SVA Questions

[Enterpryse]

I've been fitting the SVA kit supplied by Westfield and either I am short of a few nut covers or I'm putting them in the wrong places.

I've tried to put covers on all nut and bolt heads on the front suspension and run out. Is it OK to only put them on the forward facing nut/bolt heads. Seems sensible as I can't see my front wheels causing any damage that the rear ones wouldn't have already if I reversed over somonone    

Also, I've put on my cycle guards with the small (M4 I think) domed headed allen screws.  has anyone done this before and passed?

Ahhh,  and while I'm on a roll....... should I cover the bottom adjusting nut on the shockers. Now they would hurt if they hit you, and they look a bit dodgy for SVA to.?

Thanks

Stuart  

[Tigger]

Well I put covers on front and rear of the suspension so I would advise you too to. Mr SVA is very finicky. Are you sure you have put the right ones on the right size nuts, they should be a very tight fit ie: not easily pushed on

Tigger

[ROC]

Stuart,

Mine passed with the dome headed allen screws on the cycle wings, I found that there were not enough covers in the Westfield kit   I bought some more from a supplier called Tifosi.

The inspectors were very hot on the headlamp brackets being well covered and they are not impressed by obvious temporary fixings, I even had to glue some covers on      

Best of luck with the test,

Rich

[conibear]

No need to cover anything on rear suspension.

Dome bolts are SVA friendly, thus no need to cover.

Any bolts/nuts exposed on front will fail SVA.

Bottom ride height adjuster rings may or may not be a SVA issue, depends on tester. Personally I made some up and took them with me just in case. They were like a dog collar.

Hope this helps      

[neilwillis]

The rule on any protrusions is quite simple.   Anywhere that is exposed has to be radiused.   If the inspector can touch a bolt head with a hemispherical object which is about (as I recall) 4" in diameter, it has to be covered.   You don't therefore have to cover every bolt and nut on the front suspension, and none of the rear suspension fastenings have to be covered at all.   Unless the component in question is likely to come into contact with a pedestrian, it isn't a danger.   The SVA kit provided by the factory contains ample covers, and you just need to start with the most exposed, and keep going till you run out.

HTH

[Crash Override]

I had westfield perform a pre-SVA check on my Megabird and they only covered the forward most bolt & nut heads which went through O.K. I also have domed head allen fixings on front arches which is fine as they are radiused.

Didn't need to cover adjusment rings on suspension, what I did find that I had to do was gently radius back edge of bonnet and cover any fibreglass edges that were not radiused with edging strip i.e. all the way round the front wings bar the front radiused edge, nose cone edges etc, and these had to be fixed permently i.e. glued. Also the thread of the exhaust bobin was stuck up to far so just hack sawed off level with top of nylock nut which has a radiused edge.

But all SVA test stations and examiners will vary slightly as to want they will pick up on and how finikey they want to be, I went to Shrewsbury and got a very nice examiner from Newcastle filling in while the usual examiner was at Swansea.

All I can say is be polite and friendly and they will help you out as much they can, and any problems on SVA set up Technical at Westfield can normally help, you can always try and get photos of one already setup that you can work from.

Anyway enough from me hope some of this helps.

[Enterpryse]

Thanks eveyone. This is a big help.

Does the bottom support bolt for the nosecone have to also be covered or is this classed like the underside of the floor pan, where there are loads of exposed parts?

If the heatshield on the exhaust is slipped backwards slightly I've read that this will solve the bobbin problem ..?

Looks like I'd best get down to Woolies and buy a ball of about 4" diameter and run it around the bodywork.

Any more ideas or pictures anyne can send??

Thanks

Stuart

[conibear]

Stuart, the radius ball is more like 75mm, not 100mm.

Nothing below chassis level needs covering.

During my SVA @ Mitcham Surrey in January 2004, the tester laughed at the Westfield fibre glass covers that are meant to protect the front head light pods. I had to make some rubber radiused covers to cover them in theri entirity.

Ian

[Enterpryse]

What about where the nose cone meets the grill, does this inside edge have to be covered?  I can't remember seeing anyones nose ringed with black rubber  LOL  

[conibear]

you will need some sort of grille on your nose cone IMO, so then the edge is not an edge.

[Roo4]

Mine failed on the lower edge of the nose not having a rad.

[Enterpryse]

Do you mean the lower edge -under the chassis or the lower edge of the aperture where the grill fits.

Ta

s:)

[Toby Mack]

Stuart, the radius ball is more like 75mm, not 100mm.

According to my copy of the SVA manual, reason for failure is...

"a hard part which is contactable with a 100mm dia sphere has a radius of curvature of less than 2.5mm"

Area to be checked is between the floor line* and a height of 2metres.

* floor line means a theretical line created by a cone having a 30deg half angle and the external surface of the vehicle.

HTH Toby

[karlgurney]

Just had SVA today at brummy and the examiner told me that they only check the front  suspension thats the same level and above the front indicators and going slightley angled downwards as directed by a cone they have,  i was baffled by this, he said he was glad i had covered everything below that level but he said it wasn't needed.

Karl

[xflow]

Sorry to ask a seemingly daft question but are some SVA centres shall we say easier to get through where some may be a little tougher (I know they all work to the same rules but they seem open to interpretation)

If so wouldn't a WSCC scoring system be apt to help other members?