I had two testers checking the car, first outside checking around for projections and under the bonnet to check the engine number, after showing Steve where it was located he asked for the V5 as he needed to take a copy.
Then I was asked to remove the bolt for the seat belt going through the rollover bar, he said there should be a threaded tube going through the rollover bar as there is a 3 tonne force at this point on the top mounting but a substantial strengthening tube would do, he'll check later :(.
Then he asked me about the bottom mounting as he couldn't see it, I said it was an angled plate welded from the rollover bar to the side tube of the chassis which the top shock absorber is bolted to, I then had to remove the boot cover so he could have a look, he seemed happy with what he could see.
He then drove the car into the bay and onto the rollers to check the speedo, checking at various speeds but when he got to 70 mph there was a horrible rumbling noise (I thought my god what's happened, it appears there was something wrong with a roller as I saw one of the testers looking at it later on) all ok.
Steve moved the car forwards and stopped in front of the car lift to take measurements for weight distribution for the brake test, I said that the Sierra deceleration valve was fitted to the rear brakes, he said that was designed for a heavier car than a kit car and carried on.
Then I drove the car onto the car lift so it could be checked underneath, first checking the headlights ( they made some small adjustments) then the remainder of the lights. After lifting the car up in the air I had to move the wheels on the swivel plates from lock to lock, on and off the footbrake, then the hand brake. It then seemed an age while they carried on checking things under the car, but all ok. (he did say there was a smell of petrol/possible leak but I said I overfilled it just before the test.
Steve then moved it onto the brake testing rollers, a few tests on the front brakes then some on the hand brake and finally the rear brakes. The rear brakes had an inbalance of 40% with 229kgf on the left and 139kgf on the right, the handbrake was 171kgf on the left and 195kgf on the right ? he said the near side rear brake was too good.
Steve then drove the car around the back to check the mirrors and exhaust noise, checking the self centring and brakes on the way. He parked the car on the lines and checked for the poles behind in the mirrors, some slight adjustments made but ok. He said when he tried the brakes the near side back wheel locked up.
Then came the noise test, I jumped into the car and was told to increase the engine speed slowly to 4,200 rpm and back down again, this happened three times, I was told it just about passed (100.7dB with insert fitted).
Steve then said that the exhaust tail pipe was protruding more than 10mm beyond the line of the silencer and did not have a radius of greater than 2.5mm, if I cut 1/4" off the tail pipe it would be ok, but, he would have to do another noise test, but if I slipped a rolled over exhaust trim pipe on the end it would be ok.
Result, a fail on :-
A seat belt anchorage or the surround vehicle structure is of inadequate strength and likely to fail.
An exhaust tail pipe which projects beyond the body floor line by more than 10mm terminates in a radius of curvature of less than 2.5mm.
Electrical cable/wire not secuerly clipped to vehicle (rear fog lamp)
Longditudinal brake distribution in-correct.
It seemed a fair test, most of the fails silly mistakes on my part (unclipped the fog light cable when trimming the boot, forgot the exhaust trim, hoped to get away with seatbelt mounting as this was done late in the build, but the brakes seemed ok on the Mot.
The test was finished by 10am, and Steve said it was one of the better builds he had seen as usually the failure sheets go on to 6 pages.
There were 2 imports by the side of the SVA bay, both fails.
March 24th
Then came the brakes, I said I'd changed the lot so he said you're going to make me earn my �30 as I'll have to do a full brake test again, oops.
Checked the brakes front and back then he put the values into the computer saying it's looking good, all ok.
Then he said I'll just get my mate to check the rears don't lock up whilst I drive it down the test lane outside
( good job I tilted the deceleration valve forwards ) again all ok.
10 minutes later I had a MAC in my hand, he said you'll want to make a copy when you get home, I said I was going straight to the VRO to get it registered and was going to take a photo of it. He said give it back to me and I'll make a photocopy of it for you ( nice man ).
Off to the VRO in Cardiff, passed by two police cars on the motorway, I thought I'm going to get pulled over
( no number plates ) but they didn't bat an eye.
Handed over the forms, then they checked the car for chassis number and engine number.
In the interveiw room they asked me for the receipt from Robin Hood then asked if I had anything else with me from them with the chassis number on it, I said I didn't. (should have printed the chassis number on the receipt).
He went away for a while then came back with a tax disc and a form for the number plates to be made, all done in less than an hour.
