Modification guidelines for each State and Territory

[Harv]

Ladies and gents,

I wish I had a dollar for every time someone has asked just how big an engine they can jam into their FB/EK and still legally hang number plates on the front of it . To make things somewhat simpler, I have copied below the information that each state or territories road authority has published on their website. It’s also handy for steering/suspension etc changes.

A few caveats:
a) The info below is for guidance. I’m no lawyer, rego authority or policeman – use the info at your own risk. No promises that I haven't misread the websites or missed something (if I have please post and let us know).
b) In most cases, engineering signatories have some leeway to go over or under the level of control in this material. It is a guide only – don’t be surprised on one hand if your mate can get a 600ci motor engineered, or on the other hand if a particular engineer asks you for four wheel disk brakes with brake fail warning lights for a red motor.
c) The information changes regularly.
d) There is a heap of kerfuffle over the implementation of the National Code of Practice… don’t be surprised if your engineer will do nothing until the kerfuffle is resolved.

New South Wales
Home page
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/registration/ ... index.html
List of guidelines
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/registration/ ... infosheets
Specific guidelines for light vehicle modifications
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/registration/ ... v_2007.pdf

Queensland
Home page
http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/Safety/Vehicl ... tions.aspx
Description of process
http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/~/media/c792a ... icles2.pdf
Code of Practice
http://www.tmr.qld.gov.au/~/media/b3ea8 ... ctions.pdf

South Australia
SA's rego authorities are somewhat shy about publishing modification guidelines.
List of guidelines
http://www.transport.sa.gov.au/personal ... hicles.asp
Modifications:
http://www.calaisturbo.com.au/attachmen ... 1149671499

Victoria
List of Guidelines
http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/Home/Saf ... maiton.htm
Specific modification guideline
http://www.vicroads.vic.gov.au/NR/rdonl ... hicles.pdf
Vehicle Standards Bulletin 14 (VSB14) referenced by guidelines
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/ ... _ncop.aspx

Western Australia
Home page
http://www.transport.wa.gov.au/licensing/20500.asp
Vehicle Standards Bulletin 14 (VSB14) referenced by guidelines
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/ ... _ncop.aspx

Tasmania
Home page
http://www.transport.tas.gov.au/vehicle ... ifications
Vehicle Standards Bulletin 14 (VSB14) referenced by guidelines
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/ ... _ncop.aspx

Northern Territory
Homepage
http://www.nt.gov.au/transport/mvr/vehiclestandards/
List of Bulletins
http://www.nt.gov.au/transport/mvr/vehi ... ndex.shtml
Modification guidelines
http://www.nt.gov.au/transport/mvr/vehi ... /ibv32.pdf
Vehicle Standards Bulletin 14 (VSB14) referenced by guidelines
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/ ... _ncop.aspx

Australian Capital Territory
Homepage
http://www.rego.act.gov.au/registrations/regomain.htm
Modification guidelines
http://www.rego.act.gov.au/assets/PDFs/ ... %20ACT.pdf
Vehicle Standards Bulletin 14 (VSB14) referenced by guidelines
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/ ... _ncop.aspx

Looking specifically at engine capacity (the most common question):
NSW
naturally aspirated, in cubic inches is original tare mass (kg) x 0.294 and in millilitres (cc) is original tare mass (kg) x 4.82.
forced induction, in cubic inches is original tare mass (kg) x 0.244 and in millilitres (cc) is original tare mass (kg) x 4.0.

Queensland
Same formula as NSW, except Queensland lists the tare mass as 1099kg for FBs and 1120kg for EKs (I can't find an offical list of vehicle weights for NSW). This gives:
naturally aspirated: 323ci/5297cc for FBs and 329ci/5398cc for EKs
forced induction: 268ci/4396cc for FBs and 273ci/4480cc for EKs

South Australia
Transport SA does not specify an absolute maximum capacity, power and/or torque for engines that may be fitted to passenger vehicles, however, Category 1 and Category 2 Approved Engine Change Lists have been developed which specify some engine changes which are acceptable to Transport SA. I cannot get my hands on an online copy of the Lists. For other than Category 1 modifications a Statement of Requirements is required from Transport SA prior to commencing modification of a vehicle.

Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory
naturally aspirated, in millilitres (cc) is original mass (kg) x 5.0
forced induction, in milliliters is original mass (kg) x 3.0
Can't find lists of original vehicle weights in the VSB14, but it does give a pretty good description of how to determine one at http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/ ... 011_v3.pdf

Hope this helps.

Cheers,
Harv.

[Trev]

Good info, made sticky .

[Mick]

the formula tare mass thing is also usually based on the weight of the manual sedan version of the model aswell in NSW anyway, this is also unmodified so don't go thinking if i stick a 9" in it it will bump up the weight the RTA have the weights on record

[RobinGi]

using the different vehicle weights i came up with this for vic
this is from the FB manual, am i right using the kerb weight ?

[Harv]

RoniGI,

For Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania, Northern Territory and Australian Capital Territory:

The mass of the vehicle referred to is the original (unmodified) tare mass of the model vehicle fitted with the largest engine available for the model in Australia but without optional accessories (air conditioning, tow bars etc.). The mass of the vehicle, whether it is a sedan, station wagon, utility, etc., should be based on the heaviest sedan version of the model (not station wagon version) sold in Australia.

This means that for FBs you would need to use the 225 (Special sedan) weight of 2494lb, giving an engine capacity of 345ci (regardless of whether you want to bolt it into a sedan, wagon, ute or panelvan).

As I understand it, Kerb Weight = car weight + full fluids (including petrol) but no driver, passengers or luggage, and is the same as tare weight.

Cheers,
Harv.

[Mick]

so far i've heard of a couple of guys doing brake tests, swerve tests and speedo callibrations, now don't know the full details of why these are needed all i'm told is suspension and brake modifications (not sure on speedo calibration) but this is the kicker 2 different engineers that i know of each test $550 on top of the price of the engineers report

[Harv]

$550 for each test? I guess it's a captive audience, but still pricey.

I assume the brake test is the basic deceleration test that pink slip stations do (quick squirt around the block, tap the brakes, print the paper slip). Can't be $550 in that surely. Swerve test I guess is checking handling, but probably part of the same squirt around the block (?). Speedo calibration I guess could be done with a GPS on an extended squirt around the block, or could be done on the rolling road (even if it was the rolling road, $500 is a fair bit of dyno time).

Starting to dread engineering the EK more as each day goes.

Cheers,
Harv.

[Mick]

not real sure but they had to be conducted at airports not on public roads so that explains some of the cost, i think the brake test is more than the pink slip type cause guys i know that do them say yor brakes have to be pretty bad to fail, an engineer was saying he had to knock a couple of cars back on the brake tests as the brakes on the cars were completely brand new and therefore not bedded in and would not pass the test

[EK283]

Here we go again,

Its getting tuff but I still don't get it. The modification business creates huge amounts of revenue but the GOV want's it stopped WHY ??



***Important - Please Read and Act****

The NSW Center for Road Safety has done it again - things are about to get a lot tougher for motoring enthusiasts in NSW unless we act now.

During 2010-11 the RTA started to demand that Engineering Signatories perform an "Abridged Brake Test" on many modified vehicles - this test required high speeds, the rental of a specialist testing venue and frequently resulted in damage to the vehicle and tyres.

At the 2012 Motor Enthusiasts Conference the Roads Minister made several important commitments to address these concerns:-
- That a new brake test would be developed within a newly established Vehicle Standards Working Group that included representatives from Motoring Enthusiasts Community
- That the VSCCS scheme would not dictate the tests that vehicle certifiers needed to perform
- That the brake test would not be mandatory, and would be at the discretion of the vehicle certifier.
- That the revised brake test would be practical and affordable

Yesterday, the center for road safety staged a demonstration of the revised brake test procedure at Goulburn airport for members of the VSWG and vehicle certifiers. The Center for Road Safety believe that it was a huge success - we believe it just demonstrates that they are still not getting the message and will continue to inflict punitive conditions on motoring enthusiasts.

Somewhat ironically, the test vehicle used as the subject failed the tests...not because of the modifications....the failure was down to the only remaining standard parts of the brake system!

The new brake test schedule will cost between $2000 to $3000 to perform and unless you can convince your local Police area command to let you use over a km of road with an 80, or in some cases a 100km/h speed limit will require you to rent an airport for a day.

The test not only applies to vehicles that have modified brakes, but also to vehicles with minor changes to vehicle weight (10% axle loading), power (20%), wheel size, suspension height and a whole host of other changes.

The test also requires historic pre-ADR vehicles to perform to test standards derived from current generation ADR requirements - an approach which has not been tested and will be almost impossible for most historic vehicles to pass.

This will encompass most of the most common modifications made to vehicles by enthusiast groups - changes as small as fitting a bullbar, fitting out a tradie's ute with a storage system, a basic engine retune or just trying to improve the woeful standard brakes in your car will now become prohibitively expensive.

Even if you can afford to spend $3000 on a brake test, it is doubtful that you will be able to get it done - the Center for Road Safety stated that it had demonstrated that the test schedule was practical because it had performed the tests on one single vehicle, and was offering to rent a test venue once every 6 months or so as a goodwill gesture.

In our view the test can only be regarded as practical if *every* impacted vehicle can be tested in a convenient fashion - the test schedule will mandate testing many thousands of vehicles each year, and it is difficult to see how more than a hundred or so can be put through the test process each year.

The RMS require that modified vehicles being brought into NSW must be re-registered within a few weeks.....a mandatory inspection process that will take many months will do nothing but force these vehicles off the road.

We will post details of the brake test schedule on our website later today so that you can judge for yourself.

The proposed schedule is in direct conflict with the commitments that the Minister made at the 2012 conference.
- It is not practical or affordable
- It does dictate the tests that the certifiers must perform (It was intimated that this will be enforced through the certifier's audit process which will result in fines of thousands of dollars for the certifiers if they fail to produce the evidence from the brake test)
- It removes the discretion of the certified and makes the brake test mandatory.

We need you to do several things in order to ensure that this revised brake test schedule does not go ahead in its current form.

1. Watch the video of the Road Minister's speech at last years conference - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwk9Y-d6RC4 - the relevant section begins at 14:45 into the video.
2. Send an email to the minister's office - office@gay.minister.nsw.gov.au - Reminding him of the previous commitments made and make it clear that the brake test schedule currently proposed by the Center for Road Safety does not meet them, request that the brake test is referred back to the Vehicle Standards Working Group with a strongly reinforced message to meet the commitment to practicality and affordability.
3. Try to attend the Motor Enthusiast Conference on the 17th Feb - http://2013-acmc-conference.eventbrite.com.au/ - Entrance to the exhibition is free, entrance to the conference itself costs around $30 including lunch and will provide the opportunity to question the Minister and senior representatives from RMS and TfNSW directly. We are also going to try and arrange a demonstration of some simple alternative approaches to brake testing within the exhibition area.
4. Share this post with anyone that you know that will be impacted - club members, motoring enthusiasts, parts suppliers, modification workshops, etc and encourage them to act.
5. Sign up for an account on the ACMC website - http://www.confederationofmotorclubs.org.au/ to add yourself to our mailing list so that we can keep you informed. The registration process is very simple if you have a facebook account, just click the blue facebook connect button and your account will be created automatically.




Regards Greg

[MeFB]

office@gay.minister.nsw.gov.au

Seriously?