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Hi all Took the spec for its SVA yesterday @ Beverley. A cold wet grey morning (bad omen I thought) and it rained pretty much all day! Anyhoo. Got there and met the examiner (nice chap) and the test started. Failed within 10 minutes - brake pedal slightly catches the steering column - when I reassembled it I put the washer configuration in the wrong way around d'oh! To cut a long story short there were 11 items - 7 minor, 1 slightly irritating and 3 slightly more worrying: 1 - None radiused handbrake handle (sleeve will sort) 2 - None radiused (only blunted) exhaust tail pipes (probably get some trims) 3 - Fog Light (fuse I think as it had worked the night before) 4 - A length of cable needs an extra cable tie (d'oh) 5 - No Evidence of suitability of RH fuel pipe (already been in touch with enforcer) 6 - Brake pedal fouling steering column (move a washer) 7 - Speedo stuck at 30 and 40 (smiths electronic, so it'll have to go back to Merlin) 8 - Front suspension - the top tube that clamps into the upright needs some sort of pin to stop it sliding out if the pinch bolt fails (he did say this is a new fail point as its only been pointed out recently - still a 8.8 5mm bolt through the bottom should fix that) 9 - Emissions - Lambda 1.173 (dont understand that because before the ECU failed it was 1.01 - still have spoken to Avon who supplied the replacement ecu) 10 - Fuel leaked out of the filler cap as the engine was reving during the emission test (may have over filled it as its never done that before - or else the breather configuration is wrong) 11 - Handbrake under performing (this is a pain, I've worked on it so much already, AND if the test went on the build weight rather than design weight it would pass) Still I have to say there are a lot of positives - Weight without driver (combined axle weights) 680kgs she was fantastic to drive that far, all the HGV lads that where there where biggin' her up, the inspector said she was a good lucking car and one of the nicest he'd ever driven, there was no major mechanical problems.... and my home-made surrey kept us pretty dry I now have till march 07 to sort that lot - but it shouldn't take that long - even for me Thanks to all of you on here and for all all the help so far.... e

Well done! Now get the registration sorted and drive it none stop before the weather turns poo e

Hi Matt Thats bl**dy taking the preverbial! Idiots. Hope it stops! On the whois issue, you can have a website listed as private entry, so no details are shown in whois. There is a charge but I'm sure the club can pick that up. Might be worth thinking about... e

Cheers for the feedback e

Hey folks, just to clarify this isn't a permanent configuration...its just to get me through the SVA - like not fitting a windscreen or something. Once passed the car's off the road while I sort the problem out - or put different seats in. e

Might be a daft question..... but; If you've fitted the RH supplied Recarco seats with the removable head rests, does Mr SVA man want the head rests fitted or can they be left out? I ask because the harness on the drivers seat rubs slightly against one of the head rest supports cheers folks e

Hi Stan If its yellow and on the passanger side I'm sure its the filler hole, and I think its a temporary plug, which gets replaced (it rings a bell - errr the situation not the actual plug you understand ) - BUT as my spec is sitting 2 foot off the ground at the mo i'll check it out for you tonight. e

Hi I used lagging and trimmed in Leather. Used contact adhesive. Worked fine, you just need to shape the ends and cut them into small strips, then fold them inside the pipe lagging. checkout the photos section (October 05) on my site if ya like e

Excellent result on the SVA ! Well Done. Although I know have a mental picture of the "donkey lady" e

Well good news campers.... the new ECU did the trick... she lives again... thank F*** for that! Now I need to see if RH will refund me.... e

Well done that man e

Hi cheers for the links DREDD. Just got off the phone from Avon, they now have 2 units available and are shipping me one ready for the weekend. The downside is they have charged me £215 for it. If it works I'll have to try and get my money back from RH.........

Hi Cheers for this. he vacuum feed is fine, and the diaphram reacts as expected (according to Paul). I've decided that once I here from Avon tomorrow about efforts to source an alternative, I'm going to get him to send my ECU back + a MEM's diagnostic kit and then I can start that process you're talking about. Again thanks for the advice cheers e

Hi Nigel thanks for the input I haven't tested any sensors yet - RH wanted the ECU sent to Avon ASAP - so at the moment there is no ecu, so I cant physically do anything...very frustrating, and RH tech support was going to voice mail all day yesterday Turns out the MAP sensor is actually inside the ECU, it was the first thing Avon tested and it appears ok. I shall do some research on the options you've mentioned - just in case I need a fall back position. Thanks again - shall keep posting on this thread until its resolved e

I promised an update so here it is..... Avon cant find anything wrong with the ECU - but haven't been able to test it on a rotating engine. They dont have any spare ECU's and the only one RH had was from a distributerless engine - so no good! Paul at Avon is struggling to find these ECU's - got a contact he's trying on Thursday. So I have a £9000 car in the garage ready for SVA that doesn't go Anyone know if its possible to convert an engine to distributorLESS ? e

So I'm guessing there's probably not a huge amount of experience on the T series on here, as I've not been able to find much on searching. I thought I'd post updates here to contribute to the expansion of our combined knowledge So far the garage have failed to help - had to tow the spec home On the phone to RH - who passed me onto Avon Diagnostics. Paul (very helpful) has said the MAP sensor failing is something that has happened to other RH supplied ECU's - so wasn't too surprised. (so Will looks like you may be right) So I've sent it to him to be checked out....... Postponed the SVA (and lost £50!! ) I'll post an update on the probelm when I get one e

So, whats the difference between travelling at 30 mph compared to 50 mph.... click here to find out... apologies if the download is a little slow e

Well its been on a Rover analyser and its only showing a problem with this MAP sensor Got the garage working on it at the mo - the owner build and races rally spec scooby's so he knows his stuff. Got a call it to RH tech as well. e

Hi guys - hoping someone can help. The spec has been running fine ever since I first got the engine running last year. Took it to a pre SVA MOT (for peace of mind) and it failed emissions. Checked with other spekkers and the lambda sensor needed replacing with a proper Rover one (as oppossed to the ford unit supplied). Everything ran fine and emissions where spot on. After driving home the engine died and wouldn't restart. Eventually got it running, got it back to the garage to finish off the MOT and it died again. When it restarted it died everytime you tried to apply any gas They've hooked it up to an engine analyser and its reporting a fault on the Manifold Absolute Pressure senor. This car doesn't appear to have one. SO the guys at the garage are stumped...as am I. Cos it may be coincidence, but until I replaced the lambda it ran perfectly. All thoughts, advice, knowledge greatly appreciated. SVA is next week.... e

HI Phil - just sent you a PM e

Hi guys Took the 'spec to an MOT station yesterday for a health check prior to SVA, but they spotted a couple of issues. 1 - Front flexi brake pipe brackets - too flexible Any 'spekkers got picture of how they did theirs?) 2 - The Bigger problem - Emmissions! Lamda was too high (1.07 - 1.17) ( This was on a B.E.T emmissions test. When they tried it on a C.A.T for a Rover 200/400 series it passed Any thoughts on what to do, has there been any new info from RH on the Lamda that I may have missed. All help greatly appreciated guys cheers e

Top Job Happy Drivin' e

Well Done that man!! e

Hi Believe it or not.... it CAN be done! But it took two of us, and a lot of swearing You will have to trim off about 2 inches of the seam flange so you can overlap it. Get all the holes drilled for the seam Get it shaped as much as possible Get the top edge inside the end cap and work yourself round to the bottom. Get a bolt in to hold it. Then you have to leaver the whole thing down at the tail pip end - pusing VERY hard forwards at the same time. It took us about an hour or so ... and I'm not sure if I like it to be honest, but there are no edges for Mr SVA man to worry about ... I had used plastic edge trim and had the cover over the top of the end cap...but after I had the engine running for 30 minutes it started to melt I may end up replacing the cat at some point once its been on the road a bit, get a smaller diameter, then the cover will look much better. e

HI Combined gets my vote - however there's no harm in having a static splash page that gives some guff on the club and then links into the forum... just for completeness