped the bonnet went through the mods.

FMIC

Turbo Boost controller

Turbo timer

After market BOV (i tried to skip that one

Big ass air filter (mounted to chassy) which i thought made it legal...

3' inch sports exhaust.

So yeah, no good, they escorted me all the way from Randwick to Woolloomooloo, where they had the dam checking station. Half way there the bike cop riding behind me hits his lights and commits an illegal uturn to chase down another beautiful skyline, Sunflower yellow GTS which was lined up behind mine 10 minutes later. Then we all got to drive out to the checking station together. Bike cop, my pearl black r33 gts, sunflower gts, bike cop.

SO heres what i got defected for.

(fair enough defects )

left side parking light

low beam cancels when high beam turns on (anyone know if that really is a defect?)

(Ones that i don't know how to fix)

Air pod filter not contained in box (anyone wanna sell me an r33 air filter box?)

After market BOV

(WTF)

Battery in rear not vented to atmosphere

Window tint to dark, 12% fail.

So yeah, getting a few of these sorted out today by my friendly local mechanic, tinting and light issues will be fixed.

I have no idea what to do about the valve though, whats the best option here? I won't miss it, but i just hate the fact that components that help reduce wear on the turbo are freaking illegal.

My other question is the battery, whats the battery in the back of an r33 meant to be incased in to vent it to the atmosphere??

And also, anyone know if im going to get done at the DECC check for the 3' exhaust, my r33 sounds beautiful with it, and im not inclined in anyway to change back to stock, anyone got any experience here?

So who else got done saturday night? Cause i saw alot of skylines going in and outa the checking station.

Edited November 9, 2009 by phrensta

[BANGN]

wot the f**k!

"low beam cancels when high beam turns on (anyone know if that really is a defect?)"

heaps of cars do this! Even my Mk4 Golf did it!

"Battery in rear not vented to atmosphere"

you are aloud one in the rear but it has to be a sealed battery or as he said, has to be able to vent to atmos if it has removable plugs

[phrensta]

wot the f**k!

"low beam cancels when high beam turns on (anyone know if that really is a defect?)"

heaps of cars do this! Even my Mk4 Golf did it!

"Battery in rear not vented to atmosphere"

you are aloud one in the rear but it has to be a sealed battery or as he said, has to be able to vent to atmos if it has removable plugs

yeah i was talking to the cop when he wrote that high beam one down, i questioned it but he just said thats what the inspection guy claimed was a defect. Mechanic is looking at it today, if i get a fine for it i will contest. Cause it sounds like BS.

Ok so battery cover, cheers

[PM-R33]

Umm all R33's cancel the low beams when the high beams turn on from factory.

[Chibs]

Pod Filter = Straight defect !

Tints = Depends on the cop

Exhaust = Depends no the cop (Usually cop defects for this even if the exhaust isnt loud)

Low beam - High beam "That must be the most retarded defect!"

Damn cops... got nothing better to do

[GTR-N1]

Yes, there was a stupid blitzkrieg on for 4 days from Thur-Sun.

I saw an R32 pulled over ie. targetted on busy Hawkesbury Rd Winmalee with bonnet up.

The defect cops should be pulling over ALL cars with bald tyres, rear number plate lights off (helluva lot of these) yaddayadda.

Better still, cracking down on drug-pushers rather than car enthusiasts. At least our $$ goes to places you can see/touch/hear.

[phrensta]

Ok awesome, headlight thing is something i can contest.

I also remembered the cop said he was only fining me twice, not several times (ie one for each defect and the EPA notice)

So thats a bonus

To be quite honest, him and me had a good ol chat and a laugh at the checking station, was a top guy, but he wasn't the one defecting the car, it was the specialist at the checking station. Obviously he is a bit special. I got 5 days to keep driving it though, the cop said that so far that night that was the longest one he had seen, everyone else got 1 - 2 days.

Where is a good place to get a intake cover box from, I've seen a couple on ebay, and one on modyourcar.com.au, interesting price differential. Recommendations?

Just pisses me off cause the car has been with the mechanic last week fixing some dodged suspension work by the previous owner, first night i had the car back coming home from poker with the missus, and we got a very expensive motorcade detour instead, fail, at least she got to see some more hot cars, got her all fired up

[SLEEPR85]

Where is a good place to get a intake cover box from, I've seen a couple on ebay, and one on modyourcar.com.au, interesting price differential. Recommendations?

www.topstage.com, awesome carbon fibre boxes made up, running on in my car, looks sweet!

[scathing]

I thought cool im sweet, my r33 isnt too modified, and what is done i can't imagine it being illegal. Popped the bonnet went through the mods.

FMIC

Turbo Boost controller

Turbo timer

After market BOV (i tried to skip that one

Big ass air filter (mounted to chassy) which i thought made it legal...

3' inch sports exhaust.

What you got defected for would, in the eyes of most laymen, qualify you as more than just a little modified.

The exposed pod is the most common defect cops hand out. Some cops in a bad mood will even defect you if it is boxed in.

Half way there the bike cop riding behind me hits his lights and commits an illegal uturn to chase down

If he's hit the sirens and he's done it in the course of his duties (i.e. pulling over another potentially defective vehicle) then he's allowed to do it, and its not "illegal".

another beautiful skyline, Sunflower yellow GTS which was lined up behind mine 10 minutes later. Then we all got to drive out to the checking station together. Bike cop, my pearl black r33 gts, sunflower gts, bike cop.

(fair enough defects )

left side parking light

A bit slack that you didn't cop a warning for such a minor thing, but then bureaucrats tend to get anal retentive about the small things.

low beam cancels when high beam turns on (anyone know if that really is a defect?)

I'll have to find out myself, since one of my cars does the same thing (it's also a grey import). I'll drop my g/f a message, she works for a company that complies/engineers cars and so her colleagues know the ADRs backwards.

(WTF)

Battery in rear not vented to atmosphere

Yep. Not sure what the reasoning is behind that, but I know its a requirement.

(WTF)

Window tint to dark, 12% fail.

Not sure why that's a WTF. Too-dark tints make it hard to see stuff at night that's not illuminated. There's a reason why all those tint companies push the "darkest legal tints" line in their ads.

i just hate the fact that components that help reduce wear on the turbo are freaking illegal.

Your car had a stock valve to help reduce wear on the turbo. That's not a defect. It's the specific valve you chose to use, and didn't get a engineering cert for, that is illegal.

Does your BOV vent to atmosphere, or recirculate back into the intake? If its the latter it should be legal, and if not then its also a shame they didn't give you a warning for it.

And also, anyone know if im going to get done at the DECC check for the 3' exhaust, my r33 sounds beautiful with it, and im not inclined in anyway to change back to stock, anyone got any experience here?

Do you have to do an emissions test at DECC? If so, you're pretty much f**ked. If you're running stock engine management, the intake and exhaust mods you've done will have the car running mega-rich. Even with aftermarket management, you're going to struggle.

Noise-wise, you could weld in baffles to get it to pass the dB test, and then get them removed afterwards.

Most of the time, if you get emissions tested you have to return to 100% stock unless you've got a tuner who knows what they're doing and your parts aren't ridiculous. I believe Hitman offers a service where he'll do an initial tune the car and go with you to DECC, and for that flat rate he'll tune the car at their testing station until it passes.

I'd suggest that, after your car gets cleared by DECC, that you drop a few hundred dollars extra and get an engineering cert. One of my mates almost got reamed hard in his yellow S15 a week or two ago by some cop with sand in his vagina, until another cop checked his engineering cert and told the first cop to piss off.

[PM-R33]

The battery needing to vent is due to the toxic gases that can come from batteries. Since it is in an enclosed area those gases have to get out from the car somehow. You will notice underneath the car at the back and vent line, if you follow it to the boot its a clear plastic tube. Most sealed batteries can hook up onto this (my century does) and therefore they can vent outside the car.

Honestly everything you got done for is unfortunately correct other than the headlight low beam canceling on high beams.

[l_uk3y]

Defected for the High Low beams. Wow. Speechless. Maybe we all need to do the "Mod" to make both headlights operate same time. Lol fancy having to do a modification away from standard to fix a defect.

Left side parker is a bit soft. All the other defects are pretty common "stock standard defects", esp during a blitz.

As for the BOV. Go the Stocko FTW

As for the filter, I swapped back from an Apexi Pod to the Stock box after a defect and enjoy not having the ridiculous sucking noise anymore. Wouldnt go back to the pod. Not to mention its much easier to claim your using a standard ecu and turbo if you have a standard airbox )albeit most of my engine bay is painted.

Good luck getting it back on the road.

Luke

[MRGTR911]

Previous experience

when they send you to decc station for noise test go to the guy in cambeltown , the guy in granville is a dikc , i take my car for exsaust change to western mufflers in fairfield east , he will make you a custom exsaust to pass noise test if you know you wont pass with standard one , i know this because i went 12 decibilles over with standard exsaust but i had cams , turbos , etc. when you go decc approved station in cambeltown though you will definately need a standard airbox etc as they are pretty stricty with those items .

in terms of emisions tuning definately take your car to hitman in penrith he will de tune your car pass it for you and save your tune if you ever have future problems , he de tuned my car with all the mods i had you car doesnt necesarrily have to go bone stock for emissions test .

if you have any more q's shoot me a pm

[scathing]

Defected for the High Low beams. Wow. Speechless. Maybe we all need to do the "Mod" to make both headlights operate same time. Lol fancy having to do a modification away from standard to fix a defect.

There's plenty of things that need to be done on grey import cars that change it from stock in order to comply with our ADRs. Otherwise, there would be no need for a Compliance process.

The fact that every compliance company has "missed" this, while still having their cars pass Compliance, says to me that its not actually illegal.

[Smity42]

Australian Built R31 skylines do exactly the same thing, and you can damn sure guarantee they conform to all ADRs

[phrensta]

madness, so a lot do get done then

MRGTR911 cheers for the info

I've been reading up on this DECC noise test, apparently they don't just do a noise test they do a full inspection, and can fail you for any of the above.

Non standard modifications

So any air filter that isnt the stock one,

Any performance exhaust, or non standard cat

Boost controllers (which of of course i have)

Different ECU

FMIC, non standard.

Can anyone confirm this, cause that is really freaking lame.

[rkinens]

Thats lame dude. got pulled over in my GTST recently, while casually driving along. cop asked me to "give it a squirt" tried to make it sound quiet as. He said "come on you can do better than that" gave it a tad more, then he just said watch your noise buddy and that was it.

pull over some commodore doosh bags instead....

[phrensta]

hmmm, the defects im kinda over caring about, they are all fixable, and most have alreayd been sorted, but this DECC thing is horrible.

Return car to stock or fail DECC test!

What happens if you return the car to stock, then re-mod it?

Can you get engineering certificates for big exhausts? 3', air filters and boost controllers???

[scathing]

Can you get engineering certificates for big exhausts? 3', air filters and boost controllers???

I believe so, yeah. My mate's engineered S15 has a chunky exhaust on it.

I also spoke to my g/f's colleagues about the light thing - there's no ADR against "headlight cancel on high beams".

If you seriously want to investigate an engineering cert for your car, drop me a PM and I'll send you her work's contact number. You can work out with them what can and can't be done.

[MSTRshenanigans]

So I read your post

(fair enough defects )

left side parking light

low beam cancels when high beam turns on (anyone know if that really is a defect?)

(Ones that i don't know how to fix)

Air pod filter not contained in box (anyone wanna sell me an r33 air filter box?)

After market BOV

(WTF)

Battery in rear not vented to atmosphere

Window tint to dark, 12% fail.

What was wrong with your battery, mine came stock in boot?

Plumb back your BOV - the fact that it disperses to atmo and makes loud noise is why they did you for that...

All tint in Australia must be of 30-35% (dependant on state) transmittance.

Headlights are supposed to go off when high beams go on, or do they mean fog or parkers?

I'm assuming ur in NSW or VIC where the pod needs to be boxed...

Tail light out - you had that coming

[phrensta]

Battery apparently needs to be in some kind of container, which has a hose to vent to atmosphere. Im not 100% sure on it cause iv never seen one in a skyline.

Anyone wanna photograph theres and post it up?

Trying to find someone to do the BOV plumbing.

Yeah i failed by 12% on tinting, getting it fixed though.

HEadlights, yeah..

Yep NSW

Taillight its hard to know when one bulb blows, my mates typically are not watching me park, they could have given a warning, especially for first offences ever, but they were just dicks at the checking station.

Anyway got my fines yesterday.

141$ EPA emissions breach notice

84$ defect BOV/Air filter

84$ defect window tinting

I have not been fined for the other defects. 2/6 which is a small victory i suppose. Like i mentioned, the cop was a nice guy, just the whole operation and the so called expert defecting me were kinda retarded.

The worst thing is being reported to the DECC ... blah