gomatthome

When i had my re test had a different chap. He told me that he had to look over the car in full not just the 'fail' points as it was he who was signing it off as a pass. He did have a general look over the car but in the main looked at the fail points to see if they had all been dealt with. Nb he also told me that sometimes they have visits from the central office who observe the test - if you are unlucky to have your test on one of these days then be prepared for every last thing to be picked up on. the moral of the storey is that when re booking your test ring and make sure its with the same examiner as he will certainly only look at his list of fail points.

well done. phil

Very well done Nick now looking forward to the build up / reg no issued so we can go in convoy down to the newark show. phil

ali fab do a tank with swirl pot built in specially for the 2B. Its shaped specifically to fit into the 2B and as its sort of wedge shaped you get a flay bottom to the boot area. Mine cost me £90 circa 18mths ago but i think the price might be circa 120 now. They had one on display at the coventry show a couple of weeks ago. Its a much better job that the RH stainless tank so worth a look at. if you want any furtehr info let me know phil

My Mountney passed at same station with no cover same button heads just shows how they view the overall car on the day. with regard to passenger dash edges i used a piece of central heating pipe lagging covered in leatheret and then glued this to the edge. best of luck next time they should only look at the fail points but if you get a different examiner then he is obliged to have another general look at the car as it is his responsibility to sign it off so try to make sure when booking your retest that it will be the same guy the second time around. phil

try halfords part no HOC 601 £2.50.

i've had the yellow red and black versions fitted at one time or another and none sorted the problem out. Eventually did the mod suggetsed by other members ie fix a small ali plate to the pawl this is not only a quick solution but mine has been working fine for last 12 months and avoids dissassembling the pedal box and refitting. Try a search on the site sure you will find who originally poseted this as a fix. phil

if you have the four sva rubber catches this is ok for sva you dont need the sierra one as well. depending on what radiator you have gone with its difficult to fit anyway. Mine only has the four rubber catches and they perform fine. There have been a couple of incidents where the bonnet has flipped open and when this happens its a real problem. If you go with the four catches only a quick release tether is a good idea. phil

Yep get to the rolling chassis stage first with floor pan fitted. This is the most satisfying part of the build as you get quickly to the stage that it starts looking like a car. Hope you kept a note of where each part of the build is on each video if not do so it saves lots of time. unless they have re-edited the videos recently you will find that some of the instructions relate to earlier 2B models make sure you are not following the wrong instructions for your car. Come along to Stonleigh at the weekend and talk to members with a model similar to yours add your full details to the profile someone may be close / be happy to have a run out one sunny day to have a chat. Phil

as is usual they all seem to be different. Sheffield DVLA seemed only too keen to come out and do the inspection (morning out of office). Had a coffee with the inspector and talked kit cars with him. My inspector even gave me his direct number and said as soon as i passed SVA give him a call and he would sort out registration paperwork and could pick up registration and tax disc on way back from test centre. Gave him the call and true to his word everyting ready at DVLA office did not even have to wait in que now thats service.

Mine also failed first time for the same reason. I wanted a quick fix and one that did not involve moving the position of the hand break and all the associated cables. You might want to consider my fix. Remove handbreak fro car. Cut partway through handbreak at point where the handle part starts to widen out. Bend the handbreak through circa 30 degrees. This also bends the release rod to the handbreak button so you need to jiggle about and bend the release rod so that it continues to work in this new position. Put back into car and see if you can now reach. If you can you then need to insert a section of strenghening plate between the two cut exposed ends and then weld this into place (making sure you dont weld up the release rod as well. End result is that it is as string if not stronger than original, dont need to bother with making up brackets on floor to change angle and the mod only takes 30 mins at most. My sva man had a quick look a good hard pull and waqs more than happy when went in for retest.

my laden weight calcs at SVA were` as `follows- front 410 .66 rear 473.34 gross 884 Phil

i took mine through SVA last year without a pad and passed ok. The only thing i changes was to replace the Phillips cross head bolts supplied with the Mountney Wheel with dome head bolts and these were fine by Derby test Station.

mine failed at derby have put motocycle ones on since and these passsed fine

i just renewed my tax on line after first year after sva it did not ask for a mot so i assume one is not needed. i seem to rember a conversation with one of the kit car builders in sheffield that they had a letter from DVLA saying that after sva you dont neeed one for three years.

Its not too bad to do get the car up on stands to give you room loosen engin monts both sides and jack up on one side. engine hoist even better just a couple of inches needed. its a bit af a fiddle but it can be done. i changed over from a none shortened sump to a shortened one in an afternoon with no problems. Its certainly a loit easier than taking the whole engine out. phil

i know i will be knocked for it but i have my fan just wired up to a switch on the dash

looks interesting i may be able to get over on the saturday keep me posted.

I recently completed my 2b having purchased the 2b+ kit this comes with front wishbone suspension alloy wheels etc etc. i had never built before and with only limited extra tools and lots of questions on the site had a car 18 months later. the 2b kit is now £3k. my donor was £180 but it took almost 12 months to find one they are becomming rare. RH were offering a donor pack dont take this up unless you have to. if you find your own donor it makes SVA / registration so much easier. The donor is easy to strip down i took out everything over a long weekend so the shell went off the drive in two weeks which kept the other half happy. extra costs included new seats new shocks, paint wiper system new radiator car on the road for circa 4.5K ish. personally i would not buy a part built car, half the battle and the fun is working out how everything fits together and you also can assure yourself that everything has been done correctly. If you were looking at a part built kit then i would suggest you take apart and start again. I found that getting to rolling chassis stage is the easiest and quickest bit. its what comes next that takes a lot of time and head scratching. The web site is very helpful and a member will always pop out if needed for the price of a beer. Join up to get full membership. If i can build from scratch then i am sure anyone can. If in doubt come to one of the shows and speak to members they are happy to help. i did before committing myself to a purchase. phil

looks superb needs a see througfh bonnet to show it off, puts mine to shame. Like the exhaust guard how much did it cost to have made up - do you have a link to who manufactured? phil

sorry to hear about the incident. I have four of the rubber type these were fine for sva. no extra sierra catch. First year on road no problems but thanks to your note i will have another good look at my catches and think about something extra as well. i know when i was fitting mine its necessary to make sure that the male and female parts are sufficiently far apart so that when the catch is closed it takes some pressure to lock into place. if they are too close then vibration could be a problem. worth having a look at when you get access to the car. Is the garage who assembled the car carrying out the repairs? I am sure your insurers will look very carefully at what the garage did. Speaking as a non solicitor it does look like they may be liable this sort of thing should just not happen a few miles from collection. Phil

if money will allow i would scrap the RH tank altogether particularly if you are running an injection engine. They are the wrong shape and fit very badly into the boot area. I had one purpose made by Allifabs (they are usually at the kit car shows) it is wedge shaped so when in situ allows you to have a flat boot floor. it has the stubs welded in place for the fuel sender - they will even fit if you let them have at manufacture. it also has breather pipes at the top and a swirl pot and outlet to connect to external fuel pump. A very nice piece of kit. Nicko has subsequently bought the same tank and also is very happy with result. Cost me circa £90 as he had one made up for another hoodie builder who did not collect but i think Nick was charged more. the benifit of this system is that you dont need separate swirl pots etc which can cost almost as much as the whole set up. I know allifabs have kept the dimensions so they can make up others. should have a photo if you let me have email address if you are interested. From memory the hole on the left is for the fuel filler pipe (2b) and the rhs for the sender. if you do a search there is a lot oof info re tanks / swirl pots. nb all fuel pipes need to be appropriatly stamped as fit for this purpose. phil

Thanks for the suggestions. i had power in to the switch as the indicator light turned on but no power out of the switch back to the fog lights. Traced the wiring back to the main lights relay and fiddled with the connections and the fog light came back on again. ps fog light only on when beam dipped it goes off when on main beam but i guess if ever driving in fog you would be on dipped beam anyway. it passed through SVA this way but i think i was only asked to put the fog light on to show it worked. I am not intending to change unless picked up in a mot test. again thanks for the suggestions it was so long ago i did the wiring its hard to remember how i eventually made the vicky green loom work. Phil

yes i have a relay its the original yellow one from the sierra donor. i think this one controls the dip main etc which is working. i will try changing over as i have a spare and see what happens. in meantime if anyone has another suggestions would be happy to hear. phil

hi i have a single fog light which is wired up so that it is only on when the lights are dipped ie it turns off if main beam is used. It has recently stopped working. before anyone suggests it yes i have checked the bulb and the connections to the dash mounted switch. am i missing something simple as dont want to start unbundelling all the electrics to find any break if i can at all help it. ps do you need a working fog light for MOT. phil