David S

Jamie, not really related but I saw your car when I took mine in for IVA. It looked fab. I will be in the same boat as you when mine is sorted, I will have a 135 mile run home. Should be fun as it will the first drive in the car and first time driving one at all!!! No pressure then! Back on topic, I have RAC recovery which is personal cover so I should be OK should the worst happen. Good luck for the weekend and enjoy the ride!!

Cracking job Femi, luv the extra vents in the nose cone

There are some pictures on the GBS site of one of the early Zeros (white one with orange bonnet stripe I think) that had a pair of 6x9 speakers mounted in the seat panel so they stuck out in to the boot space. No idea what was powering them or what head unit they used. Like others I have gone for an iPod and I have some custom moulded In Ear Monitors (I had these anyway for live music use). Not sure how effective this will be as I haven't got the car on the road yet.

I got the suff from CBS and it looks really good. Very easy to work with as well. Used a hair dryer for the more compound curves, but still went on a treat.

Cheers Richy. I might just give some of that a go.

Virgin used to do a great deal where you only paid for what you used each month. They would take it by diret debit each month. Meant you never had to top it up and you never had to worry about running out of credit. Had that method for a long time with them but lost it on my last upgrade as had to go on a contract. Wish I could go back to it.

Cool (or hot as the case my be) thanks Bob.

The car is getting very close to finished now but I now need to fit the dreaded IVA trim. It looks pants but it must be fitted. I tried to fit some on the sides of the nose cone at the weekend and it is a real b itch and won't fit. Any advice for fitting this stuff? Would warming it up first make it more flexible for example? Also, there are 3 sizes. The smal rubber stuff is clearly for the aluminium panels and that fits OK. The dash side of the scuttle is the large stuff, but what size goes on the mudguards for example? I tried using the medium on the nose cone but it wouldn't hold on and the large struff doesn't seem maliable enough to go round the corners or curves. I don't want to resort to glue as I have just had the panels painted!

Russell. I think the buyer got a great deal. Good luck with your move 'down under'.

Oops ... think I may need to revisit mine before I even attempt to start it.

I got some quotes on line from a company called Shiply.com. You just put in the deatls and loads of people quote you to do the delivery. You just need to do a deal with the various bidders to deliver the car and then fetch it back a few hours later. It's an option if you can't hire one yourself.

Just to add to the congratulations, well done.

Good job Andy. This step is only a few build days away for me. I also have the GBS plennum and I was trying to see how you had plumbed in the fuel rail but it wasn't overly clear on the video, do you have any pictures or details? It looks like you have swapped the ends over if that makes sense!

I think there may be some confusion over the cost of the actual test. I once heard that the factory pay a lot less than the £490 fee but that is probably only on factory built cars, as the manufacturer. Customer/private built cars I assume will be charged at the normal rate. On top of the fee, that you would have to pay anyway, GBS quoted me 6 hours labour to check the car over and to cover the time it takes to take the car in etc, so another £252 on top. Then there is the registration fee, which you would have to pay anyway. Then there is any extra work that needs to be done, but as Al said above, the better the build, the less for them to do. Although it is a lot of money by the time you add in geting to car to the factory, for me it is peace of mind knowing that the car has been thoroughly checked over by the guys who build them every day. They will drive it for you to check it over and set it up, getting it running correctly and so on. For me, and this is only a personal preference, it is worth every penny.

I was talking to Richard last week about booking my car in and he mentioned that they had a nice Super Spec in the workshop to be put through IVA, now I know who's it is Best of luck with it Al. From what I have been told, Simon won't present the car for the test unless he is 99% certain it will pass so you should be fine.

What an amazing story, I bet you will have many happy hours bringing it back to life.

Wow, thank you Spencer. It is by no means perfect but it is better than I had hoped.

Ian. It depends on how much of the donor kit you are using. If you are using mainly new parts, with just a few of the parts from the donor, you may still qualify for a new registration number. You can have one re-conditioned item on the car and the rest new to qualify. The transmission (gearbox, diff, drive shafts) qualifies as 1 part so as long as they are cleaned up and re-furbshed, you should be OK. Having said that, there is nothing wrong with a Q plate, it makes the statement "I built this car myself" and it doesn't affect the way it drives or the fun you will have with it.

I have a few big jobs to do then a list as long as my arm of all the little jobs to do. I would like to get the car ready for IVA by March/April time and on the road for Stoneleigh, but I am not under any pressure.

I wish you well for 2012 Stuart. Once I am on the road we can go for some blats around the area.

Woh Gaz, what a bad end to the year. Wishing you a much better 2012, it can't be any worse than 2011!!

Just down the A46 for me so I will try and see if I can make it. Doubt the Zero will be on the road by then but would be a good day out just to watch.

Cheers guys. I knew there was going to be a gap at the scuttle end as as I had seen this on factory cars (not that there should be!) but it was the gap around the nose cone that got me. First thing I will try is to raise the nose cone up a bit on the top fixings. If I can raise it the 5mm to 8mm I need it may do the job. The other alternative is to get one of the new re-designed nose cones, but this will be a last resort as I suspect they will not be cheap. Marty, as you suggest, I think I will try and clamp the bonnet in place and then use that as a guide to raise the nose the correct amount. I have been really happy with the fit and finish of the Zero so far but, with the amount of money I have invested in it, it just seems a shame to ruin the final look of the car with a bonnet that looks like it is just 'thrown on' as an after thought.

So today, despite man flu, I decided to have a look at fitting the bonnet. When I pull the bonnet in tight at the front, it springs out and there is a gap of about 5mm to 8mm between it and the nose cone all round, whioch infers that the nose cone is stitting too low. When I pull it in tight at the scuttle end, there are gaps at the scuttle corners. It just doesn't fit to a satisfactory standard. It is as if the returns to sit flush on the chassis rails are in the wrong place. Has anyone else had this issue? Where could I have gone wrong? I have fitted the nose cone as I was told by Ben at GBS but it just doesn't seem right. Any clues or advice would be appreciated.

I work in the IT department of an insurance company and spent some time in underwriting and I can tell you that insurance is a cut throat industry with everyone tyring to gain customers. A lot of insurers actually write the initial business on very small profit margins and even at a small loss to get the customer on board. They then make back some of the the loss in things like add on sales (uninsured loss recovery policies and the like) and administation fees. Add in to the mix that a big percentage of normal motor insurance is now bought via the aggregator sites like Confused or Compare the Meerkat, and if you are not one of the cheapest insurers on the panel, you don't stand a chance of being selected. The insurers also have to pay a commission to the aggregator which cuts further in to the profit margin. Oh, and don't beleive the hype put about by the companies not on the aggregator sites, the rates aren't bumped up to cover the commission payments, that would just price the insurer out of the running for the business. The smaller brokers have to make their money by charging for every change, whereas the larger mainstream insurers can afford to be a little more relaxed about it.