The new 'Nonny'?

Please feel free to describe your motorhome, campervan or caravan. (make, model, length etc)
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jon_d
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Re: The new 'Nonny'?

Post by jon_d »

Very noice Cuppa.

The trouble with getting an auto is that the left foot never knows what the right foot is doing :) ..... but geez it makes for good driving.


Cuppa, does it have a EGT gauge? If not, can I highly recommend that one be fitted.
Coolabah1au
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Re: The new 'Nonny'?

Post by Coolabah1au »

Energy gut termination [emoji848]


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Grandad
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Re: The new 'Nonny'?

Post by Grandad »

Fantastic. Looks like it fits your needs perfectly. Happy trails to you both.

Jim
There Comes a time in life, when you must walk away from all drama and the people who create it
pet-els
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Re: The new 'Nonny'?

Post by pet-els »

Welcome to Nonny II.

PeterH
PeterH
Cuppa
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Re: The new 'Nonny'?

Post by Cuppa »

jon_d wrote: Sat Dec 12, 2020 8:25 am
Cuppa, does it have a EGT gauge? If not, can I highly recommend that one be fitted.
It does, but it is partially obscured by the steering wheel & being red on a black background is not that good for me. Have put on glasses to read it. It will be changed for an easier to read one in a different position. Wouldn't be without one these days. I drive the Patrol to the EGT gauge I fitted.
Cuppa
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Re: The new 'Nonny'?

Post by Cuppa »

A more recent facebook post about buying the OKA. :(

A follow on from my last excited & optimistic post about buying the OKA. Another story follows, not the one I wanted nor expected. It is a story of huge disappointment, anger & now after little more than 24 hours to process what happened a sense of relief mixed with the yet to dissipate disappointment of a lost dream we had put so much energy into. This no doubt will become another lengthy post, I believe writing it may be cathartic & helpful to me, & after my previous post I feel the need to explain why I am back in Mutchilba today & not in Taree delivering the OKA to the chap who was going to undertake the transmission change etc for us. It's been another rollercoaster ride. Hold tight & read on!

As planned I flew from Cairns down to Brisbane on Monday to pay for & pick up the OKA to drive it the 600kms to Taree, NSW . It was a nervous time, not because of the amount of money I would be paying or because of any fears about the vehicle or whether I was doing the right thing, but because of the severe weather warnings of dangerous winds & flooding along the whole of the route I needed to drive. Some places had already had up to 600mm in a day, & similar forecast to continue at the time I'd be driving. I was confident about the vehicle & about the seller.

The seller met me as arranged, in Brisbane, & took me to his home where I would spend the night sleeping in the OKA before driving it away the following morning. As on my previous visit I was made welcome & we spent a number of hours going through the OKA to familiarise me with everything, preparing it for my journey (where I would overnight somewhere on the way down) as well as eating together & enjoying each other’s company. At mealtime I asked to see the the certificate of Electrical safety for the vehicle's 240v systems he had agreed to get, & was disappointed when, without apology, he told me he had not had it done. Worse was the fact he had not obtained the legally required 'Certificate of Inspection' (the Qld version of a heavy vehicle Roadworthy - or MOT for UK readers) , but "not to worry" he said I can still get it in time for you leave in the morning as planned". This was a relief as I had flight onward from Taree to Sydney booked & paid for & a connecting flight from Sydney back to Cairns. Half an hour later following a phone call he showed me an email on his phone from the certifier with an attached Certificate & a note to say it had been electronically lodged with the Qld transport authority. Phew! Without this transfer of ownership cannot occur. Later that evening he printed out a copy for me, & I checked it over at about 10pm, just as I was waiting for my laptop to boot up in order for me to transfer funds to him.

My heart sank when I noticed it had an engine number different to what was on the engine in the vehicle, & we quickly reached an impasse with me stating I would not be prepared to risk making payment without such details being correct. He suggested that I drive the vehicle away the following morning but withhold payment until he obtained a correct certificate. I thought this exceptionally trusting & generous of him, but also wondered what might happen if a problem arose with the certificate. I had reason to worry as the incorrect certificate was obviously 'dodgy' if for no other reason than it had been sent on the basis of emailed info from the owner, not from an actual inspection. The engine number shown (according to the seller) was for the original 4 cylinder motor , even though the certificate stated it had 6 cylinders (as per the all important replacement American import Cummins motor). But still I was intent on keeping to plan to drive the OKA away in the morning.

The seller emailed the certifier & said he would follow this up with a phone call early next morning.

I had a restless night in the OKA, which afforded me time to look at many things in more detail. I laid & mentally constructed the internal modifications I wanted to make.

First thing in the morning I was greeted with "Come & have a cuppa, we need to talk". The tone used was not encouraging & I was immediately concerned. As I walked to the house I noted that his wife who had been very hospitable the night before appeared to be avoiding eye contact with me & didn't say a word. I imagined that a correct safety certificate may not be forthcoming until later in the day & resigned myself to a much longer drive in one hit than I had planned on, through the wild weather

My cup of tea was handed to me with the words "I don't think you are the right sort of person to be an OKA owner”! This was out of the blue, I was gobsmacked & confused. I have come to realise that this was an attempt to hold me responsible for the decision that was yet to come. I spluttered & gasped my lack of understanding & attempted to reasonably contradict him. I learned that he had been in contact with the certifier who informed him that the only way to change the certificate was for him to attend a Transport dept office in person & that it was highly likely that they would wish to also sight & inspect the vehicle. At this point I saw my well laid plans disappearing out of the window, but even at this point had not contemplated what was to come!

Out of his shirt pocket the seller produced bundles of hundred dollar notes & a piece of paper. "Here is your deposit & I'll pay for your flight back to Cairns, here are flights available today." I was still spluttering, unwilling to accept that everything I'd planned & hoped for was coming to an end right now. He made it clear he had no intention to present the vehicle to the Transport dept, I thought at the time he meant that day, as he had 'a lot on' but now I think he probably meant 'at all'. As the realisation dawned anger trumped disappointment (although I remained relatively civil, I believe I only used the 'F' word once!). I reminded him of all the costs I had incurred on the basis of the sale agreement we had made, including several flights to & from NSW to check out & drive other OKA's with the Cummins/Allison combo as I hoped to get fitted, & to meet the chap who would do the transmission swap face to face to discuss & agree on the process.

The seller responded with 'how much' & when told simply pulled more cash from his shirt pocket & handed it to me to cover those costs. Truly I was reeling, trying to make sense of the situation.

As I sat at his kitchen table, he went to another room, returning with a paid for flight booking, the plane departing in a little over 90 minutes time & us 45 minutes drive from the airport. "Get your bags" he said, we don't have much time.

As we drove, he seemed far less tense than he had done at the kitchen table. I was angry & felt like telling him so, but instead asked him how he was feeling. "Relieved" he said. "Relieved?" I asked. "Yes, I've been worrying that sooner or later you would discover that the Cummins motor is a Chinese copy" says he! This admission that he had been prepared to deceive me was made in the complete absence of any apology. In fact no apology had been forthcoming about things he had agreed to do & not done, or indeed anything else. I expect he had realised that his offer for me to take the vehicle to Taree prior to payment would see the engine deception discovered as soon as it was looked at there by someone familiar with the Cummins motors (unlike me). All was conducted in a friendly manner - very disconcerting. My gut feeling was that as a successful & wealthy businessman, that anything that didn't fit for him was expendable including people, & that apologies were probably something not in the businessman's repertoire. Such things most likely only represented something never contemplated - an admission of guilt.

The two hour flight & 90 minutes drive back to Mutchilba gave me time to begin processing what had happened, later discussion with Julie & friends helped. I turned over every detail I could recall about the affair & about the vehicle again & again. But the story had so many inconsistencies I struggled to gain the certainty I needed about why this had happened. I even started to blame myself even though I couldn't pinpoint what I had been responsible for. It was a pretty 'shit' experience.

Finally this morning I have reached an understanding which fits. Although I am unwilling to detail all the snippets of info which have led to this understanding for fear of both boring you to tears & risk of litigation from the wealthy seller, I am now confident in my belief.

Unlike my home state of Victoria (& most other states I believe), where vehicle modification approvals are carried out by well qualified motor engineers in a very regulated system, in Queensland any motor mechanic with 10 years experience in the trade can apply to become a 'certifier'. Many have & there are a plethora of one man mobile services offering Certificates of inspection & Modification plates. A quick search on Google reveals that dodgy certificates & plates are not uncommon.

I now believe that the modification certifications on the OKA have probably been subject to the same dodgy practice as the Certificate of Inspection, quite possibly through the same certifier. All stuff waiting to 'bite' me down the track when I went to re-register the vehicle in Victoria. I believe the seller knowing that things were at the point of unravelling if an inspection at the Department were to occur, felt 'on a hook' & that the only way to extricate himself from that situation was to get rid of me quickly. And that is just what he did.

I remain angry which is probably important in coming to terms with the 'lost dream'. Some of that anger is with myself for having allowed the 'dream' to blind me until a very late stage of the proceedings, in particular that it was the seller's decision not to proceed, rather than mine. However I do take some solace in the fact that however it happened, I 'dodged a bullet'. If the truth had come to light after I'd handed over the money the situation would have been far worse.

What a bastard! Stuff like this shakes one's faith in humanity, but I expect the trust to return with time. Friends have been good.

If I had taken photos of the documentation & the mod plates I would be initiating an investigation by Queensland Roads Dept, but without that evidence I think best just to put out the word in the hope of warning other prospective buyers like me.
——————————————————————————————————————————————

Addition (not in the Facebook post)
Re Mod plates - whilst I cannot have the same certainty that the Modification approvals were ‘dodgy/illegal’ as I have about the Certificate of Inspection (safety certificate), I strongly suspect the possibility following how the purchase failed to proceed & my observations of the plates & the documentation.

I was shown a receipt/invoice for the modification approvals mentioning GVM & Engine replacement (not seating) , but no official department certificate of modification (which I believe the department advises should be carried in the vehicle).

The two mod plates in the cab were the worst example of any blue plates I have seen - much of the engraved writing was scrawly almost to the point of illegibility & with mis-spelling of the word ‘motor’ on the one covering the motor replacement & GVM upgrade. This one had several codes on it. I recall one was A1 (engine replacement) but cannot recall the others, one presumably for the GVM upgrade, & maybe the third for the DIY plastic fuel tank, though there was no mention of the fuel tank in any documentation or on in the mod plate ‘description section’ or on the receipt as there was for GVM & motor.

Strangely the second plate covered just replacement seats which the seller had clearly told me were NOT approved when I had asked him. The wording which one might normally expect to say ‘two seats’ or Seating for two’ said ‘gone to two seats’ which in hindsight (informed by deception) seems ‘out of character for something put onto a blue Mod plate. (I was going to ask further questions about this, but in the circumstances never got the opportunity ).
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Newcastle George
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Re: The new 'Nonny'?

Post by Newcastle George »

Odds are that it was a stolen vehicle or motor or both Cuppa. :(

George
George, Julie, Leonie & Sean - Kotara, Newcastle
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pet-els
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Re: The new 'Nonny'?

Post by pet-els »

Even thou your dream was shattered, I think you came out of it on the right side.
We all can be decieved easily, lucky you were not going to keep Qld rego.

Cheers and best wishes for the season to you and Mrs Tea.

PeterH
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native pepper
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Re: The new 'Nonny'?

Post by native pepper »

Well Cuppa, at least you got a your money back. But hard to say what you may have gained out of this adventure, although expect you may not see it as an adventure, more likely a disaster. Pity you didn't take photo's of the plates etc, they may have come in handy. Now you'll have to look for something else and if dealing in Q, have a better understanding of how they work their. Sometimes when shit happens it gets very disconcerting, but lots of times in the end you may come out better off and with a better vehicle. Let's hope so.

The registration and modification regimes in this country are so flawed, when it all should be the same throughout the country. In Tas it's again very different, I did all my own work on the bus and they just inspected it all, including gas/240v. The gas fitter and electrician looked at what I had done and certified the work, same with the seats, I made them and they swivel, but I used marine swivels instead of auto ones. The bloke doing the inspection, just said love your seats and passed them. If I was anywhere else, they would probably have made me take them out and get industry made seats. My bus seats cost me $50 each to buy the seats from the wrecker, modify and install them. They are lay back with arm rests and very comfortable.
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T1 Terry
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Re: The new 'Nonny'?

Post by T1 Terry »

I think he realised or had been told previously that the Chinese copy motor would not meet the pollution requirements. Then the dodgy mod plates would have surfaced and the whole can of worms hit the floor. Brakes quite possibly not up to the required specs to suit the power upgrade and weight certificates possibly not accurate. Then engineers certificates for the change in mountings, the dodgy gear selection not meeting the requirements ..... the list could go on from there.
The problem is in the dodgy registration certification scheme used in Qld, much like Victoria and South Australia, the inspection is meaningless or doesn't exist as long as the vehicle ownership doesn't change .... then everything gets looked at very closely. In Victoria, if is classed as a heavy vehicle, they even strip the brakes down to check their condition .... nightmare stuff we nearly got caught with when we bought the ramp back flat top truck from a plumber in one of the Melbourne suburbs. As long as the vehicle remained in the plumbers name, no problems, but we ended up having to cancel the Vic rego and drive on an interstate transfer certificate to get it back to NSW.

T1 Terry
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