clubstylus

(old post edited - lesson never to post late at night!)

Found all the IVA paperwork and guidance, but almost fell over at the cost £450, with £90 retest
Someone out there really doesn't like amateur-built cars, and has effectively blasted most of the budget concious builders out of the water. But its a sacrifice that will be worth it I hope.

Has anyone had experience of the IVA - i've read all the forums and done a lot of research and can't find anything that suggests the test is hugely different, or more in-depth to warrant a 150% price increase.

The other thing about the paperwork is that it seems more specific on details:
What is the max design speed of the vehicle?
What is the engine max power and engine speed (in kW/rpm or bhp/rpm)?
And the old favourite -design weights per axle (I'll look at the other topics)

Can anyone offer help on the first two items. I'm running a 1.8 Zetec with Weber-alpha injection (gold), T9 sierra gearbox, standard escort live axle and diff (this will be changed later!)
Thanks in advance for any tips.

Hi.

You can get an IVA form from the testing station if thats easier.
And costs are over £400 (£450 I think). Bummer, I know.

Try this found last night it has the full iva manual and paperwork

http://www.mevltd.co.uk/downloads.html

Thanks for the info, much better. My computer must be playing up or my mind going as I didn't realise anyone had replied before I edited the original post - again a reminder not to post too late at night.

Paperwork going in tomorrow, hoping for a date in July / early august and then we'll see.

Any thoughts on showing up at the test without having painted the car first? I know presentation is 80% of the show, but if there is anything that has to be done to the bodyshell, I'd hate to have to cut into a fresh paint-job.

Plenty of people have done just that , not sure if it should be prep'ed and mould lines removed though

Hi

Chapter & Verse, sorry

I accompanied a friend of mine to SVA about 3 weeks ago now, with a Subaru based Murtaya kit (£20K+). We'd spent 4 days solid over the Easter weekend getting bits done, but it was clear (to me anyway, owner was in denial ) the car wasn't going to be fully "presentable".
The rebuilt 350BHP engine ran for the first time & the car drove out of the garage on the Monday, SVA on the Wed.
We also fried part of the loom & had a small fire on the Monday evening, as we hadn't properly earthed the starter (it was accidentally insulated & dumping the current down an ECU earth, ouch). 1 am to trace it out & rectify.

The car was submitted unpainted (edges knocked off), with engine, transmission, brakes & suspension fitted, all lights in & working. But no screen, wipers (& no centre mirror), no heater, one seat, one belt, no door glass, no locks, no dash, no trim (you get the idea).

The killer was that the car decided the engine wasn't going to run on the day of the test, so we pushed it on the trailer & set off. After the test we found out this was due to the new ECU startup map being too rich & flooding it.

For us, the plan was to get into SVA rather than IVA.
The SVA tester (same guy that tested my Stylus in '02) was very helpful & we were realistic.
He'd actually been told no holiday or sickies during April as VOSA were expecting a lot of cars to be put through like this.
In reality most people weren't turning up so he was having easy days & they were losing SVA fee & stuck with IVA.

We told him up front we didn't expect to pass & the engine wasn't running.
So the car was pushed through the test lane & an arbituary test carried out, including brake test.
Whilst going through we talked about what we were intending to do & how IVA compared.
Basically the finished car would go through SVA no problem, IVA with a couple of mods.

The main one I remember was the rear wheel arches.
SVA talks about the wheel "rim" being inside the arch, the tyre could protrude.
IVA now includes the rim & the tyre for set angles when view from the side.
The Murtaya would fail as the tyre sticks out viewed from the rear, easily fixed with rubber wheel flaps.

Another one was that all dash warning lights had to carry the approved emblem relating to function.
ie no plain coloured bulbs & no "LIGHTS" text labels, both would fail.
Similar comment about E-marked exterior lights (Fog light specifically mentioned)

We ended up with a 20 point fail list, with some very general "edges in the cockpit" type notes.
But we now have until October to resubmit the car as an SVA retest.

Pressure off until last night, when he told me he'd booked the car on a trackday at Spa in July & wants to drive it there !

Anyway, the test is not too different, just more £££ for the treasury.

Matt

I have started wading throught the 260 odd pages of the IVA manual from the link earlier in this thread. The first snag I have encountered is Required Standard 4 on page 1 of 3 of section 09A Braking Systems, which seems to insist on diagonal split not fore /aft split as Styluses and most kit cars seem to be. Comments anyone?

And is that (going to SPA ) really going to happen in time --- DVLA number plate issue etc

stylussprinter wrote:And is that (going to SPA ) really going to happen in time --- DVLA number plate issue etc

Rob

You know Dave, a man with too many toys, too many projects....


He likes a target though, so it'll probably be done, but possibly not painted.
He's got a real thing in his head about SVA then paint, just in case some radical change is required.
If it was me I'd be taking it back fully painted & complete.

The SPA weekend is booked via the GRRC, so if the Murtaya doesn't make it, it'll be one of the others.

H'mmm , it's so difficult --- decisions , decisions , what shall I play with today