Iva Test Date Confirmed.. But Now Some Doubts.!

[Guest loopyonion]

Phoned up chadderton today to get an eta on the iva for my project, and they confirmed the 12th may. Next Wednesday. Should be happy. And was up until I asked for an alteration to an afternoon spot. This is due to the fact that I became a dad again on Sunday, and now survive on less than two hours sleep per night.

 

Then, the news, I can't have a pm appointment because it's a robin hood?? And it's a longer test?

 

Now I'm expecting a babtism of fire.

 

on a last subject, if I've no spare wheel, just repair glue/spray thing, do I need a jack and wheel changing equipment?

 

Cheers

 

steve

[Longboarder]

No pressure there then! I thought most IVA's were morning appointments. SVA usually was as they were planned to take up to 5 hours. Or maybe I dreamed that. You don't need a jack or wheel changing equipment.

 

Nigel

[Guest Noddy006]

Hi Steve.

Best of luck. My IVA on a sub K took about five hours and was thorough. O.K. it failed but came away with a list of about a dozen minor items. It was good to know that the car had a complete check and should be safe in normal use. I thought the guy that did mine at Leighton Buzzard was very good and fair with any problems explained and possible satisfactory alternative remedies discussed. I thought he knew his stuff and had even helped his brother build a kit in the past. I can't say that I was too dissappointed with the fail (except the extra cost) and when I took it back it went straight through. Regarding spare wheel I don't have one and I just carry battery powered pump and also some of that aerosol stuff. Congrats on the family and good luck. Ian H.

[Guest kleighton]

Hi Steve,

 

Congratulations on the new addition to the family.

 

You've got me worried now too, I'm just waiting for a date for my IVA.

 

Good luck,

 

Cheers

 

Keith

[Guest loopyonion]

Keith, ring them. First issue I had was they listed my cars chassis number wrong, they put a 6 as a G which although minor, threw the records when I rang. Secondly, they sent a letter before the weekend with my test date in, and I still haven't revieved it.

 

The lady on the phone was very helpful and sorted all the bits out, and

moved my test date a little earlier as I had a training course booked for the first date. ( it never rains, it pours lol ).

 

Thanks for the congratulations, were functioning on about 3 hrs sleep per night but wifey and child are well.

 

So, I will leave the jack at home, take the spray, and I have /

AA membership anyhows

[Guest kleighton]

I gave VOSA a call and they've confirmed I'm booked in for the 18th at 8 am. Again they were very helpful.

 

Bricking it is a bit of an understatement.

 

Glad to hear wife and little un are well, I know what you're going through.

 

Cheers

 

Keith

[Guest loopyonion]

As mike ( born in a barn) said to me;

 

go and get your list, if it doesn't pass at least you know what you've missed

[Guest loopyonion]

Iva test tommorow.. Hope the weather holds out. Only concern is the dashboard lower radius, I have a soft material, with about 10mm radius on the underside, but have taken material to pad out if required. Handbook says 5 mm radius on soft, and 19mm on hard I believe?

 

Hope the examiners in a good mood

[Guest djs dad]

good luck matey

[Shaft]

Best of luck buddy, hope all goes well for you...

 

Nick.

[Guest kleighton]

Good luck Steve,

 

I'm getting a bit nervous myself, hope you get some sleep tonight.

 

Cheers

 

Keith

[Guest Gts]

Hope all has gone ok today keep us all up dated

 

 

Cheers

 

 

 

Nick

[Guest loopyonion]

Hi all,

 

Story goes as follows, and hopefully a lesson to us all ready for IVA on our cars.

 

Firstly, many thanks to the VOSA inspector, good advice, friendly, and to the point.

 

6.30 leave house from St Helens to Oldham

7.10 hit stationary traffic on M6 and M62

 

I tried all different routes, no joy.. not long after, my car overheated. I then drove the remainder of the way, watching my acewell digidash temp reading and looking through my visor covered in coolant from my radiator filler cap.. I found at 90mph, the cooling system had little choice but to work, and my temperature dropped to 90 ish from over 100 degrees. By now, i didnt care if the engine fried, I just wanted it there.

 

 

The only stretch of road that was clear was the last 8 miles to Junction 21 on the M60. ( yes, the top speed is very good.. lol ). I made it to the test lane at 8.15am

 

With the car covered in coolant, the test began. ( after apologising about the delay ).

 

Lesson 1.. take some water for you and your car, numerous drives around the block will not be the same as a 1.5hr traffic jam. Cooling faults WILL be exposed.

Lesson 2.. allow and extra hour travel over what you think you needed to get to your test. All robin hood IVA's are 4 hrs, which means ALL wil be AM tests, which start at 8AM prompt. Sadly, other road users do not appreciate the time we have taken preparing our cars for this monumentous day.. and do there best to screw us up!.

 

Moving on, It failed. But not on much at all.

 

1) exhaust too loud, measured 99.6db at 4500 rpm ( 6000rpm max power calc according to his records). My Iphone Db meter said it was 96db at home previously. I need to use some wire wool now to get the sound level down. As yet, its a westfield megabusa can, with a frontpipe fitted with a 51mm to 30mm Db killer restrictor.

 

2) Steering self centering.. Damn it:) it did have this, but after i changed my front tyres, its gone! Maybe tyre pressures? I can sort this out easy.

 

3) Brake preformance.. Rear passenger side brake slow to react, I think its bedded in now, and its not adjusted up, and the drivers side has. It passed all the servo/non servo brake pedal effort tests, but on test drive locked up the drivers side rear wheel for a second. Solution, check the adjustment, also that I have the same wheel cylinders on both sides. Easy! But, he points out that when I have made the rear passenger side adjust up, that I may have too much brake bias, and may need to fit a restrictor to the rear brake line feed.

 

4) Handbrake adjsustment - related to above.

 

5) My seats were 20-30mm too low, I did measure before, but i used a heavy block of wood as the reference point, VOSA dont, its a strange tool with an angle gauge and set square. Solution, i need to raise the headrests by legthening the supports.

 

6) Rear upper seatbelt mounting radius. Not the bolts or the mounts, but the triangular piece the belt goes through. Despite this being in the middle of the roll over bar, and tested from a rearward direction. This was the ONLY radius on the entire car that was a fault Not bad for an S7 Stainless?

 

7) VIN plates, apparently my VIN is ok, but i need a STATUTORY PLATE, I can get one from GBS, it must show name and vehicle ID number.

 

Despite mounting the lower seat belts in double thickness stainless sections, and using load spreaders, they will not suffice. The inners are OK, but the outers he wants to see a load path from the mount to the rear subframe mountings. Easy to do, fair enough.

 

9) Front indicators.. My indicators are within the 400mm from vehicle sides, but, are not visible from the required angles. Ie, stood in front of the car, and stepping to the right until the left indicator is at 45 degrees from you, 15 degrees from the horizontal, you cant see it. Bugger. Motorcycle repeaters on a bar passed through the front nosecose will sort it!

 

10) Secondary locking device needed on the dummy struts. Like on the sierra front struts, there is a tab on the lower part of the shock absorber, which the bolt that pinches the hub to the damper passes through. My Dummy struts DO NOT HAVE THEM.. so, i need to fabricate them, and weld them on.

 

11) Provide a certificate for the fuel filler hose, I think it may be simpler just to buy a new 6" piece from GBS, and show recipt.

 

Thats it really.. not to bad.

 

He did say that when his diary said a S7 Mk2 Robin hood, he expected a shed. But, was made up with the quality of the car, and the way it drove. Very minor points for a kit car made in 1983, and prepared to 2010 rulebook.

 

I reckon, if I get some parts sorted, it will take a day to ammend.. But I have my list now.! all previous passed items are not to be tested again. All radiusing will be staying put, until MAC is in hand.

 

Also, my speedo couldnt be tested, because it was fitted to an undriven wheel, and they dont have motorized speedo test facility.

 

 

My advice is that, when you go, expect to fail, and if you pass, its a bonus. Treat is as an excuse to drive there and back, or maybe just back leaving your wife driving the trailer back

 

Enjoy the experience, listen to the comments and solutions, dont pi$$ the examiner off. You will be getting in and out the car numerous times, wear comfy warm clothes!

 

Order parts tommorow, do the jobs tuesday/wed next week, retest ASAP.

 

Big thanks for all the advice from the gentlemen on here, I couldnt of got the car to this standard without this forums topics and advice

[Guest Gts]

Bad luck but at least you have your list now I take it there were no probs with it being a mono

[thespannerman]

An overide switch on the dash for the cooling fan is a good idea. Hope to see you at Newark (clean mk2 with no screen?)