Buying a car with uncertified mods

[AE92-5ONIC]

I'm looking into buying an S14, gave it the once over today and saw that it has been converted to manual and has adjustable suspension setup.

If I was to buy it, is it likely to be a straight forward certification costing about $300-400 or could I expect other difficulties. (The owner just wants to move the car on and doesn't want to put money towards a cert prior to purchase).

Any input?

[iOnic]

Depends on what they find/how the work has been done.
No one can tell you how it'll go.

[AE92-5ONIC]

Both mods are just bolt-ons essentially, I don't see what could be done wrong?

[Lloyd]

How did you notice the conversion? If it's tidy enough then most places would never know as it's essentially a bolt on (as mentioned above). Sell the adjustables, give it the standard lowering treatment and forget the cert. Make a bit of money from selling them and save the cost of getting a cert.

[AE92-5ONIC]

Tidy conversion, he just mentioned that the previous owner had done it. and yeah, that's sort of what I was thinking, cost of 4 struts + 4 springs isnt exactly cheap either though. Will look into it though

[siren676]

Manual conversion on its own doesnt require certing as long as it uses factory mounts.
iirc on silvias they get a heap of camber when lowered so you might need camber arms depending on how low it is

[iOnic]

It *can* be a bolt on affair but my experience with rwd Nissans is that dumb shit gets done. Eg using auto gearbox cross member on manual swap so only 2 out of 4 bolts hold the box in. Or dodgy driveshaft mods because they couldn't find the right shaft/were too cheap to buy it, or shit job of mounting the clutch pedal/master cylinder because of drilling the holes through the firewall in the wrong place (my S14's clutch master leaked when you held the pedal down because of this) etc etc

Coilovers, if they are leaking/stuffed/have anything wrong with top hats etc then that's a fail and not a cheap fix.

And cert people aren't just looking at the mods. I'd recommend a full check over before you buy it so you don't get stung. Coz once it's yours, you can't take it back if getting it legal is a pain.

Dunno anything about this car specifically so it might be a mint job and fly through.

[wde_bdy]

Or just be a prick and ask for a new warrant on it, then get the WoF place to pay to get it legal for the shit they shouldn't have passed....

Callum

[RunningRich]

Or just be a prick and ask for a new warrant on it, then get the WoF place to pay to get it legal for the shit they shouldn't have passed....

Yeah, good luck with success on that one.

[STR]

Don't know much about Nissan, but when I bought my KP, it "only" needed a cert for front adjustable suspension. Certifier found 16 things that needed rectifying, including a couple beneath the surface that were downright dangerous. I bought the car off a guy who seemed to know what he was talking about at the time. 18 months and several grand later I had a legal car.

IMHO there is no better example of buyer beware than when looking at an uncerted modified car.

[Leon]

IMHO there is no better example of buyer beware than when looking at an uncerted modified car.

Agreed. You roll the dice you take your chances.

Assume nothing is going to go through first time, and then you can be pleasantly surprised when the list of stuff needed is only medium sized rather than massive.

[MAC_HATER]

Im with the thinking, that if the previous owner spent the several grand on the mods, the $500ish on the cert is small time, and should have been done as well, and it being sold without a cert, suggests that it requires further work, or has been checked and failed, and the owner has decided its too much work to get the changes done, and wants to flick off the potential problems to another person

The cert should be the easiest part of a well done set of modifications requiring the cert, not having it makes it hard to ignore the alarm bells, it being a RWD nissan in this country with the army of skidder idiots makes things even more treacherous

[~SlideWays~]

Check that the reverse lights work since it has been converted. Easy wiring job from memory.