Boosted Falcon

Hey guys,

There's been 11ty threads called 'emissions testing' I'm sure, and being a Vic based forum, I'm sure everyone has mentioned the stupid costs and not done any more, but I'm wondering if anyone in Australia has done emissions testing, with any car, anywhere in Australia, and have the results handy?

I ask, because I finally called Regency/TSA (Transport SA, think of them as SA-Roads) about boosting an E-Series with SA plates, and they just have to have a PCV system, operational fuel vapour emissions system (charcoal canister), not vent any air/fuel mix to the atmosphere (BOV on a suck-through carby) and pass the relevant ADR, which is ADR 37/01. I asked about ECUs, and there's no specific law about them, IE the tune doesn't need to be locked by an engineer or be an ADR approved ECU etc, just as long as the tune presented in the emissions test doesn't change. Read into that what you will.

I'm making this thread hoping that people have actually had their boosted cars emissions tested and have the results. It's $300 in SA. I know in Vic it's thousands. The TSA tester made it sound horrendous, like after spending many thousands on a car, $300 will break the bank.

I found the following link to be interesting. Basically they tested vehicles between 3,000km and 15,000km in 2002 to see how they fared againt then-current laws, and upcoming EURO2 and EURO3 laws.
http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/ ... estudy.pdf

Random fact: ADR 37/01 includes provisions that a car will still pass the relevant emissions laws at 70,000km.

For the lazy cunce, ADR37/01 basically means:

CO2 emissions = 2.1g/Km
HC emissions = 0.26g/Km
NOx emissions = 0.63g/Km.

If you don't know what that means, http://www.google.com.au until you do.

The AU Falcons they tested beat all of those figures by 60%, basically meaning you can have a boosted Falcon pollute over twice as much as standard and still be legal.

In that PDF they also show how much difference a cat makes (lots), and on that, does anyone know if there's a formula or guide about cats doing their converting catalysts thing the best? Is there a size to airflow ratio or something?

As an ending note, I also called VicRoads about transferring a car from SA to Vic, and was told as long as the SA car has current rego and passes SA roadworthy laws, it's legal in Vic with it's new Vic rego. I personally think he was talking out of his arse, but that means you could transfer a boosted car to SA rego (SA doesn't require an RWC for this), pass the $300 emissions test, then transfer back to Vic rego and have many boosted smiles.

theres no way you would b able to drive a boosted car in vic without an engineers certificate.

If it's been engineered in other states then yes, you can.

I have to regularly emissions test vehicles underground to ensure we don't die a horrible asphyxiated death lol. The standards are so high that unless they pretty much have no rings, and faulty diesel injectors they will never fail. I'll try to get a few specs next shift.
On the surface it's less than a hundred dollars for an emissions test in town for certification purposes.. I have no idea how they can justify the pricetag they do in Victoria.

the test they do in victoria takes significantly longer.
thats why it costs so much.

i also beleive its a lot more strict then just an exhaust emmisions test, to the point of leaks in the engine bay burning off can impact the results.

Ef_frmnt wrote:If it's been engineered in other states then yes, you can.

then my sentence that says you cannot drive a boosted car in vic without an engineers certificate stands correct lol.
there is nothing mentioned in the OP about an engineers certificate from what i could see, but regardless, i don't think a qld mod plate would stop a cop from defecting you and i also doubt too many vic workshops would risk their license giving you a roady cause you have a mod plate or even perhaps an engineers cert from another state.

even if you have an engineers cert from victoria you can get defected and asked to get a roady which you could fail lol.

sunny will be able to clarify all this shit anyway, hes like the vicroads oracle

If i get my car an engineers certificate from SA or a mod plate from Queensland and then get pulled over and asked to show proof of engineers certificate soon as the police see it has SA or Qld on it he will slap a yellow sticker on my car.

Reading through the RWC requirements on Vic cars on the VicRoads website though, it pretty much says stuff like emissions isn't up to the place doing the RWC to decide. IE they don't do emissions testing, they'd just say 'no proof of emissions, no pass'. But I'm new to Vic laws, like most people here are new to SA or Qld laws. I'm sure if I called VicRoads 5 times, I'd get 5 different answers.

I did briefly mention engineers in regard to locking the ECU. The emissions testing is done by a certified engineer.

I probably should have specified that a Govt. appointed engineer looks at these things during a 'major roadworthy inspection' in SA.

On that, an AUII front end will be fine when I show the TSA engineers that the suspension geometry hasn't changed from stock, and that it's as safe/safer than standard.

If i get my car an engineers certificate from SA or a mod plate from Queensland and then get pulled over and asked to show proof of engineers certificate soon as the police see it has SA or Qld on it he will slap a yellow sticker on my car.

Random Cop probably will. But if you have the paperwork showing the car is in fact legal in Vic you'll get out of it, then the cop will be assigned to pen pushing for a month.

Getting some sort of legal and proper clarification that a car approved interstate is legal in Vic is the key.

That is definitely something i would love to no!

to be legal in Vic it needs to have been signed off by a VASS Signatory.
looking on Vicroads listing, there is only 1 in SA, located in KENT TOWN. He might accept the cheaper SA based test and sign it all off, meaning you're sweet.
however, the certificates only apply for 30 days, like a road worthy.
Not sure what hoops you'd have to go through *if* the cops decided it wasnt legal and slapped a defect on it at a later date.

if its still on interstate rego, thats a different story and one i assume won't have a single answer.

Qld mod plate, qld rego, tell cops your working in vic on a contract.

Thats what my mate has done, 180 with a 4l toyota V8 in it.

With regards to the Vic Emissions Test, the reason they charge $1500 for it is because it takes 24 hours and multiple runs for the test to be deemed complete. I rang around about this late last year, and got onto an Engineer by the name of Paul who just happens to own Roaring 40’s (who is VASS approved I believe) who gave me the details of the main testing facility in South Melbourne. After speaking to Paul, and also the manager of the testing place, the procedure has to test your car in all ‘normal’ driving conditions. So that means, cold start, warm running, hot start, and driving at all legal speed limits. So they have your car for two days to cover it all. I mentioned ECU tuning, and Paul said he would sign off on an edited factory ECU no worries. He just needs a complete and passed Emissions Certificate before sign off, and said that (for me anyway) to pass I would need basically a complete FG exhaust set-up, or as close to as possible.
So, after all that, the reason I never continued with it was down to cash. Would have cost me roughly $3-4k, and not even be guaranteed to pass first time. Plus, as has already been stated, even with an Engineering Certificate, it’s still up to the discretion of the officer pulling you over. I was more worried about insurance than anything else.

the fact that its at the discretion of the officer pulling you over almost makes it all a moot point.
such a bullshit waste of fucking time and money.
if it was qld spec, every single person would mod plate and there would be alot more safer setups around.