BB February 2

SVA day dawned at 4:30 and it was chucking it down. I'd spent three hours on Saturday tuning up the engine, and
then on Sunday fetched the trailer and loaded my boot with most of my garage.

So, car loaded onto the trailer and covered with a tarpaulin, and off at six with Steve, who had volunteered to
chaperone me. I did take a picture, but it was too dark and wet.

We arrived at Norwich testing station at 8:20 (10 minutes late) and unloaded. A white Japanese sports car was going
through the tests as an import and we soon followed. To be honest in the conditons, the car didn't look ist best, the
aluminium had gone dull and what was worse, the engine was not happy, it was popping and banging on one side and
wouldn't idle. The first test was emissions. The side that was running OK passed easily, the other side had huge
hydrocarbon readings, but passed on the raised revs test. At this point I became hopeful.

Then came lots of touchy feely stuff, the 100mm mushroom made an appearance and the car was tested for lights and
sharp edges. He spent a lot of time around the engine.

Then onto the hoist. This was the worst bit as there were two inspectors underneath the car talking, but I couldn't
hear them and I was trying to find out from Steve what they were saying. Then it was down and onto the headlight
adjustment, followed by their tea break.

The end result was a fail, but within this there is some controversy.

The full fail list is (with simple ones in italics):

Parking brake extension fouling bulhead (it wasn't before we started).

Loose track rod ends

Sharp edge on handbrake mechanism

Steering wheel spokes not radiussed (but other stations have passed the identical wheel)

Rear fog lamp too low

Sharp edges on engine casing and barrels (see comments above), reflectors and wing corners

Fuel leak from filler hose

Wider washers on petrol tank mount bolts

Sharp body edges by seatbelts (I don't agree as I had smoothed them down, however........)

Front rear brake balance (and side to side at the rear - I hate 2CV drum brakes!!!)

Noise levels

The biggest issue is that the engine failed the protusions test because the "fins" aren't radiused. Checking my
SVA manual when I got back clearly states in chapter 13, section 1 sub section b theat cooling fins should be
treated as grilles, and if they aren't far apart then the radius rules are lower or removed altogether. The tester
at the time said that it should not be treated as a grille. I need to call them tomorrow and have that
conversation. I called Phil who agreed, and who will also drop some baffles in the post to sort the noise
problem.

Overall the test was nervewracking. You don't get much information during the test, however the tester wasn't
obstructive - he seemed to give the car all the chances that he could - but I am unhappy about the engine issue.

Couldn't get into the garage last night, but I did make some progress yesterday. I had checked in the SVA manual
about the engine fins, and sure enough in Chapter 13 (Exterior), Paragraph 2, section b, subsection (ii) it lays down
the rules which apply to grilles and cooling fins. If the gap between the fins is between 25mm and 10mm, then the
radius is 0.5mm, if it is less than 10mm then they just have to be blunted. I rang Norwich and spoke to the tester - he
rang back 30 minutes later and admitted I was right, he hadn't realised that rule existed. All credit to him for
admitting he was wrong. There are still some bits to deal with there though.

So, the lessons are a) recite daily "Chapter 13 (Exterior), Paragraph 2, section b, subsection (ii) applies to grilles and
cooling fins" and b) take the SVA manual with you to the test.

And finally, the exhaust baffles turned up from Phil at the Pembleton Motor Company, typically excellent service.

Spent time in the garage on Friday night and Saturday. Most of the jobs are cleared now, as the edge trim turned
up from Europa which enabled me to edge the steering wheel spokes.

The fog lamp was probably the most painful as it has to be at least 100mm from the rear lamps and 250mm from
the ground. I considered a few options, such as adding a dummy number plate below the offside lamp cluster and
mounting it below that, but in the end I was able to move it around the bodywork and mount it on an extension
tube such that the distance limits were achieved, and it was visible from 25 degrees to either side in the
horizontal plane and 5 degrees in the vertical plane.

The brakes juts appear to be adjustment. My wife kep the pedal half way down and I adjusted the wheels until
the amount of drag seemed to be the same on either side. A pain to do, lets see if it's OK for the SVA men.

So, jobs remaining

Parking brake extension fouling bulhead (it wasn't before we started).

This is awkward - I've relieved the bulkhead but still it fouls - some lateral thinking needed

Sharp edges on engine casing and barrels (see comments above), reflectors and wing corners

New reflectors ordered from SVC, the wing corners have been filed, I still have some work to do
some parts of the engine which aren't cooling fins but he didn't like. Brilliant idea in bed last
night - more later...

Fuel leak from filler hose

Need larger hose clips than I had, I'll get those today

Noise levels

Baffles need fitting

I also spent 3 hours and lots of metal polish returning it to a shiny machine. My arms hurt.....................

And finally, a restrained approach to the "edges around the engine
issue". Phil has got loads of cars through without any of this
paraphernalia, but seeing as the call to the tester ended with "and
don't forget if they aren't cooling fins the grille rules dont apply" I
decided the bigger hammer approach was best. I suspect he didn't
appreciate being told the rules.

So I created an elegant cowcatcher based on on a post war neo-
classical fireguard design with a hint of post modern sculpture

SVA take 2. Another fail, and it leaves me a bit flumoxed as I don't know where to go from here. I arrived at the
test station early and the tester (the same as last time) told me if I got it in quickly he would get started. He only
glanced at the fireguard and didn't even inspect it. It took about 10 minutes to go through all of the areas that he
identified except for the brakes and noise. The noise passed easily at 98dB, but the brakes were another matter.

The tester wears a pressure meter on the bottom of his foot and the rollers measure the retardation at 5 fixed
pressures. Each wheel is assessed seperately and to pass there must be:

- Sufficient retardation on each axle for the vehicle weight on that axle (the rollers weigh the car as well)

- Front to rear balance such that the front braking force is far greater than the rear

- Braking balance across the axle at the front.

When all of the measurements have been taken, they are fed into a computer which computes whether the braking
test are passed.

My problem is in two related areas. The rear offside drum has almost twice the force of the nearside at higher
pedal pressures (this in itself is not a fail item as there is no stipulation on rear brake balance), but the force of
that drum is almost as great as the front discs, so it fails on front to rear balance. This is only at higher pedal
pressures.

I tried backing off the offside drum and adjusting and it lowered the force, but not enough. The tester had
several goes and was really helpful - I think he wanted it to pass. One point of farce, however, was that you can't
do any major work at the station, so I couldn't remove the wheel, for example (apparently a question of liability).
So I had to put the car of the trailer, drive out of the station and find somewhere to park up where I could jack up
the car and have a look in the drums (still on the trailer). Once finished I then returned to the test station and we
tried again.

The problem is now twofold - what is causing the problem (and I notice that the pedal needs to be "pumped up"
again) and how do I prove it before I go back to the test station? The only place that can do the pedal pressure
based tests are the SVA stations. For the MOT the tester just pushes as hard as he can and the total retardation
is measured for each axle.

If anyone out there has any ideas........................

Another long gap between updates. Did anyone out there get proposed to today?

I've spent some time trying to work out what the problems were with the brakes. Having fiddled with the offside
drum, I noticed that for each drum rotation, the friction increased and decreased at a certain point of shoe
adjustment. Now I know that the shoes are in one place, so it must be related to the drums. These went off to a
local engineerinmg firm who skimmed the friction surfaces for me and made them perfectly round - bargain at �10
for both.

I also ordered new shoes, pads, shoe fitting kit and a master cylinder from ECAS. The master cylinder seems to be
the usual cause of brakes needing to be pumped up, so I decided to change it anyway.

I have been working abroad again so couldn't get to it until today, but changed the cylinder, fitted the new shoes,
centralised them, refitted the drums and bled the whole system again. The only problem is I haven't had chance to
drive it again as the roads were wet and salty after the snow and I didn't want it getting cacked up.

If it's fine tomorrow I'll have a go then and see if I can detect any change. What I really want is the front
brakes to be stronger, so lets see how we get on.