What does the future hold for modified cars in the uk?

jarrus

Pro Tuner
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Location
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I'm genuinely concerned....

How badly will the changes affect those of us who have modified cars with things mentioned like ECU being checked to see if it's been remapped.... And visual checks
If this is the case then I'm stuffed.... Big time....

Can someone put my mind at ease ?....
 
We debated this a awhile back. It would decimate a quite large industry which would be daft in this climate.

Plus not all ecus are easily checked. To find my remap you'd have to download it and check it against a standard one. Will this really be part of the mot test?

Tbh if I knew modded ecus were going to be banned I'd just buy a mapping device before the ban and swap out maps before mot time. I'd break the law on this one as it would be a stupid unnecessary aw driven by a law court that I don't believe should have any authority over us.

I HATE the EU concept. No need for it.
 
I did see that thread on the subject but I was hoping that being closer to when the new laws are going to be in effect that we would know for sure what is actually going to happen and like you say it would be silly for the govenment to put a massive industry out of business in our current financial state.
I was hoping that luttonmatt would comment also as he does this for a living and as such I would think that he has read up on it more so. But then again in the likes of Germany and Poland and france I'm sure they have modified cars on the road and they are still legal, also I did see that the changes did stipulate that they would check for "illegal" modifications..... I'm pretty sure that's what MOT testers have to do now though.

The reason for asking is that my 306 will be due for MOT in January and I want to be prepared for when it comes around, I will have to address my Airbag light (but I was told that they should have failed mme for that before and they never have done) also I need to know airbags and the like as I intend to remove them. Is it still a case of if it has them they must function properly and if it doesn't have any then thats by-the-by or would it be a case of "well its from 1998 it should have pretensioners and airbags" but then again a lot of track day cas don't have that....

Seriously the new rules aren't very clear on what they want to change and if so then I know loads of people and even unmodified cars that will fail there next MOT.....
 
I just don't see how it could ever work. No 2 engines ever leave the factory with exactly the same hp so how do you prove that a mod changed the hp? The focus 2.5 turbo engine makes 215hp on normal unleaded and 230hp on super, again how would they prove that it was a mod that had changed your hp and not just petrol. Performance air filters and stainless steel exhausts could be billed as longlife or economy enhancing. All the extra work involved in checking would make mots cost twice as much, and I know the govt likes to pick on the motorist but this would annoy every single car owner.

I read a lot about this a while back and it just struck me as someone trying to justify their jobs by inventing a solution to a problem that never existed.
 
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Bang on there.... mate but lies or not, if it comes in I need to consider my options and so do many other people....
 
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The problem is almost certainly around emissions. A car taxed at 130 tons per mile of CO2 might be giving out 220tons of Co2 after it has been remapped.

I don't think they can legislate against remapping, the concept of tuning cars, tweaking carbs and fuelling have been around for years.
 
The new MOT laws come in from January 2012. The only real changes I'm aware of are that HIDs installed on cars not intended to have them from factory is a fail, and so is the airbag light thing.

Banning ECU mods would be silly, it would make the MOT last a lot longer as checking them would take ages. Not to mention each garage would need the software to do so, and staff members trained to use it. Out of 100 cars how many will they find? It just isn't worth it. Not to mention there will always be a way around it.

I honestly wouldn't worry about it.
 
Well then I just need to fix the air bag problem and I'm all good, I think,
I might fail for not having a cat, before it wasn't a problem because diesels of my cars ages are only smoke density tested but I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that I will need to put the cat back in some how,if thats the case then I'll just weld a case of one around the exhaust, job done :)
 
You don't fail for not having a cat, but if you can fail on emissions which are reduced by the cat.

A de-catted car can still pass the emissions test.
 
The ECU question was " done to death " a while back

1 It is almost impossible to bring in something retrospectively ( like the seat belt law) so if you have a map now it should be ok.

2 Changing the ECU isnt illeagal - mine has an aftermarket ECU which makes it run much more efficiently that the std ECU because it is 32 bit not 8
In fact it passes all the emmission tests as it is now and would not with a standard ECU so the rule wont be workable.

Besides which my ECU is protected and locked . You nobody can even see the map let alone check it without an official HKS dongle so how will the ministry deal with that.

Its EEC beaurocracy gone mad - Im surprised somone hasnt suggested an EEC directive restricting the colour of peoples cars - Come to think of it i hope they dont see this cos they might think its a good idea.
 
Taxing cars on their current emissions rather than on factory spec test emissions is utterly simple. Get rid of the road tax disc and add duty to the fuel. This would be totally fair to everyone.
 
It would be a very fair system. The incentive to keep the car well serviced would help safety as well. Those such as me who cover 20,000+ miles would end up paying more but that would be fair enough.

However, it might not be all that punishing because all the road tax evaders will have to pay up via the pumps.
 
Thats the idea though, they won't be able to evade the road tax cause it's on the fuel, but then again, my car will run on loads of other things than pump diesel ;)
 
To be honest even when I did a lot of miles I thought it would be fairer to have it in fuel. At the minute you csn buy a big v8, pay 400 quid a year tax and do a few thousand miles a year, whereas someone else can buy a 1.0 micra, pay no road tax, do 20k a year and who produces more co2?
 
The MOT sould be Safety focused & nothing ells! imho. Emissions should never have been made a part of it.

I had to get rid of my very rare JDM SI Prelude because of emissions, when it past everything ells with flying colours & no advisories.


I think the only logical & practical solution with the current legal system is to cheat.
 
The MOT sould be Safety focused & nothing ells! imho. Emissions should never have been made a part of it.

I had to get rid of my very rare JDM SI Prelude because of emissions, when it past everything ells with flying colours & no advisories.


I think the only logical & practical solution with the current legal system is to cheat.

I thought you had a pre-1992 Prelude?
 

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