Registered turbo in Vic?

[d-mag]

After speaking to a couple of Engineers here in Melbourne, I've been told I'd be wasting my time (and money) trying to get a Turbo conversion engineered.
Both guys said the gearbox/diff/brakes part of the process would be fine, but the car would not pass an emissions test.

Has anyone in Victoria ever gone through this, and passed?

I tried searching for a while now, but couldn't find anything.

Thanks.

[Blue94t]

I got done for a turbo setup.
Got a letter from the epa asking that I come out for a visit.
After extensive retuning my car passed the idle CO requirements and the noise requirements. Didn't drive very well but it passed. Unfortuneatley the guys at the EPA are not stupid. They asked what ecu I was running as they knew there was no way I could be running a standard ecu with the turbo setup. I told them that it was an EMS dualsport and they gave me a nice green (EPA) ticket that canceled my rego 28 days later.
The only place that tests emissions in Vic are Vipac and you are looking at around $3000 per test pass or fail. All the tuners I spoke to said you have very little chance of passing first time so budget for two tests. I have also heard (rumour not known fact) that Vipac will not tell you why you failed, just that you have and to go away and retune it. Then you get to book in for another $3000 test.
If you get pulled over at an EPA roadside testing station I was told the fine is around $2000. The only reason I did not get fined is because I told them the truth about my ecu and that I had bought the car from queensland already modified after consulting Vicroads who told me the Qld engineers plate made the car legal in Vic. Vicroads are pretty much useless for that sort of information.
So if you want a legal turbo setup in Vic you can either buy an SE/SP, get an NA6 and use the AVO kit, or run the risk and put the car back to standard if you get done. If you do decide on the AVO kit you can not change it at all from the original kit or you need to prove emissions compliance all over again.

A few important points:
-A car with an EPA notice on it can not be sold until the notice has been cleared.
-The EPA have the right to pull your car apart to physically check the ECU is standard, normal practice is to plug in to the diagnostic port and query the ecu. Fault codes such as EGO sensor can also result in a green ticket
-You do not have to be pulled over to get an EPA notice.

So basically you can not easily/cheaply/legally run a turbo/supercharger on your MX5 in Vic. You can do as quite a few people do and run FI and hope you don't get pulled over knowing that if you do you will need to return your car to standard. Or you can go an engineered engine conversion running the factory ecu to maintain decent power levels and epa legality.
Good luck with it and let us know what path you decide to tread
Jake

[bruce]

What he said!

Only AVO have EPA compliance on their basic kit - nothing can be changed after the install.

[AB7]

What he said!

Only AVO have EPA compliance on their basic kit - nothing can be changed after the install.

Thats only for their 1.6 Kit. None of their 1.8 Kit is legal.

[Blue94t]

Thats only for their 1.6 Kit. None of their 1.8 Kit is legal.

Yeah, I could have made that a bit clearer.
When I spoke to AVO a couple of months ago they said they where looking in to complying the NA8/NB kit.
They where talking about putting up half the money themselves and trying to get customers to split the other half. I never heard anything more about it after that.
The AVO kits give a good power increase but I think are left a bit lacking purely through the requirements to be ADR/EPA compliant.
I wouldn't like to get an epa notice in an AVO turbo'd mx5 because I think that if they tested it with a good road tune it would not pass. The big benefit is you can pay AVO to put an EPA legal tune in it, get it passed and go back to your normal road tune.
Jake

[d-mag]

Mmmm there's some food for thought, thanks heaps for the insight Jake.

So even if your emissions are good, they can/will defect you for an aftermarket ECU?

[Blue94t]

The test they gave me at the EPA was CO emissions at idle and noise.
I passed these but as I could not prove the tune in the ecu was adr/epa compliant the car was deemed illegal due to the ecu. Onus is then on the owner to prove adr compliance which is where vipac and the $3000 tests come in to it.
I chose the engine conversion route, and seeing as the SE half cuts where too expensive I went to a Nissan engine.
The guys who tested me out at the epa where decent blokes. They actually suggested an engine conversion when I told them I didn't want to put it back to stock power levels.
I should be able to make similiar power levels to what I had on a standard ecu so then all I need is one workshop to do a 5 gas analysis on it, another workshop to certify that there are no ecu fault codes, a quick check at the epa, then front up at Vicroads with my engineers certificate and get it rego'd. Pretty simple really

[d-mag]

Christ! How the hell are you supposed prove your tune is adr compliant?

Haha, it's all too hard.

[mx52nv]

Move to W.A. ???

*edit* sorry absolutely no help to the OP
However, it is worthy to note that aftermarket ECUs are not a problem in WA.
Many of us have used that to pass emissions testing.

[d-mag]

Haha, I used to live there. I've still got family there, I might have to move the car back over for a while.

[Boost]

How strict is it in NSW?

[GS]

How strict is it in NSW?

From the sounds of it, not quite as difficult/expensive as Vic and SA, but not as easy as Qld and WA. This is Seans post in the Tech section regarding engineering a car in NSW:

http://www.mx5cartalk.com/phpBB-3.0.2/viewtopic.php?f=76&t=19618

Hopefully with the right tuner its do-able (something im going to look into soon).

[PASHN8]

Which is EXACTLY why I forked out for the SE! I loved my old NA6 to bits and did all the research in regards to turbocharging it, after seeing what I saw, decided to just go the SE route so the EPA couldn't ruin my day............as bad... lol.

[Blue94t]

Which is EXACTLY why I forked out for the SE! I loved my old NA6 to bits and did all the research in regards to turbocharging it, after seeing what I saw, decided to just go the SE route so the EPA couldn't ruin my day............as bad... lol.

Well at least it is easier to return to stock with an SE.
Just keep the car quiet and try not to attract too much attention and you have a better chance of getting away with it.

[PASHN8]

Agreed Jakey

Hurry up and finish yours dammit!