Technical Library

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My IVA Experience by John Summers, 2010 _^27-02-11

Test station VOSA Avonmouth, Bristol
Tester Howard Shepherd

I have listed what I can remember starting at the front of the car and working backwards. I did think of listing my thoughts in the same order as the clauses in the manual but thought that was a step to far! This is based on my experience only, VOSA at Bristol are very helpful and straightforward to deal with. If in doubt check the Regs the things I failed on were clear in the Regs it’s just a question of experience. When asked Mr Shepherd did tell me he had never passed a kit car first time, so just be prepared to spend a further £90, if you’ve got this far a further £90 is nothing!

Here we go, try not to get bored.

Fog lights, look at the simple table in the Regs describing the correct operation with the normal lights and follow it. This is one of the few compulsory switch signs that must be displayed. The other compulsory signs are a brake symbol for the brake warning light and a rear fog light symbol.

Despite what you may hear or read check the Regs these are all that’s needed:

Cover lower suspension arm with U shaped stainless cover as SVA

Cover all front facing nuts and bolts with “sharp” edges with nut covers.

Wire wheels are fine, use old octagonal nuts with all radii increased.

Do not fit wind deflectors; they can fail on the edges of the “glass”, the type of glass and possibly on the edges of the brackets.

If you have a BS approved windscreen panic now as you only have a concession to use these until April, after that it must be EN approved.

I used the old type bonnet catches (not SVA approved) and covered the tongue with tight fitting hose.

Side repeaters, the reason for my third (yes third) test. In the end the only viable solution was to fit a plate under the front indicators and fit to that rear facing lights. I used some old A35 sidelights that were lurking in my garage with Quality Street orange wrappers on the bulbs. I cannot think of any other way of meeting both the horizontal and more especially the vertical plane viewing requirements.

Steering wheel: Linish any sharp edges, cover any slots or holes, I used mild steel plates and double sided tape covered with leather. Fit a collapsible steering boss, mine was from Europa and with a homemade adaptor plate fitted to my Mountey wheel.

I fitted D shape rubber to the lower edge of my home made Dashboard and reduced the length of the Wiper switch lever to 9mm, the other non standard switches were ok. They are all mounted on a plate on the back of the dash with a suitable pocket in the dash.

Wing-mirrors, ok on viewing angles, to cover sharp forward facing edge disassemble mirror and cover edge with PVC tape. Also reduce length of fixing screw so it does not protrude and cover hex head of fixing screw with a nut cover.

Hose to servo has to carry the correct approval marks.

Brake fluid label close to fluid reservoir.

VIN plate must be on Driver’s side.

Fit a Thatcham approved 2circuit immobiliser, I fitted mine in the fuel pump supply circuit and the coil LT circuit then paid a nice man to approve it (the approval turned out to be unnecessary, not sure why).

Head restraints, fabricate an L shaped aluminium bracket to fit under the standard seat belt guide then find some scrap headrests to fit to the bracket, mine came off a scrap 3 series BMW. You must get the positioning correct so read the Regs carefully. Keep the bracket reasonably thin so that the pin on the seat belt guide still goes through the hole in the seat plate and stops the assembly rotating.

Ensure you seat belt inertial reels are well secured and cannot rotate on the single bolt fixing.

In wiring my vehicle I used the traditional bullet connectors, these were frowned upon as being unreliable and liable to corrode. I removed them all and soldered and sleeved all the connections which I must admit is a lot tidier.

On my Dashboard I made a wiring loom and used a series of plug and sockets to connect to the main loom so the complete dash can be easily removed if necessary.

Change the rear brake cylinders to Midget type, the brake test was fine.

I hope this helps somebody, if you need any further advice (useful or otherwise) e-mail wuejohn@hotmail.com phone 01453 843245 evenings and weekends.

I am now in the process of obtaining registration; sometimes you have to wonder why you started!

John 

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Stopping the Beast (MGB 1800) _^7-07-05

Does your lovely NG with its new unleaded engine conversion shake and judder, even trying and succeeding to run backwards for a few revolutions when you turn it off? Have you tried every combination of ignition setting, mixture strength, plug grades and anything else you can think of including anti run-on valves all to no avail? Have you considered selling your little toy, including all the associated bits and pieces for what you can get and putting the money into a hot hatch turbo diesel that is at least expected to shake and rattle? A year ago that was the situation I was in. I have since bought the turbo-D, very good with no shake and only a little rattle, but for the cost of a phone call have returned to NG pleasure. I am sure everyone else knows this, but for those of you that don’t here is my little bit of common knowledge kindly given to me by the MGB Hive during a desperation phone call for advice.

The engine will stop cleanly with only a rattle from the carburettor dash pots. IT WORKS FOR ME!! When using Optimax the engine will often stop cleanly without pressing down the pedal but not always, so it is best to get into the habit of pressing every time. Using 95 grade fuel makes very little difference to the general running but it will always stop badly unless the pedal is pressed. So my advice is to always press and save a few pence a litre using 95.

Richard Bailey richarddbailey@tiscali.co.uk

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10 June 2005
Gentlemen,
This has come via Denzil Brunning of Status. Rather than trying to paraphrase what he said, here it is verbatim:

“DVLA have just come back to me.
It seems as though the vehicle owner should take the V5, any receipts he may have, and several MOT’s dated prior to 1998 to his local DVLA office.
They will then update the vehicle record without SVA and will retain the registration number.
It is important that the MOT’s clearly identify the vehicle as a kit (NG presumably) so that the office can see that the converted vehicle was actually used prior to the introduction of SVA. They said that the “use” issue is important – receipts for a kit bought before 1998 will not be accepted.
Apparently the local offices have been doing this for some time; a circular was sent to them to re-affirm the official policy recently.
Unfortunately it looks like a “discussion” is taking place between DVLA and VOSA to decide whether this can continue. VOSA think that the cars should be subject to SVA, DVLA think it is unfair to retrospectively apply SVA.
It is possible that VOSA will win the argument, so it is important that your customer moves quickly.
DVLA have said they will inform us if their policy changes; they have also offered to help if your customer experiences difficulties.”

So the message is that if anyone has a fistful of old MOT certificates dating prior to the SVA date of 1998 and these do actually identify that the car tested was an NG – as opposed to the donor car in its original state – the DVLA will up-date the registration document to show that the car is an NG.

This is very significant for those people who have had their cars a good long time as it will avoid the need for the SVA test.

My customer in question has a plate in his car saying “Built by Martin Motors in 1988”. This seems to be acceptable alternative proof. This is not going to be a universal panacea. For instance we have three cars here which we have bought in. There is no way that I can prove that they were on the road prior to 1998 as NGs so I will have to put them through SVA.

I am sure that there will be significant numbers of NGs out there to which this applies, because they have been around for so long. Please spread the word, as it seems that this may be a last chance. Chris, please put something in the next ChangiNGear. Bob, please could you ask your successor to put something on the owners club web site. We will do likewise. Mon, please.

I hope you have a great weekend. I am sure that Monica would wish you the same – she has gone to Iceland for the w/e, having missed out on a previous occasion to go the Exeter Show – great devotion to duty!!

Best Wishes
Nigel
Findhorn Cars Ltd suppliers of NG Cars