Police Inspection Compete

Maybe the police read my blog?

No sooner had I uploaded my rant about the delay in getting a policeman to check my car, a nice man from the vehicle investigation unit gave me a call (well it was actually the next day but who is counting!).

They guy called me up and asked whether he could meet me at my house at lunch time. When he arrived, it really was a policeman although he was not in a ‘bobby’ uniform or squad car.

The inspection itself was painless, he checked the engine number and chassis number against the numbers I put on my paperwork, offered some advice about stamping a hidden second chassis number in case the car is stolen and that was just about that.

We chatted for 10 minutes about kit cars and why the police are involved at all. Turns out the DVLA inspectors do not no much about cars so kept writing down the wrong details for engine number etc, plus they were not good at spotting suspicious things (like engines with re-stamped numbers) so the police offered to help. The only down side is that it has to fit around there more serious job of attending road accidents so it looks like my 10 day wait was actually a really short one.

In a final twist, he mentioned that he had just come from a village called Burstwick and after a bit of digging, it turns out the cobra he had just been to see had been built in my old house by the guy that brought it from us. When he purchased it, he told me he was going to build a cobra and as it turns out, he has!

It is a small world full of coincidences.

What Is The Friggin Holdup?

Well the weather is still holding, SVA is passed and car is back at home with all essential parts finished.

So am I enjoying the unseasonable October whether? No because it is taking friggin ages to get the car registered!

I filled in all the forms and paid my money over 10 days ago. At the time I was told that the car needed a police inspection but that would be done in around 72 hours, then a couple more days to get the paperwork through and I would be legal.

That was getting on for two weeks ago and I have heard nothing!

I thought the term ‘police inspection’ was an odd one as my understanding of the procedure was a DVLA man (or woman) would wander along to my house, check the chassis and engine number and that would be that. MAC#1 though the same.

But no. In the Beverley DVLA office (at least), police inspection means a real inspection by a policeman (again or women). Why?

What are they looking for, illegal immigrants? Call me old fashioned but I live a little near the great city of Hull and I think it would be fair to say that Hull has it’s own fair share of problems so I would have thought that the police would have far more important things to do than look at kit cars.

Evidently, the police agree as despite me being promised a call within 72 hours, nearly two weeks later and I still have not heard anything! I am all for getting it right but I don’t understand why registering a kit car is so difficult. I can’t believe that a local bobby has to check every new Ford that rolls out of a showroom. Granted, Ford may be better at making cars then me but surely registering a car is a job for the DVLA, not the over stretched police force!

Rant over.

Pre SVA Postmortem – What Mac#1 Had To Fix!

Finally back from a crazy 10 day trip to Amsterdam (business not pleasure!) and finally have time to reflect on the SVA pass last week and where exactly I am in the project.

The answer is tantalisingly close! Indeed, had I not had a trip to Holland, the car might have been road legal in time for the sunshine this weekend.

As it stands, the car is still over at MAC#1 with a few outstanding jobs to be done such as fit the final exhaust, re-map the engine, re-jig the geometry and fit the aero screens. These are mainly fixing or fitting bits that were setup for the SVA or (as in the case with the aero screens) would not pass the SVA test.

So the car is due back late next week and in the mean time, I have to complete the necessary paperwork with the DVLA to get the car registered and a reg number issued. This involves completing a form (more on this when I have the detail) and presenting it to the local DVLA office along with receipts and the SVA pass certificate (and about £175). Then the final hurdle is a quick inspection at by an DVLA officer and then I should be given a tax disk and license plate number. Then I can finally hit the road!!!

Hope the weather holds for just another week.

What MAC#1 Had To Fix

I had a call from a guy called Steve today who is building a similar spec car to mine and who has used this blog as a reference resource from time to time. Fortuitously, I met with Steve at MAC#1 when he picked up his kit and I gave him my number incase I could help out with anything.

He called me today to ask whether I had problems fitting the lower front wishbones as his were very very tight. I did indeed have a similar issue and was able to tell him how I did it in the end (used grease on the bush and then a large flat headed screw driver head to act as a sort of ramp to guide the bush in to the chassis – and then applied a lot of pressure).

I was very happy to hear that Steve’s build is progressing well and that he is enjoying it as much as I did but it also got me thinking about some of the areas of my build that did not go according to plan, and more specifically, what areas MAC#1 had to fix when the car arrived with them.

Overall I was fairly happy with the quality of the work that I had done when the car went to MAC#1 but I always expected that there would be a few areas where additional work or fixes would be required. I think in general, I am still very happy with what I achieved as most of the issues MAC#1 addressed are fairly minor.

But here they are, warts and all!

Firstly, and crucially, MAC#1 did not (that I know) have to do anything with the electrics other than add a little cable trim to the central tunnel. I am really pleased about this because I know this is an area that often causes problems.

The same could not be said for the fluid systems in the car. Firstly, the cooling system leaked like a sieve when they first put water in. Nothing serious, I just forgot to tighten all the jubilee clips so as soon as the water was under pressure, fountains appeared all over the car.

It was the same case with the brake systems. Again, I had largely not tightened the brake joints enough. The exception was that I had also put one of the rear brake pipe adaptors (that go in to the callipers) in backwards so try as he might, Mark could not bleed the system until he found my error.

So brakes and cooling both had leaks, combine this with the fact that I had previously had to fix leaks in the oil extender and the fuel system and it is clear that I am no plumber!

Other than that, there was not a great deal of other things MAC#1 had to fix. They did re-route the return fuel line as it was too close to the exhaust but in my defence, the exhaust was not there when I ran it. They also recommended that I re-route the accelerator and clutch cables to reduce the amount of ‘corners’ the cables have to turn, but that was not necessary for SVA.

They also spent some time working on the rear brakes as Mark felt that the discs fitted were over-hanging the callipers by too much. This was (I believe) nothing to do with my fitment and just a quirk of the calliper, mount and disc combination. I am not sure how it was resolved, I think they had the hub machined to make it all line up better.

Oh and the of course fixed the engine!

As previously discussed, the engine failure was caused by a broken starter motor gear. The theory is that it was damaged in the crash that generously resulted in my engine donation, in the engines previous life attached to a Fireblade. The only question is how the hell did I start it up, not once but twice, all those months ago? I guess I was just lucky but we will never know!

So all in all, not too bad.

Sorry about such a dull post, but nothing exciting has really happened since the SVA pass.

Still, Amsterdam was was good!

SVA Pass!!!

Some 315 days ago, I picked up my kit from MAC#1 and today, the car that I have built, passed the SVA test which means that it can now be registered for legal use on the road.

The SVA test represents the final major step in building the car and I am absolutely delighted that the car passed on the first attempt.

If you have read my previous posts you will know that the car has been at MAC#1 for several weeks so that they could finish the car and prepare it for the SVA.

It is thanks to the fantastic job that Mark and Colin did on getting the car ready that it passed the test with very little problems, in fact, the whole process took only a little over an hour from start to finish.

The SVA tester (Martin) was very friendly and helpful and on the one area where a problem was found, allowed us to quickly fix the problem before he continued with the test. To be honest, the test was over so quickly that it is difficult to really believe that the car passed and now just requires some paperwork to make it road legal.

The day did not start well! The weather started out dry but as I got closer to Sheffield, the heavens opened and it soon became clear that I was likely to be in for a wet day. The car would be trailered from MAC#1 to the SVA centre (in Nottingham) which meant that it would be soaked by the time it got there. Also, portions of the SVA test are done outside so I fully expected a good soaking but as it happened, it all worked out OK.

Upon arriving at MAC#1, it was clear that Mark and Colin had pulled out all the stops to try and get my car through the test. Their vast experience with SVA meant that they knew exactly what areas of the car needed attention, where trim needed to be added and what the testers would be looking for. If you are doing something similar, I would definitely recommend paying MAC#1 (or someone similar) to help with this final preparation as it could mean the difference between a pass and fail.

I can not list all the little finishing touches that the guys had done to the car but here are a few of the more obvious ones.

The front wishbones are an obvious area for SVA inspectors to look so all of the sharp parts are covered in trim and all nuts have plastic covers on them. You will also notice the grill has some trim in front of it. This is because the grill is not rounded enough but the trim stops the testing from being able to get the test ball in so therefore it is exempt.

The same treatment inside the cockpit with all the edges being covered with trim (even under the dash).

Here you can also see the top of the transmission tunnel which was not fitted last time I saw the car.

The gear lever looks cool. It is of course a sequential gearbox so forward and backward are all that is needed.

The handbrake is another thing finished since I last saw the car. Again, it is finished with ‘u’ trim. Colin also made a handy metal guard which goes underneath the handbrake to stop you mashing your hand in to the prop-shaft when you go to operate the handbrake (I never thought of that!).

The passenger footwell had some bolt heads in it which may of caused an SVA problem but luckily, I purchased this foot rest ages ago which covered them nicely.

The black powered coated ‘hockey trim’ finished the transmission tunnel nicely. 

Some of the SVA requirements are just plain bizarre! The exhaust is attached to the car via a big rubber block but despite it being made of rubber, because it has a square edge it would fail. Cover it in a bit of bent metal and all is fine. BTW, the scalding hot exhaust fully exposed beside it is also not a problem, as long as it has a rounded edge!

The rear top if the car is finished with a carbon effect plastic sheet. Note that there is no petrol filler cap. That is under the carbon sheet but will be replaced with a more handy filler cap on the outside of the car post SVA.

The chassis number mush also be stamped on the car. We had a problem with this as I could not remember the number I supplied to the VOSA on my application form. Luckily, I took a picture of the application for and posted it in an earlier blog entry so once we had downloaded it and blown it up in ‘paint’ we were able to make out the number. Isn’t the web great!

There were just a few more finishing touches like this battery terminal cover,

the seatbelt mounts and of course some wing mirrors.

The very last thing on the car was a stick-on rear view mirror.

Then the car was loaded on to the trailer and it was off to the SVA centre.

Little under an hour later and we arrived at the SVA test centre in Nottingham. Luckily, the rain had stayed light so the car was not too wet by the time we got there.

We rolled the car off the trailer and then Colin drove it round to the test bay where SVA’s are carried out. At this stage, no one had ever driven the car but Colin did not seem phased.

          

After a few minutes wait (we were early!), Martin (the tester) turned up and started the SVA test. The first thing he did was have a really good look around the car and check for any sharp edges that could cause a problem to a pedestrian or passenger. The rule is that anything that can be contacted by the test tool (a sort of half sphere on a stick) needs to have a radius on it. He checked a few things but in general, all the normal areas of concern for this type of car were covered by MAC#1’s prep work so he didn’t find anything that needed additional work. So far so good.

(Mark, not Martin by the car).

The car was next put on some rollers and the engine revved to different speeds. The speed indicated on the Digidash was recorded and compared with the actual speed at the wheels (as measured by the rollers). You can (and must) read under on your dash but too far under or even 1mph over is an instant fail. Once again, MAC#1 had set this up just right and it passed with flying colours.

The next phase in the test was a quick drive around by the tester. He was gone a good five minutes and I do not know what he was doing while he was gone but he seemed happy when he returned.

 

(I expected the tested to re-appear in this video but he didn’t so sorry about the quality).

Next was the dreaded emissions test. I say dreaded because this seems an area of concern for a lot of builders but I know that MAC#1 had already tested emissions and did not expect any problems. The car is allowed to warm for a short time and then an emissions tester is placed in the exhaust and the engine is revved.

There is even a short video of this (although it is a little boring).

 

I asked whether the fan was in front of the car to simulate road conditions or something technical but it turns out that they just had a lot of kit cars over heat so the put a fan there to keep them cool. That is how nice they are.

The car passed this stage of the test as well. It was looking good at this stage.

Next it was up on a ramp for a full inspection underneath. The tester was looking for fluid leaks, build quality and loose wires etc. This phase of the test produced the first problem with the car. There was a small leak on one of the brake lines but Martin was kind enough to give us five minutes to see if we could fix it before continuing. A quick tighten with a spanner and the problem was solved. No other problems were found.

While the car was there, they also tested all the lights and the throw of the front headlights. They all worked as expected and it was on to the next phase of the test.

The next section to be tested was brakes. The car was driven on to some heavy looking rollers and the tester got in the car with a pressure pad attached to his foot so that he could measure the pressure required to apply a certain degree of braking force to each wheel.

The rollers spun the wheels up to a certain speed and the tester applied the brakes. This test took a good ten minutes to complete fully as front and rear brakes had to be tested.

The same equipment was used to test the handbrake and this needed a little adjusting in order to get it right. This is normal as the handbrake cable stretches when it is brand new but Colin was on hand to make the necessary adjustments.

Once the car had successfully completed the brake section, it was on to the very last test. The noise test.

This involved driving the car outside, revving the engine to around 8500 rpm and measuring the volume of noise coming from the exhaust. Again, I was not too worried about this as I have been surprised just how quiet my car is compared to other BEC (bike engine cars) I have heard. This confidence was well placed as it was comfortably inside the accepted levels.

And that was that. I had thought that there was going to be more of the test or that we were going on to another area of the test centre but Colin invited me in to the passenger seat of the car and before I knew it we were back at the trailer. No fanfare, just a simple acknowledgement that the car had passed the SVA test and that a MAC (Ministers Approval Certificate) would be issued.

One cup of coffee later and the paperwork was complete and I had the MAC certificate was safely in my hands.

  

Then the car was loaded back on the trailer and driven away, back to it’s temporary home at MAC#1.

As I understand it, all I need to do now is fill in some paperwork at my local DVLA office (in Beverley) and wait for an inspection. Once a DVLA rep has looked at the car, a registration number will be issued and I will be legal to drive it on the road….but that will all have to wait as I am off to Amsterdam on business for 10 days.

What a great day…scratch that, what a great 315 days. And the fun is only just getting started.