Epa

[GTSpec]

Recently a mate of mine got done by the EPA. He has a mirage which has been turbocharged and now he needs to get it back to NA... dunno exact details. However, he will go thru alot of money and anguish over this.

Planning on having my GTR worked, though the visual impact will be much less.. almost stock looking. and obviously this is very different to the mirages case but....

wat do i need to do in order to avoid any problems with the epa? is it worth getting engineers cert?

i am getting HKS GT-SS turbs... obviously hard to see and PowerFC. should i take any precautions or will it most likely be ok?

[mjfawke]

Recently a mate of mine got done by the EPA. He has a mirage which has been turbocharged and now he needs to get it back to NA... dunno exact details. However, he will go thru alot of money and anguish over this.

Planning on having my GTR worked, though the visual impact will be much less.. almost stock looking. and obviously this is very different to the mirages case but....

wat do i need to do in order to avoid any problems with the epa? is it worth getting engineers cert?

i am getting HKS GT-SS turbs... obviously hard to see and PowerFC. should i take any precautions or will it most likely be ok?

PowerFC would be a mistake... My understanding is that the EPA looks for any changes to emmissions control devices, so the ECU is out. The fines can be quite substantial ($10K+), so it's not worth it. Now, using an R32 computer and getting it re-programmed would be a lot harder for the EPA to pick.

[R31Nismoid]

Engineers wont fix it.

you need a full EPA test if you change anything that alters your emissions.

Its your gamble

[HKS34R]

Engineers wont fix it.

you need a full EPA test if you change anything that alters your emissions.

Its your gamble  

True, the EPA can still get you even with an engineer's certificate.

However, I would've thought, though, that programmable engine management (i.e PowerFC) would be advisable as you can lean the mixtures out so that the emissions are not too high. Wouldn't stock ecu's run the car rich, therefore have higher emissions??

[R31Nismoid]

not, it changes what the EPA have "tested"... in a stock car.

something all car manufactuers do before they grin out a model etc etc

even though we all know its better than stock.

[SLY33]

Damn HKS34R, nice avatar

While its true about programable engine management having the posibility of a cleaner tune, i think the epa's issue would be that anyone using such ECU's have other mods and thats what they dont like, let alone the fact that the ECU is a mod in itself, and dont most of them say somewhere "for race or offroad use"?

[tang0]

is this all the same for nsw ? or is it restricted to per state ....

should we worry about ANY mods being picked up on by the epa .. wouldnt then all those ricers with hyundai excels and 4" exhausts get kicked off the roads all the time ?

being somewhat new the country, this is all of great interest to me ...

[Reedy]

There a document on it at

http://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/resources/vehicle_noise.pdf

90db exhaust limit?

[FATGTS-R]

The reason why epa dont like programable ecu is because as its name implies its programable.

You could show them your car having better emissions than standard ecu but there is nothing to stop you programming later on to be worse than standard.

[tang0]

buy a datalogit, lock the hand controller, and show them that you are unable to change any parameters and that the h/c is just a display unit....

obviously remove the datalogit for everyday driving

[predator]

You could show them your car having better emissions than standard ecu but there is nothing to stop you programming later on to be worse than standard.

But you can reprogram the stock ecu as well in many cars...

I think what Ash is saying.. is you can get a full (expensive) emissions test just for your vehicle, no matter what the mods, as long as it is below the standard levels. I guess after that, any tune would invalidate that (I think I remember hearing some people that did have the full test were required to get their ECU "locked" to the tune it was tested with). This would vary by state though.

The reason why they instantly dismiss any aftermarket ECU is that there is no standard yardstick soon as you start tampering with the factory setup. A "S-AFC" could be under, or it could be over depending on the tune.. there is no way of telling without doing the full comprehensive test.

It's :bs!: and there would be ways to come up with much quicker verification of mods vs emissions, but obviously there are reasons not to do that from higher up in government.