Emissions Testing
The IM-240 Test

Our specialty is handling emissions testing

The emissions testing currently used by the RTA and DECC for low-volume vehicles here in NSW Australia is what is known as the IM240 test. This is a test whereby your car is driven on a dyno over a simulated road course for 240 seconds (hence the name), and the emissions gases are collected and analysed.  The road course is designed to cover the most typical uses of a car in normal use, as well as to show up any flaws in engine management design.  There are a few misconceptions about what will happen at the testing centre. Your car will not be thrashed on the dyno at full power, in fact most vehicles will not require more than about 1/4 of their maximum load to complete the test.  It will not be revved high, with most vehicles not needing to be taken over 3000rpm. There will be no power figures given after the test. The typical maximum speed the vehicle will reach is around 95km/h so it will not be taken out to it's top speed.  What the test will check for is the output of emissions gases.  The three gases that are currently tested for in Australia are :  THC (Total Hydro-Carbons) which is generally unburned fuel or oil,  NOx (oxides of Nitrogen) a pollution gas adding to acid rain formed when combustion temperature is too high ,  and CO (Carbon Monoxide) a poisonous gas formed when too much fuel is burned.

There are many reasons why you may need to present your car for this test. Some people need to prove ADR (Australian Design Rule) compliance to be able to register their car. Some need to pass this test for engineering modifications to their car, and some do the test because they were "defected" by the police, DECC, or the RTA.  If all of your modifications are done correctly, it is generally not too difficult a test to pass.  Bare in mind however, that the levels you need to pass vary depending on the year of manufacture of the chassis and / or the motor.  These levels are listed below and can be downloaded HERE.

There are currently two RTA centres here in New South Wales where the tests can be carried out. These are Botany in the South of Sydney, and Penrith which is around 50km west of Sydney. When you arrive for your test, the officer will take your car inside the building, do an identity check, and connect the car to the dyno and the equipment. You will be asked to take a seat in the waiting room where you can observe the test.  They will do two tests as a minimum, with only the second test being needing to pass the required levels.  After the test is completed, you will be presented with two sheets of paper shich show the results, and you will be shown if it passed or failed.

Hitman Injection Tuning has years of experience preparing and presenting cars for this test. If you have tried many times to pass, and think it is impossible, give us a call and it can be arranged to have an inspection of your car, and we can discuss the costs involved in getting it fixed correctly.  We handle everything, from the tuning and any repairs required, down to booking and presenting your car for the test. All you need to do is drop off the car to us, and pick it up later.  We provide a detailed report that can be presented to any authority that requests this information.  We are experienced at handling Individually Contructed Vehicles and we can work with your engineer to ensure that all specific requirements are met and exceeded.  We don't just try to meet the requirements, we try our best to get the vehicle as clean as it can possibly run without costing performance. 

Below is just one example of what we can do.  First there is the test paper a customer provided with his Subaru WRX MY99 on the left. From the results and the table above, it can be shown that it failed quite badly.  The car needed some repairs, and proper tuning of its engine management (Haltech E8), and a sample of its next test can be seen on the right.  Obviously it passed, and very easily at that. It also drives completely fine, just like the day it left the factory and did not need to be "leaned out" as is the common misconception. It just needed the right settings, and some repairs to some mechanical parts that were not functioning properly.  The dotted line on the graphs is actually the road speed of the car on the dyno, and not the gas output. The emissions lines are the heavier ones underneath.  The second test levels were low enough that they almost do not register on the graph!

So if you are having difficulty with passing this test, contact Hitman and arrange for us to take care of everything for you.  We have handled many vehicles of all types over the years and we have the knowledge to handle any modifications that you have done.  We are also only a 5 minute drive from the Penrith facility, so your vehicle does not need to be transported long distances at any time.  There is generally a fixed fee for this work, with only the additional cost of parts that can add to it.