Registering in MI

[Ghostknife]

I had a cop buddy sign my paperwork, no issue. Cost me a case of beer lol

Edit: That was your chance to educate the police officer/s on what an assembled vehicle is vs a dune buggy. Not be a butt about it but inform them

 

[Ghostknife]

I think I made a post in the Michigan thread on my process if it helps

 

[Mahkoi]

I had a cop buddy sign my paperwork, no issue. Cost me a case of beer lol

Edit: That was your chance to educate the police officer/s on what an assembled vehicle is vs a dune buggy. Not be a butt about it but inform them

I tried to mention it never started as an off road vehicle or dune buggy but was ignored. I'm gonna do the bumper and wipers/ washer just because 3 local officers have been up close to it now but gonna try some other avenues on the tr-54. I don't have any cop buddies and haven't had good luck in the past with offering unknown cops beer.

 

[Sluggonaut]

I'm not sure how you guys got your paperwork done without it built yet. Mines completely assembled. I called the Oakland County Sherriff office and got and officer who filled out section one of the tr-54 and assumed section 2 was for the state inspector. The SOS informed me today that was wrong so I called the OCS again and this time got two officers one of which specialized in vehicle inspections....it didn't go well. I got tagged one the plexi windshield, no wipers, no washers and no bumpers and got a bit of a sermon about "you guys that try to drive these off road dune buggies on the road need to learn the rules". I'm guessing i had a visable eye twitch when he called it a dune buggy for the fourth time. So........I'm making some bumpers now and have the most basic manual wiper imaginable on order. Still gotta hodge podge some kinda squirter together. Gonna try again after that and see if I get tagged on the plexi windshield again. then I get to go to the SOS again just to see if I get a picky state inspector later. Still desperately trying to get some kinda ride in this year but my hopes are down after today. Anyway, that's my rant about the state that will let you drive the most unsafe, rusted out pile of junk on the road with no problem but heaven forbid you put a perfectly safe car together on your own.

I didn't even bother with Illinois after similar stories. I had my Montana registration in a few weeks and it cost less to boot.

 

[Matt C]

I had an inspector that was by the book. The local cop who signed my TR-54 didn’t really care, she just checked all the boxes. My inspector called me before and asked if I actually had the bumpers, wipers, glass windshield and bottle installed. I of course didn’t. He just wanted me to call him when I got it all installed. I made a windshield template and had a local glass guy cut me safety glass to that shape. I then made some make shift brackets to “install” the windshield. I got a manual wiper and a bottle. I zipped tied the bottle and made it look like it was installed. I was lucky enough to borrow a set of bumpers. The inspector only looked at the the car for about 3 minutes. He checked to see if I had DOT tires and that was about it. He slapped the vin on and left. Was only at my house for about 5 minutes. One he left, I took everything off.

 

[jirwin]

I had an inspector that was by the book. The local cop who signed my TR-54 didn’t really care, she just checked all the boxes. My inspector called me before and asked if I actually had the bumpers, wipers, glass windshield and bottle installed. I of course didn’t. He just wanted me to call him when I got it all installed. I made a windshield template and had a local glass guy cut me safety glass to that shape. I then made some make shift brackets to “install” the windshield. I got a manual wiper and a bottle. I zipped tied the bottle and made it look like it was installed. I was lucky enough to borrow a set of bumpers. The inspector only looked at the the car for about 3 minutes. He checked to see if I had DOT tires and that was about it. He slapped the vin on and left. Was only at my house for about 5 minutes. One he left, I took everything off.

Sounds like you had the same experience as me lol.

 

[Mahkoi]

Looks like I had a slightly different set of steps than the other Michigan builders. I had the officer fill out the tr54. In the VIN section I had the frame serial # filled in. Took my paperwork to the SOS (tr54, tr34 explanation paragraph, certificate of origin, and kit receipts). The state accepted my ser# as a vin and mailed me a title about a week later. Got insurance through state farm today and got registration and plates. No visits from the state inspector.

 

[neodied]

Looks like I had a slightly different set of steps than the other Michigan builders. I had the officer fill out the tr54. In the VIN section I had the frame serial # filled in. Took my paperwork to the SOS (tr54, tr34 explanation paragraph, certificate of origin, and kit receipts). The state accepted my ser# as a vin and mailed me a title about a week later. Got insurance through state farm today and got registration and plates. No visits from the state inspector.

Do you recall if under Part 1, both VIN boxes were filled out?
Left Box: "Vehicle Identification Number (if none, enter "none")"
Right box: "(Law Enforcement Only) VIN from Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Sticker"

Also, did the SOS agent mention anything about padding the VIN with zeros? I thought they had to be 17 characters by standard.

 

[Mahkoi]

Do you recall if under Part 1, both VIN boxes were filled out?
Left Box: "Vehicle Identification Number (if none, enter "none")"
Right box: "(Law Enforcement Only) VIN from Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Sticker"

Also, did the SOS agent mention anything about padding the VIN with zeros? I thought they had to be 17 characters by standard.

Let me check when I get home about the boxes on the tr-54. I also asked about the 17 digits when she said my serial number was going to be my vin and she said they didn't have to be 17 digits long, just unique. My title only has an 8 digit vin.

 

[Mahkoi]

Do you recall if under Part 1, both VIN boxes were filled out?
Left Box: "Vehicle Identification Number (if none, enter "none")"
Right box: "(Law Enforcement Only) VIN from Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Sticker"

Also, did the SOS agent mention anything about padding the VIN with zeros? I thought they had to be 17 characters by standard.

 

[neodied]

Excellent, thank you! Trying to get the best chance at a smooth SOS process, copying your method seems smart.

 

[Mahkoi]

Excellent, thank you! Trying to get the best chance at a smooth SOS process, copying your method seems smart.

You're welcome. The other weird thing that came up is that they will ask for the mileage that your odometer reads. I had that information listed in my TR34 explanation form and they were good with that.

 

[Linda Gralinski]

TR 54 form sections 1 and 2 if I recall. Have any questions let me know. I've been inactive here, but I'm legal in Michigan as of mid October

How did you get a legal title?

 

[Linda Gralinski]

Did you add all the things required to be legal? Glas windshield, wipers , etc?

 

[jirwin]

How did you get a legal title?

Did you add all the things required to be legal? Glas windshield, wipers , etc?

Yes, added safety glass, wiper, sprayer, bumpers, ebrake. You fill out a TR54, surrender the Cobalt title, pay the taxes, and get a final "inspection" where they give you a VIN sticker

 

[Linda Gralinski]

Thanks for the info

 

[jirwin]

Thanks for the info

Read thru this thread though. A lot of people got away with a lot less, and theres always the Montana route

 

[Ron Gralinski]

Hey all, first post here. I've been looking at getting a Goblin because I'm getting out of motorcycles (on road at least) and I happen to have a rusty (but mechanically sound) Cobalt XFE sitting in my driveway collecting dust. Has anyone registered one of these in Michigan? I have a little bit of prior experience with this as I converted a Honda CRF450X to street-legal. That was relatively painless. The form is the same, but just has a different section for 4 wheeled vehicles (see attached). It has a few things on there that I am concerned about.

• Windshield Wipers & Washers - I have no idea why I would need these, but apparently I do. Maybe I could just mount my Cobalt one on there for the inspection?
• Parking brake - I imagine this is retained, but I'm really not sure. Can anyone confirm?
• Safety Glass (no plexiglass, sufficient size to protect driver and passengers, no cracks, no obstructions, non-transparent material prohibited) - This could be a real problem. I think the windshield you can get as part of the kit is plexi? Can anyone confirm?
• Bumpers (required on passenger vehicles, 14 to 22 inches above the ground except 4-wheel drive) - I have seen these on other threads so I'm not super concerned on these.

Now, all this being said, this really depends on the cop that checks your car. For example with my Honda, I didn't have DOT tires on it at the time of inspection because I was waiting for them to ship. They cop was like "yup its got tires", and just glazed over the list. I might be fine, if I just add my bumpers and bolt a wiper below the windshield.

What's everyone's thoughts?

Just got #445 titled.follow the requirements on the tr-54 form. Police, DMV and the person from the state were all very helpful and easy to work with. In mid Michigan.

 

[Ron Gralinski]

Did some more research and ran across this:


So this might mean that I am ok because the car doesn't technically come with a windshield.

 

[Ron Gralinski]

Hey all, first post here. I've been looking at getting a Goblin because I'm getting out of motorcycles (on road at least) and I happen to have a rusty (but mechanically sound) Cobalt XFE sitting in my driveway collecting dust. Has anyone registered one of these in Michigan? I have a little bit of prior experience with this as I converted a Honda CRF450X to street-legal. That was relatively painless. The form is the same, but just has a different section for 4 wheeled vehicles (see attached). It has a few things on there that I am concerned about.

• Windshield Wipers & Washers - I have no idea why I would need these, but apparently I do. Maybe I could just mount my Cobalt one on there for the inspection?
• Parking brake - I imagine this is retained, but I'm really not sure. Can anyone confirm?
• Safety Glass (no plexiglass, sufficient size to protect driver and passengers, no cracks, no obstructions, non-transparent material prohibited) - This could be a real problem. I think the windshield you can get as part of the kit is plexi? Can anyone confirm?
• Bumpers (required on passenger vehicles, 14 to 22 inches above the ground except 4-wheel drive) - I have seen these on other threads so I'm not super concerned on these.

Now, all this being said, this really depends on the cop that checks your car. For example with my Honda, I didn't have DOT tires on it at the time of inspection because I was waiting for them to ship. They cop was like "yup its got tires", and just glazed over the list. I might be fine, if I just add my bumpers and bolt a wiper below the windshield.

What's everyone's thoughts?

I used a sxs wiper actually. Drilled center mounting hole on windshield and bracket to 1/2, and it works great.

I bought a late 80s Jeep windshield on Amazon. It came with a built in wiper. $225. Sqirter and tank $20 . Cut down the frame to fit the car.