Hi guys if a car has been fully engineered and the rules for engineering have been followed can a cop defect u.

yes, if there is something not up to scratch, but not for the legal modifications.

Yep especially if you give them attitude. Some people get the attitude there out to get me but hey they cant touch me its all legal. Thats the perfect example of the old saying 2 wrongs dont make a right. Be a good boy and the rest will sort its self out only saying that cause i have been there and its just a vicious cycle.

Were you not going to use aftermarket management, you need to get emissions testing.

Any car can be defected modded or not, just easier if it's modded. If it's unaltered from engineering, it should all be ok but some engineers miss stuff some times.
If you don't alter it from engineering should be ok in most instances

They can defect you as long as 'they believe' that the car is not legal, and there's very little you can do about it.

I've played with modified cars all my life, and when I was on P plates, I made a few bucks taking bets on whether I could drive my torana into the city and back on a friday night without getting pulled over (this was back before p plater (probationary licence holders for the first couple of years for overseas guys!) drivers were restricted in what car they could drive. I never once got the car into the city and back home without being pulled over. Not once. I never gave the police any grief, and for the most part they were decent enough. On the other hand a _few_ and I do mean a few (as in not very many) would go nuts looking to defect the car (for the most ridiculous stuff). They'd also do stuff like pulling the back seats out, pulling bits and pieces off in the search for drugs (and for the record, whilst I'm no saint, I certainly haven't had anything to do with drugs in my life, so there was _never_ anything to find) then they'd just drive off and leave me to put stuff back together.

I'll tell you this though, as much as it is a pain in the backside, even when they are trying to screw you over, remain polite, and just go with the flow. You'd be surprised just how well that can go. Especially if they are your local cops and start to get to know you. They'll still likely defect you in the first place, but after a while (assuming you are doing burnouts out the front of the local police station !!) they'll tend to lighten up. It might not be a get out of jail free card, but for example, they can defect the car _AND_ issue fines relating to the same defects (might depend what state/territory you are in) - well they might 'just' give you the defect notice instead.

One thing to keep in mind with uniformed police. Most are reasonable (just like any other job you care to name) some aren't. The unfortunate thing is the idiots amongst them aren't likely to get promoted or move up the chain of command, so occasionally (and I'll also make the comment that some like to stay in highway patrol, and do in fairness do a good job there, so some of them are more senior in years ) - anyway - occasionally the 'duds' basically get 'stuck' in uniformed duties, and start to get bitter about it. Which sucks because for most of us they are the public face of the police. It's entirely possible that if you get pulled over, one of the guys in the car is getting a bit sick of their partners' attitude, so do all you can to keep them on side, you never know, they might try and talk him into a lesser fine or something.

Having said all that, there's plenty of decent coppers out there. And I can tell categorically if one of my cars was stolen, I'd hope they chased the bastards that stole it, and if there was a crash, I wouldn't be blaming the police, it'd be the theiving scum that took my car in the first place.

And to finish on a good note - one night on the way home from work (about 6am on a sunday morning) with a workmate who also lived nearby, we ended up travelling behind a divvy van (police car with lockup facilities in teh rear van section). They were going slower and slower, and I at first suspected they wanted to see if I would pass them on double lines (a no-pass situation in victoria at the time). SO I just kept slowing down too. I ended up getting waved past, which to me meant I had to, and so then was followed for about another couple of kms. Just before the last turn into my street, they lit up the lights and pulled me over. I got out of the car, licence in hand, and after a few brief words I was asked to pop the bonnet to see the engine bay. 'here were go' I thought. Instead, the officer said 'oh, grouse' and we ended up having a good long chat, turns out he was a fellow car enthusiast (and a torana fan at that) and talked about engines, suspension, tyre choice, the works. It was seriously one of the coolest conversations I've had with _anyone_ about cars and it sticks in my mind over 20 years later.

If your car is engineered, keep a copy of the engineers report in the glovebox, and if they query something, _very_ politely get the report, and ask them if it's possible to check it out, and say something along the lines of 'to be honest, I wasn't too sure about the ins and outs of this or that modification myself, which is why I went with the engineer, to make sure it's all above board' If there's any chance you can get some leniency, this will be it. If they scoff at the engineers report and continue with the defect, just bite your tongue, don't argue, because that is the _one_ thing guaranteed to never work.

It sucks but sometimes you just have to play chess, and grin and bear it, consider the defect notice like losing a pawn, at the end of the day you still have your car and if the defect notice is wrong, it won't take too long to get the car back on the road.

I'd also mention that if you get the car engineered in 'one' condition, then immediately alter the configuration big time, they'll be onto that in a flash, and don't even try to show them the engineers report, because you can get done for EPA related stuff (if you change engine management for example) and if you think some police are tough, the epa can literally make life not worth living. You'd end up in less financial and personal trouble if you got drunk and run someone over in a standard car than tangle with the EPA (well almost!)

For some reason coppers love Holden n fords, but when a jap turbo goes by minding his own business WHACK defect notice n a lot poorer!

But I see jmac point..

Thanks jmac that was very informative,one more ? if i get the car engineered and the hp is so and so then that changes does it have to be re-engineered.Does hp come into engineering or is it just cc's,for example Ca(1809cc).

To add to jmac's informative post.

A lot of people get defected hanging around at car meets or going on cruises on the weekend nights, If you avoid all of these activities no matter how fun they are and just drive where you privately need/want to travel, you will find you may never even get inspected at all.

I worry a fair bit about my 1200 as it will be my main mode of transport. Things like my coilovers are illegal and I am hoping to lower the car enough they will not see without a flashlight and squinting :). I guess if I get defected a few times and cannot sort the issues cheaply I'll just sell my datsun, hoping to avoid that tho.

Hi fellas are costum dashes either fibreglass or aluminium any good and will that have to be ingineered to.God im going to have a list off the stuff that will need to be engineered.