Well This Is A First!

[Guest bugsy]

Hi all,

Well where do i start

Had my SVA at Chadderton this morning in the pouring rain, sat outside for ten minuets in the rain while waiting for them to open up.

Finally they let me in, a chap asked me to remove the bonnet and checked the chassis No, then the car decided to pee about 3 litres of water on the floor and the temp went through the roof, so much so we had to switch off to avoid engine damage. :boohoo:

 

He then told me he was going to give me a “Notification of the refusal of an application for a Ministers Approval Certificate”

In other words “Bog Off and bring it back when it works”

 

I think he realised how I felt, so he decided to tell me everything they will pick up on during the test, he did all the tests which didn’t involve running the engine.

He turned out to be a thourghly nice bloke and gave me lots of advice about what to do to get through the Test next time.

 

The following points were picked up on during his examination:

 

 

1 More brake pipe clips between rigid and flexible hoses.

 

2 Hand Brake position no good, passenger would get in the way in an emergency, needs to be moved.

 

3 No compensator on handbrake cable.

 

4 No Handbrake warning light (required to test brake fluid warning light, put in switch marked up as TEST)

 

5 Steering shaft needs cover inside driver’s footwell so it cannot be touched with the driver’s feet.

 

6 Bottom of dash needs more rigid padding (you can feel the metal trough the padding currently even though it is 20mm radius)

 

7 Front indicators need to move out away from nose by ½”.

 

8 The fuel filler neck needs a “restrictor” for unleaded as it has a catalytic converter fitted.

 

9 The (inner) seat belt mounts need more rigidity and load spreading, they also need marking up to show what they are under the car.

 

10 Indicator repeaters do not comply with SVA, they need sharp edges removing.

All in all it was an interesting experience.

 

He says there will be no charege for the re test which is nice!

on a different note I cannot belive that Robin Hood Sports Cars (Richard) has not put a Super Spec through an SVA, surly it would be more cost effective for him and give him a quieter life!

 

Just another point not on the above, the exhaust pipe needs a radius putting on, luckily Tony the Tank pointed this out to me so I fixed two hoops of steel to the pipes to make them comply.

 

Going for a beer and to watch the footie now

If I can give you any more info please just ask.

Cheers

Bugsy

[Guest Dredd]

Bugsy

 

Bad luck! I think that there is some fundemental design problems that RHSC may need to rectify on our behalf. Are you going to speak to Richard?

[Guest bugsy]

Are you going to speak to Richard?

Better leave it a couple of days, i may say something i would regret later.

I think that there is some fundemental design problems

Its funny thats just what the nice man at the SVA ctr said

 

ps just thought of two more things i didnt mention before, the Louvers in the exaust cover are a no no, and there is about 1/2" flex in the bracket where the adjuster goes on the bottom of the car when applying the handbrake, this needs strengthening.

Bugsy

[Mitch]

Oh Dear...

 

Was/ is electric fan working okay?? Thermostat in correctly?

 

#1 easy enough, more clips

 

#2 Hand brake, i didn't like its position when i built mine, hence tunnel top. if you need to look how mines done no prob.

 

#3 should be, call RHSC for the correct part

 

#4 should be a wire in loom for a switch-- easy to connect up

 

#5 not sure here mine passed okay

 

#6 i have a old camping mat you could have, very thick andworked for others

 

#7 two pieces of tube then heat shrink/ tape around, remove after test

 

#8 another for Richard to sort (he did say anything needed to pass he would supply)

 

#9 I have some 100mmx4mm plate if you want it.

 

#10 If they are the supplied ones, the never have without filing the edge's

 

At least you know they are fair and helpful, the test isnt as daunting has people are led to believe.

 

If you need a hand give me a ring.

 

Mitch

[Guest bugsy]

Thanks Guys,

I will take you up on your offer of the bits and bobs Mitch, i will give you a call

after the weekend.

The Fan was working ok but had little or no effect, a possability is the expantion tank top or more likely an air lock in the top rad hose as we had acouple of weeks ago, thought we had sorted that one though

Cheers

Bugsy

[Guest Battery Bill]

Bad luck Bugsy :boohoo:

Going for a beer and to watch the footie now

Bad luck Bugsy

Cmon you Check republic

 

#5 Get tester with smaller feet

 

Not too bad a result though at least you can see light at the end of the tunnel

[Big Jim]

Paul, that water sustem is completely wrong (I wanted to use something stronger but know thatr the board won't let me!!) there are too many pipes going to the header tank, Given chance, I'll pop up and have another look.

also I agree, Robin Hood should have put a superspec through SVA before selling them.

The handbrake is something out af scrapheap callenge :angry: . The exhaust guard/heatshield will never pass with the louvers in (He should know that! :angry: ) and those bloody electric demisters are a joke!

 

jim

[Guest V8K]

correct me if im wrong but on my subk vids trickey says that all info for sva is correct at time of going to press so could thinks have changed since buy to sva time. if so richard is not at fault its the minastry again as from what ive read on here a lot depends on where and whos testing your car to getting a pass or fail and we all know richards nice if your nice to him

[Swan Jnr]

#5 puzzles me, i drove several escort vans with work, and being quite tall, i could feel this in every one of them. in fact if you tried hard enough in one of them you could almost steer with your left foot! (only in the car park though ) No one's going to fail uncle henry though are they?

 

why does the SVA have to be to higher standards than regular cars?

[ibrooks]

why does the SVA have to be to higher standards than regular cars?

Must admit this is something that winds me up no end. Whilst building mine my dad took delivery of a new car and I could spot things on it that would fail from the word go. Also - have you seen those vans with the glass carriers on the sides? how would they fare? and that's just the obvious example. It seems that more and more you will be OK so long as you have a huge amount of money i.e. the big manufacturers or if you spend £20k plus on one of the meccano kits that some of the other kit-car manufacturers offer. I personally suspect that this is why Richard is really selling up as it looks like it's getting more and more difficult to offer the sort of car that he has always made. It bothers me that in the magazines and places like totalkitcar.com we see more and more reviews where "a basic car should be on the road for £20k". I'm not in a low-paid job but I'm sorry I don't have that sort of cash spare my alternative is to put more of the effort in myself in order to save the money but it looks more like I'll end up butting my head against the "as a major manufacturer would fit" obstacle.

 

Rant rant rant :gdit:

 

Iain

[Guest peter2b2002]

#

Hi, i'm suprised he failed you on loosing water, when i took mine to L/ Buzzard , while thy were doing some checks under the bonnet the engine over heated due to my fan being mounted in the nose cone , so they turned of the engine let it cool down filled up with water and carried on. my only mistake was implying that the tester was short as he coundn't reach the pedals, so he went through every thing with a fine toothed comb,

any way better luck next time

pete2b

[Guest Dredd]

Bugsy

 

I agree with Jim. I was never sure of the plumbing that Richard had on the show car. Mine is plumbed differntly. The hose from the stainless tube with the bleed nipple goes to the overflow (main bottom connection). The two pipes from the thermostat housing (one thin tube at and one slightly larger) are joined togehter by a piece of rubber hose as these are the heater supply. As we are not using them they can just circulate. The long hose which runs from the rad along the top of the frame to the expansion bottle fits to the side of it and a small tube comes from the tank and effectively is the overflow tube.

 

If this doesn't make sense, I'll send a piccy. I've had the engine running for some time and it overheated as the fan was wired incorrectly, so I know the expansion and overflow works. It all held togehter once the fan was wired and it cut in, reducing the temperature.

[harvs]

Dredd, your plumbing sounds interesting. I'm at the plumbing stage of building my SS. I've just managed to find somewhere that sells a t-piece to fit as Richard has recommended.

 

However, hearing Bugsy's problem, an alternative way of doing it sounds like the way forwards. I'd be interested in having a look at a photo if you have one?!

 

Bugsy - well done on your SVA test. Only 10 points, most of which don't sound like too much of a disaster.... The handbrake one sounds a bit tricky though?

 

Cheers

James

[Guest Dredd]

Harvs

 

I get one taken today as I am under the car trying to get the front flexibles a bit more flexible!

[harvs]

Nice one!

How have you attached your flexi's? I used a steel plate, bent it 90 degrees and fixed it to the bottom suspension bolt. Not sure if this is the best way to do it, but it's a very strong fixing and allows plent of slack on the flexis.

 

Have fun!