Modifying a Spanish Reg'd US built vehicle

Was just reading a post on converting a car from petrol to diesel from a few years back which showed that there were clearly some very knowledgeable folk on here so I thought I would sign up. At the time that post was written people were talking about a proposed EU law home built vehicle modification that would certainly scupper my plan. This is just a pipe dream at the moment but I wondered if you guys could tell me if I stand any chance of getting such a build legitamised. 

What I would like to do is convert a US built, Spanish reg'd Ford E150 van from 2wd to 4wd. In the states this is quite a common mod but knowing how distressing something as simple as non factory towbar is to an ITV man I wonder if modifying a van like this is adviseable at all. 

Look forward to hearing from you. 

I havn't the faintest idea, but I will watch this thread with interest. I know what you mean about the ITV man; a while ago a car I took was failed for a cut on the inside of a rear tyre. Two new tyres were fittedat the tyre place - they advised that the new ones went on the front and the front tyres went to the back. The ITV man did not get this concept at all! In the end, I had to fetch the manager out of the office (who spoke some English) to explain why, when the tyre he had failed was at the back, but the new one was at the front!

Good luck.

Steve

You have to ask yourself, ‘’is it worth the hassle, aggravation and stress’’?. You already know you are dealing with unknown regulations and if you are not fluent in Spanish get a good stock of paractamol. Why not just get rid of what you have and buy what you want off the shelf Spanish registered?

Thanks potblack.

The reason I dont get rid of what I have is that there never was a factory built alternative, hence the need to build rather than buy and also hence the fairly common alteration in the US. 

Good advice with the paracetamol but ive just seen a post elsewhere that could be the answer to my needs. Will post a link to it here whenI find it again. 

Thanks guys for your informative posts :)

htrj: The Spanish are particularly anal when it comes to vehicle modifications. The changing of a power train in any way (that can be detected) is a NO NO! 

A friend of mine insisted on removing a propshaft to his rear axle on his Land Rover Freelander to make it more economical....until it's next ITV. Uproar! Failed and had to bring it back to retest.

Now IF your vehicle is modified PRIOR to import into Spain (and the previous V5/Registration docs show the "current" powertrain) I don't know how they would react especially as a US vehicle is not covered by EU Homologation codes. The Spanish DO check  EU vehicle Homologation codes on import against the vehicle you are presenting. They have great difficulty with importing classic cars too (no homologation to refer to).

Having said that "One off" built cars previously registered within the EU are not to be precluded from import...someone has a 2 seater Morgan "look alike" here in our village, successfully imported.

Caveat emptor.

Years ago, I brought a 10 year old LHD petrol engined Land Cruiser to Spain (ex-Germany via UK). To get it registered in Spain, I had to remove the factory fitted towbar - no mean feat, since it was well and truly rusted in place - because I couldn't supply homologation paperwork relating to it. When it came to valuation for tax purposes, however, the petrol version had never been sold in Spain so they had no reference point. To overcome this, they decided it was a diesel instead, and that's what went on it's Spanish documentation. Strangely, never caused any questions to be asked at subsequent ITVs.

Good luck!!