Registering an Ultima in Australia

[Number9]

I am an ex-pat Brit living in Queensland, Australia. I would love to build an Ultima at some point and have had a few discussions with Ted regarding this via email. My only concern is the ease of making it road legal in Australia. Ted feels it can be registered as an 'individually constructed vehicle'. Does anyone have any first hand experience of doing this and, if so, did they have any problems?
Thanks

[crafty]

Send a PM to Bob Thomas (LS2ultima)
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/profile.asp?h=0&memberId=55138

He's building one in Melbourne with (obviously) an LS2..... but building slowly as he's doing all sorts of other stuff like getting a pilots licence...

Edited by crafty on Saturday 12th May 04:40

Edited by crafty on Saturday 12th May 04:41

[Number9]

Thanks crafty. I've found a previous thread from a couple of years back with some australians on it - I'll have to follow them up too

[ozzie dave]

Where in Qld, they were registered a while ago with the guys at DJR at Yatala doing some work on them, then seemed to disappear. you will have engineering probs but a good engineer should be able to give you loopholes to use to get around the power to weight rules. The chassis must pass Torsional stiffness testing (should be easy) use an LS6 engine and that may solve the emission rules, but it must be un-modded and off a relatively new car (last year or so to use its emission pass)but when passed they cant really do anything without really wanting to cause probs. should be no real probs except maybe lights (height) and that could be solved by pop-ups perhaps. Do you have the ADRS for AUS and Construction and use for Qld? they are through Go-Print at Gabba and the ADRs thro canberra. The westfield club in Bris can be useful but also check outside there with some of the engineers.Have you checked if its SEV registered for specialist use?

lets give the DOT hell they are a bunch of old Fa%^ts who want to keep their cosy jobs who haven't had an idea between them since the fiftys, hopefully new blood will come along soon!!!!they really dont like anyone doing this which makes it all the more fun!

Dave,
G.C.

Edited by ozzie dave on Sunday 13th May 11:59

Edited by ozzie dave on Sunday 13th May 21:19

[Miraz]

I'm also looking into this at the moment, but in NSW.

Engines - LS1 and LS6 don't comply with ADR 79/01 which is the current emissions standard which means you will need to use an LS2 (complied by HSV) or the L76 that Holden are using in their production vehicles - in order to avoid emissions testing your engineer will want to see that all the emissions components have been retained from the original vehicle - in practical terms this means airfilter through to the cats, including the ecu and management.
There is an importer in QLD bringing in the LS7 engined corvettes, so it might be possible to use their testing of the LS7 to get it through - I've not managed to get to the bottom of this yet.

My big concern is the noise testing - 74db during a full throttle acceleration from 50km/h over 20m whilst driving within 7.5m of the meter. I've been doing some research around tweaking the electronic throttle limits to alter the throttle behaviour, but even with this it is going to require some serious sound deadening.

There are few other obvious changes needed - inertial seat belts (apparently harnesses don't meet the safety specs), instruments in front of the driver, seats (although it may be worth testing the factory seats to the ADR specs)

I've got a couple of meetings with engineers this week to run through things in more detail.

[Number9]

Thanks Dave and Miraz. I've had a look at the ADRs on their website but, like most governmental information, find it difficult to work out what is actually applicable to me. I'm sure I will have to speak to someone from the Department of Transport face-to-face at some stage, but even then getting a straight answer can be difficult! Performax International in Gympie imports the Corvette Z06 and converts it to RHD so I am assuming the LS7 should be OK - I am yet to look into engines in too much detail, however. Having said that, the price of the 650bhp LS7 on the American Speed website is similar to the 565bhp and might be tempting, although again compliance might be a problem with regard to its modification / noise. Dave, I was unaware that there are power-to-weight rules - where did you find that? And what are the rules?
Miraz, if you could post any further information after your meetings I would really appreciate it. Have you found an LS7 supplier in Australia?
Thanks again guys

[Number9]

The ultima is on the Register of Specialist and Enthusiast Vehicles (http://rvcs-prodweb.dot.gov.au/sevs/s which must be a good start. However, the Ariel Atom is also on the list and, having looked into getting one, I know that it is only track-legal and can not be registered for road use at this stage (which may change in the future)

[ezakimak]

I’m also considering a purchase.
I’m in Victoria (all welcome next year for F1GP)

I phoned an engineer the other month and he was going to charge me a few dollars to sit down and talk with me about what I could and couldn’t build. I just need to find time to sort it all out.

Edited to say, that i have just updated the email address in my profile so hopefully i am contactable again.

Edited by ezakimak on Thursday 17th May 14:20

[Miraz]

I had a chat with ls2ultima in Melbourne, and ended up buying his part-built chassis from him.

So now it's located in Sydney, and I've got some work to do :-)

[youngwill100]

I had an Ultima built for me in Qld, Aus, in 2001, with an LS1 engine from a Corvette. It had a modified wet sump with an Accusump fited. I used it for track days, but when I sold it the next owner got it registered in Qld fairly easily, as it had been built with road legality in mind. The engine had good cats, air filter, and American ECU management software to run the engine. There are about six road-legal Ultimas in Australia, all built by Guy Beddington (possibly still at [e-mail]). He was the Aussie distributor for Ultima, and used a local company who make Ford GT40 replicas to do most of the assembly. After he built mine, he sold the rights and the various chassis jigs etc to a guy in Sydney who races Lotus Exiges. This guy was going to develop the Ultima locally and market it under a different name. If you can track down Guy (he lives in Toowoomba, Qld) he would be very helpful about construction and making the Ultima road-legal. He also knows of many excellent local sources for high-efficiency aluminium radiators, air-con systems, suspension, etc which would miniise the amount of stuff you had to import. Guy also had the moulds for the body. Most importantly, he has drawings to make the adaptor plates to connect the LS1 to the Porsche G50 gearbox, and also the LS1 engine mountings in the chassis. I have many pics of my Ultima during and after the build if you email me.
Regards, William


[e-mail]

[stevesyd]

Hi Guys,
I have the moulds and tooling for the Ultima in my workshop, if anyone needs help with rego let me know. I may even have all the reports your engineer require for rego as well, in NSW you need an engine from a car no older than Jan 2005. You will have to rego it as an ICV doing it as as Low volume import will cost to much. There were nine cars built and registered by Guy Beddington.

Steve