PSk

Tomble, Most impressive plating and I hope I can learn from your very detailed posts above on this subject!! A couple of things: Since your Mitsubishi Starion has been de-registered you will need to have her certified if you want to ever register and drive the car on NZ roads again. I've just been through this, well nearly done, and you ABSOLUTELY should contact them NOW as the way it is supposed to work is you work with them while you make repairs. They guide and approve as you go. The process is not designed to work with you showing up with a shiny restored car and wanting them to certify it at the end. This might not be an issue if all the metal work repairs are done by a professional shop ... ? How did you get your Yellow Chromate for your plating please? I have a Caswell kit and to get it from Australia, even for the tiniest amount, is $1000 due to shipping of an acid issues. So I'd really appreciate some insight here, or even maybe to purchase some from you ... ? Love you and partners work Pete

Thank your Tortron. A pity but that is what the rules are, but at least it is fixable Appreciated Pete

Hi, I'm going through the process of getting a unitary shelled vehicle repair certified to get it back on the road. Yes I let the registration lapse, as I took it to Australia and never thought I was coming back, but here I am. I have the VIN number and had the first discussion with my repair certifier. My question is: When replacing the floor panels of the car, I seam welded them. No other structural changes have been made. My repair certifier is saying I need to remove the seam welding and replace with 8mm plugs welds no closer than 50mms, which to me seams very wide to me (?). I've tried searching the NZTA and LVV sites, and yes I can see lots of references that the repairs must be carried out as original, so my repair certifier has a valid point, but seam welding is a very common modification to a 1970's unitary car and as I've not done it anywhere (okay I have a few minor places where I got carried away to remove) other than the floors I cannot see how it is a bad thing, and how it would affect the shell's performance in an accident, considering collapsible zones weren't really a thing in the early 1970's and again I have not seam before or after the floor panels. I'm hoping somebody here can confirm what the deal is with seam welding please, before I start grinding away ... Thanks Pete