For Questions Regarding WOFs/CERTs/NUMBER PLATEs

[Bearded Baldy]

Just had another read. I had gotten the names confused between doubler plates and underfloor mounting plates.

Doesn't matter as they have to be 3mm plate too i see. 

Am i right in my understanding that if i make seat bracket that touches the floor 110x50mm (5,500mm³), that i can use an underfloor plate instead of doubler plates?

 

[MaxPower]

Hey my fil is currently building a replica of this old thing (1928 studebaker special), straight 8 powered with a Toyota box and a 28 studebaker modified chassis and diff, he’s wondering if he can get it road legal? As he doesn’t want side intrusion bars (no doors), gards , roll bars, shoulder seat belts, windscreen wiper, sun visor etc. thanks 

[cletus]

On 21/12/2025 at 22:20, Bearded Baldy said:

Just had another read. I had gotten the names confused between doubler plates and underfloor mounting plates.

Doesn't matter as they have to be 3mm plate too i see. 

Am i right in my understanding that if i make seat bracket that touches the floor 110x50mm (5,500mm³), that i can use an underfloor plate instead of doubler plates?

 

Yes if the top plate has the same minimum footprint as a doubler plate, then you don't need to fit top plates

[shrike]

@cletus assuming aftermarket brakes require cert? Ie wilwoods and caliper adapters 

[Bling]

Correct.

 

You can download the whole LVVTA cert PDF now for free IIRC, Chapter 8-1 covers brakes.

[cletus]

2 hours ago, shrike said:

@cletus assuming aftermarket brakes require cert? Ie wilwoods and caliper adapters 

Yes definitely 

[xsspeed]

are you allowed to modify the calliper body at all? ie take 5mm its mounting surface

eg 

[cletus]

On 27/12/2025 at 21:01, MaxPower said:

Hey my fil is currently building a replica of this old thing (1928 studebaker special), straight 8 powered with a Toyota box and a 28 studebaker modified chassis and diff, he’s wondering if he can get it road legal? As he doesn’t want side intrusion bars (no doors), gards , roll bars, shoulder seat belts, windscreen wiper, sun visor etc. thanks 

 

Windscreen you can get away with not having sun visor or wipers if its a wind deflector ie if you look over the top of it not through it then it's a wind deflector

Roll bar is not compulsory, an open car it just has to have provision for one 

Lap and diagonal belts are not avoidable on a scratch built vehicle (I'm assuming that's what this is going to be) OR you can fit harnesses but there are other requirements like 3 mirrors , head rests etc

No guards requires a fender exemption, has to be under a certain weight, pre 1935 body , and you have to belong to a nzhra hot rod club 

Doors- it doesn't have to have doors but it does have to have enough height to keep the occupants inside the vehicle - the details are in the door standard on lvvta.org.nz 

 

In short yes you can build a replica but it still has to meet the minimum safety requirements which, to be fair, are a very low bar for 2025/6

[cletus]

10 minutes ago, xsspeed said:

are you allowed to modify the calliper body at all? ie take 5mm its mounting surface

eg 

Not easily 

Short answer no

Long answer possibly if you could supply proof that the material removed does not weaken it past a safe point,  this would probably require discussion with lvvta (a) to see if that would even be looked at and (b) what the loading requirements would be, to enable an engineer to do FEA to prove it is strong enough 

 

Looking at it I don't think it would be a go, looks like quite a bit of material removed 

[xsspeed]

thanks clint, that makes an "easy" option hard

what about this sort of thing, brackets to set the calipers further out from hub center to run a bigger disc

[JustHarry]

8 hours ago, cletus said:

 

Windscreen you can get away with not having sun visor or wipers if its a wind deflector ie if you look over the top of it not through it then it's a wind deflector

Roll bar is not compulsory, an open car it just has to have provision for one 

Lap and diagonal belts are not avoidable on a scratch built vehicle (I'm assuming that's what this is going to be) OR you can fit harnesses but there are other requirements like 3 mirrors , head rests etc

No guards requires a fender exemption, has to be under a certain weight, pre 1935 body , and you have to belong to a nzhra hot rod club 

Doors- it doesn't have to have doors but it does have to have enough height to keep the occupants inside the vehicle - the details are in the door standard on lvvta.org.nz 

 

In short yes you can build a replica but it still has to meet the minimum safety requirements which, to be fair, are a very low bar for 2025/6

If it's on an original 1928 studebaker chassis he should be able to rego it as a 1928 studebaker with lvvta for the gearbox and rebody ? 

Assuming it's a president motor and chassis . There should be no issue 

[cletus]

5 hours ago, JustHarry said:

If it's on an original 1928 studebaker chassis he should be able to rego it as a 1928 studebaker with lvvta for the gearbox and rebody ? 

Assuming it's a president motor and chassis . There should be no issue 

Correct, if its a modified original car instead of a scratch built replica then it only has to meet the requirements of a 1928 vehicle 

 

There's an info sheet on mod production vs scratch built definitions 

https://lvvta.org.nz/documents/infosheets/LVVTA_Info_02-2018_Modified_Production_&_Scratch-built_Low_Volume_Vehicle_Definitions.pdf

[Bling]

Nan

[cletus]

On 29/12/2025 at 21:41, xsspeed said:

thanks clint, that makes an "easy" option hard

what about this sort of thing, brackets to set the calipers further out from hub center to run a bigger disc

Yep that type of bracket is common

Would need to be 6061 t6 (lvvta requires this as a minimum for most critical function parts) or equivalent strength if alloy and thick enough everywhere 

[Leone]

This question is one probably better suited for Facebook as an anonymous post....

 

Is it possible to body swap on a monocoque chassis and be legal in NZ? Understand there is a fair bit of structural pitfalls there, would adding a roll cage and jumping thru those hoops make it work/easier? 

 

 

[Nominal]

44 minutes ago, Leone said:

This question is one probably better suited for Facebook as an anonymous post....

 

Is it possible to body swap on a monocoque chassis and be legal in NZ? Understand there is a fair bit of structural pitfalls there, would adding a roll cage and jumping thru those hoops make it work/easier? 

 

 

Brennan's one here is on a Lexus  so it is definitely possible.
 

 

[cletus]

Dunno, depends on the situation 

There are allowances for repair ie if you have a rusty car with a legitimate ID,  and you can buy a new replacement body ie a mustang, mini etc then that can be done 

Repairs can be done ie quarter cut if it's done by a panel beater

Where it gets murky like "everything except my firewall was rusty so I replaced the rest" starts sounding like a plate and tag swap so you'd need to get nzta involved before you start so that it doesn't look dodgy 

 

Edit;  my brain immediately assumed rusty subaru body swaps

What @Nominal said

[Leone]

@Nominal thanks, will go for a nosy when im on break.

@cletus yea rusty Subaru thoughts are right, the more we get into it the worse it gets, there was a wrecked wrx in the shop and the boys said be less work to effectively put the top part of the Leone on the bottom part of a WRX than fix the rust... which lead to a conversation... which lead to bad ideas over beers and now I'm here contemplating life and probably poor decisions (made doubly worse by being addicted to rusty Subarus)

[cletus]

if you do that, it becomes a new scratch built vehicle

which, one advantage of that is it is covered 100% by the lvv certifier

which means you dont need a repair certifier if its de reg

and 3 year wofs

 

[westy]

Are repair certs all that bad? 
Im weighing similar options.