NSW Registration of imported vehicles

[Shaunp]

Am I the only one who thinks these big engines in these cruisers is overkill ?
Whats wrong with the good old 302 ?
Got more than enough power for a bit of spirited driving.
Its not like u can use the big engine around the burbs.
Not with the radars and cameras about nowdays.
Nothing against fast cars but a 40 year old steering and brake design is not the best platform for high speed either.

+1, I'm all too happy with a cruiser these days. If you want something really fast then go and buy any newish car and take it to the track, it will generally be faster than you rodded or hotted up Mustang, handle better and cost a lot less to get to that point.
BUT if you have a different opinion........... I guess your not old like me
Just be realistic about what you want from the car, too many of us get caught up in the numbers wank and probably are not sure how these numbers stack up in the real world. Bigger is not always better IMO.
Probably had too many of these

Kind of agree, but I don't like new cars, no fun they do stuff too easy. I grew up with hot cams and bigger or more carburettors, While these days I would not put up with some of the engines I built as a kid and like AC these days as well, I still want a similar feel of a lumpy idle and snappy throttle response, there is no law about how fast you get to the speed limit as long as you don't turn the tyres.
These cars are about nostalgia to me that is a crunchy 4 speed, lumpy idle, induction roar, and a launch of the line. I won't inject my car, cause I know it won't sound right. If you build them right they will still cruise fine, but its not bad if they can rap your ears behind you head if you nail them as well.

[boofhead]

You echo my thoughts as I have a similar back ground and experiences. [Though I have installed a patched together EFI hardware using megasquirt ECU I have built]. I like to play and experiment a little with my cars - a fully programmable (including the source code) EFI system is a toy I could not resist].

[smh00n]

Dragging up an old thread.

I spoke with a certification engineer today about the mods I want to do, which are:
* Borgeson power steer box
* TKO600 5 speed
* XF calipers/XB master cylinder/adjustable proportioning valve
* 347

All of them need certification. The box I thought would be the hardest as it has welded lugs to mount, but he was fairly relaxed with it, saying that as long as the welds look good (they do) and there was some sort of documentation from the supplier on how/what it would be OK.
The gearbox and cross member will need certifying as it's not an option, it's not a Ford box (I have read it's loosely based on a truck box) therefore has to be approved.
Brakes are fine, as they are XF calipers they have approval but to the letter of the law the booster/master/caliper combo needs to be justifed as being compatible.
But reality is he will send it off to an Inspection Station with the Platetronic plate tester and let it decide if the balances and pressures are fine. If it doesn't pass then do more tweaking and try again.
The lump - quite interesting, he basically said don't tell me what size it is. Although a 429 was an option and I am covered up to 20% of that so I might just say it's a 351 and see what happens. Although, a 500cid alloy headed big block would be nice.

So all this will be around $1,100 to do but as Ozbilt has stated, I can tell my insurance company all the bits changed and they cannot dud me when it comes to the crunch (hahah).
Might be worth others looking at whats been done and maybe getting them certified?

[hybrid]

I often wonder how many stock drum brake setups would pass the tests that the engineers put new setups through.

[boofhead]

The Mustang pull under dash handbrake would not pass as it is biased to one side. The nature of the design. You have to go through hoops when you make it better. lol.

[smh00n]

Yeah, I was going to ask how many dead stock brakes 'passed'. The handbrake solves one question for me - I am about to replace every cable and lubricate anything as I reckon putting out a handkerchief in the form of a parachute from the side window would slow the car better than the handbrake.

[cage]

Argh, engineering,what fun.

[boofhead]

Cage - you offering a service to help others in NSW?

[cage]

Sure mate, Jeff and I can help out. I'll add moral support and Jeff can do everything.

By the way, what's a hand brake, is it the P on the shifter?

[boofhead]

Just like R is Race on the shifter.

[ozbilt]

By the way, what's a hand brake, is it the P on the shifter?

Any American, that lives in a state that gets snow, never uses their park brake (they call them "emergency brakes") as if you set it at night, you cannot release it in the morning. The road service carries a propane torch to heat them up if that happens, otherwise you are not going anywhere.