Passed The Dreaded Sva 1st Time Round!

[Guest jwaterman]

Hi All,

 

Well i never ever thought i would see the day, but i have seen it and its passed, all those worries all for nothing, NOT.

First of all I would like take this opportunity to thank all of you who have replied to my many questions, also Andy Stather who came over and did a pre SVA test a few days before the Big day, Thanks Andy i don't think it would have passed if you hadn't pointed out the couple of gemlins lerking, ready for the examiner.

 

Well the the night before was a frought one, going over the car time and time again checking and then double checking and sometimes checking again, at that time of night you seem to forget what you did 30 seconds before.

 

The BIG DAY! Set off from home with plenty of time to spare, 5 miles in lost the scouring pad that was stuffed up the exhaust! not a good start. Got to test station for 8 O'clock. No examiner, 8,15 examiner arrives, a little late, thats one advantage to me, probably the only one. Well test should have started at 8.10, It actually started at 8,35. This didn't help the nerves.

 

The emmissions were first, that was fine,

Engine bay, he had a quick look around, and said good.

Lights, all in there correct places and worked ok, all bar one. 1 reversing light wasn't playing far. That didn,t bother him.

Internal radiuses, quick feel around with his big hands (my god they were big too) checked the speedo trip button, with in the steering wheel coverage zone. fan switch was ok too. He didn't use any gauges,

Seat belts, they were fine, he felt the top points with his big hands, no comment on that one.

Windscreen, only checked if wipers, spray, and de-misters worked, they did. No comment on that either.

External Radiuses, Quick wipe around with those big hands, a comment about the spare wheel cover was i like this idea.

 

At this point i am thinking, I like this man, he's a very nice man, a very very nice man.

 

Light alignment- Fine, Thanks MOT station.

Tyres, all 5 ok.

Under side, No comments other than do this and do that, This is were the seat mountings fear was making me sweat. No probs here.

Brake tests, All ok they were well within limits,

Weights, Car weighed in at 904kgs, seems a bit much to me, mind you its was done on each axle sperately.

Speedo, 30, 40, 50, 60 were spot on no deviation, at 70 it was under by 2mph, Very good was the comment, don't see many mechanical speedos the good.

Self centering, that seemed ok from were i was standing,

Mirrors, Ok too, no comment from him on this.

Noise test. (nerves starting to get the better of me by know, this all seems to easy to me, it must have failed ages ago.) 4500 rpm and hold, so i did what was asked with my eyes closed. 99db.

 

"Then the can you park the car over by the test bay entrance, load up your tools while i do some calculations"

So did what the man said, and waited. 10 mins later out came the examiner with a odd look on his face. Its failed, and its passed!! he said. If you leave these axle weights as they are on the booking form its failed, but if you swope them around it passes, Do you think you could have got them the wrong way round?????? Well thats all i needed, that through me into a state of worry, I don't now i said rather sheepishly, After a few moments he said, Well i am going to swop them, and you have passed. What did you say??? PASSED!!!!!!

 

After all that worry and sleepless nights, My pride and joy is Passed! By a test that for me was no were near as bad as i had thought. Norwich Test Station I thank you! I had nightmares about the SVA.

 

All i can say is that the test for me seemed very straight forward, Dennis (the Examiner) didn't seem to do everything that was explained in the SVA manual, But he was satisfied, thats all i am worried about.

 

Norwich test station was made out to be a bad place to get your car tested, but in my mind i think it is a good place, But everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

 

Well I am sorry my write up of the test isn't as eventfull as some, I applologise if it was boring, but hopfully it helps to paint a picture of what my SVA experience was all about.

 

Good luck to those of you who are close or not that close to embarking on the SVA hurdle!

 

John W

[Guest Angel Boy]

John,

Top marks for passing. The real building can now begin

 

Congrats.

 

Andy

[Guest Graham]

Congratulations John,

 

Glad to see you've got your got your car through the test first time. It brought back memories, my exhaust baffle/ steel wool blew it's self out long before I reached the test centre too. ( it passed noise test also)

 

Good to hear all SVA's arn't doom and gloom, I too had a very friendly and fair examiner in Aberdeen but he still failed it first time, but that was my fault.

 

Hope you enjoy many happy miles through the long hot summer to come. ( I hope)

 

Graham

[Guest SteveL]

Congrats John.

 

Care to share with us the last minute Gremlins that Andy sorted out?

 

Sounds like Norwich might become a popular test centre!

 

Steve

[Guest Angel Boy]

To be fair John had got pretty much of the ususal things covered (litterally!). I am by no means an expert, but I took alook around the car and looked for the obvious edges etc. Paid particular attention to the wishbones etc and suggested that he might want to cover some of the metal work from the cycle wing brakets etc.

 

John did a cracking job of covering it in a stick foam and made a neat job. There wasn't a great deal I could find wrong or might want looking at, and passing first time shows why. Makes me feel better.

 

From the conversation I had with Joh afterwards, the inspector looked like he had a level head on and seemed quite reasonable.

 

HTH.

Andy