Wots legally needed for a turbo?

WiM · Post by **WiM** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 2:35 pm

Guys,
Owned a Greddy Turboed 5 back in Europe that I had to sold when I came to NZ. In Belgium that was a bit of a paper war and multiple WOF's to get the big thumbs up.
What do you have to do in NZ so you can legally drive a 5 with aftermarket FI installed? And is it reasonably easy?
Cheers,
WiM (Christchurch)
www.cardomain.com/memberpage/312875

Ian · Post by **Ian** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 2:55 pm

I'm N/A, so I could be wrong...but I think its more a case of making peace with your insurance company!
The again, insurance incl 3rd party, is not compulsory in NZ...so unless there are engineering issues which may require certification...everything should be straightfoward.

Ian

poison · Post by **poison** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 3:10 pm

You need a Low Volume Vehicle Certification (yellow pages “Vehicle Certification”). If you are just doing a turbo with no holes in the body then it’s easy to get and about $350 (they say it’s for the paperwork)…hmmm… and they put a badge in the engine bay.

But if you do want to get any holes cut, find a certifier and talk to him first, some are helpful others not. That way you don’t cut the hole and find out that you’re screwed. It’s a good idea to do any lowering springs etc first that way they can cert the lot in one go, still should only be about $400. After this WOF checks are no problem. Although IMHO I would stay away from testing stations, some of the staff there seem to have a chip against modified cars.

One other thing is DO IT! And don’t look back.

WiM · Post by **WiM** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 3:41 pm

This is great! Not as difficult as I thought it would be.
Does this mean - hypothetically now - if I could make my 5 a twin turbo and a certifier certifies I'd be good to go on the road?

What is the story with holes? Do you mean like when you would be making a FM extractor yourself?

Why I am asking this is that in Belgium I actually had to convince the MAZDA BELGIUM HQ that my Greddy Setup was basically the same as the BBR kit they offered theirselves back in 1991-92. Needed to get that on paper of them, get the car inspected by Mazda as well as WOF.
It took em a few calls to get the right person on the phone at Mazda who could and wanted to help me with this. Is it any surprise I had one of only a few legal Turboed 5's in Belgium?
Then the insurance was pretty easy, they asked me what the power increase was and based it on that.

poison · Post by **poison** » Fri Aug 24, 2007 4:07 pm

Single or twin Turbo will make no difference for a cert’ but will make it virtually impossible to insure. I would be aiming for a titanium impeller model turbo off a late model Subaru as they spin up so easily, much better than a twin set-up IMHO.

NZ laws are usually set during publicity paranoid knee jerk overreaction to recent events, and thus poorly thought through, smacking, dog laws, and now boy racer laws, the definition is so poor we could all lose our cars purely for turning up at a club event. Yet you can burgle, assault people, even steal cars and get away with it, and soon the police won’t even be allowed to chase them at all …

My MX5 has holes cut in the body just behind the lights for the intercooler pipes. Some even have them cut into the wheel arch… harder to gat a Cert I think. It’s the easiest way to get the intercooler s pipes down to the front of the car. PM me with your email and I can send some pics.

SLYDIT · Post by **SLYDIT** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 4:26 pm

as others have said it just requires a special inspection and certification. As long as you dont cut any 2" holes in the inner arches or chassis or radiator support panel you should be fine....

Heres a few tips that helped get me a stress free certification....

1) I used existing bolt holes and captive nuts in the car to mount brackets etc...
2) i used the factory air condidtioning heat exchanger brakets to mount my intercoloer brackets to.I also routed the IC pipes so they dont rub on other pipes or body work.
3) i used heat wrap to wrap the heater hoses and MOST IMPORTANTLY the left hand side brake line as it runs about 25mm from the turbo dump pipe.

Also for certification they do a series of brake stops to check the brakes are up to it...mine are totally stock 1600 ones and they were fine, just make sure your brakes are in good condition.

and the last thing...before you start tearing your car apart get a fresh warrant of fitness, because if your wof runs out while you are building it you have to wait for it to be certified and then wait for all the paper work to be sorted and then wait some more for the certification plate to be mounted to the car before you can get a new warrant..as i did.. i had to wait 3 weeks after the cert date before i could drive it as the warant ran out in mid build.

poison · Post by **poison** » Sat Aug 25, 2007 7:47 pm

SLYDIT wrote:.... i used heat wrap to wrap the heater hoses and MOST IMPORTANTLY the left hand side brake line as it runs about 25mm from the turbo dump pipe.

Damn it, now I'm going to have to go out and have a look....