Vehicle Inspection.
Printed From: West Coast Fieros
Category: General Fiero Chat
Forum Name: General Talk about Fieros
Forum Description: Just want to chat about fieros? here's the place to make that happen.
URL: http://www.westcoastfieros.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=571
Printed Date: 22 November 2024 at 7:13am
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Topic: Vehicle Inspection.
Posted By: Matt
Subject: Vehicle Inspection.
Date Posted: 23 April 2008 at 8:41pm
*Didn't know where to post this, so I put it in general*
I am looking for someone that can perform a legal provincial "light vehicle inspection" that is *cough*lenient*cough*. I've had a car safetied before and it makes a WORLD of difference if you get someone that isn't out to take your money.
This isn't for my fiero but for my brother, who seems to have been scammed. He bought the car, everything seemed to be clear. But when he tried to insure it they said that it had been flagged by the police for something (e-brake cable or something) and the previous owner never officially got it fixed. Now the car needs to be inspected before it can be insured. The car is in good shape just needs a "light vehicle inspection".
If it can't be insured, does anyone want to buy a 94 Ford Probe GT? Red ext, Black int, Auto, 180km, New tires, etc etc. needs inspection.
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I wanna go fast.
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Replies:
Posted By: Capt Fiero
Date Posted: 24 April 2008 at 9:18am
When I moved back to Canada, before I started put the ball rolling on West Coast Fiero's, I did not know anyone, had no tools and really did not know more than basic mechanics, I had no access to a shop and very little tools. ICBC needed an import inspection done. (Same MVI) as you need. So everything, that they found wrong, I had to pay a 3rd party shop to fix. They were in there with freaking micrometers checking tolerances on ball joints, and thickness of rotors. If a single marker light bulb was bad, it was a fail and re-test fee. Parking break must be in top notch condition. I had a small crack in my windshield and had to out of pocket the entire repair as my old USA Oregon ins would not cover and I was not able to get BC insurance until I passed inspection.
In the end it cost me a hair over $2000 to get it all said and done with BC Plates. I was importing it from Oregon when I moved to BC. I was living in Abbotsford at the time.
I was really frustrated that there was no Fiero club in BC, and I could not find any Fiero owners to suggest places to get it done at. That's when I said, fine, if there is not a club Now, there is going to be one SOON.
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Capt Fiero
88 Fiero GT 5spd V6
Eight Fifty Seven GT V8 5spd.
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Posted By: Tgerhard
Date Posted: 24 April 2008 at 7:51pm
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ICBC or MVI Inspections are not a money making scam unless the shop you are using is abusing them. There is far too much junk on the road today that are serious safety risks. The more MVI notices the police gives out the better. As for checking ball joints and rotor thickness with a micrometer, the Inspection forms REQUIRE the tech to record the frt and rear rotor/drum specs....they HAVE to measure them. If you pass an inspection and then go out and crash your car. In the process kill a bus load of school children. Then ICBC Investigates and finds that someone just did an inspection and the frt end was not tight or it needed rotors, ICBC will sue the Shop and/or Tech. Personally when I do inspections I would rather you spend $200 on rotors or other safety repairs then cause injury to innocent people. It is unbelievable the vehicles that I have failed, absolute death traps, and the customer is always so suprised and pissed-off. sure ....you don't spend a dime on your vehicle for 5 years and expect it to pass inspection???? What planet are you from??
So, check around, find a good shop with a reputation for honest work, trust their inspection and understand that your car should be safe for the road if not for you then for others! Most shops will wave the re-inspect fee if you have the work done at their shop. If you need a good shop in the Okanagan Valley, try Williams Auto......250-860-2812 (kelowna) been around for 38 years, family owned, you will get a fair inspection and quality work by good Techs. Or if you don't mind $114 shop rate, email me.
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Posted By: Capt Fiero
Date Posted: 24 April 2008 at 8:50pm
I am not against keeping screwed up junkers off the road, however my car was in fairly good shape. I like to drive my cars in a uhm, spirited manor, so when something goes bad, it usually gets replaced quickly. The shop I had was just looking for excuses to bill me. I was kinda over a barrel not knowing much about BC laws and not having easy access to a shop to work on my car when I got to Canada.
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Capt Fiero
88 Fiero GT 5spd V6
Eight Fifty Seven GT V8 5spd.
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Posted By: Matt
Date Posted: 25 April 2008 at 1:13am
Having a dime size crack on a windshield does not mean it's unfit for driving, nor does a 1/10 of a mm less tread than your supposed to. I understand that there needs to be a line but from my experience certain shops *cough*CT*cough* create excuses to over-bill you.
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I wanna go fast.
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Posted By: Tgerhard
Date Posted: 25 April 2008 at 7:40am
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Actually for a windshield to fail it would have to have a crack 300mm long or multiple cracks adding up to 300mm unless its at an edge then it 75mm. Thats still a substantial crack in my book, especially if its in driver's vision. As for tires the min spec is 1.6mm or 2/32 of thread, personally if you came in with 1.5mm I would probably pass you but like you said its up to individual discretion. Some guys measure the tire to the wear bars others to the bottom of the thread. In my opinion if the tire is even with the wear bars its worn out.
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Posted By: Capt Fiero
Date Posted: 25 April 2008 at 8:47am
In my case the crack in the glass was on the passenger side, of the glass at the bottom. An ex girlfriend of mine, had her foot resting on the dash on a long drive down a mountain back road, we hit an un-expected bump and I am not sure if her foot bounced up or she tried to brace herself with her foot or a combination of the 2, but it put an half moon crack about 3 inches long in the bottom corner of the glass. As far as tires go, if I am at the wear bars, and can't afford new tires, the local tire shop usually has some "take offs" from newer cars that they will sell at 1/2 price or the local wrecking yard will sell you a set for 60 bucks assuming you are not running anything exotic. So ya replace any worn out tires. On my V8 I have to replace the rear tires about once a year. One thing I would fail on is parking brake. I don't have one. I have Grand-Am brakes on the back of my 85GT V8. My car stops far better with the Grand Am brakes and in panic situations, saved me more than a few times. Ebrake on the other hand, I have never used it to actually stop ANY car I have ever driven. If you are losing fluid, in most cases, you will notice an odd feeling in the pedal long before total brake failure, and even if you completely blow a line while driving, the proportioning valve in the master will kick over and at least give you braking to 2 wheels. So you can safely pull over. However for the sheer reason of being legal, I am looking into the Cadillac Caliper conversion so I can keep my Grand Am rotors and use the Caddy calipers which would give me an E-Brake.
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Capt Fiero
88 Fiero GT 5spd V6
Eight Fifty Seven GT V8 5spd.
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Posted By: Tgerhard
Date Posted: 25 April 2008 at 9:40pm
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Fiero Adiction has a good brake update that uses 4 88' Calipers and 4 rear corvette rotors.....kit comes with slighty modified cables. Sounds like a good deal since he will sell brackets and such seperate and you can source rotors and calipers locally. He did the memcal for my SC 3.8L and my polly trans bushings, seems like an on the ball kinda guy. As for staying legal I recently found out my 18" runflats would actually fail an inspection since they are mounted on wheels not ment to have runflats on them.....Anyone have any clue why a runflat can't be mounted on any wheels? I have put about 10K on them so far with no problems.
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