Thread: Emission Regulations Query

Just wondering after reading your 3rd para what regs you actually got that information from or have you just based it on what you have been told?

When I read it, it just made me wonder where it came from 😊

Some people seem to confuse new vehicle warranty expectations/requirements with regs

Check your state's transport authority modification guidelines. Pretty sure the answer is no; it's based on the year of the fitted engine, not the vehicle it's going in to .

This might be a helpful starting point:
Vehicle Emission Standards

Originally Posted by G.man

Hey,

I looked on google to see if I could find anything but I have no idea what to even type in the search function to come up with my specific question.

Just looking at regulations, CAT/DPFs/EGR etc.

To my understanding, if a car has been factory fitted with any of those, then removing/deleting them technically makes the car illegal and there is no way to legally get it removed, meaning, nobody can actually remove it and get it engineered to be without it. If it came with it, it has to be there and there is no way around that.

So my question is, does that pertain to the car or the parts fitted to the car? Let me explain...

Say you bought a 1990 Defender. No CAT, No DPF, No EGR, no anything (just for example sake) - basically like a muscle car, pre any regulations.

Now you decide you want to turn your Defender into something more powerful, so you buy a new V8 Diesel that is 2016 or something to fit into your defender.

That V8 Diesel will have CAT and all that other stuff on it being 2016... can you now remove all that because your car is PRE regulations, or, is the regulation going to be based on the engine you just put in an not the vehicle itself, in which case, the only way to not have any of those things would be to stick to engines made pre-regulations?

Hope that makes some sense

I'll see if I can dig up the docs, but in Vic at least to legally engineer an engine conversion the engine needs to meet the minimum standards to which the vehicle was designed to or which the engine was designed to - whichever is NEWER - it's in one of the VSB's somewhere so in Vic (not sure where you are), so to be legal and for Engineering, yes you'd need to keep the cat, etc on the newer engine and have it oass the emmissions tests for it's year so a clapped out smokey version of said engine would be a no go either. What you did after it was legally engineered is up to you I suppose, the same as some are happy to block EGR's and remove cats now.

IMO it would be easier to find an engine that was built around the same time as the vehicle, but keep in mind the regs changed several times so make sure it still falls in the years it will be tested to during Engineering.

Easiest thing to do is to find a local Engineer who's accredited to sign off on the mods in your state and ask them hiw they approach this. Engineers much prefer to discuss these sort of things early on before dollars are spent to make everyones life easier later on. They are human, generally very easy to talk to and a wealth of knowlegde on these subjects as it's their bread and butter. Been chatting to one myself recently about mods I'm planning and it really helps narrow down how to do what you're planning. It may cost a couple of grand all in by the tome you're done but it is just a fraction of what you'll spend on the mods so worth budgeting for early and using them throughout the process.

I found a PDF titled Vehicle Standards Bulletin 14 which says if a replacement engine changes vehicle emissions the change must be certified, but I can't get the link to copy on my phone. Just search vehicle emissions replacement engine or something similar and you should find it.

That was what I was thinking of.

Just googled the link - Vehicle Standards Bulletin 14 (VSB 14)

Without going into the legislative fine print the basics are that the rules applying to the newer piece are to be complied with. For example replacing a 1996 Rover V8 with a 70's Chrysler Hemi 6. The old engine needs to be brought up to the standard required under the applicable emissions rules of 1996. If putting the 1996 Rover V8 into a 1976 Series then the 1996 rules still apply.

I wonder if these rules are observed when putting a 4.6 (1994-2003) into an earlier LR? Or does no-one tell the authorities?