SVA ho hum.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman)]

Oh well, neally, very nealy. Not too bad though, SVA'd at Shrewsbury on a glorious sunny day. TBH all but one fault could have been fixed there and then; but it's that last one that p*sses me off  

For the records the points were:

1 Headlamp aim, fixed there and then (TADTS?)

2 Failed min edge radius on central rear view mirrior. (Stupid, I forgot to edge it)

3 Failed min edge radius on the kick strips and the tub where it goes over the chassis rail near the seats. (I have no interior side trim panels, so need some trim applied to these edges/returns)

4 Front shock collars and rear silencer mount couldn't be tested. (I was recommended to tape up the threaded portion of the front shocks, I did, but extended the tape up and over the padding on the spring platform. Tape now removed and platform covers replaced with big cv joint boots. The exhausrt bracket, I'd covered with self adhesive foam padding. All I'd needed was to have used some of the rubber edging.)

5 Failed minimum height on front indicators. (Returned fron tyre pressures to normal, and I was almost there, adjusted the bottom mounting on the nose cone a little, and I'm there.)

6 Failed the minimum radius on the rolled end of the tailpipe. (This is the killer blow, nothing I could do there and then. The diameter of the rolling on the end varied between about 3mm and a bit over 4mm. No where did it hit minimum standard of 5mm. Really hacked off about this. It's the Westfield 6" sports silencer and was bought as being SVA friendly. Spoke to Mark at the factory, they're hopefully going to get back to me tomorrow.)

Great trip there and back though. Spoiled only by the sudden dissapearance of oil pressure while moving the cars round on the drive this afternoon. I suspected the oil pressure relief valve had stuck. Just taken the cover bolt and spring off, but cann't get the valve bit out    Just off to do a search (    ) as I'm sure this came up the other day.

[CocoPops]

Ouch, harsh news on the silencer front

Least it's only one thing to be retested right?

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman)]

No, I went through exacty what would be OK on the other points with the inspector before I left. But as I couldn't do anything about the silencer there and then,  I did the other bits at home when I got back. Just the silencer to go now.

Took me an hour, but I finally got the relief valve out. After an extremely hard polishing, it's back in and I have oil pressure again. Should hopefully give me enough breathing space to get an SBD jobbie in without having to miss the retest.

[KerryS]

Tough, Gadgetman.

It's all so variable this SVA thing - I don't recall my guy even looking at the tailpipe.

He failed my WF supplied covers for the front suspension, but I realise now that I probably cut off too much of the domed end.

At the end of the day, I think we grin and bear it, but it's a bit of a b****r

Kerry S

[Mark B]

Best of luck for the re-test Dave, when I spoke to you last night I was gutted for you myself, at least it's nothing major and with a bit of luck you should be blatting by mid-week next week.

Fingers crossed for you & hopefully see you in the car at Capesthorne.

Cheers,

Mark.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman)]

Thanks Mark, fingers definately crossed. Mark at Westfield is sending me an insert for the tail pipes, should arrive tomorrow. Just need to get the oil pressure sorted out now. I thought I'd caracked it with the polished up valve, but looks like it's jammed again    I'll have to take the covering nut bit off tonight and have a look.

[JonnyBoy]

has it got harder or something?

the test man looked at my car and said well.. its clearly a westfield, it looks well put together and we know they make good cars.. i dont think we'll need to look at lamp heights. HE did the once over of projections at the front and underneath.

He did say that they really go to town on RH's tigers, formula 27's etc, but as WF have type approval they had never had an issue with anything significant.

Couldnt you have turned the tail pipe under the car?

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman)]

Couldnt you have turned the tail pipe under the car?

No, sadly not. It was almost the first thing I asked. Such a shame, cause it sailed the noise test at 92 db, and that's with a set of fairly loud bonnet exiting tb's.

Mark at Westfield got back in touch this morning, they're sending me an insert for the end of the tail pipe in the post. So fingers crossed that should arrive tomorrow.

[mud]

good luck with the retest ! and bring it round when its done.

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman)]

I don't think I've waited for the postman to deliver this eagerly for years! Packages from Westfield and SBD came nice and early.

Westfield's was an insert for the exhaust, which now gives me a 6mm diameter rolled lip to the pipe   Many thanks to Mark Walker for sorting that out so promptly. Bar my dissapointement with their suppliers tollerances, Westfield have done their absolute best to sort out the problem.

Just been out fitting the SBD nylon oil pressure relief valve kit, (after polishing up the old one twice, it still kept sticking.)

I nned to take some washers off, but between that and an oil/filter change, I've now got 4 bar at idle. (Had 3/4 bar at cranking speed on Thursday night).

So fingers crossed, thats fixed it. I don't mind admitting, I'd pretty much convinced myself the oil pump had gone, last night.

Cheers Martin,