My car is fitted with a 1600 crossflow engine. How will it be rated? Will it be judged in relation to the age etc of the engine or as a 'new' vehicle which needs to measure up to new vehicle emissions criteria?

I wrote to Fords with engine number included and they wrote back to confirm date and month of build.
SVA man at norwich has said this will now be tested accordingly.

Andy

My understanding is that it depends on how it is registered. If you have an "Age Related" plate off a single donor build then it will be tested as that year. If you have a Q plate, that strictly means "unknown year of origin" and should be tested for visible smoke only.

Depends on which test you're talking about!

For the SVA, you should be able to show an official document that show's the engine's age (as Andy says). They will then test the emissions against set values for an engine of that age, as follows:

Visual (i.e. smoke) + CO <= 4.5% & HC <= 1200ppm
(figures from the SVA manual)

When you get to the MOT, then I believe that the rules are as 'miserableoldgit' says. Mine's a Q-plate, so it'll be 'visible smoke' checks only. However, I wouldn't be at all surprised if they didn't make that match the SVA eventually. There's some confusion at present, but it's all supposed to be clearer when the DVLA finally computerise all the MOT test stations - the tester types your reg number in at the start of the test, and the computer will tell him the parameters.

Hope this helps,
David

[Edited on 27/9/05 by David Jenkins]

quote:

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Originally posted by David Jenkins
There's some confusion at present, but it's all supposed to be clearer when the DVLA finally computerise all the MOT test stations - the tester types your reg number in at the start of the test, and the computer will tell him the parameters.

Hope this helps,
David


Sounds like that'll be a ballsup then.

David

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David Jenkins - 28/9/05 at 07:26 AM

quote:

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Originally posted by DavidM
Sounds like that'll be a ballsup then.

David

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Without a doubt!

The balls-up is currently work-in-progress - I know someone who runs an MOT test station, and the DVLA techies have been trying to get him on-line for about a year. He bought all the approved kit (at his own expense, of course), and now the techies can't get it to work when it's all plugged into the DVLA boxes. He's still having to work from the rule books, and do hand-written MOT certificates, just as he did before he bought the expensive new kit.

David
(sorry for the thread hi-jack )

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britishtrident - 28/9/05 at 12:39 PM

A lot of the problems with the computerisation is it uses alalogue dialup lines --- no isdn, no adsl !!!!!!!!!!!!

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