New RTA rules for vehicle modifications

[o_man_ra23]

Ok, so how do I test them at a facility which is not a public street? Vehicle is capable of 200+kph thus 160kph will be the required test speed. The nearest facility would be Queensland Raceway, for me that's 1000km+ away, for people in Cairns that would be 1800km+ travel. This sort of thing is quite impractical.

Could the brake test not be performed on a dyno type situation, the same way the QLD Main Roads perform their testing?? I know that their test facility would work, as I had to get the missus' car tested when we went in there complaining of the previous owner getting a dodgy roady and passing an obviously cut seatbelt.

[river]

Hi,

Why would you test at anything over the legal speed limit... maybe add a little bit extra, such as legal limit + 20%?

My car is a street car and I drive to the legal speed limit. What purpose does stopping my car from 160kph prove, when the fastest it will be going is 110pkh?

If you need to travel a thousand or more kms to get it engineered, while being driven at speeds you won't be doing, then I can see a lot more non-approved/engineered vehicles on the road. People drive without rego, without a license and with an approved modified vehicle already. If the ability to get your car approved is too far away or just too complex and painful, then people won't bother with getting their car approved.

It's all good to put in more rules, even if some are plainly stupid, but you need to implement a method where people don't need to travel halfway around the state to get thier car checked.

seeyuzz
river

[petergoudie]

O-man-RA23

It's slightly worse. Testing can't be done in a public place - not a public street. That is, it must not be accessible to the public in ordinary circumstances.

Dyno testing won't reproduce the massive energy dissipation of a high speed test nor effectively assess fade.

Yesterday, in very strong words an RTA officer said to me, 'do you think I care if you can't find a place to do the test'. As I said early on, if you think the proposed changes are unreasonable make it known to the NSW Minister for Roads, the Opposition Shadow Minister and the RTA Chief Executive (with some good reasons because this is what they want to know).

[RONA]

Yesterday, in very strong words an RTA officer said to me, 'do you think I care if you can't find a place to do the test'.

That sounds like a very positive attitude towards encouraging people to properly engineer their car modifications. Let's make wide sweeping changes, not provide facilities for testing when we know the costs of accessing the necessary private facilities is adversely expensive so no one drives around in a legally modified car.

Once again if Police cars were actually out on the road doing law enforcement instead of hiring rent a cops in vans to fine people you could easily spot dodgy cars defect them and remove them from the road. My neighbour has 10 mini trucks dragging their arse up and down the street everyday of the week. None of the cars are legal how hard would it be for a cop to drive past one of them pull them over and ream them a new arsehole as well as bill them to repair the road they tore up along the way.

I was intending to engineer my car later in the year after my upgrades are complete but be f*cked if I could afford to do it now if these chages go through. Everyone will just bide their time and when they eventually get pinged they'll either part out and sell up or if they cna afford to just make it a dedicated track car. Going to make the roads a damn bland place to be.

[BLK_20v]

Wow, this is a bitch of a proposal...

Max fine of 20 penalty units is potentially a $2200 fine. With so many gray areas in the legislation too. It shits me these fat public servants who drive company cars sit back and go hmm, people are dying on our roads lets try this to fix it.

Sure the kebab spec gemini should be put off the road, but these new rules are so fucking vague any cop in a foul mood can slap you with a massive fine.

Sure there are places out there which need to lose their inspection tickets, because they have turned a blind eye to too many cars which shouldn't be on the road. But it needs to be done the right way by enforcing follow up inspections of X amount of cars from each authorised station.

If this was to work they need to categorise each type of mod thoroughly and outline a method of getting them approved.

Maybe we should all get our cars clasified as a hot rod or custom vechile where these BS rules won't apply. Not sure how one would go about that though.

[Hiro]

Anyone else thinking that this will just end up being like the modified suspension law that came in the other year? Initial reports stating that ANY change in suspension required engineering etc and everyone was freaking out, then it ended up only being for changes above or below a certain height range, which meant that 90% of reasonably modified cars were perfectly fine.....

I'm not worrying about it yet, it is way too early to be getting freaked out by small details that could either be incorrectly or incompletely reported, or still require clarification.

[o_man_ra23]

Hiro:
1. Peter has inside info and is reporting correctly and as completely as he can.
2. If the problems aren't identified to those making the rules at this early stage, then it can pass through and become a problem when the details come to be enforced. If we hit it on the head now, it may get some sense prior to final implementation.

[petergoudie]

The comment period closes on the 27th of this month. Even though the Government is not sitting it does not mean the new rules can't be put in place and it’s possible everything will be functioning prior to the election so if you have an issue don't sit around to wait and see what happens.

If your unsure about it all, you could write to the Minister, Opposition Minister & RTA CEO and ask them to sit on it and for RTA to hold public meetings around the State (that is, open to everyone not just by invitation) with car enthusiasts and other interested persons to discuss exactly what it means to them all plus how will the Police choose to use these rules.

[broken22]

Such brake modifcations now require testing on a race track or similar private property. Expect to pay say $4k to $30K for a proper test depending on the year of the vehicle and as such its in your interest to ask for a receipt.

where are you getting the 4k to 30k figures from?

Could it not just be a case of the engineer or engineers having a monthly test day somewhere and doing a whole buch of vehicles?

[oldcorollas]

Sure the kebab spec gemini should be put off the road, but these new rules are so fucking vague any cop in a foul mood can slap you with a massive fine.

Sure there are places out there which need to lose their inspection tickets, because they have turned a blind eye to too many cars which shouldn't be on the road. But it needs to be done the right way by enforcing follow up inspections of X amount of cars from each authorised station.

If this was to work they need to categorise each type of mod thoroughly and outline a method of getting them approved.

???
there is already a code of practice for light vehicle modification that has been in place in NSW for many years?? the guidelines are a bit vague, but not as vague as you are suggesting. and a lot of the onus was on the engineers themselves, since they are supposed to be professionals.

the NCOP is far more specific than the current COPLVM document

perhaps a blind eye was turned, hoping Aussies would do the right thing? there are lots of cas engineered.. but there are certainly a lot of cars not engineered, and whose owners never intended them to be (err.. like a certain supra ). even some toymods people just give no fark for the easy method in place now, and ignore the rules to build what they want..


hmmm, would a $2200 fine potentially discourage people from doing illegal engine conversions or other major modifcations in future? apparently not, from posts in this thread

re: cop in foul mood. if the cop is wrong, you take it to court and win. if it is valid, you have to take it on the chin

[Cuzzo]

come on old corollas....it will cost how much to take a cop to court?

let alone if you win cause your a seal clubbing hoon!

[oldcorollas]

cause your a seal clubbing hoon!

i'll pitch in $20 if you get that phrase into a news headline

edit: realistically....
if you have a 4AGTE in a KE30 and you have no engineering papers.. you don't have a leg to stand on. you get done, fair enough.
if you DO have engineering papers, and you haven't modded it outside those papers, it would take a really cynical arsehole of a cop to want to take it to court... or you just did a big burnout leaving Krispy Kreme

in reality, it will be somewhere between the two... papers, but not exactly following them to the letter... again it would be less likely for a cop to persue it if you were not caught driving like a retard

before court, you could make an "officia complaint" to the police commissioner etc, and mayeb get it snubbed before court, IF car is not dodgy... fines have been withdrawn with that process before...


aaaanyway.. the whole thing of enforcing testing regimes, without the facilities for that testing, is a really bad idea.... pity we don't have an organisation with 10,000 members that could argue against it

[river]

Hi,

pity we don't have an organisation with 10,000 members that could argue against it

NRMA? Shannons? CAMS?

Maybe the CMC, but as they are for Historic vehicles, which I think would be exempt from these rules. Hotrod Association would also be exempt for similar reasons.

seeyuzz
river

[oldcorollas]

toymods forum has 14,000 members.... although only maybe 100-150 of them are toymods car club paying members...
would be nice if we could band together and do something positive for our hobby/way of life....

[trdee]

If the club put a petition in front of me for this i'd sign it (paying club member)

Would need to be an official petition though, otherwise doesnt really mean much?