DanM

Now that the car has met the Ontario safety standards, I had everything I needed to get it registered with the Service Ontario (The organization that issues registrations, plate, licenses, etc.). Registration merely means that the Ontario government officially acknowledges that the car exists, it is registered in their systems as being an Ontario car and I am the owner. So, how do you get a kit car registered in Ontario? Good Question... On their website there are plenty of instructions on how to register a car, but there is nothing related to registering a kit. Thankfully, with the help of my AI app, I was able to cobble together a number of old blogs and articles from hotrod community forums and piece together a list of things that I think I needed. I then went through all my paperwork to build a folder of information to take with me to the Service Centre. Here's what I pulled together in a folder: 1. Affidavit of Vehicle Ownership and Assembly (Notarized) 2. Starter Kit Order details 3. Import approval and customs clearance paperwork 4. Bill of Sale for the Starter kit, donor car and any other major components purchased. 5. Ownership paperwork for the donor vehicle 6. Safety Inspection Certificate 7. Selection of build photos (Including VIN Plate) Here's what my Affidavit looked like. Once my pack was together I booked an appointment to go and register at Service Ontario, to my surprise the earliest appointment I could find 30th October!!! Still, I figured I wouldn't be driving it this fall and knew that the Safety was valid for a while so I didn't think anymore about it. That is until my parents in the UK started asking questions that started to put doubt in my mind. To put my mind at ease, I went back on the Ministry site.... So, it turns out that you only need a safety standard inspection and certificate if you are: registering a rebuilt vehicle transferring a used vehicle to a new owner (unless the new owner is your spouse) registering a vehicle in Ontario that was bought in or came from another province, territory or country changing the status of a vehicle from unfit to fit If the car is registered the safety only has to be repeated again when you sell it (GREAT) - Otherwise it is only valid for 36 days - SHIT!! 😬 The car was safetied on Friday 12th September and it was now Sunday 5th October. If I waited until my appointment then the certificate would be invalid. I had to present it for registration ASAP in case I needed additional information. Thankfully my work is flexible, so I took the next day off, drove the kids to school and then went to the nearest Service Ontario location I could find. I arrived there at opening time 09:00, and the queue was already out of the the door! After queuing for at least 1.5 hours it was my turn at the counter. The lady was really patient, but had no idea how to register a kit car, she spent most of the time on the telephone to the support centre, clarifying information and scanning/faxing documents through to them. I think it was 11:45 when she finally said its all good, but we just need the supplier and manufacturers address on the affidavit (it wasn't there on my first version). Once I had that she could run it through the system. Frustrating and so close, but no big deal, I went home and updated the affidavit, called through to the instant online Notary service and got myself a new affidavit within the hour. Thankfully, when I came back she called me to the front of the queue and I had my registration document within minutes!! Now everything is officially legit!! Insurance and license plates are next.

Thanks @panamericano, It's a huge relief!

So, with the little bits buttoned up and the car tuned, I was now ready for my safety Inspection. The question was, where would I take it? Over the last couple of years of selling donor car parts and trading tools, jacks and other garage bits, I had gathered a list of potential garages that could help me through the inspection. Context: In Ontario, there aren't specialist government run test centres, I think any garage that had the right equipment, compliance paperwork and trained staff could apply to be licensed to conduct them. This meant that I had at least 10-20 inspection places within a 15 minutes drive. The challenge I had was finding a shop that had experience working with kit cars or custom cars, could understand the rules and interpret them sensibly. By late last year I had whittled down the list to a couple and started discussions with them. By the end of August this year when I went to book, I found out the rules had changed.... Well, actually the rules hadn't changed but the process had. The Ontario government has modernized and digitized the process. All garages who wanted to continue offering the service were now issued with a Government tablet and the tester was required to log on to a live online inspection session with the Ministry. The tablet software would guide them through the steps, starting with a Vin vs ECU check, and then moving through each test point, requesting photographs to be uploaded and measurements to be taken and entered to the system. If anything was flagged as irregular the garage would receive a call from the ministry during the live test. Lastly the certificate was no longer issued by the garage on behalf of the ministry, the ministry now issued the certificate electronically. The impact to me was that the garages I had been talking to both said they wouldn't do it anymore. One hadn't registered for the system and the other one was not prepared to dedicate the time needed to go through every check point.......I guess that's why the new process was introduced....to make people do it properly. Lol At that point I rang around some of the garage/shops that had been helpful during the build, to see if they had any ideas. Thankfully one of them was on the new system and was prepared to put me through the test time and materials. So with that sorted, it was time to borrow another tow vehicle, rent a trailer and head out to the shop that had done my engine work three years earlier. It was a weird feeling that the first person ever to get the car into third gear on the road was the tester, but I was happy to get the ball rolling! BTW the sun visor didn't move an inch!! 😁 I sat outside on a camping chair for about 1.5 hours while they went through the online session. It was a gorgeous Friday afternoon, no work, just the sound of tinkering in the garage and dozing off in the sun. Eventually the technician told me everything was complete and he was just awaiting the final results from the the ministry.....PASSED!!! For those of you that have been through this, can understand the relief after so much time, blood, sweat and cursing was insane! Awesome!!

Thanks @Austin David. It is a newer intake and a full rebuild and clean. Cylinders were honed and block was levelled. I think they made about 100 wheel hp from factory, but I happy to be corrected. re: the exhaust it does have a built in cat. Definitely wouldn’t have passed without it. Lol

So at this point I was very close to getting a safety inspection. While I was trying to find someone who would do it for me (not easy), I took the day off and trailered it to a dyno and got the engine tuned up. As you may remember I rebuilt the 1.6 and so wanted to get it set up nicely before using it. I wasn't looking for anything fancy just wanted to get it running well for the road. The tuner (BRTuning) was located at the Calabogie race track, just over a hour West of Ottawa so I needed to rent a van and a trailer to get it there. My Brother-in-Law Chris came along for the ride which was helpful as I needed to jack the ramps up on either side so the exhaust pipe didn't catch on the transporter. It also took a while to fit the straps over the front wheels as the front wing clearance was tight. We got it inside and on the dyno just before the rain started! After a brief chat, Brett got to work. We were amazed at how fast he got in the zone and worked his way around the Megasquirt. Very happy with the final result.

A couple more minor jobs ticked off the list. First, I wasn't happy with the fit of the crash pad trim where it meets the door sills. There is a gap between the dash and the sill padding that makes it look unfinished. I had a little piece of carbon effect vinyl left over from the gauge plate so I thought i'd use that to tidy it up. First I made a small template for each side out of cardboard. Then, I used the template to cut the vinyl. I think it looks much tidier now there is no green showing between the dash and the padding. Once that was buttoned up I turned my attention to the stone guards. I remembered reading a thread about some of the difficulties people had had keeping the rubber trim secured to the edge of the guards during installation. again, I forgot to take photos but my approach was to use heavy duty vapour barrier sealing tape (Tuck Tape). This stuff sticks to everything! Offered up the rubber strip to the sides of the guards, using tuck tape to secure the trim as it contoured around. This way everything was secured before I positioned the guards on the car. To attach the guards I taped them in position and drilled the pilot holes using Clecos to hold it in place while I riveted.

Thanks @jbcollier, I'll certainly keep that in mind!

Unfortunately, you do have to have a bumper in Canada if its being registered as a new vehicle, especially Ontario. They will not pass you without it. If it was an imported car already built and over a certain age it may have got by. They have also digitized the Inspection process in Ontario this year, to stop dodgy certifications and "back handers". Any garage that now performs a safety is issued a tablet and the safety is done live online. The tablet guides them through step by step and they take photos as they go through the checks. If something is flagged or anything not quite right then the ministry will call the garage immediately and challenge it. at the end of the live session, the ministry issue the certificate not the garage! This came into effect this spring.

The bumper was something that had been stressing me out for quite a while. Mainly 'cos of the aesthetics of them. The Ontario Inspection standards rule: "Bumpers are required on the front and rear of passenger cars, mini-vans or SUVs as well as on the front of trucks. Rear bumpers are required if originally equipped on a truck, unless removed to facilitate the installation of other equipment." You will fail the Safety inspection if the bumpers are: a) - missing, modified, inferior to original OEM design (width, size, structural integrity) or incorrect for the vehicle. - broken, misaligned, loose or missing structure, supporting structure, or fasteners b) -collapsed, inoperative - any section has exposed sharp edge, is torn or protrudes in a manner that could be hazardous to the driver, a passenger, pedestrian or cyclist. -any perforation due to corrosion So I know I need them, I know they must be secure and safe, but I have no idea what "inferior to original OEM design means in terms of specification. Some say it is 5 mph without causing a system failure, some 10mph, but nothing is written down anywhere. With that in mind I decided to make something that looked safe and secure, with the materials I had at hand.... Some wood and some lengths of steel angle bar left over from my lift delivery. I started by cutting up some of the bar and drilled some holes to make some brackets that could be bolted to the spare wheel bracket. Then I positioned them together and welded them up with my stick welder. I then welded some longer lengths together with another piece of metal welded at the join to keep it all together. Finally I bolted some pieces of wood to the metal to give it s soft surface and sanded down all the edges so they were not sharp. To make it more cosmetically pleasing I painted it black with...you guessed it, Rustoleum All-in-one. Looks quite presentable and feels very secure. Not that it will make any difference at all if a Ford F150 rolls over me! 🤷‍♂️

Thanks for the info, unfortunately they are not present in Canada.

I just looked for insurance for my recent build project, still no luck but here's my feedback. Hagerty - Felt a bit tricked - I filled out their online form to check premium options with and without autocross insurance - they came out the same so I pressed submit. I then got a call - because I checked both boxes (out of curiosity) they would give me racing insurance only but not road insurance. I now have to wait a year to reapply. Vintageautoinsurance.ca - Will only insure kits if it is a replica of a pre-1950s car. (He said the poorly assembled and high powered Cobra's were the main reason) Zehr - Would insure me, but need a 6 year no claim. I am 50 years old, lived in Canada 14 years and in that time have had one $0 minor shunt last year in the snow. Now I cant get insured on the Westfield for another 4 years. Facilities quoted me $1,000,000 liability coverage for $2630, Collision and Comprehensive with $1,000 deductible would increase that to $4080 Still looking if anyone has any ideas....

At this point in the build I was starting to think about the specific details I needed to pass the Ontario safety inspection. Specifically, Sun Visor, Side Lights and Bumper. Lets start with the Visor, the Ontario rules state: From this I guessed that as long as I had something on the drivers side that was adjustable yet secure I would meet the criteria. With the screen being so small and the frame being so thin, I needed something fairly small and delicate. After over thinking it for a few days I decided to for the simplest solution I can find. I went to the Dollarstore and picked up a plastic cutting board, then cut a 3 inch section down the length of it and used some tape and scissors to the make a radius on the corners. Then, I stuck some Velcro vertically on the back and horizontally on the frame. Covered the Velcro with painters tape and sprayed it black with the old faithful Rustoleum All-in-One. Lovely Jubbly! Next were the side lights. Because I had incorrectly installed the supplied clear side lights on the body, I needed to buy some to put on the wings. I bought some from the local Auto Parts Store, and installed them as far forward on the wings as I could whilst still leaving enough wing material to hold them securely. Then, I ran the wires and spliced them into the indicator/DRL harness on the car. I zip tied the flexible brake hose at the same time. Next up, the bumper. 😬

Next up was my harnesses. Again, I don't have photos of bolting them in so here are some after photos. I bought Schroth Westfield II ASM harnesses. At this point I didn't want to cut the excess belt so I just tucked it behind the seat. They are still like that so if someone has a neat way of folding them I'd love the hear about it.

Somewhere amongst all this activity, I fitted the tunnel carpet and side panels. I must have been in a rush or distracted 'cos I forgot to take any photos...sorry about that. The only thing I can say is Velcro....and lots of it! I think I may have over done it 'cos when I was done I needed to buy more for other area. 😁 With everything very securely in place, I turned my attention to the gear stick gaiter. I think I must have been a bit over zealous with the tin snips 'cos I seemed to have taken out a bit too material than I needed for gear stick clearance. With the hole so big the supplied gaiter just didn't fit at all. After looking around on amazon and eBay for gaiter and surround kits, I decided to "make" my own. I remember changing the gaiter on my Toyota Matrix a year ago and noticing that inside it there was a soft structural felt. I still had the old gaiter so I took the felt out and set it aside. Then, I measured the hole and went down to the local salvage yard to see if I could find a larger gaiter from a wrecked car. An easy task you may think, but with over 90% of cars in the yard being automatics it was slim pickings. Eventually I found a Gen 3 Subaru Impreza manual and the gaiter was perfect. With all the parts now in hand, I bought some shoe repair glue and I was ready to go...First I made a stencil for the base. Then I cut up the felt and stuck it to the template to make the new base. Next, I glued and clamped the gaiter to each side of the base, waiting for it to dry completely before moving on the the next side. Once it was completely glued I attached Velcro to the base and positioned it in place around the gear stick. IMHO, there is a bit too much fabric, so I'll likely tailor it in a future project, but for now its much nicer (and cheaper) than anything I could find on line.

Next up, the wipers. Straight forward as it comes, although I was a bit nervous clicking them together. I honestly thought I would break them with my ham hands. Then after trying them out and testing the spray, I realised that I hadn't sealed the fillet so washer fluid dripped down behind it. So, with everything in place I tapped up the fillet and applied cleat marine sealant.