Hi all-

I recently purchased my 3rd car which I use for business. It's the Infiniti M45 in my sig. I still have both my Sentra and my Z and I have noticed that I barely use my Z at all especially as it hangs out at my parent's place. I love the car and will never sell it but it is being under-utilized. With that being said, I want to use it for what it was made for- racing.

Some people may remember my horror story a few years back of when my car was broken in to by the police and my car had a turbo system on it which is illegal in California. It cost me roughly $1,700 to take everything off and then I had to get it inspected by the state. Being the stubborn guy that I am, I put the kit back on.

I had an idea last night as I am deathly afraid of getting caught with the system on the car again: Have the car registered as an off-road vehicle only which will make having the kit on the car perfectly legal.

Despite being an 'off-road' registered vehicle, every once in awhile, I will probably take the car out for a spin and what not. I do run the risk of getting pulled over for having the car on a highway, street or road i.e. 'on-road' but the ticket and the penalty for that should be much less rather than me getting a ticket for the turbo and also forced to take off my whole entire system.

Eventually, I plan to question some police officers who I know about this idea to see what the potential repercussions of this are but wanted to ask the people on this board to think if this is a decent idea or if they have any first or second-hand experience with this issue.

So what do you guys think? Is it a decent alternative?

 

I guess you have to register the Z as a non-operating. But this means legally you cannot drive the car on public roads until you re-register the car. Dunno what the fines are if you get caught though.

If my Z was turbocharged I would register it as a non-op and get some track time with it.

 

Non op the car and trailer it to the track. You do not want to get caught with a non op car on the street. If you do feel like driving it on the street for a day or two, just get a moving permit from DMV, but the car will need to be insured.

 

I may be wrong but I believe if you register it plan non op then you cant even have it parked on a public street. you may want to think about that if it applies to you. If you have a garage to park it in then don't worry about it.

 

Thanks guys for the input. I am astill doing research and unfortunately I am still up in the air. I called Sam at GT Motorsports to ask him for his advice as he used to work at a smog shop and he usually knows the basic traffic laws. Overall, he feels it is a bad idea because if I am pulled over as a non-op or off-highway, I could possibly get towed which I already considered.

I asked him about his customers who are modding their cars in California and to my surprise, he says that almost all of his California business has died! He said 90+% of his clientele are from out-of-state where the modding laws are more relaxed.

My main concern is that in the distant future, I want to eventually do a complete build on my Z and trck it but also use it every once-in-awhile on the streets. Hopefully I will have an answer by then.

As for non-oping or off-highway, the Z is parked at my parent's so no problem there.

 

Get a Vortech, lol

But seriously I feel you....I would have put a turbo on my car if there was a CARB legal turbo kit....I have to get by with my heavily modified Vortech....if a cop tells me to pop the hood I at least have a CARB number to work with...

 

This will happen.

 

register the car in a different state

 

Move.

 

I was thinking about the Vortech. Matter'fact, when I was originally thinking about going FI back in 2005, Vortech was my first choice but I didn't like the idea of parasitic loss of power. I also didn't like the idea about having to tighten the cog belts every once in awhile compared to a turbo's drive-and-forget style.

I see you are in Long Beach- I am in Long Beach, too close to PCH and Junipero (near the traffic circle). Do you wanna get together someday so we can check out each other's cars? I would love to see your Vortech set-up as I may have to go that route in the future.

 

I know of this route also. I do have friends that live out-of-state. I may do this but I need to research how I am supposed to get the car smogged and what not as well as paper work.

 

Thought about this too but for me to move for just smog reasons is a bit much. Luckily, what I do for work can survive in other states so it's a possibiilty but the last one especially as I just bought my first home about a year ago here.

 

Witty come out and work in the Queens office

 

Might not be a bad idea. The NY office guys gete a lot of freight probably because the competition is less fierce out there. I would love to show them-up.

 

Other ideas I have had are to do a 4.2 liter all-motor conversion or perhaps get 4.5 liter custom made pistons, sleeves, rings, etc etc.

I could also get the VK45DE engine put in as well. I have also thought about coupling the GTM 4.2 stroker kit or the custom 4.5 liter internals with a Vortech S/C. These thoughts are all in their infancy so I have no knowledge on how difficult these may be especially when you take in to account the electronics.

 

Yeah sure...I usually take my dogs out to the marina by Joe's Crab Shack, I don't mind taking my garage queen out....

 

Great. I am going to send you a PM with my cell #. Hit me back with yours so we can set-up a day and time.

Also, I have a request, 006. Could you either take me for a ride in your car or if you trust me enough, perhaps let me drive it a little? If you did let me drive it, I want to let you know that I take good care of my cars and tend to baby them. I would like to see what your car feels like from a roll and basically gradually push it up through the rev band to perhaps 5k or so.

 

Man date

 

Jealous?

 

Get a vette, you'll never worry about power & the police won't bother you.