If your up for Rego in NSW - Read this.

[Baz]

Yesterday being 27/5/10 was probably the worst day I have experienced in 3 years.

I finally had to present my car for inspection by the RTA at 10.30am in the Inspection Station at Botany near Sydney Airport. The papers were originally faxed to the RTA on 23/3/10. At this point, I must say that the most enjoyable part of the day was the drive in and the drive out, even though it was pounring down on the way in. The rest of the day was really depressing.

The day started off in the negative as it was pissing down so I had to christen my new soft top and side curtains which I have never put on the car before. That took me about 1 hour to install as the trimmer had fitted medium sized zippers and placed the joining points near the doors instead of installing large zipppers and placing the connecting points near the windscreen. A few years ago, I had a total shoulder replacement on the right side, and after installing the side curtains from the outside, I realised that I couldn't get into the car without opening the door and crawling under the side curtains into the cockpit whilst the side curtins were installed. That has now been resovled as the trimmer has agreed to replace the zippers with a large style and place the points where they clip onto the roof near the windscreen. He used a smaller zipper so they wouldn't push out on the top rear corner. After trying to connect the zips, I don't care how much they push out, as long as I can erect the hood and side curtains in under 30 minutes.

The 40 minute drive into the RTA was great. The rain came down in buckets and I only had a tiny leak on both sides of the windscreen which didn't overflow onto the floor. In that 40 minutes, I would have driven through about 4 inches of rain so I am happy with the result.

During my trip in, I was challenged by at least half a dozen f**ck wits, most displaying red P plates. Would you believe, there was one young Learner displaying L plates who also offered the challenge in his grey Mitsubishi Lancer. He then dropped the biggest burnout when he took off from the lights as he performed a right hand turn. I felt like belting him to teach him a lesson for the future.

He wasn't the only one I felt like belting that day.

I arrived at the Inspection Station at 10.30am and would you believe, left at 3.45pm. 5 Hours of intensive inspection with no stop for lunch.

The Inspection ranged from pulling lamp covers off to ensure that they had 'E' numbers endorsed, Inspectors indicating a desire to contact manufacturers to check on the validity of a reversing light 'compliance', even though I had the packet it came in to show them that it was was endorsed with the fact that it complied with the relevant ADR, to taking door trims off to measure and photograph the side intrusion bars. They even measured the width of the VC Commodore steering rack and established that it had been shortened 100mm. This was done by RMC whom I purchased it from. They now require the results of the Engineering tests which prove that the rack is safe and compliant.

A couple of other issues that I know of at this time are:-

The Demister didn't push hot air onto the windscreen.

The high mounted stop light was partially obscurred by the lower edge of the soft top window when viewed from around 8 metres to the rear in a crouching position. The high level stop light is mounted on the the body, behind the roll bars and inside the soft top.

Unfortunately, I had to have the roof on to drive in, as the rain was so intense.

If I went in as as a topless roadster, these two issues wouldn't have applied.

A word of warning here and some good advice:-

Under the relevant ADR, if the car hasn't got a soft or hard top on and never will have, (read between the lines) it doesn't need a demister. If it does, it needs one.

The only reason that I presented with the roof on was that it was pouring cats and dogs. I would never take my Cobra out in such weather and I doubt if I will ever use my soft top and side curtains again, except in emergencies. It was just my pathetic luck that I had to take it for inspection on a day that dumped millions of gallons of water on Sydney.

It looks like now that I will have to remove the consul and dash then work out some way whereby I can connect the heater, which is installed, to the dash vents, which are also installed. A lot of work for something I will never use.

Another issue they had was is the rear mounts where the seats bolt through the floor. Even though the front mounts go through the chassis rail, the rear ones just go through the sheet metal floor and have steel plates mounted on the underside, prior to the nut and washer, The floor plate which they are mounted to is tack welded onto the chassis. They feel that in the event of a major crash, the rear seat mounts will peel the floor away from the chassis. They now require a sub frame member to be fitted, either by welding or bolting to the chassis. The rear seat bolts can then be mounted through this bracing bar.

I was informed by the Inspector that during the past 12 months, they have inspected 140 ICV's and not one of them has passed their inspection. After my experience, I have no doubt that he is telling me the truth in that regard. Give the man an Order of Australia Medal for his efforts in that regard.

The report they use is 21 pages long. When they finish that, they compare their responses with that shown on the Engineers Report. If there are any discrepancies, the Engineer will receive a spray.

E.G. My chassis No had the Nos., followed the the letters RMC. On the Engineers Report, he had shown the RMC in front of the numbers. This was taken really seriously by the Inspector who indicated that it could lead to a prosecution against the Engineer. Similar action could also be taken against the mechanic who issued the Non Complying Blue Slip. Fair dickum. Give me a go here.

It is obvious that they don't want ICV's on the road. If you are coming up for inspection, ensure that you have an ample supply of Panadeine Forte on hand as I can gaurantee that you will experience some of the worse migraines imaginable. Mine are that bad at times, I am sure that I have a major brain tumor.

The results of my Inspection will now be assessed by RTA engineers and I will be notiifed within 2weeks of what modifications I have to perform or what tests I have to have conducted.

I have been reliably informed that today they had a 3 hour meeting relating specifically to my car between the Inspectors and the Engineers to discuss the results of yesterday's inspection. One of the Inspectors even visited Spare Parts retailers to measure and compare sizes of components on my car to that of original parts.

I hope this thread will assist those who follow behind me. Updates will follow. Believe me.



Baz