Thread: Importing to Aus

Chaps

Not sure if any of you have ever done this but I'm looking for a bit of help. There's a strong chance SWMBO and I could be moving from the UK to (perhaps) Melbourne in the near future. As part of this move, we'd be bringing a couple of cars with us, one is her 1979 Triumph Spitfire 1500 that we've owned for near on 20 years, the other is my G4 RRS that I've had for near on 18 months.

My dilemma is with the RRS and getting it registered etc. It's in no way a standard car, both with the modifications done by Land Rover for the Challenge and also in that it's now converted to run on LPG (as well as petrol). From our trip to Vic last week I see that LPG is readily available, but what I'm not sure of is whether the aftermarket conversion it's fitted with is likely to cause a massive amount of red tape / problems for me to get the vehicle approved in Australia. If it's going to be a nightmare then I may be better off selling it here and taking the massive loss, or stripping the LPG system off and returning it to standard.

Any help or suggestions on this would really be appreciated. Calling Vicroads to ask is a bit difficult with the time difference !!

Cheers

Mike

Originally Posted by ericpicc

Rang Vicroads for you today, that was a great help
All the Lady had to say was that it has to arrive here first then go to a authorised inspection station for a inspector to go over the system and if all ok will give you a compliance plate.
Could not tell me if all LPG systems are compliance approved for Australia.
If you can give me the make and model of the system, I'll ring a inspection station and find out more.
Here is a link to Vicroads it might have the info you need.
Search Results : VicRoads

Thanks *very* much for that, really appreciate it. It's an eGas system fitted to the car (http://www.egasweb.co.uk/index.html), but by the looks of things from other posts the LPG tank & pipework will need changing anyway, so stripping the system off may well be the best thing to do. I'll chat to the fitter and see if he can find anything out about the pipework and its approvals.

Replacement of liquid-carrying pipes and hoses to new ones with AS1425 compliance marking.

Remove/refit the LPG cylinder to test it to AS 2337 standards.

Replacement of the fill point if it isn't the US/Oz type 1 3/4 ACME thread style filler.

Shouldn't be the hardest part once you hit these shores. You may be best off removing the LPG cylinder, filler and hoses at home and replacing them here with ones specifically marked for AS 1425. That way you can get registration and worry about the LPG later.

Hamish71This is a definite. Your cylinder and lines will NEVER get approved in Australia. Remove it, and flog it of for what you can at home.

These are just what I needed to know. I can have a look at the details I have for the toroidal tank it's fitted with and see if it complies, although from what's said here it seems unlikely.

I'm not wedded to the LPG system but clearly, from my trip out last week there's a significant saving still in using it, at least tere LPG is still relatively cheap when compared to petrol, unlike here now where petrol is over $2 a litre & LPG over $1 a litre. There are negatives to it though, both in that it's mounted where the spare wheel normally lives and that over time, LPG isn't good for these Jag engines.

Really appreciate all the posts here chaps, it's helping no end. I *really* don't want to sell the car, I think it'll be ideal for having in Aus as we do like travelling about and using it properly. I will be making sure it leaves here with all the usual a/r bar bushes & balljoints replaced, along with a new set of ATR's to save on doing it soon after arrival. From what's been said here it sounds like the duties I'll have to pay on it could be quite significant.

There's one other G4 car in Aus that I'm aware of, a Defender 110 from the cancelled 2009 Challenge. I've heard rumours of another RRS from the 2006 Challenge mine did, but that's only a rumour.

Keep the posts coming though.

Gotta love these forums