Hi Andy,
I put my stock FC over the pits about 18 months ago when transferring back to full rego from club rego. It was reasonably painless.
As I understand it, an unmodified FC can legally be registered without seatbelts, heaters, demisters etc. Basically, as long as it’s the same as it was when it rolled off the production line your okay. Some modifications will need an engineers certificate I.e. seatbelts, bigger engine etc. But I've not had to do any of that so I'm not a good source of info. on that
.
Seatbelts are a very good idea but not required for rego. Heaters here in Canberra are a good idea too but not required for rego. If you give Canberra Connect a call (132281) and ask to speak to someone from the Technical Standards team at Dickson, they are usually very helpful (a bit short at times but very helpful).
My FC didn’t pass the first time. The main things were:
- Vacuum wipers died during inspection (replaced with working vacuum wipers)
- Rust in rear passenger floor (replaced floor)
- Rust in spare wheel well (replaced wheel well)
The rust surprised me, but when they started hurling the screwdriver up into the floor I realised they were serious about finding rust. This gave me the $h^ts though, I almost blew my top when they started, but instead I politely asked what they were doing, this made them quieten down thank goodness.
If you're quick with transferring the rego, and send your paperwork to NSW, you should get a small cheque in the mail for the balance of the rego (minus admin charges). Generally they like you to do it within two weeks or a month (can't remember) but they are not that strict on it. We went 3 months before transferring my wifes car and there was no stress.
Cheers,
Phil