Discussion - "illegal" modifications to vehicles

[d40.navara]

I have been on both sides of the fence owning and moding skylines way beyond ever being legal with no regard for the law and now my fully legal fully engineered nav cant say either is safer but i can say i have never had a defect ever !!
NSW police seem to only defect when they catch you doing something stupid or driving in a group.
However if you are involved in a crash they may defect you and it will go on the police report which the insurance company may choose to view.

i decided to engineer my nav for legal reasons only.


PLEASE NOTE EXTENDED SHACKLES ARE ENGINEERABLE !!! THEY ARE CLEARLY LISTED ON MY ENGINEERS REPORT WHICH HAS BEEN SUBMITTED TO THE NSW RTA WHO RE ISSUED ME WITH A NEW REGO LABLE SHOWING CERTIFICATION NUMBER.

not sure why majority thinnk they are not.
To be honest i cant believe what can be engineered its pretty easy ,The main reason i reckon people dont have their mods engineered is the cost.which i understand.

My 4x4 could be defected off the road on the spot if i didnt have the certification and rta approval but i have it, thats the only difference.

In short im legal but not any safer with my paperwork.

Stay safe and drive to your vehicles abillity !!!!!

 

[WIR35]

My personal choice will be to ALWAYS have my daily drive roadworthy, and if the time comes when I want a toy which will be highly modded, it will be for the track only, or have club rego and conditional approval to drive on the road. (probably a VW Golf R32 Mk4 or an E36 BMW M3)

 

[maddogrc]

i still had heaps of travel in the rear of my duel cab when it was stock hight every round about in the wet it use to break traction now it is very rare i have had a few stock cars and utes slide abit on that corner even my mate who drives like a grandma in his excel still slides on it in the wet

no offence, but maybe if you learnt to drive properly you wouldnt be sliding through all the round abouts in the wet...

that or you need new tyres!

i never had the issue of round about drifting/sliding? i only did when i tried to by putting my foot down. if you keep doing it even when going slowly and going easy on the throttle, then how come its only you and not every single car going through them?

 

[maddogrc]

PLEASE NOTE EXTENDED SHACKLES ARE ENGINEERABLE !!! THEY ARE CLEARLY LISTED ON MY ENGINEERS REPORT WHICH HAS BEEN SUBMITTED TO THE NSW RTA WHO RE ISSUED ME WITH A NEW REGO LABLE SHOWING CERTIFICATION NUMBER.

the reason i got told that extended shackles arent able to be approved/engineered is because when you use extended shackles you effectively put more load on the spring hangers when cornering as the gap between leaf spring and spring hanger is much bigger meaning that there is more twisting force/load on the spring hangers.

and you cant really strengthen the spring hangers much i guess?

EDIT:

quote a member of the explorOz website...

"be carefull, i fitted some on a rodeo and the extra leverage of the shackel and spring extension ripped the shackel fitting off the chassis. "

 

[Dave]

Depends on the road, I was coming back from Salamander Bay yesterday and came out of a round about and the rear kicked out not intentionally.

Some industrial areas always have crap spilt on the road, as soon as it rains its slippery as.

I would hate to be driving a stock D22 with factory tyres etc around the industrial areas.

 

[maddogrc]

tyres are funny things...

my stock 195R14 tyres held better in the rain then the set of cooper ATR 225/75R16's that i bought and put on the nav.

in the wet changing through the gears, 1st, spin, 2nd, spin, 3rd was fine til the turbo kicked in about 20m down the road after getting traction in 2nd and then it spun! the little 195R14's wouldnt spin easy though? lol

but like i said, how come only his car kept spinning out every time and not others?

 

[terryc]

no offence, but maybe if you learnt to drive properly you wouldnt be sliding through all the round abouts in the wet...

Stiff Springs?. The stock springs in the old 1992 Mazda E2000 would bounce around any corner when the van was unloaded. It was easier to just use it as extended storage and carry 250kg as a minimum.

Although there was a definite hop rather than a slide. By the time roundabouts became common here, we were just accustomed to carrying a load full time.

 

[maddogrc]

i have 11 leaf super stiff mine spec rear spring packs, i have no issues with round abouts...

however, when i take corners fast (sometimes on purpose), my back inside tyre will usually lift off the ground haha. it once nearly lifted a foot off the ground, but i was trying to.

 

[Aussie Frontier]

I just finished a weekend playing on the racetrack. The new front suspension worked perfectly and actually just what we had hoped for. I installed softer front springs so that under heavy breaking it actually dives somewhat and the camber goes negative. Where I used to have chronic under steer issues that has been solved with the new camber adjustable upper control arms and the softer springs.
However now I have a front end that sticks really well and is very driveable the rear now tends to want to come around in the wet even more so than before.
So in short yes the front mods made the suspension work heaps better however it appears to have mad the rear slightly more unstable.
Possibly its always been that way but the understeer from the front hid the issue.
Now all this being said I am driving on racing surface that is very slippery when wet anyway.
Bottom line my mods have greatly increased my handling in the dry and made the wet more interresting shall we say.
The 50mm lift doesnt appear to have effected the handling.
Tyres are 265/75/R16 with about 10k on them but they are about 4 years old,they are my stockers so the rubber would not be the best.
My mods are all engineered and passed by rego so all 100% legal

 

[bloodviper]

i had a look at my tyres to day they need new ones pritty soon so the explains why it done it and the fact that it was not pissing down just enuff to bring the crap to the surface and make it slipery i often take that corner at 60 wich is the limit normally my car can do it but yesterday i was carring more weight in the back then normal a full 9 draw tool box a metal bunk bed and a full sr20 in parts aswel as my welder and a few other things

 

[-mal-]

. Dont forget most mods done to a 4wd make it stronger then it would have been from factory.

Like theres no need for extended shackles to be illegal. if youve used twice the amount of material in the shackles how are they going to be weaker and more dangerous.

As some of you are aware, making one item over engineered/too strong can put too much strain on other components only designed to cope with so much. So every mod should be considered carefully as you may only be trying to achieve one small advantage but actually creating many different required changes to maintain a vehicle that safely and evenly spreads loads and stresses.

Chassis are designed to flex tortionally and have taken shear strength into consideration for specific locations just like suspension components. If interested read up on testing requirements for building custom chassis and it will shed some light on how everything needs to be matched correct.

Joshy, I,m not picking at your work or knowledge as you seem to be very capable, my words are more for caution to others who may not have the experience or knowledge.

 

[Old.Tony]

Joshy, I,m not picking at your work or knowledge as you seem to be very capable, my words are more for caution to others who may not have the experience or knowledge.

I just want to jump on this and highlight it because Mal didn't use enough neon.

THIS is the reason why we need certification for some mods and why others are illegal. It's not because doing a 125mm lift is dangerous. It's because without doing it PROPERLY, it's dangerous. Some people haven't a clue about HOW to do it properly, or what things to consider. Same goes for many other mods.

There are a FEW people who DO know and understand. These few people are frustrated by the larger pool of people who don't.

There's also the small group of morons that ruin it for everyone else, too.

Certification is not the best thing it should be. It already costs buckets to make the mods properly, but they seem to have turned certification into a cash cow for retired engineers and for me, that sours the idea.

 

[gunning1987]

Has anyone come across a insurance company that WILL insure a 4wd in the cape and/or larger tyres (Load carrying)?? i know RACQ, AAMI and suncorp dont....

 

[Craig09]

im with just car,will cover 4WD as long as your aloud to be where you are.

 

[gunning1987]

yer sweet ill get a quite from them cheers

 

[loco12]

shannons cover you anywhere as long as its legal to be there too.

 

[Ridgie]

RACV covered my repairs for damage caused on the French Line (Simpson) - paid for the tow to Alice Springs, repairs, accommodation & hire car. No questions asked about the mods I have. Most mods are listed in my policy.

 

[Peteyen86]

RACV covered my repairs for damage caused on theFrench Line (Simpson) - paid for the tow to Alice Springs, repairs, accommodation & hire car. No questions asked about the mods I have. Most mods are listed in my policy.

What damage you do on the trip mate?

Pete

 

[Ridgie]

Lower shock mounts (front) tore off the lower control arm - both sides - after a collision with a washout.

 

[Peteyen86]

Lower shock mounts (front) tore off the lower control arm - both sides - after a collision with a washout.

Shit thats no good.

(edit. Changed to PM)