steve in stockport

hi all this might be worth checking if you are booked in with a test centre. just had a phone call from the sva test centre in glasgow telling me that the retest i am booked in for this afternoon should be done at the station where it failed. but i'm booked in at chadderton i said, well all your paperwork and details are here says sva man and you can't have your retest because we didn't do the original - not that i could have made it there in time anyway. better ring chadderton spoke to chadderton and it seems that vosa had a new computor system installed at the weekend and it has migrated some bookings to different locations and times. can you check that i'm booked in for 2 30 this afternoon i ask, ok will do, err no your down for 2 o'clock hope this isn't an omen for things going pear shape later!! steve

try this fella link he's floggin loads of capri bits, he may have what you want steve

is the 2b4 chassis similar to the 2b ie does it have the square plates weld in at the rear of the cockpit area for mounting the sierra axle? if it does could you secure a piece of say 35mm angle iron across the width of the car to these plates under the floor as an anchorage for your inner seat belt mounts. then use some of the same angle iron to act as your mounts inside the car fitted flush against the tunnel side with the other part of the angle against the floor and all secured by drilling and fixing with m10 bolts all round. before fitting the inner mounts drill them for the seat belt bolts and weld captive nuts on the sides that will be flush against the tunnel, this means you will have to make a hole in the tunnel side to accept the nut, but its only a case of drilling /making one hole about 20mm dia in each side of the tunnel the angle iron should only be about 3-4 mm thick so if it interferes with the fit of the seats to the floor you might have to pack seats up that much using washers or some pieces of angle iron. this is very similar to how i've done mine but as i've fitted intatrim seats which are very narrow space was never an issue can mail you some pics if you like or if you fancy a drive out its only 45 mins from sheffield to my place and you can see it in all its glory steve

hi nige only got the fuel line clip and more robust brake pipe mounts left to sort out but have been trying to sort out the built up inspection before the retest - talk about difficult, doesn't begin to describe it! attempt no. 1 go to dvla in stretford, wait around for 2 hours and come out with 2 forms and not much info from counter staff attempt no. 2 fill in built up inspection request, send it off for it to come back with request for more info, receipts and donor log book attempt no. 3 send off everything they asked for with a note asking dvla to ring if any probs with application. get phone call this morning saying they want to come tomorrow, thinks yes i've cracked it, err oh no you haven't. have you got your MAC asks woman from dvla, no it failed last week and i'm trying to get the inspection done before the retest says I. can't do that says dvla as without the MAC the car is not roadworthy and she won't/can't register an unroadworthy car. but i don't want to register it i say, just have the inspection so when it passes the test on sept 1st i can pop myself off to the dvla office either pm on 1st or am on 2nd to tax and register and be on the road. oh no that won't do, i'll send you your application back and when you've had your test and got your MAC you can phone me up to arrange the inspection so thats the story so far, don't know if anybody knows a way around this minefield but somethings starting to make my arse itch and i haven't got worms!! its just frustrating cheers steve

steve thanks for the offer, but i've got a shortened sump already, was just trying to point jez who started this post to another source of sumps close to him, albeit at sky high prices cheers steve

hi jez, tiger racing parts dept is only at the other side of peter'bro from you in thorney, if RT can,t sort you out, but they are a fair bit dearer - £85 + vat and old sump on exchange! steve

good luck for tomorrow pete, hope you get the right result and not the half dozen minor faults i got pulled on - 4 of them now sorted just the pipe mountings left, not in the mood for lying under the car today. enjoy the experience it's not as scary as it sounds Steve

thanks for the offer chris but it's just a halogen bulb that is needed. the light pattern should show a flat line then kick up but this duff bulb was giving a V shape, swapped the bulbs over to check whether the lens was at fault and all was ok so that narrowed it down to the bulb- wouldn't mind but i've got about half a dozen spares just didn't take one as all lights were working on last minute checks before leaving for the test. steve

captain pugwash, check out elgey7's post in chassis section re. zimmerframe bushes - says he's just come back from a 1000 mile tour of ireland so he may be able to help Steve

failed the test at chadderton this morning, nothing major and retest is booked for 2 weeks time. heres how the day went, set off bright and early, got to the first majorish road and red transit van starts flashing madly from behind. pulled over thinking sh*t whats falling off for this bright spark to say 'you've got no number plate', so i explained all about it and the car then carried on my merry way. 20 mile trip to chaddy and the car ran beautifully, good acceleration, decent brakes, good handling and nice sound, temperature gauge sat right in the middle and no sign of overheating. oh yeah great big grin as well!! got to test centre, booked in and told to wait in sva lane. 8 o'clock on the dot the examiner opens the door and tells me to pull inside - let the test begin. check chassis no. check engine no. check the emissions and look around under the bonnet at security of wiring, brake pipes etc that can be seen from above. then comes first hiccup, the examiner stands at side of the car and gives the steering wheel a good old pull and push from side to side and declares theres too much play, needs a side brace. next its up on the ramp for inspection from below and to check for steering fouling - 2 more points found, main fuel line from tank to pump needs a support clip and brake pipe unions from copper to flexis need more robust supports. check all tyres for size and speed ratings and all wheel nuts are present, also retaining springs on brake calipers. drop the ramp and its time for headlight alignment and another fail point, one of the bulbs is duff, it will not give the right light pattern and no spare with me. off the ramp and onto the brake test rollers to do weights and brakes weights front axle 344kg rear axle 342kg hows that for weight distribution? then the brake test and another fail point, all the brakes performed fine but there was a massive difference - 57% - across the axle on the hand brake, will have to strip the near side down and investigate. off the brake rollers and onto the speedo test, chock the front wheels and take it up to 70mph, passed, 33 at 35mph and 66 at 70 mph then it was load up with noise test gear and off outside, examiner driving round the yard in a circle at about 20 mph lets go of the steering wheel and it kicks back, good self centering action. pull up into the mirror test area and all mirrors pass test easily, then the noise test, will the 3 prong thing and a pan scourer be ok - 92db easy. then it was a quick spin round the test centre grounds with the examiner saying this is where you hope the brakes work as you fast approach a corner and me thinking i know they work i've driven 20 miles to be here and they were fine then! back inside for the external projections and the big cone, the 100mm sphere and the 2.5mm rad gauge are out, result- not enough protection on bottom of shockers and top ball joint/camber nut, will have to put some more self amalgamating tape on. then onto internal projections, no problems, seat belt mounting heights are fine, steering wheel was an issue i had fitted a pad and after a bit of a chat about catering vans using pads no decision seemed to be made, but its only one more item so who cares. one last quick peep under the bonnet and that was it test over and i was heading home with the fail sheet at 11.30 was driving away from the test centre and the exhaust spat out the scourer and the db's went up. anyway another 20 miles home and even a fail can't take the grin off the face, the car behaved a treat again and loads of looks from folks who were now up and about. roll on 1st september for the retest, will try and get built up inspection done before then so theres one less hoop to jump through. Steve

thanks for that fellas the exhaust now packed with stainless scourers, has taken the edge off the noise. so now its off to bed, up with the birds, nervous pooh then off to the test centre at chadderton for a morning test - gulp! Steve

SVA in less than 36 hours, am thinking of fitting baffle and scourer or something similar to the exhaust just to take the edge off the noise. is there any preference for scourer thingy, do you use brillo pad type or one of those that look like a fist full of machining swarf or just plain wire wool. if using brillo pad should i leave the soap on to clean up the emissions - only joking. do you fit it in the 4 to 1 or in the exhaust before the silencer cheers Steve

thanks Tim, will have to get the spanners out again later Steve

hi folks, which do you recommend for self centering for the sva - have got the test next week and car is set with toe out at the moment. have driven cars with both toe in and out but still not 100% sure which way to go cheers Steve

top banana will, absolutely brilliant. hope mine goes as well next week Steve

check out Bill and Joes web pages they had the same problem - perforated baffle in exhaust broke. they came up with a fix and repacked the exhaust at the same time Steve

Vic will mail directions later, do you want them from M6 or just from M60 just off to see willy wonka with son in a minute Steve

Barney the ones i have are still available £10 plus postage or you can collect on the way to or from harrogate if you fancy a detour - not going as i am working nights on friday and saturday will pm with more info Steve

hey, good luck Will, i've got one of those sva things in a weeks time too Steve

sound very similar, rectangular and black with an attractive shiny finish on one side which is quite useful for admiring the backsides of any women you happen to go past! but not quite as sexy as the suzuki gsxr ones that i have just fitted Steve

patrick i've got a pair from a 2b still boxed, dont know if they are any different to the ones that G B is offering but if they are and you want them they are yours for the same cost etc. G B not tryin to steal your sale just don't know if there is any difference Steve ps patrick fill in your location there may be somebody near you who has some you can collect or have delivered

Tez the book says lamp and reflector positions are measured from outside edge of the vehicle to the edge of the illuminated area/ reflective surface nearest that side of the vehicle. likewise height is from the floor to the bottom edge so with 400mm to centre of the indicator you're fine steve

Chris 185/60/14 gives you a radius of 578mm so if you want to go down to 13 inch wheels here are some tyre sizes: 155/80/13 = 580mm a bit tall and skinny 175/70/13 = 577mm 185/70/13 = 588mm not to far off 205/60/13 = 576mm pretty fat but don't know how wide your new rims are so may not fit try lookin at mytyre.co.uk - lots of tyres at what seem like reasonable prices if you can get them fitted cheaply - have not used them so can't vouch for the service. there is a link to a tyre size calculator in there somewhere but can't find it at the moment Steve

sorry to hear about your fail Dave, was on the phone to chadderton this morning asking about waiting time for test and picking a few of the examiners brain cells and he was saying that he was just examining a really well put together robin hood - must have been yours. good luck for the retest, should be easy to sort out cheers Steve

am at the almost ready for sva stage myself, just mirrors, a few bits of edge trim and speedo cable to sort out so i thought why not go to dvla office in manchester to get vin number, to get one more hurdle out of the way- easy peasy - err no! take a ticket with your number on it, then sit around for over an hour, electronic voice tells you to go to a window, speak to assistant who doesn't really know about kit cars and built up inspections, come away with 2 blank forms v627/1 built up inspection report (not to difficult) and v55/5 - 50 questions out of which i think i can answer about ten! is this normal or am i being a bit thick? only good thing about today is that i've a direct phone no for the inspector so i can become a phone pest with daft questions. if anybody in the know fancies coming and giving the car the once over then the kettle will be on and biscuits open, just pm or e-mail to make arrangements. cheers Steve