Hi All!
I'm interested to find out what the deal is with certain mods and the need for engineers certificates and possibility of getting defected by a copper who has nothing better to do.
This has been prompted by 2 mates of mine, a Greek guy who has an STI and another tanned bloke who has an EVO. So consider at least a part of that racial profiling by the coppers.
They have both been pulled over in the last few weeks by belligerent coppers that have tried to defect their cars.
Conversation (STI owner):
Copper: "You got an engineers certificate for these mods?"
Mate: "No, the car is standard" (Truth, btw)
Copper: "Open the bonnet, what have you got here. A pod filter? Blow off valve?"
Mate: "No, the car is standard"
At this point the copper points to his underling and tells him "You know cars right? Defect it for me"
The younger cop takes a look, says everything seems to be fine. and they eventually let him go.
Yesterday, the EVO owner got pulled over for an RBT and then got asked to pop his bonnet. He has a VERY loud cat back exhaust but the cop had a look under the bonnet and then let him go.
Question:
What are they trying to find? NOS cannisters? Even if you have that then so long as you can show the hoses are disconnected there's nothing to worry about. But what else can they get you for? I know you need an engineers certificate when doing exhaust mods that may affect emissions but as far as I knew there was no big deal with installing a pod filter? If there isnt then why the hell was this asshole copper asking my mate about it?
Who knows a bit about this stuff? What are the rules & possible penalties. I'll still get my DP and SRI installed regardless but if I start getting bothered by coppers then that will give me the shits.