DanM's Westfield Miata

[DanM]

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!!

[panamericano]

Congratulations.  There's nothing like getting legit!

[DanM]

Thanks @panamericano, It's a huge relief! 

[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.

[pethier]

Good on you, mate!

[IamScotticus]

Hey @DanM do you know what that diff weighs?

[DanM]

On 3/7/2026 at 7:35 PM, IamScotticus said:

Hey @DanM do you know what that diff weighs?

Sorry for the delay I have been away.  I haven't weighed it but the research I did suggests that it's roughly 65–68 lbs for the differential assembly itself (housing + Torsen internals, no axles or driveshaft).

[DanM]

So, its been a while since I posted so thought I'd give you an update! 

 

Believe it or not I was unable to get my Westfield insured last Autumn and so it's sat in my garage for a year gathering dust and what ever else got spilled on it while I was working on my new project (The random wheel may give you a clue).  Sadly, due to the number of Cobra replicas catching fire or being written off over here no one would touch the car and the only solid offer I had was from from "Facility" that would insure pretty much anything for thousands of dollars.  The closest I got was with Hagerty who due to an application technicality declined me and told me to reapply in a year.....which is what I did.

So, after a 4 year build and a 1 year wait I finally managed to put my plates on and start shaking her down!  

[panamericano]

Congratulations!  It might be trite to say it was worth the wait, but at least we wish you many future happy miles, in a car you built.  

[DanM]

Thanks @panamericano!

[Croc]

What an ordeal!  Congratulations on making it through to the finish line.  Kudos to you for having the stamina to see it through to the end.  

[JohnCh]

I can't imagine your frustration, particularly after all you had gone through with your build. Hopefully winter doesn't come early in Ottawa, and you can pile on some miles.