You see all kinds of crazy shit that gets street driven in the US, UK and everywhere else it seems. In Australia, not so much. Most forum members are from the US, so to shed a little light on why Aus cars are poo, I'll share a few of the laws in place.

1. After market BOV's are illegal.
2. Cannot fit smaller than standard diameter rims.
3. Lowest point of the car that is not suspension MUST be above 100mm/4"
4. Carbon fibre/fibreglass, FRP panels, flares, doors, scoops are illegal.
5. Lowering blocks are not allowed.
6. Exhaust must not go further than the most rear part of the car (not including towbar's)
7. Cannot remove any emmisions gear (which basically means you can't upgrade carby's)
8. Wheels cannot stick out of the guards at all.
9. You need a modification certificate from a Government approved engineer for any mod you do (motor swap, turbo conversion, bucket seats, approved roll cage, change of seating capacity and so on)
10. HID's are illegal, nor any 'blue' light.
11. A gear 'H' patter must be clearly displayed near the gear stick.
12. All steering wheels, seats, roll cages, lights, hub adapters and so on need to be approved and tested by ADR (Australian Design Rules)
13. Suspension travel cannot change beyond 10%
14. Adjustable platform suspension (coilovers, camber plates, adj.arms) cannot be fitted unless a modification certificate is approved ($1000 usually, if you can find someone near by who is approved...)
15. If you are on your provisional license (when you finish your 1yr's on your learners licence you gain your provisional licence for a minimum of 3yrs depending on each state) you are not allowed to drive any car with more than 6 cylinders, forced induction, a power level over 220kw/290hp or which has a modification certificate.

Plus there are 100000's of other little tiny rules and law's preventing people from modifying their car's to their full potential. But it doesn't stop most of us, we just find ways around the laws, that, or learn how to dodge police.

Unlike the US where the police don't rape car enthusiasts as much, the police here will finger every crevace of your butthole at the drop of a hat. They have quotas they need to reach of cars to defect, fines to give, as to keep revenue raising up.

The perfect example is one little famous Corolla that lives in Aus and HAD street rego. Everything was certified and legal, until the police raided a Huffy slider meet and blocked the roads so no one could leave and defect 50% of cars, even though no cars were doing skids/revving their motors. Thus defecting one of the best true JDM rides in Aus.

In Australia, it's impossible to modify your car in any way without getting hassled by the po po. Anyway, that's my rant out of the way.

Peace.

Most of those laws are applicable here in the states as well.

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I bet, in Austria laws regarding car-modifications are even stricter then your in Australia. It´s not such a problem for me though, because I like my cars original.

Some of the stuff in your list is simply not true. For example lowering blocks are legal not illegal. Im not going to go through your entire list but refer to these guidelines. This document is the new NCOP (national code of practice) guidelines. I've had brake and turbo engine upgrades engineered in the past with little trouble. The engineer charged quite reasonable and wasn't overly expensive.

http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/ ... 1%20v3.pdf

In particular to lowering blocks....

"Lowering blocks used with leaf spring suspensions must be steel, aluminium or metal of
equivalent strength and must be positively located to the axle spigot hole and spring centre-bolt."

The old guideline booklet which I can't find right now referred to lowering blocks made out of timber were not acceptable. Just goes to show you what some people get up too !

I can't say I've had any trouble with authorities but I get your point, unfortunately the nuisance minority ruin it for everyone else. I've been to meets where exits have been blocked but there were a couple of people doing burnouts though, so I suppose it was justified in that case. Funnily enough it was in mums and dads daily driver and not the modified cars however thats not always the case.

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Mazda Rx3 / 808 inner weather strips for sale here.
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=17421

This really comes down to all car lovers here being called "hoons". I'm not going to get onto my normal rant...... But blame the media for the police crack downs on cars, plain and simple. Trumped up stories sell better than reality

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What he said ^
+2

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"...and then God created the orgasm,

so that women can moan even when they are happy."

Damn safety!!! Cool cars don't necessarily need any of those things anyway.

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http://classiccolt.forumcircle.com
http://www.youtube.com/user/ColtSSR
'69 Honda C50
'79 Honda C50
'73 Honda ST90
Custom Honda Chaly
'85 RX7
'79 B1600

I'm not so sure abut the fibre glass panels/flares either. How many RX-808's or genuine RX-3's for that matter are getting around with fibreglass nose cones?

And what about all the RX-7's with fibreglass body kits?


Keith

... Japan too. I guess you're just blessed with police & media of a certain Stasi type? Neko.

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The Black Cat - S800M Coupe.

Agreed that you don't need to illegally modify your car to make it cool, or that Australians have it the worst, but it's getting harder and harder for enthusiasts to turn a wrench on their car without worrying about being booked or taken off the road. It's getting to a point in Aus that every single police officer is an expert on the legality of all mods, so many of my friends have been hit with major defects that were simply bullshit, one even got defected for having fender mirrors on his 70's Hilux, which had the factory fender mirrors attached.... And it's at the point where you just take what harsh and over the top penalties are given out, there is no justice.

+5 on media's assault on us "hoons"

P.s. if it came from factory with fibreglass kits/fenders it's A.O.K. Just like if your car came with no seatbelts fitted from factory you don't need to run them.

Yes and no with all this. Australia doesn't seem as bad as most places.
Almost everyone i know with a remote interest in car's, drives a defect-able/un-roadworthy car.
You just learn to work around it. Be careful of the police, and don't bring negative attention to yourself.

Bit of bad luck and get a defect? It just adds flavour to the game.
I'm not saying its a good thing (time consuming, expensive, and Major-Defects and EPA's have been the nail in the coffin of many cool cars I've known..), but If it was easy, it would be abused. Everyone would be driving shitboxes..


I totally disagree with the Police's ability to defect cars with odd 'guilty until proven innocent' approach. That is ridiculous..

I wouldn't say you can't have a cool car at all. Heck, I get around in my car as a daily driver and it's practically a rolling defect for a variety of reasons.

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The kei
The Celica

lol and i thought california car laws sucked, i feel for you. i guess the grass is always greener, i would love to live in a place like texas where twin turbos and mufflers can be put on and removed at will and the popo's cant say squat! woot woot!

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one does not simply find repu parts

None of the above apply's in Australia if you own a hot rod.

Of course all of these laws vary from state to state.

2. In NSW it's not illegal to fit smaller diameter rims - as long as they aren't narrower or not within 15mm of rolling diameter.
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/registration/ ... 9_rev4.pdf

3. That's so you don't scrape on speedbumps? That combined with the crap state of the roads...

5. Lowering blocks aren't said to be illegal in NSW, but fitting longer u-bolts is, therefore making lowering blocks a no-no.
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/registration/ ... v_2007.pdf

9. Modifications such as upgrading your engine to an engine available in that model is legal without engineering.
http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/registration/ ... v_2007.pdf

10. HIDs are legal in cars which have them fitted originally. Otherwise you blind everybody!

11. Not such a bad idea really?

12. This just makes sense? If you want to fit shit to your car it needs to be structurally sound and safe

15. Teenagers are well over represented in car crashes. Speed and alcohol related. 36% of fatal crashes are ages 17-25.

I went on a cruise with Ausrotary last month. The cops had a mobile defect station halfway along the route. Even though it was there all day and defected numerous other cars (not on the cruise) the "cops were out to get them". A few guys got defected pretty bad. Now according to those guys, even though they know they have illegally modified their cars, it's the cops fault? Rules are rules. Either modify your car within them, or stop whining when you get caught My car didn't even get a second look by the cops, and never in the past 3 years have I had a problem.

Defected: (derrrrr)

Waved past: (that's pretty true JDM )

My car is lowered (on blocks) got bigger and wider rims, but it isn't over the top.

Just for comparison, here's the UK rules.

1. BOVs No problem
2. Smaller rims No problem
3. 4" Ride Height Limit No rules per se regarding minimum suspension height, but suspension must work, can't have springs popping out when jacked up, etc.
4. Plastic Bits No problem, provided there's no sharp edges
5. Lowering Blocks No problem
6. Exhaust Position No problem
7. Emissions Gear Can change them provided it still passes the limits (which are pretty wide for pre-catalyst cars)
8. Wheels Sticking Out More-or-less the same rules apply, but based on the tyre I believe
9. Modification Cert Generally no problem, though extreme modifications could result in the need for a BIVA test, it's based around a points system which is mostly biased against modifications to the chassis more than anything else - unless you make extreme changes to the vehicle chassis it's unlikely to apply, it's mostly something which affects hot-rods, kit-cars and pickup conversions
10. HID No problem, though HID conversions must include headlight washer jets
11. H-Pattern No problem
12. ADR Approval No problem, though parts must work correctly and not be obviously dangerous
13. 10% Suspension Travel Change No problem
14. Adjustable Suspension No problem
15. Provisional Restrictions No problem - technically - but in reality it's difficult to insure anything other than basic economy cars for a while, I paid over £2000/year to have a turbo Kei-car when I was 20

It's more complicated than I'm making out and there's more rules apply to "newer" cars, but modifications are generally fine as long as your insurance is happy to cover it and it passes the annual MOT (roadworthiness test). Admittedly flashy modifications will make you more likely to be pulled over, so it's not quite as easy as something just being allowed and that being fine, because being pulled over is rarely a good experience whether you're in the right or not. Some aftermarket bits can be illegal just by not complying to the rules - e.g. aftermarket lights are allowed, but some don't have a reflector incorporated into the design, which in turn would fail MOT, that sort of thing. There's some slightly silly workarounds required for the odd thing like doing your own engine swaps, but really there isn't much that I'd worry about.

Put it this way, I rarely see anything on this forum where I can say for sure "that wouldn't pass MOT". You should all come here instead, the only problem is that you'd have to live here and it's all grey and horrible. There'd be no barbeques anymore, though the sheer amount of Fosters adverts on TV might keep you from being too homesick.

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http://www.oldjapanesecar.com

Myth: we don't actually drink "Fosters" in Australia.

And all your cars are really rusty.

The states have bad laws to. Here in cali a rhd is illegal unless approved by a state ref. Any r32, r33,r34 is illegal unless you have every smog conversion done on the car or of its before 1976 ( example: hakosuka or kenmari). has to have egr system, catalyst. Basically anything you modify on your car is illegal in California unless approved by a state ref. We just don't get harassed that bad on lowering cars and things like that.

I dream about the day I will own a r32, r33, or r34. So anywhere out of california is nice. I've got some crazy stories of how I got in trouble for stupid things.

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1973 Hilux RN22 (Daily)
1972/1973 Corona Mark ii Wagon MX29 (((FOR SALE)))
1994 Honda Civic EG8 (sold)

Alot of those rules vary from state to state In Australia too, A good reason to have the same rules across the whole country.
I have never had a car defected yet, Although i have been close! (265 Hemi in a Hillman hunter!)
I dont think the police set out to pick on people in cars, but there seems to be some groups that attract the attention of the police time after time.
Alot of my cars have been on the wrong side legal, yet i have never been picked on. Alot of it has to do with the presentation of the car, the way it is driven and the drivers attitude.
My current car looks like it was dragged from a paddock and put straight back on the road, while it looks like that everything has been gone over and made sure it all works well. It is kept as clean as i possibly can (even though it never looks like it is clean!) I drive it appropriately most of the time too! never been pulled over about it yet and i have had it about 3 years.
there are alot of things you can do if you do it right to your car to make it your own, while i love alot of the cars i see here from America and overseas, alot of the style mods i wont do to mine just so it doesnt get the wrong attention.
I also think the media has alot to answer for regarding hoons, and i wont start on what i think about them and the governments knee jerk response to the media beat ups...


and we export Fosters Because it is a rubbish beer.

Hmm, sacrifice BBQ's for shit beer? Least the roads are wet most of the time