[QUOTE=bupton,Feb 18 2008, 07:00 PM] Hmmm...

 

Ok then, thanks for the heads-up.

 

I did this before I swapped to glass, Looks good..

 

That's why you get Recon and THEN lower the car. If you have to put stock suspension back in the car once a year, no big deal. Hell, get some coilovers and it's really easy.


Regardless, car looks great.

 

^it's fire or frying pan in that instance. if you get your recon first, then the ticket is for recon fraud.

if i had the choice, i would rather have the sticker and be fraudulent than not have the sticker.

 

Here's the deal on recon.

A no recon ticket is $70.

A false recon ticket (i.e. getting recon then putting a mod) is $270. So a lot of guys do all their mods and drive for as long as possible without getting recon cause it's cheaper when they get pulled over for no recon rather than getting recon for springs, then changing something else and getting pulled over. Such a stupid law...

If you have something simple like springs and you don't plan to do anything else, you can probably get away with never getting recon. Just go to a good place to get safety, not a dealer cause they will actually check and fail you for lack of recon.

If you plan to do a TON of stuff, do it all then get recon once. Cause you need to get it every time you do a new mod.

In my case I had springs on the car when i shipped it over and I figured I would do the right thing and get recon done. Bad idea. it took over 6 weeks from the day I first started calling until I actually got my car inspected. I started a bunch of sh*t on forumshawaii about it and really pissed off some chic who is married to a recon inspector. a good time was had by all.

My recommendation for 1001K is to order the suspension you want. Call recon and make an appointment. They are backed up 4 weeks on average. So plan to wait (but you are waiting for your suspension from the mainland and to install it anyway so no big deal.) Now call an alignment shop and book an appointment for a few days before your recon inspection. install your suspension a few days before your alignment appointment. (alignment must be performed no earlier than 30 days before recon inspection.)

With that method you will drive 'illegally" for the least amount of time and you won't be frustrated waiting for the appointment.

When you get ready to go down to recon, make sure nothing is loose in the engine bay (do you have any mods other than suspension? intake, exhaust etc..? most mods will pass, just be aware of them so you can fill the paperwork out correctly) and be sure your window tint is legal and clean the car up. If you have your sh*t together the inspection will take about 14 minutes from start to finish(my experience.) However if anything is wrong, you'll get failed and forced to wait until another appointment is available (another 4 weeks.)

Recon is a ridiculous law that affects only honolulu county and it should be repealed or at least severely overhauled to be more effective. A decent amount of info can be found at hawaiitalks.net or forumshawaii.net under the recon sections.

 

Thanks for the nice write up. I'm pretty familiar with the RECON laws here. I went through some aggravation trying to get RECON for another car of mine. I don't think it's necessarily a stupid/bad law. I can understand the need/desire for such things. But like many other I'm not happy with the execution, enforcement, inconsistencies, etc...

I was given the impression that the intake and exhaust modification on my car does not require RECON. In fact, I thought read that on their sign, but you can still have it "listed" on your Recon papers. I'll give them a call to verify and report back.

Suspension mod's is gonna require RECON. And yes, alignment papers saying that the car is aligned to factory specs is required and must be performed 30 days before the inspection.

My preference for RECON is for both professional and personal reasons. I don't like the idea of having to go to a certain place for my inspection. But that's just me.

I'm not gonna lower the S. I need the clearance. And I don't think it will pass their informal bounce test -- another idiotic stupidity!

Ciao....

 

^I gave up on my S2K's recon after 3 months... angry memories.

Although I wish I didn't have work filters b'c I only see an "X" >_< . I've been shying away from plastic rear S2K's b'c of the hazing.

 

What did they fail you on?

 

Yeah I guess my comment on it being a stupid law is a little out of line. I agree with the essence of the law. I believe that a modified car should be subject to a more rigorous inspection than a non modified car, but the law is ancient and outdated. Also the administration of the law is very poor. It was originally written to keep guys in dune buggy's under control. the suspension requirements were added when lowriders became popular and the guidelines have just say untouched for years.

FYI, they didn't do a bounce test on my ride, they did it on my older cars, but not the s2000.

My inspection itself took about 2 minutes. I popped the hood, propped it up and the inspector came out, looked at my engine bay, held a ruler to my license plate then retreated back to the office to write my permit. He never even LOOKED at the back of the car. I could have rode in on cut springs or full race coilovers and they woudln't have known the difference.

Regarding exhaust and intake, you still need to list it as a mod, but they no longer require affidavits nor is subject to much of an inspection. Basically if you rode in with an open 3" pipe and no muff they would fail you, but in most cases they don't. Also from what I have read, if exhaust and intake are the only things done to your car, you do not recon. You can request a "no recon needed" paper from the office for those items so that cops can't hassle you.