Roadworthy questions

[havavb]

Just wondering, as I'll be going for a rwc when I'm happy with my wagon, would it pass with a 2.5" redback sports exhaust (only has centre muffler) I'm getting a spool and 4.11 gears installed also (just concerned about the spool!) Should I do that after it's gotten the rwc?. And what's the lowest your car can be (standard/fe2/sl's etc. Cheers.

[SUSVS]

Fe2 im pretty sure is the lowest u can go but I could be wrong, and I'd wait for the spool untill after because there's a high chance u won't pass

[calais24/7]

they wont even bother looking at your car if they see you chirping through the carpark lol. best to leave that till after

[Blown V6 Hatch]

Exhaust is a grey area and depends on the tester. If they suspect it to be overly noisy (90db is the limit) they can fail it or send it for a noise test. Like i said, it depends on the tester as some will knock it and some will let it go/not even notice it. However, they can also knock it back for not having the specified/required amount of mufflers (2 on a Commodore single system) even if it meets the required noise limit, which it won't anyway.

Diff gears are fine (provided the speedo is corrected and reads right) but, the spool is definite knock back.

As for ride height, the car needs to maintain 100mm ground clearance at its lowest point (exhaust is normally the lowest point) and should also maintain 2/3 of its original suspension travel, however you'd be hard pressed to get knocked back on the 2/3 rule unless it's ridiculously low. Maintain the 100mm and you should be fine. Also, all the springs are required to be kept captive at full suspension droop (i.e if the car goes up on the hoist and the rear springs fall out, it's failed).

In my experience, Fe2 or Low springs is about the limit for roadworthy. SL or lower will be too low.

[havavb]

So just best to go to the wreckers and pull stock springs out? If I'm not mistaken I would need spring compressors for the front, where would I be able to purchase these and how would I go about changing the front springs? And the exhaust, my mate went through an EPA (same exhaust from the same shop) and it just passed, if I put the stock one in the back would they pass it or just put the stock one back on?

[RK5TAR]

For the springs, depending what car you have, I have some stock springs here you can have cheap. They fit in a VS. I was going to do the same as you for rwc, but my car wasnt too low and passed. $30 for full set if you want to take them off my hands, have front and rears. The fronts have the struts still attached so I think you can put the whole thing in without the messing around with compressing the springs.

On the exhaust, agree with above, it will depend on who's doing it, and the muffler thing. My old car had a reasonably loud sports exhaust (could be heard coming home 2 streets away apparently) yet it passed rwc before I bought the car.

I found some of the things I thought might not pass, did. I think they overlooked them as there were other things I had to get fixed that were more major.

[havavb]

Well the only things it needs to pass a roady are front springs, boot lock and 4 tyres. Think I'll leave the sports exhaust on and see how it goes. If they sook over it I'll change it then and there lol

[Essassin]

It won't pass with 1 muffler. The law for changing exhaust is you have to retain the same amount of mufflers the car comes from the factory with (2 in your case), and it has to be under 90db. They may not test the noise but they will notice the lack of 2nd muffler. I would leave the diff gears, spool and lowering til after the inspection too.

[ari666]

the biggest mistake people make is bringing their cars when they are not fully ready. a lot of inspectors will have a 'blind eye' but not if you forget all the small stuf.

make sure its spotlessly clean inside and out. make sure it smells nice (fabreese works wonders) get rid of all crap from the center console and glovebox and make the car look like it hasnt been used.
run a buff over your windscreen if you can to polish it
check ALL lights before you drive it down and check them again before you drive it in. my rwc guy gets mega pissed when a globe is out.
wipe all balljojnts down, wipe down anything rubber underneath the car. make it look clean and shiny.
clean inside the wheel arches so taking the wheels off is pleasant and the tester doesnt get covered in dirt and brake dust.
secure battry, clean terminals, clean underneath the battery of all rust (if there is any) wirebrush it all off then spray with an aerosol can colour. matte black works well.
make sure all windows wind up and down easily
make sure all latches latch in 2 position and the lock open and close easily
make sure all fluids are topped up to just under the full mark. power steering, transmission, differential, sump, brake fluid
clean all your rubber brake hoses with metho or prepsol so you can read the dot markings on them. clean all the flare nuts

basically make you car as clean as possible and testers will often pass off exhausts/wheels and springs. you see they can say a muffler was fitted after they tested it. they cant say surface rust just happened recently.

make their lives easy and they will make yours easy too.

[havavb]

I was thinking of giving it a respray as theres some chipped paint along the rear end, and a few little tiny surface rust spots. Would sagging roof lining matter at all? I was thinking of getting it fixed how much would that cost?

[elmaso]

the roof lining can be un-road worthy, but some how my mate got away with it in his VP.

theres a how-to on this forum about repairing the roof lining, but if you cant be bothered its about $240-$280 to do a wagon roof lining.

[ari666]

yeah the roof lining will prolly give you issues. easy fix is get a stapler, open it up and belt a few staples in there to hold it up. it wont last very long, but long enough to get it through

[calais24/7]

yeah either that or thumb tacks, it depends how bad its sagging though, if it's like a few vn's ive seen, ie the back half has sagged that much it blocks all rear window visibility then no it wont pass lol

[havavb]

It's basically just up the front and it's held up with thumb tacks I'm not sure how much it sags as the thumb tacks were there when I brought it.

[ari666]

suggestion: dont take them out.


lol

[havavb]

Yeah I wasn't going to lol, I just found out I get my licence back on the 19th so it has to be registered so I can start my new job lol. Another question I'm converting it to manual this weekend, would they pick on it as it's a conversion? It will be done by a qualified mechanic, as I have a friend who is doing it for me and im giving him my parts car. How much am I looking at for a rwc and 6 months reg?