Silvia Club of NSW

hey, looking at a power fc for the next mod on my s14, was just wondering what the go is, weather its illegal to put an after market computer in, can you get them engineered etc? ive seen alot of cars (in magazines) with the apexi hand controller mounted on the dash and i always thought aftermarket computers were illegal but these people don't seem to go to any measures to hide the fact that they have one

can anyone clear this up for me?

thanks

Its not illegal to have an after market ECU as long as the tune meets EPA emmission tests

_________________
To live your dreams you must first face your fears...........

but a cat concerter doesnt automatically make it legal does it, still lets some bad stuff through?

no a converter will not automatically make it legal, to be sure, you would need to have the exhaust emissions analysed of its content.

There is no garantee of how well the cat will do its job. cats also have a working life of 60,000kms

_________________

You know who we be, N.A love for the S one three
S R twenty DE yo, will f**k on vtec like i f**k them hoes

My S15 has a Power FC which has been tuned to pass emissions .I have had the test results added to my engineer's certificate. Quite a lengthy and expensive process but well worth it. No more defects!!!

was there any compromise to power, response, fuel consumption etc. to get it to pass emissions ?

i think that boost controllers and aftermarket computers can be seen as against the emissions laws, and hence if a copper knows his stuff, can send you to the pits to get your car checked out by EPA officers etc. and you DONT want that happening with a modified car!

so i hide my controller n stuff, also deters thieves....

_________________

I am running pretty much stock, but when I start getting modifications, I will be hiding what I can.

Police dont need to know their stuff to defect, as they are not inspectors, they just need to "beleive" there could be an issue with a "suspected" modification, and then they place a defect on that part, and force you to get it inspected to either remove the defect notice, or enforce it.

I have seen stock vehicles get defect noticed because the wiper spray bottle was low on water, and the officer" believed" there could be a crack of break that caused the water to be so low, therefore defected it to be checked.

I have also seen defects for exhaust, lack of rubber on the foot pedals, no H-pattern on the gear lever, pod filter on a car that was engineered to have the pod filter (custom built hot-rod), car assumed to be lowered because they could see the guard becoming damaged (it was a ford, and anyone knows a ford has stock guard damage, check out Taxi's for confirmation).

To escape defects, you either need to have a complete engineering history certified on your car, or just not upset the officer.

The guy I know that got his custom hot-rod defected had certification for all the car, including the air pod filter, had the certification on him, and offered to show the officer, but the officer was only there to pass on a defect, so he accepted the defect, and had it lifted the next day with a quick RTA inspection, and copy of the engineering documents.

B.

adding to what BLISTIC has said. The police are powerless to send to to the EPA.
The EPA themselfs need to pull you in.
I know of many a cases where the police have written on the notice "Needs to be inspected by EPA" or "must comply with ADR...."
This means nothing really.

_________________
To live your dreams you must first face your fears...........

This is true in regards to EPA related issues, if they believe your emissions are all stuffed, then they can inform EPA, who can request you get tested, but police themsevles can not defect you for "emissions" directly.

B.

I was defected / fined for the being contrary to standard only fined $75 dollars and referred to the EPA for noise.
Went to EPA at Lidcome to clear noise defect no problem, but the nice EPA inspector kindly handed me a defect for emissions as he suspected the engine was internally modified and would not met EPA emission levels.

I have the emissions map saved if I have a problem in the future and yes it reduced power by 25%.

ahh nice, i thought you were permanently on the emissions map

I don't think any SR with over 250rwkw's would met EPA emission levels.

There is a fine line there.....

with the right "multi-map" setup, any car will pass emissions....

Just got to have the right map activated when they check

B.

blacksx, did the car pass emmissions after you had modified it to 250rwkw, or earlier in your state of mods?