cletus

the more info you can supply, the better. sometimes its hard to tell if its had an engine swap (needs emission test and cat etc) or if its had a turbo put on the original engine (mod oe engine doesnt need a cat or emission test.) This can sometimes work in your favour. not 100% sure on the recheck issue then needing cats after may 1....... will need to find out about that one.

Me to, thanks heaps man! no worries Back on 5 day weeks this year no no more work there...... still pop in to see Mr Darlington now and then though i did a cert on a crown with a NA 2JZ a while back, was quite a cool car, drove nice.

if this is your rx7 you are talking about and its still a 13b and it uses stock mounts then you wont have to do anything. aftermarket cats are acceptable if you have done an engine swap, you wont have to run an air pump. Also the emissions test, if required, is not a big deal........ its only an air fuel ratio check with a wideband meter its not checking HCs or any of that stuff so if the car is tuned properly its not a problem.

Yes. If your car originally had a cat converter (which almost ALL Japanese import cars since the late 70s/early 80s did), and you require a cert then you will technically need to re-fit a suitable cat converter. However, until then, you don't need a cat converter to pass a WOF check. Seems silly I know. NO. all this emission stuff (at the moment anyway) only applies to vehicles with an engine swap. So if you have your original engine that is modified you dont have to worry about cats or emission tests.

was working backwards to your one then it pops up again lol basic rule of thumb is cant be weaker/less safe than original. eg, any strengthening ribs or braces should be duplicated or refitted, should use similar thickness materials etc........its a bit hard to describe how to do it over the internets. With more involved modifications like this its best to get your local certifier involved early on so they can tell you what they want you to do, as a lot of this sort of stuff can vary a bit depending on the certifier. as for the cat, requirements are on page 7 of this http://lvvta.org.nz/stdExhaustGasEmissions.pdf

all over auckland. Cert inspection has to be done at an "approved site" basically anywhere that does wofs. i have 2 shops i do most of my work at, one in takanini and one in kelston. Can come to you if you want to do it at your local garage/workshop if they are happy for us to use thier hoist etc...

Ok so in saying that, my 1982 Toyota Mark 2 with a 2jzgte wont need a CAT because my car never had 1 with the orginal engine? if your car wasnt originally fitted with a cat, no. You sure it wasnt? i thought JDM cars would have had them then...... nz spec wouldnt, nobody cared about the dolphins and polar bears then.....

if you used all parts from a manual car and it all fits as per factory then you shouldnt need a cert for a gearbox swap.

Up to you......... Officially speaking, it should be re certified and really the plate should have "custom ladder bar/4 bar rear suspension" on it if that has changed from what it was originally. quite often the plate doesnt have everything on it due to lack of room but it should have major changes like suspension configuration on it

nope needs re cert the chassis number wont match up because if its a re reg it will have a new 17 digit 7A8123456789 type chassis number instead of the old one

dont really know yet havn`t had to deal with it so far.........but i would think a pic of the original exhaust, and the fact yours is nz new (correct?) should be enough

yes would need cert for changing to DOHC head. what sort of car is it? if you can prove it then you shouldnt need one. as of may 1 any car being certed for an engine swap has to have a cat fitted IF the engine being fitted AND the car originally had one. IE r32 skyline with RB26= needs cat. r32 skyline with 265 chrysler 6 cyl= no cat. valiant charger with RB26= no cat. theres a few grey areas that i will need to find out about- theres a lot of cars of the same model that may or may not have had cats fitted from factory no if it falls within the less than 20% increase then it wont need cert. heres another handy thing to look at it tells you what you can do that doesnt need cert. its dated april 04 but i dont think much would have changed http://lvvta.org.nz/CertThresholdScheduleApril04V3.pdf

would probably be a scratchbuilt. and what a lovely motorcar it would be.

yes that will need a cert, its no worries to fit them yourself, the main thing is to get them in the right place. Probably a good idea to go see your local certifier and get them to show you where to put them. The actual fitting of the belt is easy, you can buy `seatbelt doubler plates` they are basically one plate above and one below the floor, sandwiched together and riveted, then the belt bolts to that. there are a few other things like using the correct rivets, aligning the plates correctly etc, all that is in here http://lvvta.org.nz/stdSeatbeltAnchorages.pdf

sounds like one of those stories you`d hear around a campfire from someone with a torch under thier chin.......... we are lucky to have a system that allows us to modify vehicles in this country.... i know sometimes it seems the rules can make modifying a car tough, but we can do pretty much anything to a vehicle, if its safe and meets the regulations. it came pretty close to not being able to do anything to a car or at least making it very difficult/expensive in the early 90`s

yep as runamuck said those are declarations, that say the vehicle was modified before the cert rules came about at the start of the 90`s. they didnt actually have to meet any regulations as far as i know, so some of them are a bit dodgy. there was another cert that was on laminated paper, for minor mods......it used to be that you had to get a cert for just a set of lowering springs, my boss used to do them at the workshop where i did my apprenticeship, i think they were about $90 for those.

yep thats possible.....the things which will apply to this mod would be external projections http://lvvta.org.nz/stdExternalProjections.pdf things like the bonnet edge not being sharp/having a proper folded edge, oil cooler having radised edges etc..... to prevent the vehicle acting like a cheese grater on a pedestrian who is too busy texting or fiddling with thier ipod. also as you mentioned lighting, easiest way to check on that would be go to your friendly wof man, and ask to have a look in the WOF VIRM, that had diagrams with angles that the lights must be visible from. or look in here http://lvvta.org.nz/stdLightingStandard.pdf the wof manual is probably a bit easier to read.

i know it seems a bit dumb, but legally speaking, yes you would need a cert for that.

yes you can notch a chassis rail, 3 or 4 mm would be fine. I use as a rule of thumb no more than 1/3rd of the rail cut out for a c notch, any more than that and you would need to do a "step" or "bridge" notch like what minitruck guys do. i have seen a few trucks from the states with a notch like you have pictured that have cracked at the notched part because there isnt enough height in the chassis rail any more. even with a small c notch the sides of the rail would need reinforcement to make the rail as strong as it was originally.

yes thats ok. as long as theres enough room for a person to sit behind the fixed seat.

You sir, are quite correct.

yep. bumpstops are always required

Your struts would be checked again, the old cert becomes irrelevant when its a different car. Shouldnt be an issue if they are done correctly. as for what checks are involved, its basically common sense stuff, springs captive, travel, parts compatability, how it drives, etc we charge 450 for a cert which would basically cover everything, ( susp, wheels, seats, etc) unless its had an engine swap. then its 500-600, depending on what engine, what mods have been done to get it in.......if the owner causes headaches.... the price usually includes 1 recheck, the plate manufacture, and gst. thats what we charge, not everyone has the same pricing.....have heard of a couple of certifiers who charge less for the initial inspection, then more to get the plate made and more if the car needs a recheck

Nope. ive certed a couple of cars in the past that the wastegate pipe runs all the way out next to the exhaust so it exits the vehicle, but the wording in the wof manual has changed, so cant do that any more.

oh haere mai andrew. unfortunately there is no easy answer to that one....there used to be some sort of percentage that you could change and it would be classed as a scratchbuilt. all this is being reviewed at the moment as far as i know. if you got an uncompliable car and built a full chassis for it then it could probably could be called a scratchbuilt, going by what has been happening with other other vehicles. eg if you get a original old 32 ford body and build a new chassis for it, it becomes a scratchbuilt car