Had SVA at Leighton Buzzard this morning.

However much we all want to pass first time, the chances are we arnt, so I didnt get my hopes up too high before I went over. During the test i was pretty nervous but it got better during the test. The tester was Dutch i think so was pretty chilled out! Which helped.

In the end it was a good result and I was pretty pleased.

1. Handbrake lever not radiused.

Was a bit unsure of this before the test, its a metrol lever, so just need to get an old metro cover to go on, i couldnt find one before the test which is why I didnt change it.

2. Fog light wasnt vertical.

I had looked through the manual and couldnt find where it said it had to be vertical, but isnt hard to fix, just need to make an angled shim to fit between it and the bodywork.

3. Headlight bracket not radiused.

I had put trim around the outside edge, but not on the inside bit at the bottom, thinking that his little ball wouldnt be able to touch it, but that little thing gets in everywhere!

4. Eletrical wire not securely clipped under the dashboard.

It was securely attached until he yanked it out!! All it needs is a tie wrap to secure it again, maybe a bit better this time!

5. Wire positioned so that it is chaffing or likely to chafe.

The power cable coming from the battery to the cutoff switch was rubbing a bit on the passenger footwell panel, just needs P-clipping.

6. Wire with exposed conductive material.

I couldnt work out which terminal on the alternator to connect the charge light to, so I snipped it off and tucked it away. So all i need to do is take the wire out for the moment or connect it up.

7. Speedo inoperative.

Only found this out on the way to the SVA, the bracked that holds the magnet is too flexible and the vibrations shake it from side to side causing big fluctuations on the speedo, just needs strengthening up.

8. Emissions out of limit.

This is the biggy really. Had the car rolling road tuned last week and he set the emissions up to the limits, they were way way out today, so going to go back to the rolling road to get them to set it up.

Apart from the emissions all easy fixes. Bit gutted its not coming to Le Mans this year, as are most of my mates! But i would have prefered a bit more experience in it.

bit of a bugger there chap, nowt to bad though. i have the same mirrors as you mounted in the same place as your photo, did they pass ok that low ? as i've been thinking about moving mine up a bit.

i'm getting all worried about mine now there must be 100 silly things i've missed

[Edited on 9/6/06 by graememk]

[Edited on 9/6/06 by graememk]

Unlucky, but nothing tooo serious

How far out were your emissions? On a pinto it must be quite tricky to be over i would have thought?

David

Yeah sounds like a pretty good fail...if you see what i mean.

I'm just sorting my car out for SVA at the moment so your fails are interesting an i will be checking mine over and over with what others have failed with.

Thats not a bad fail. Most things easily fixed.

The SVA isnt that bad, I found the blokes good and easy to talk to. I wrapped a bit of Car inner tube around the hand brake under the cover

Good luck with the restest.

As said - all pretty easy fixes...

Good Luck with the re-test!!!

Team Hellfire

I think the guy at Leighton Buzzard was really fair and maybe a bit leniant at times but i guess its just their interpretation of the rules.

I was a bit worried about the mirrors Graeme, especially the line on the floor 10m back, but I checked them the day before the SVA and i could just about see something placed on the floor 10m back. I had to angle the mirrors up so you could see over the wings, they looked abit silly, but he never mentioned it.

A few points that he never mentioned but I was worried about.

Self Centering - No toe out, pumped the tyres up to 32psi and used a couple of springs in the rack and he said it was enough.

Rear brake bias valve - I have a screw type wilwood bias valve, it cant really be locked easily so was worried that they would test it at both extremes, he never mentioned it and only tested the brakes in the position i had it set at. Its tucked away next to the diff though so well out of reach.

Fuel hose clips - My local motor factors only had 6 of the proper fuel hose clips in stock so i had to use a couple of jubilee clips, again he didnt mention it.

David, the emissions were way out, CO was 9% and HC was something like 3000ppm (i think, havent got the print out in front of me) so way out. It pissed me off as it was early on in the test so i knew it was a fail not far in, he really did his best to try and pass it, doing the test 4 times, but it wasnt getting any lower. What was annoying was i was expecting it to pass as i had just had a rolling road tune to sort the emissions the week before, so i will be taking it back to PTS in luton for them to sort it!

Its the twin 45s that make it hard to sort the emissions, but im sure it can be done easily enough.

[Edited on 9/6/2006 by greggors84]