Hey boys
One of our friends has a measly small zorst system on his 4G63T and its quiet, passed RTA db levels at 88db. However he was pulled up by the Police, who have been given the authority by the Dept of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECC now encorporates the EPA) to act on their behalf, and was referred to a newly setup DECC testing facility to have his vehicle's emissions system scrutineered and exhaust noise level re-tested!
The DECC test over-rides all the State tests as they have the authority to demand an examination of a car at their own site as they are the Federal body which enforces the ADR 38/00. As the DECC gave the Police power to issue defects and refer cars for scrutineering we are going to see what's happening in NSW spread to all the other states like wildfire soon. Dont think just because you're in another state you'll be immune because the DECC is making money in NSW and will be using that money to fund new venues to spread its penny-pinching tentacles to.
So this now gives the modified car scene yet another hoop to jump through. Absolutely NO modification to the stock engine and emissions systems are allowed, UNLESS you have an IM240 test to back up that you still meet emissions levels. As the IM240 is a joint venture between the DECC and state motoring bodies, its an acceptable test and probably the best one they can perfrom to date. All the money these $%^# $^^$#% are making from fines and charging you for emissions tests is getting injected back into developing new ways to screw us over. They're also taking photos of your car's engine and exhaust system to place on file for 7 years and if you change them since your last inspection you need to get re-tested again to prove compliance. If you deliberately change them from when you passed the test and found to be guilty of doing so when tested again, you get fined! These guys are out to make money boys no doubt about it, and they're using the 'environment' as their vessel to do it :fuuuuu:. Dont get me wrong, if you are causing excessive emissions then fair enough, but exceeding prescribed noise levels by a few db??? c'mon... you dont have to be blind to see that the 90db limit is a crock for a performance car... its just an easy way to squeeze more $$ out of us.
The sign of things to come from the DECC even includes things such as having a catalytic converter welded to your piping. Because its welded and not able to be removed for scrutineering, it is demeed to be 'tampered with' and a defect notice is issued!! That's really unfair as I cant see how they can prove that, but unfortunately its what they are doing now. I can see why so many guys are angered at the way the DECC are conducting examinations and making up rules as they go along. Im seeing whether i can get my hands on a Technical Direction from them which should outline their procedure in the new authorised testing venues they are setting up. Im pretty sure they wont issue it to me and I'll have to get it under Freedom of Information which costs about $30/hr to submit a request and then $30 each hour for as long as it takes them to supply me with the information. My aim is to see whether their procedure is open to interpretation because if something isnt written in black and white then it doesnt exist. However Im sure if there is a loophole somewhere they'll quickly close it. These guys have the power to issue us with a fine simply because we have a non standard exhuast system and it is deemed to be louder than the standard exhaust - as easy as that!
I think it may be time for us to develop ways in which to have free flowing exhaust systems capable of flowing to our requirements, but also be something which is reasonably quiet. The only way I can think of doing that is by going multiple mufflers? Dont even mention the use of noise control devices in the exhaust system like butterflies and baffles etc as they were deemed illegal back in 2008 when the DECC added a couple of new clauses to the Protection of the Environment Operations (Noise) Regulation which outlaws them now
There's sa couple other things Im not particularly happy about but Im yet to understand exactly what they mean. ie. There's a downloadable excel spreadsheet on 'signature noise data' on the DOTARS website. It consists of a few thousand cars listed and their OEM db limits at a prescribed rpm level. The way its worded is that if its on the list you can have up to +5db more than the level prescribed in the list.... never heard of it before but its written in black and white in DOTARS so requires further investigation????? But get this, rarely any low volume performance turbo car is listed on the list!!! no Evo's, Nissans, Supra, WRX etc!!! There is one line dedicated for Evolution Lancer but no data in it, like its been blanked out?? Seems to me that they are deliberately excluding popular performance cars off the list so that they fall under the 'otherwise' blanket 90db limit! When other low volume imports like Porsche, Koenigsegg, Lamborghini, Chev Corvette, Ferarri, Maseratti and other high performance cars are showing up ON the list with stock db levels of up to 113db and OK?, you wonder WTF is going on?! Its a total contradiction. Personally I think its a ploy to deliberately restrict late 80's to late 90's performance cars. But like I said, Ive got to study it a bit more to see exactly what the purpose of the 'signature' data is for....
If you're interested in a read here is the link: http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/environment/noise.aspx .
One of our friends has a measly small zorst system on his 4G63T and its quiet, passed RTA db levels at 88db. However he was pulled up by the Police, who have been given the authority by the Dept of Environment, Climate Change and Water (DECC now encorporates the EPA) to act on their behalf, and was referred to a newly setup DECC testing facility to have his vehicle's emissions system scrutineered and exhaust noise level re-tested!
The DECC test over-rides all the State tests as they have the authority to demand an examination of a car at their own site as they are the Federal body which enforces the ADR 38/00. As the DECC gave the Police power to issue defects and refer cars for scrutineering we are going to see what's happening in NSW spread to all the other states like wildfire soon. Dont think just because you're in another state you'll be immune because the DECC is making money in NSW and will be using that money to fund new venues to spread its penny-pinching tentacles to.
So this now gives the modified car scene yet another hoop to jump through. Absolutely NO modification to the stock engine and emissions systems are allowed, UNLESS you have an IM240 test to back up that you still meet emissions levels. As the IM240 is a joint venture between the DECC and state motoring bodies, its an acceptable test and probably the best one they can perfrom to date. All the money these $%^# $^^$#% are making from fines and charging you for emissions tests is getting injected back into developing new ways to screw us over. They're also taking photos of your car's engine and exhaust system to place on file for 7 years and if you change them since your last inspection you need to get re-tested again to prove compliance. If you deliberately change them from when you passed the test and found to be guilty of doing so when tested again, you get fined! These guys are out to make money boys no doubt about it, and they're using the 'environment' as their vessel to do it :fuuuuu:. Dont get me wrong, if you are causing excessive emissions then fair enough, but exceeding prescribed noise levels by a few db??? c'mon... you dont have to be blind to see that the 90db limit is a crock for a performance car... its just an easy way to squeeze more $$ out of us.
The sign of things to come from the DECC even includes things such as having a catalytic converter welded to your piping. Because its welded and not able to be removed for scrutineering, it is demeed to be 'tampered with' and a defect notice is issued!! That's really unfair as I cant see how they can prove that, but unfortunately its what they are doing now. I can see why so many guys are angered at the way the DECC are conducting examinations and making up rules as they go along. Im seeing whether i can get my hands on a Technical Direction from them which should outline their procedure in the new authorised testing venues they are setting up. Im pretty sure they wont issue it to me and I'll have to get it under Freedom of Information which costs about $30/hr to submit a request and then $30 each hour for as long as it takes them to supply me with the information. My aim is to see whether their procedure is open to interpretation because if something isnt written in black and white then it doesnt exist. However Im sure if there is a loophole somewhere they'll quickly close it. These guys have the power to issue us with a fine simply because we have a non standard exhuast system and it is deemed to be louder than the standard exhaust - as easy as that!
I think it may be time for us to develop ways in which to have free flowing exhaust systems capable of flowing to our requirements, but also be something which is reasonably quiet. The only way I can think of doing that is by going multiple mufflers? Dont even mention the use of noise control devices in the exhaust system like butterflies and baffles etc as they were deemed illegal back in 2008 when the DECC added a couple of new clauses to the Protection of the Environment Operations (Noise) Regulation which outlaws them now
There's sa couple other things Im not particularly happy about but Im yet to understand exactly what they mean. ie. There's a downloadable excel spreadsheet on 'signature noise data' on the DOTARS website. It consists of a few thousand cars listed and their OEM db limits at a prescribed rpm level. The way its worded is that if its on the list you can have up to +5db more than the level prescribed in the list.... never heard of it before but its written in black and white in DOTARS so requires further investigation????? But get this, rarely any low volume performance turbo car is listed on the list!!! no Evo's, Nissans, Supra, WRX etc!!! There is one line dedicated for Evolution Lancer but no data in it, like its been blanked out?? Seems to me that they are deliberately excluding popular performance cars off the list so that they fall under the 'otherwise' blanket 90db limit! When other low volume imports like Porsche, Koenigsegg, Lamborghini, Chev Corvette, Ferarri, Maseratti and other high performance cars are showing up ON the list with stock db levels of up to 113db and OK?, you wonder WTF is going on?! Its a total contradiction. Personally I think its a ploy to deliberately restrict late 80's to late 90's performance cars. But like I said, Ive got to study it a bit more to see exactly what the purpose of the 'signature' data is for....
If you're interested in a read here is the link: http://www.infrastructure.gov.au/roads/environment/noise.aspx .
