WOF and exhaust noise

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WRW
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WOF and exhaust noise

Post by WRW » Sat Oct 04, 2008 4:24 pm

Took the Monster for a WOF today, her first WOF after the new rules came in place. I nearly shat myself when one of the guys dragged out that wee little microphone db metering thingy.

Guy in the Monster revved her up, while the other guy held said db metering thingy behind the exhaust pipe. I was sweating dollar bills at that time, thinking this is going to HURT. No, I mean HURT

The Monster clocked in at 88... 2 db below limit. Phew. One happy Nina drove away from testing station with new WOF.

I might go buy a Lotto ticket next :lol:
Nina
-------------------
Where am I going and why am I in this handbasket?

poison
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WOF and exhaust noise

Post by poison » Sat Oct 04, 2008 6:15 pm

IMHO it's a good rule if applied correctly and across the board. But like most knee jerk law's they only affect the honest people. The guys with the super loud cars get WOF's off their mates or through other dodgy garages without testing gear, another law to be applied by discretion. Just like the stupidest law of all "unnecessary acceleration" WTF.... how can you fairly argue that one in court.

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Stevo
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Post by Stevo » Sun Oct 05, 2008 7:59 am

Im a bit concerned about the Db meter myself as mine isnt the quietest around.
Nina, I hope you had as much luck with your lotto ticket as you did with your WoF. 20 million $$$ this weekend. (':D')
Cheers Stevo
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scooter
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Post by scooter » Sun Oct 05, 2008 8:36 pm

Mine failed WOF last week because of rollbar and possible noisy exhaust (my garage does it by ear). So just had rollbar certified for $300 and the same guy verified my exhaust noise at 87 average for another $150, got a notice saying that it is legal and a pretty sticker on the exhaust that is only valid as long as I dont make any changes to exhaust system. So a total of $450, but at least now the car is completely legal for use on the road (well will be when my cert plate is installed). The guy also certified my lowered suspension and momo aftermarket steering wheel, so if I ever do get pulled over by the police I should be ok.

Also from what the cert guy said, the 90db is only for vehicles 1st registered in NZ after June 2008, anything before that only has to be under 95db, hope that helps.
Also this pdf file also confirms this http://www.lvvta.org.nz/stdExhaustNoiseEmissions.pdf

poison
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WOF and exhaust noise

Post by poison » Sun Oct 05, 2008 10:19 pm

Hi Scooter.

Is yours a full roll bar or style bar? I'm wondering why your roll bar need certification? According the LTSA website if it's behind the seat it does not need anything.

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scooter
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Re: WOF and exhaust noise

Post by scooter » Mon Oct 06, 2008 10:37 am

poison wrote:Hi Scooter.

Is yours a full roll bar or style bar? I'm wondering why your roll bar need certification? According the LTSA website if it's behind the seat it does not need anything.

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It's a half cage used for speed events at Ruapuna. In the rules it states that a roll-bar behind the seats does not need certification, but then says:
[For clarification, note that roll-bars referred to here are limited to 'style bars' fitted behind the seats on a single-row seating sports vehicle]
Apparently their concern is; If a normal car rolled the roof and body would crumble each time it rolled which would slow the car down, but with a roll-bar or roll-cage fitted, the vehicle could keep rolling over and over and would therefore travel a longer distance which creates a bigger chance of injuring someone else.

The rules that they are creating to make it tough on the boy racers are certainly making it harder for the true car enthusiasts who like to do everything within the law. In my case all my modifications have all been performed by professionals and I drive it as fast as I possibly can on the race track, yet the rules treat me like I may be up to know good. Even State Insurance stop insuring me once I added the roll-bar.
Never mind that's my rant and rave and at the end of it all I still have a huge smile on my face when I am cruising round the hills with my top down (whoops forgot to mention I don't have a top, removed permanently as it was a pain to get over the roll-bar lol).

poison
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WOF and exhaust noise

Post by poison » Mon Oct 06, 2008 11:15 am

Thanks Scooter, good to know that. I wonder if the “Style Bar” clarification is a new one, I did not notice that when I looked into it a couple of years ago.

And don’t insurance companies suck, you would think the roll bar would be an advantage in the end of the day.

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joanie
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WOF and exhaust noise

Post by joanie » Mon Oct 06, 2008 5:13 pm

Interested on your comment re roll bar and insurance; my company (AMI)were happy to keep me insured as long as I produced the paperwork to show it was installed and certified - suggest you change companies:-) They pointed out I was not insured while on the track ( I knew that) but agreed the roll bar actually made the car safer so not a problem to them
Joan H
Paekakariki

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scooter
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Post by scooter » Mon Oct 06, 2008 7:11 pm

Hi Joan

I ended up changing my insurance to a specialised insurance company just for the mx5 but at twice the price. Based on what you have said, I will give AMI a call and see what they can do for me for all my insurances. Would be nice to phone up State and tell them that they have lost all my business 8)

And the same as you, I am aware of not being insured on the track, unfortunately had a accident on the track a couple of months ago and only got it back on the road last week , another $1000. Wont be doing that again :oops: fingers crossed, touch wood and all that stuff :lol:

Cheers Mark

joanie
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WOF and exhaust noise

Post by joanie » Mon Oct 06, 2008 9:21 pm

Good luck with AMI -Scooter ,we ditched State long ago :-0 . Not sure where you are but sometimes it can be more of "where you live" Kapiti Coast seems a low risk area for car insurance
I wrote off an Alfa on the track a few years back... but we rebuilt and back at it. My MX5 only goes on the track for playdays
cheers Joan

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SLYDIT
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Post by SLYDIT » Wed Oct 08, 2008 10:21 pm

Just remember folks.

the best way to quieten down your exhaust noise is to fit a turbo!

:lol:
RED '90 TURBO.
SCARING PRIUS DRIVERS SINCE 2002

marinerbluemx5
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Post by marinerbluemx5 » Mon Oct 27, 2008 11:47 pm

Whoa, what's all this about rollbars and getting them certified? Are we talking like MSNZ certified? And is it really $300 a pop just for the paperwork?

Got a WOF coming up in November, the first since the rollbar went in :?

scooter
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Post by scooter » Tue Oct 28, 2008 7:47 am

marinerbluemx5 wrote:Whoa, what's all this about rollbars and getting them certified? Are we talking like MSNZ certified? And is it really $300 a pop just for the paperwork?

Got a WOF coming up in November, the first since the rollbar went in :?
Separate to MSNZ homologation. Yes it cost me $300. This covers the cost of the certifier inspecting your vehicle, the paperwork and a cert plate. At least now I can drive my car down the street and know that I am completely legal and safe. It seems to be the price to pay for modifying a vehicle, and the governments stance on boy racers. You can always try and put your car through for a WOF and see what happens.

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Post by marinerbluemx5 » Tue Oct 28, 2008 6:06 pm

scooter wrote:Separate to MSNZ homologation. Yes it cost me $300. This covers the cost of the certifier inspecting your vehicle, the paperwork and a cert plate. At least now I can drive my car down the street and know that I am completely legal and safe. It seems to be the price to pay for modifying a vehicle, and the governments stance on boy racers. You can always try and put your car through for a WOF and see what happens.
Went down to my local VTNZ this morning and talked with the shop manager, basically asked him to "tell me if my car's got a style bar or a roll bar, since there's different certification requirements between the two", and he took a look at it and said he wouldn't have a problem passing it. So, 15 minutes later, I got a shiny new WOF. Guess I got lucky :D Also, my rollbar is just that, a welded-in rollbar behind the seats, it's not a full cage or a half cage.

scooter
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Post by scooter » Tue Oct 28, 2008 6:36 pm

Well done. I guess yours is pretty much a style bar when you look at the technical side of things. Mines a half cage, so it has bolt in points welded to the floor and in the boot. Part of the tray behind the seats has been cut away for the roll bar to fit. I'm guessing that in my case, I refer to it as a roll bar, when in fact, officially it is a half cage. That should clear things up for future people reading this post.

roll bar or style bar should get a WOF. half cage or full cage will need certification.

marinerbluemx5
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Post by marinerbluemx5 » Tue Oct 28, 2008 8:07 pm

Here's a photo of mine for reference, it's welded to the floor and they had to do a bit of metal/plastic cutting to get it in... car makes more noises after the race shop put it in, including a very annoying squeak that I've been trying to track down :(

Image
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scooter
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Post by scooter » Wed Oct 29, 2008 7:38 am

Looks nice. Mine is very similar, except it has another bar running across for race harness and one running diagonal from the top to the bottom. Yours is definitely more than just a style bar but not quite a half cage. I have to go and see the certifier later this week, it will be interesting to see what he says.
Here's the best shot I have of mine:

Image

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