6 April 2010
Session 326 - MOT pre-check for IVA
End of last week I was calling local MOT inspectors to get my car booked in for a pre-check MOT for the IVA. This was quite funny trying to explain to receptionists that my car is not registered yet got responses like, how, are you another garage? You don't need one for three years. Anyway in the end the garage that I normally use for my tin top were good for it. Although the receptionist just put me through to the inspector/examiner and he seemed to know all about it. My insurers were more staight forward, makes a change. My policy was a build up and third-party, fire and theft but when I took out this insurance I made sure that I could just upgrade and pay the difference which proved to be the case. This is not the norm, so you've been warned to check this out. My insurers did re-confirm that I understood the law that I could not drive the car on the public highway without it being registered or taxed unless I had a waiting MOT or IVA appointment which I confirred. They also made the point that if did not have an appointment then I would be breaking the law and as such insurance would be void. Hand on heart I took the shortest route and drove quite sensibly, more than usual. After all no other engineer has checked my car and as long as I have taken to build it and double check every nut and bolt, you never know. It's not worth risking is it? Ok finished with all that.
So I put 30litres of fuel in the tank and fired her up. Not the best sounding engine but damn close and as it's my baby it is the best sound in the world by default. Test station is three miles away. I took my sat nav so that I could take the opportunity to check the speedo calilbration at higher speeds than just down my cul-de-sac. I didn't go above 60mph but in 5mph increment the speedo was spot on with the satnav. Now I like things to be spot on but for the sake of the IVA I am going to introduce a 3% error so the speedo over reads the actual road speed. It is okay to over read the speed for the test but just 1mph the other way and its a fail. the IVA rolling road might not be as accurate as my satnav.
It was stange driving the car on the road. Much tamer than I thought it would be, I was only barely touching the throttle but still. At speeds below 10mph it's a bit of a beast though, this is due to the wild cam that makes idle a little lumpy and also my 1:1 pedal to throttle setting. This will change when I upgrade to full throttle bodies later on!
I got to the test centre 20minutes before the appointment and those 20minutes felt a long time. Akin to waiting in the dentist reception area knowing that you're about to have a filling. Inspector was nice he loved the car and asked my to be his bitch for the test. The cats on the car just cleared the cross member on the ramp for the four pillar car hoist. We went through all the light checks. He got me to do the brakes, play with the steering wheel, etc. The whole thing took about 1hr but it felt longer. He left the car engine running for most of the time I was a little pensive about temperature, I know the guage over-reads a little but it never reached the 105celius warning level, staying at 95celius most of the time with the fan running continuously. Headlamps were set a little too low he said and gave me a spanner to adjust them aided by him with the appropriate equipment. He re-checked the beam level with me sitting in the car.
The last bit was the emissions test which I had already consoled myself that it would fail. Thinking what would I do, it has two cats and the ECU is tuned for optimal emission settings. He turned around from his crypton tuning screen and gave the thumbs up. Super bloody fantastic. He said it passed but the lambda was on the limit but everything else was way within limits. I was expecting him to say it spits petrol out the back .
Below is a scanned copy of the emissions report.
30 April 2010
Today is 'D'-Day! Early rise to make the trip up to Birmingham. Left house at 05:30am. Arrive at the test centre at 07:15am. Unloading the car from the trailer is a complicated affair s the cats are too low for the trailer. 07:40am off and drove the car round the back into the bay. Tester arrived at 07:55am all bright and sparkly I must seem a little distant but I think I have to be this guys long lost friend who he never met! First up was testing the lights and this is where my nerves got the better of me I was pressing the main beam button for side lights. I had actually forgotten which button did what and was not looking at the symbols. My level headed, not nervous, son came to my rescue and pointed out the right switch! Hooray, the lights work. Left engine running to warm up whilst he looked round all the car and with the aid of strange looking protractors, spirit levels, bits of string to asses angles are correct for cycle wings, seats, head restraints, etc. Spent a while doing all this kind of thing.
Emissions were done and passed. The car was then driven onto the ramp and raised in the air and various checking going on underneath, brakes, hand brakes, steering. Checking fuel and hydraulic lines and so on. Then went to the brake testing machine that tests the efficiency off all four brakes, distribution also taking into account axle weights and calculating braking distribution with regard to mass.. apparently.
We then drove outside where he drove round a course to check self centring steering, hold car on a very steep mock hill with handbrake. angle of vision of mirrors. Then he did a noise test at 3500rpm which is 3/4 power of the engine. Came out at 94db. Result the legal limit is 99db.
All the tests took just over 2hrs to complete. He congratulated me on passing the test and was very complimentory on the build quality of the car. He gave me the IAC certificate and on my way I went. On the road by 10:30am.
I dropped the car back home and filled out all the DVLA paper-work to register a new car. Drove to my local DVLA office to submit the paper work with all my receipts to prove a new built car. Now I have to wait for the DVLA to contact me to arrange for an inspection of the chassis number against the registration documents and then I have a new 10-plate car just like any regular car.
Go to May 2010