Sva Fail St Beverley

[e666]

Hi all

 

Took the spec for its SVA yesterday @ Beverley. A cold wet grey morning (bad omen I thought) and it rained pretty much all day!

 

Anyhoo. Got there and met the examiner (nice chap) and the test started. Failed within 10 minutes - brake pedal slightly catches the steering column - when I reassembled it I put the washer configuration in the wrong way around d'oh!

 

To cut a long story short there were 11 items - 7 minor, 1 slightly irritating and 3 slightly more worrying:

 

1 - None radiused handbrake handle (sleeve will sort)

2 - None radiused (only blunted) exhaust tail pipes (probably get some trims)

3 - Fog Light (fuse I think as it had worked the night before)

4 - A length of cable needs an extra cable tie (d'oh)

5 - No Evidence of suitability of RH fuel pipe (already been in touch with enforcer)

6 - Brake pedal fouling steering column (move a washer)

7 - Speedo stuck at 30 and 40 (smiths electronic, so it'll have to go back to Merlin)

8 - Front suspension - the top tube that clamps into the upright needs some sort of pin to stop it sliding out if the pinch bolt fails (he did say this is a new fail point as its only been pointed out recently - still a 8.8 5mm bolt through the bottom should fix that)

9 - Emissions - Lambda 1.173 (dont understand that because before the ECU failed it was 1.01 - still have spoken to Avon who supplied the replacement ecu)

10 - Fuel leaked out of the filler cap as the engine was reving during the emission test (may have over filled it as its never done that before - or else the breather configuration is wrong)

11 - Handbrake under performing (this is a pain, I've worked on it so much already, AND if the test went on the build weight rather than design weight it would pass)

 

Still I have to say there are a lot of positives -

 

Weight without driver (combined axle weights) 680kgs

she was fantastic to drive that far,

all the HGV lads that where there where biggin' her up,

the inspector said she was a good lucking car and one of the nicest he'd ever driven,

there was no major mechanical problems....

and my home-made surrey kept us pretty dry

 

I now have till march 07 to sort that lot - but it shouldn't take that long - even for me

 

Thanks to all of you on here and for all all the help so far....

 

e

[Guest Guy]

Well done E. Now you've got a list of things to do it'll be pretty easy.

 

2 - None radiused (only blunted) exhaust tail pipes (probably get some trims)

I'd be interested to know how you solve this one, the trim will have to be heat resistant.

 

8 - Front suspension - the top tube that clamps into the upright needs some sort of pin to stop it sliding out if the pinch bolt fails (he did say this is a new fail point as its only been pointed out recently - still a 8.8 5mm bolt through the bottom should fix that)

I'd like to see a picture if that's possible so I can do the same to mine.

[Guest Ian & Carole]

Ours failed on exhaust tail pipe !

 

We put a nice chrome pipe finisher from a motor factors, some weld a steel ring right at the end of the pipe.

Easy fix really.

 

 

We found the guys at Beverley really helpfull.

 

A nice "to do " list, well done.

 

Ian J

[will]

Nice one e, shouldn't take too long to fix

 

All the best

 

Will

[Grim]

3 - Fog Light (fuse I think as it had worked the night before)

 

Check you have the correct type of relay fitted, fit the wrong type and it will work for a short period, and then fail again. A tell tale sign is that the relay is warm when the light hasn't been on.

[Longboarder]

Rear fog light is only 22 watts and does not need a relay. Check fuse, switch on ign and lights and switch on fog light. Check for 12 volts at light, bulb OK and check light earth is good.

 

Nigel

[e666]

Cheers guys - Fog light seems to be working ok now

Anyone got any thoughts on the handbrake issue?

The lever is taking up all the slack in the cable properly - it used to move 7 clicks and virtually no bit - now its 3 and I cant push the car. But its still not enough

Could the calipers be faulty (they were reconditioned ones) ?

Are there any good aftermarket alternatives for kit cars ?

 

Any thoughts greatly appreciated

 

e

[Snapperpaul]

Could be as simple as the shoes or pads need bedding in, check for dust, rust, moisture etc. May also be worth going over with a solvent on the discs or drums incase there is something on them.

[Peter Bell]

Make sure everything is moving freely, (stating the obvious I know) and the pads are not sticking in the calipers. I assume the pads are new, if you take them out can you see if they are making full contact with the discs? put them back where they came from. I had a problem with my day car a year or so ago after new discs and pads were fitted before an MOT, which it failed, drove around a while with the handbrake on in short bursts to bed them in and after it was ok.

Peter.