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English laws and homemade turbo kitcars...

nuvolae36 - 13/10/08 at 12:49 PM

Hi, I'm writing from Italy and I think that next year I'll move to England, still don't know where in detail...
How things work there?:

If I'll buy an ultima rolling chassis and I fit in there a car engine(from another car) with an homemade turbocharger kit (built with top aftermarket kits' standards) will I pass the SVA-ispection test?
Basically the question is "if they see that there is a turbo (or two in this case) and other engine mods, the car can pass sva?
(I'm asking this because here modded engines, even if they have stock emission, don't pass MOT in the visual inspection in case of visible mods)
And how insurance works for these specials/kitcars? (here kitcars are not street legal )

Is UK the easiest country to have these cars registered or there are other locations in Europe where it's simplest to have a kitcar like this street legal?

I need to learn about UK laws, so don't flame me, but help me to fight my ignorance in this field

[Edited on 13/10/08 by nuvolae36]

mistergrumpy - 13/10/08 at 12:55 PM

Turbocharger or aftermarket mods shouldn't be a problem here in the UK. Your emissions will be checked to be of an acceptable standard.
For insurance there are certain companies that deal in specialist vehicles including kit cars that understand better than mainstream companies and they can give you very competitive quotes.

eznfrank - 13/10/08 at 12:56 PM

You won't fail and SVA for having modified your car as I guess kitcars are just in essence one massive modification. As long as it passes the emissions test and is safe then the number of modifications you have would be fairly irrelevant (unless you were trying to run on ethanol or something obscene like that)

Insurance is pretty much as per a normal car, although it is usually very cheap due to limited mileage etc.

I don't know if it's easier to have ot registered elsewhere but it's certainly no major hassle to have it registered in the UK.

matt_gsxr - 13/10/08 at 01:16 PM

Isn't there a system in Italy where you can pay a little extra to sort this out ;-)

Or does that only work for the president?

Matt

nuvolae36 - 13/10/08 at 01:16 PM

Thank you! So until it go with standard fuel and until it respect the emission limits the engine will not give problems to SVA!

Even a 1000hp twin turbo ultima can be registered? Great

What I need to be careful when I'll buy the engine? I need documents from donor car for the engine, or other?

nuvolae36 - 13/10/08 at 01:19 PM

quote:
Originally posted by matt_gsxr
Isn't there a system in Italy where you can pay a little extra to sort this out ;-)

Or does that only work for the president?

Matt

Sure if you have good friends you can pass MOT on the phone even with car in you garage

But that's not my case

But that's for street cars... kitcars homemade are not legal here, if not registering them in UK and importing them here

Huge law faults in here

[Edited on 13/10/08 by nuvolae36]

matt_claydon - 13/10/08 at 02:44 PM

quote:
Originally posted by nuvolae36

What I need to be careful when I'll buy the engine? I need documents from donor car for the engine, or other?

If you get an engine from before 1995 then you will not need a catalytic converter and the emissions limits are very easy to meet. You will need to prove this though which can be done using a letter from the engine manufacturer.

If the engine is after 1995 then you will need a catalyst and will have to meet the modern emissions limits. In this case you do not need to prove engine age.

fesycresy - 13/10/08 at 03:05 PM

quote:
Originally posted by nuvolae36
Thank you! So until it go with standard fuel and until it respect the emission limits the engine will not give problems to SVA!

Even a 1000hp twin turbo ultima can be registered? Great

What I need to be careful when I'll buy the engine? I need documents from donor car for the engine, or other?

If you've got that sort of money, the SVA should be the last thing on your mind !

I'm sure Ultima will hold your hand through the build / SVA.

Edit to add: I'd email Ultima if you're serious, they can advise you on what engines they recommend and where to source one.

[Edited on 13/10/08 by fesycresy]

scudderfish - 13/10/08 at 03:31 PM

As far as I'm aware, if you get the car registered here, 3 years after the SVA, you will have to bring it back to the UK to have the MOT done. There was a Fury for sale in Spain a few months back because the owner couldn't do that.

nuvolae36 - 13/10/08 at 04:18 PM

Me alone don't have all that money at the moment...
About money: sponsors, I said all but don't ask to know more... it's a complicate situation so I can't say more now but if all go right you'll hear about it for sure in the 2009...
Then, as it MUST be a street car I was asking about the law

Can someone post a link with details about emissions?

@ scudderfish, that Fury had the UK plate or the Spain plate?
It seems like here... I know people that do all kinds of escamotages to have a streetable kitcar even if they are not legal... it's not great that I wrote about those escamotages. But here when a car is imported it takes the italian plate and then MOT is done in Italy, no returns to the original country...