Craig wrote:Bevan wrote:I am thinking of just waiting 18 months and upgrading to an SE now. If I can turbo my car economically (which I know I can) AND get through engineering without much fuss or cost, then it may be worth it.
Just get the SE Bevan, insurance and legality/Police/EPA wise it's the way to go...it's just the changeover figure that's going to hurt.
Yep I'm gonna have to agree with craig. I was thinking of upgrading from the NA into an SE, but for the same money I would of had a slower car. That was what stopped me. Had I of known of the flaming hoops the RTA make one jump through to pass emissions testing, I would of gotten the SE, but meh thats in the past
Pretty much anything different to stock needs to be engineered, except a few "self certify" items eg:
-Bigger rims, no more than 2" diameter, 1" width
-Lowering, so long as its more than 100mm off the ground (any less than 100mm cannot be engineered though)
-Any form of chassis bracing
-Minor adjustments to bodywork, eg fitting a body kit, new soft top, etc
-New lighting, so long as your car still conforms to the relevent ADR's
-Any driveline modification that does not affect the accuracy of the speedo (~5%), eg better tyres, new diff, new gearbox
-Any exhaust modification, so long as it doesn't excede 95db @ 30m, retains a cat converter
Basically small mods can be done urself and u dont need an engineer. Anything else you will need an engineer to check over and sign off on. The RTA lists all the approved engineers in NSW, but most of them I would avoid...eg one who lives near me (Hornsby) was wanting so much extra paperwork, that isnt required, whereas the one I'm using (In Wyong) knows his stuff, and if kinda lenient. For example, to engineer my car, he will look at the emissions report, to make sure that my car is still within the guidelines for a car built in 1994. (See below about emissions). He will then look at my car, to ensure I have a cat converter, do a noise test to make sure it isnt too loud (with silencers in I'll pass
), looks under the bonnet to make sure that my oil vent pipes still vent into the intake, and that my BOV is also plumbed back into the intake. Afterwards he will sign off on the certificate that my car passes. I then take that to the RTA, who will issue me with a 2nd complience plate to be fitted as close to the original as possible....hooray the car is legal!
Emissions testing. Technically, and car which has its ratio's of air/fuel modified needs to have an emissions test and be engineered. Even say fitting an RX7 AFM to an NA, or the "T" piece mod to the SP's count as a mod that need to be engineered AFAIK. Because with the turbo, you'll have a piggy back ECU (and obviously the turbo), you will need to get it tested. Tuning my car to be legal has been an absolute pain in the ass. Its been on the dyno for a few hours now, ironing out little bumps in the A/F ratio. I would of passed the previous test, if it werent for the fact that they decided it would be a good idea to put 3 big fans on my engine bay for half an hour, to send the car into cold start mode....where it runs an idle A/F ratio of about 12 so as to not stall (my engine doesnt like doing much when cold...)
Thats about all I can help with, and thats my understanding of it all, but I'm sure there'll be others (Sean?) who could also provide some better explanation of whats involved
Current: Red 04 SE (Slightly modified) - 133rwkw@7psi - Winner of the Mania Dyno Day 2008
Previous: Titanium 04 SE (Standard)
White 94 NA (Severely Modified) - 180rwkw - Runner up at the Mania Dyno Day 2007
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