Theducks Build To Date In (Not So) Brief (Anymore)

[Guest alexpink]

Good luck mate! Looking forward to seeing how it all goes; my application is all ready to send now, should be going to Kidderminster if all goes well for you!

[cb750]

Good luck for tomorrow.

[brumster]

Best o'luck

[richyb66]

Fingers crossed - about time the club Secretary got a car on the road!!!

[Guest janis]

Good luck from me..prove that these death traps can pass iva too

[FERRINO]

Good luck for tomorrow - got everything crossed for you!

 

Cheers

Tony

[Guest 2b cruising]

Good luck Duck.

Hope it costs you a fiver and not me.

[WallerZ]

Have you passed yet???

[alanh65]

How's it going ??? We all want to know ....

[fry61]

Give the lad a chance -- he wont be released from their clutches 'til at least noon.

[Guest 2b cruising]

Ferrying. Hi, could you tell me where you bought and what make/model your wheels are please. Kind regards Ken.

[FERRINO]

Ferrying. Hi, could you tell me where you bought and what make/model your wheels are please. Kind regards Ken.

 

Hi Ken – Do you mean the wheels in my pic (if you did I think autocorrect has changed ferrino to ferrying lol)?

 

They are 15” x 8.25j XXR 527 wheels in chrome/black. Got them from these guys:-

 

http://www.japshop.co.uk/acatalog/XXR-4-X-108-PCD-15-INCH-WHEELS.html

 

- Sorry for the hijack ‘theduck’. We are all keen to hear how you got on!

[theduck]

Ken owes cancer research a fiver

 

Will type up the experience and results now...

[theduck]

So, today started at the ungodly hour of 5am with going to collect the transporter I had hired for the day. It turned out that this was a wise move, and not just because of the rain! Was back home by 6:15am and met Steve (Thrashed) there, got the car on and covered, tools, spares, paperwork and laptop with build photos on all loaded up and we were on our way by just before 7am. It was the most nerve wracking drive of my life, a combination of nerves about the test, and having my pride and joy on the back, however we arrived at Kidderminster VOSA with no issues at 7:30am. We set about removing the cover and noticed an ominous puddle under the car which turned out to be petrol. Still not sure where it is leaking from but prime suspect is the sender as I have known a similar tank leak from here.

 

We then met Keith who was to be the tester for the day and is someone I have only heard good things about, I would echo every good word I have ever heard and add more praise. He is a genuinely top bloke who is fair and understanding and takes time to explain things and generally top banter! I would highly recommend anyone that can test at Kidderminster does so. We got the car unloaded and I drove it over to the test area and Keith then spent some time looking around the car and in the engine bay and pointed out a couple things he would like to see changed and advised if there weren’t any more serious issues anything like these he would give us chance to fix at the end of the test so the I could leave with a pass.

 

Next it was on to the brake test, something I was concerned about because Richyb66 and me had spent quite a bit of time trying to get a shorter pull on the handbrake and we hadn’t managed it. It worked, but there was very little reserve. So, tested the fronts, everything good, tested the rears and Keith was concerned that maybe they were too good, but it was borderline and he wouldn’t be certain until he put the figures in the computer at the end. Then the handbrake, and it passed. He did comment about there not being much reserve, but was happy.

 

Moved on to the rollers to test the speedo and this is where the big problem of the day arose. The speedo was under reading by 2mph at 35mph, but that is an easy fix thanks to the digi dash, I just need to change a setting and that will be fine. The big issue was that he couldn’t get the car to drive in 3^rd or 4^th gears. He tried it a couple of times and then we noticed that as he changed gears the offside wheel was almost stopping, we checked the other side and it was fine. So he stopped, we checked the wheel was moving freely, it was, so tried again. This time though as the nearside wheel span up the offside wheel barely moved so we had to give up on that test and it looks like a new diff or a refurb of this one is required.

 

Then the car was weighed, and came in at a laden weight of 730kg with an almost perfect 50:50 front:rear weight distribution. Happy with that!

 

Keith then drove the car round to the mirror test area and it just didn’t have quite enough visibility. It could be fixed by raising the nearside mirror mount but a pair of larger mirrors will more comfortably get it through the retest. I joked about borrowing the one of the transporter and I think he would have been happy if I could have done it!

 

While we were outside it was time for the noise test, and one I thought would fail. Holding the revs at 4000rpm and it came in at 100db. Keith then asked me to drive the car around the site and do a brake test so he could check for the nose dipping (I think, I just heard drive and round the centre and then brake there). When I got back he asked me to park it up again so he could try the noise again, but at a 3750rpm instead. This actually made it worse at 103db! So failed on noise, but shouldn’t be too difficult to resolve as it was only 1db out at 4000rpm.

 

Then moved back inside to get the car over the pit to have a look underneath. This is when we found that there was leaking joint on the one of the rear brake hoses. Again an easy fix, just surprising it passed the brake test like this! He also wasn’t happy with the lower harness mountings and wants to see some further bracing of that area. We agreed that if the inside of the panel was braced using angle iron and connected to the outer panel and transmission tunnel that this would be sufficient.

 

Just as Keith was about to go and type up the paperwork, he remembered he wanted to double check the radius on my savage horn switch, and it failed! Important note, if you don’t have a windscreen, savage switches will fail unless they are flush mounted! Again, a simple enough fix but a surprising result.

 

So Keith went to type up the paperwork and run the brake results through the computer, and good news, they passed! Keith commented to us what a great morning it was and how much he had enjoyed it because we had interacted with him and had some banter and also said what a lovely car it was which was great to hear.

 

So, the summary of things to fix are:

 

Noise – Tested at 100db at 4000rpm, needs to be 99db

Fuel tank leaking – Possibly around sender? Investigation required. Also need to turn fog light bolts around so they cannot contact tank.

Side mirrors – Near side needs to be relocated or bigger mirrors used.

Handbrake cable – Bit too close to drive shafts, and need securing away.

Brake fluid leak - Offside rear hose needs checking and reassembling.

Exterior projections – Rear edge of speedo, horn button, and edge of GRP from rear wing.

Speedo – under reading by 2mph at 35mph – unable to test at higher speeds or recalibrate due to diff issue.

Seat belt lower anchorage – Area needs bracing

General construction – Couple of areas of wiring I hadn’t covered need doing and the alternator wire needs a cable tie to hold it further away from the steering column.

 

So, I have my fix list, and will be getting on with some of the simpler jobs shortly! Few photos from today below, Steve has some more which I am sure he will post up later.

 

Loaded up ready to go

 

Arrived at the test centre

 

 

 

 

 

Ready to go home

[David S]

That is a good result with a simple fix list, other than perhaps the diff. Good job