[wirysage]

Got my new QLD VIN number engraved on my car today; I tried stamping it but the Celica's metal it is too thin. The engraver who did it for me runs a engraving and shoe repair shop; he said "I've been in this business for 40 years and no one has ever asked me to engrave VIN on a car" lol.

Now I just need to get it inspected by Transport QLD and I will be able to register in QLD and have a clean record across Australia.

 

[wirysage]

So it’s been quite an adventure since my last update.

So I was required to get a Safety Certificate issued by a QLD mechanic allowing transfer over to QLD rego.

Now as I'm sure most of you know that I've probably spent more on maintaining/repairing my car to the original specs than probably any other member with a 3rd gen (Having middle class parents when I was just learning on my Ls meant they paid to replace a whole lotta stuff before they were happy with it, you can add to that an Engine rebuild and you have a 21R that's leak free in 2013!), in reality it hasn’t done many KM since I got it on my Ls.

Having a car like this in NSW with yearly rego checks means mechanics can basically hold you to ransom and say you must spend say $2000 fixing minor bullshit up. This helps explain why there's so many fewer older cars on NSW roads owing to the fact that cars under 5 years old don't need a yearly rego check.

In QLD there are no yearly rego checks; however, there is checks under the guise of a 'Safety Certificate' for anyone transferring to QLD state rego or registering an unregistered car. So QLD mechanics can pin you for those asking for $2000 work as badly as they do in NSW.

So I booked my car in to a mechanics here for the cert thinking my car will pass easily. Later I go and pick my car up and the guy has a page of what he calls 'fails' and after reading them I said "WTF" this is some of the stuff he said didn’t comply:

1. Front MA61 seats

Front seats aren’t original they're from a different model they aren’t designed for the mounting points in the car meaning they violate ADR crash compliance; he said I needed a seat compliance plate to fix this. He said "I started my apprenticeship back at Toyota dealership in the mid-80s when these cars were still coming in for their dealership service checks" and I said "Man the seats are from a MA61 Supra they are virtually the same chassis from the firewall back and these seats even came in versions of this 3rd gen overseas" and his response was "Look all I know is they are from a different model meaning they violate ADR standards meaning you will need a mod plate". So after that I gave up trying to argue with an idiot and moved on to the other stuff on the list.

If he's so bloody smart he'd have known the seats were compliant; surely he worked on a few MA61s back in the day at his Yota dealership.

2. Engine stalls at idle

He said "the engine stalls at the lights" and yes it does if it’s got 'regular 91 unleaded in it and its cold it does stall at idle till it warms up'. However, if it has premium in it; it runs fine at cold because it’s tuned for it. I had half a tank of 91 in it so hence it was stalling when cold.

3. Wipers

He said "Oh they don't wipe properly; they leave unwiped water streaks" and I said "I've had to park under a tree that's shedding heaps of hair like fibres that get caught in my wipers each morning; I replaced those blades 4 months ago it’s only the hairs right now that fucked it up; his response "Well look if you can bring it to me and show me its working then I'll pass it but right now it’s still a fail".

I mean what was he honestly going to do about the wipers if he was to service it? He would have simply replaced the blades and said "Job done" and passed it. I mean what else can you do to fix wipers besides tightening down the wiper nut and replacing the blades?

4. Front and Rear brake hoses

"Oh the brake hoses aren’t flexible", I asked "are there any cracks in them?", he said "No; but they are 32 years and and need replacing".

He did bring 3 other points that were minor that I am planning to look at but nothing rego fail worthy.

At this point he said "Look your car is one of the cleanest cars I've seen from this period and plenty of it is in great condition and well maintained but there is still some work that needs doing here; so it’s a case of how much you love it".

He then proceeded to ask me "Did you just buy this car?" and "How long as this been on NSW rego?" seeming not to believe that it’s been on NSW rego for years and passed plenty of rego checks.

He said “We’d be happy to help you out getting it up to spec”.

At this point I’d figured out he’s spruiking for business and just making my life a misery after paying $88 for the privilege of getting this rubbish report from him.

He said “So what you going to go”; I said “I’ll keep it on NSW Rego”.

Anyway coming back from this I was kind of demoralised and running over my head asking how the fuck I come across a mechanic who actually knew enough to know the seats were Supra seats and not from the same model but stupid enough to think they somehow had different mounting points!

So at this point I had to say to myself; “Well I’ve only got 14 days left to get this car registered in QLD with the surrogate vin or I’ll have to back to NSW rego with a void surrogate VIN number engraved in my engine bay all for nothing”

So then I contacted a few QLD members on here and other yota forums looking for the guy who does hoon cars up here and I found him thanks to Steeko. I prepared for the worst still, filled the tank with premium, washed the car, cleaned the wipers, cleaned the carby. Basically did everything I could easily.

However, this went a hellva lot smoother than I was expecting; I name dropped some guy as “such and such sent me to you and I heard you can fix me up”, the mobile mechanic shows up looks at my car goes “Nice car!” looks under the bonnet” says “looks really clean” then he simply writes the cert out; gets his $100 and leaves. He didn’t even turn the car on! Lol

So with that in hand; I went to QLD Transport today to get my plates and got met with the same “We haven’t done many Surrogate VIN applications”, “It says your car is stolen on the system”, “Why can’t VIC police remove the stolen car listing” etc etc etc. Anyway after they made a few phone calls to QLD police and the Department head office they figured out how to register the surrogate VIN properly.

So for 6 months rego here including CTP it only costs me $336; in NSW 6 months including CTP costs me about $590and a year of rego in QLD is $620 all up while in NSW it’s usually 1.25k for me.

I had my NSW licence transferred, which cost $0.

All up with new plates, 6 months rego + CTP, plus transfer fees and such my card was only hit with $380!

So this is the result

I will probably get personalised RA60GT plates later but for now; these will do.

At the end of the day I had no choice but to get this stolen issue cleaned up even if I tried to stay on NSW rego since the QLD Police alerted the NSW RMS about my stolen car record entry and they said I had 28 days to sort it out as well and I couldn’t full well simply let my rego lapse and have all this work done because if I did that my surrogate VIN engraving would have been a total waste of time since I had only 28 days after it was engraved to get it registered in QLD.

Now at least if I transfer to another state and/or the police do a VIN number search on my car it will only bring up my current car with no stolen car records; not bring up 3 different cars for the 1 VIN number like my original VIN does.

I do plan to get a few things worked on over the next few months but that will be on my timetable and at a price I dictate; not some garage holding me to ransom.

 

[drjim]

I have to admire you for staying with this.

Press on! The end is almost in sight....

Jim

 

[gamble]

good god it sounds like a royal pain to do anything car related over there. i guess your car laws are like your gun laws: you can have em, but the government reallllly wants to inspect your shit and make you pay some hefty taxes to boot

 

[wirysage]

I have to admire you for staying with this.

Press on! The end is almost in sight....

Jim

Thanks; but the end is already here. If you see from my picture I got it successfully registered.

 

[wirysage]

good god it sounds like a royal pain to do anything car related over there. i guess your car laws are like your gun laws: you can have em, but the government reallllly wants to inspect your shit and make you pay some hefty taxes to boot

Yes high taxes and lots of inspections. However, our car laws are nothing compared to ones in say Europe or California that basically don't allow your vehicle on the road if it doesn’t pass an emissions test. In Australia the most our testing authorities worry about with emissions is if it is blowing clouds of smoke out at idle. As long as it isn’t doing that; the emissions aren’t even thought about in vehicle testing.

 

[dedlast]

The bad news is that your new VIN is all over the internet now due to the picture you posted up there. It would have been a good idea to have edited the photo first.

Bill

 

[wirysage]

The bad news is that your new VIN is all over the internet now due to the picture you posted up there. It would have been a good idea to have edited the photo first.

Bill

I did think up about that today. But:

1. They can't do anything with it.
2. There's no public personal details attached to it; and
3. In Australia anyone can go on a government website and search number plates and that brings up the vin anyway. So basically it would have been a pointless exercise to try to hide it.

 

[spud3861]

Congratulations. I feel your frustration. Had similar issues in New Zealand with a 7MGTE swap.

 

[drjim]

Thanks; but the end is already here. If you see from my picture I got it successfully registered.

OOOPS!

:duh:

 

[gamble]

Yes high taxes and lots of inspections. However, our car laws are nothing compared to ones in say Europe or California that basically don't allow your vehicle on the road if it doesn’t pass an emissions test. In Australia the most our testing authorities worry about with emissions is if it is blowing clouds of smoke out at idle. As long as it isn’t doing that; the emissions aren’t even thought about in vehicle testing.

well actually a lot of places have emissions tests but its not like they're that strict esp for trucks. i bought my truck and it was almost passing and it turns out the previous owner had gutted the cat haha. lots of states don't do a very thorough safety check like you guys, i mean some places just check your brakes and lights and give you a sticker for 15 bucks or whatever.

 

[wirysage]

So people updates:

1. Believe it or not the rust is back in the hatch lol. After all that POR-15 and grinding there was simply some areas that I couldn't get to with it and that is where it’s rusted. So a guy I know in Victoria, Australia says he'll be restarting production of more fibreglass hatches in Feb and he'll make one for me then.

2. Rear wheel bearings are going to be changed soon.

Photo I took the other day

 

[wirysage]

Hatch rust no more. Fibreglass hatch made by an Australian guy called Jim here in Australia. I got it for $450 AUD + delivery. He's been exporting FG ae86 hatches to the USA for years on ebay. However, he only just started producing FG Xa6x hatches. Want one? Email him on this email address jim.papas65@hotmail.com . The dog is extra.

 

[Claes]

I loooove your stereo. I would LOVE to have that in my Celica Supra!

 

[CLToy]

Wow, great read. There are so several items that I may do to my own car. Thank you for the details.

 

[wirysage]

Lol everyone loves the 1979 Crown stereo. I even keep one of my parents 1982 classic hits tapes in the deck lol.

 

[wirysage]

 

[edUC]

Great celica wirysage.

Did you install the hatch? It looks great!

Enviado desde mi GT-I9505 mediante Tapatalk

 

[wirysage]

Went to a car meet on the weekend.

 

[CLToy]

How did the hatch fit? Stable and secure at highway speeds? Seals and glass fit well?