IVA

IVA was booked for 2nd May at Kidderminster and I thought I'd left myself enough time to get all the final checks and issues from the MOT resolved however a few sick days, holidays and family do's conspired to pack all the time down to a last minute panic.

One of the main problems I had was with the speedometer not working. I'm using the Tremec Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) wired through to Speedhut gauge. No matter what I tried - I just couldn't get this combination to work - made even harder by how inaccessibly the VSS is with the body on. I decided it was either my cabling ( very likely) or the speed sensor were most likely issues - so faced with no guaranteed resolution I scoured the internet and found the solution on the ETB Gauges web site.
I'd seen that other builders were using speed sensors working off the diff input shaft so next issue was sourcing one.
Now my test was on the Wednesday and it was Monday morning when I decided on the change of plan. A call to ETB and they were brilliant   - dispatching the sensor same day for guaranteed next day delivery. The item arrived by 10:00 am so most of the day went into mounting a bracket and re-cabling the speedo. The ETB sensor is easy to setup and is a 3-wire system requiring +12v. The really useful bit is it has an LED on the sensor that positively shows when it senses a bolt head or lobe.

And - it worked first time so £30 quid well spent.

ETB speed sensor - great bit of kit

So putting all the dash together - last minute systems check  - and no horn or reverse light....
basic checks - 10A fuse blown so changed that - and it blew again! In fact it blew as soon as I turned the ignition on. Cursory checks couldn't find the short and it was 10:30pm  by this time so resigned myself to a fail at the test the next day.

So awoke to an absolute downpour - great!. Fortunately the test centre is only 4 miles away so I didn't get too drowned - but in the spirit of the whole event - on the way to the test centre I had to swerve to avoid a van approaching on the wrong side of the road - and kerbed both nearside wheels!
Arrived at the test centre and fortunately they have an undercover parking area where the tester was waiting.

Given I knew I was going to fail, it sort of changes your attitude to how few failures will I get.

Its fair to say that the tester ( who was very friendly and communicative) examined the car very thoroughly - I was expecting to be there 4 hours or so from other experiences but was actually there for nearer 6! And you don't get any refreshments and there are no facilities other than washroom - so advice is to go prepared.

Every test item in the IVA manual was examined as you would expect. If there were minor items the examiner gave me chance to rectify - for instance I has a wire under the bonnet where a small bit of copper was showing into a connector - just applied a bit of tape and all sorted. What he didn't do was point out every failure as he went - these were saved up to the end.

At the test centre

The highlights:

• Brake performance passed easily - including the troublesome AK Handbrake. 
• Steering self centreing all worked.
• Noise test passed at 98db
• Headlights aim all correct - he was quite surprised about that - normally have to adjust.
• Speedo calibration - the examiner was happy to allow me to calibrate that on the rollers.
• Emissions: - failed initially as had done at MOT - and by some distance on HC which needed to be below 1200. The examiner offered opportunity to adjust things if I felt I could improve matters. My remedy was to increase the idle speed. Originally set to about 650, I raised it to nearer 900 rpm and it then passed easily with a reading around 700-750.

So the disappointment list:

• Horn and Reverse light not working ( I knew about)
• Orange light showing on front indicators below the limit height. ( I'd taped up the inside of the lens but not well enough it seems. Should have used the painted ones in the AK IVA kit.) 
• Rear reflector not mounted with 'TOP' at the top!
• Cable exposed to heat source - one of the plug leads had at some time gained a scorch mark from the headers - so additional insulation needed.
• Steering - N/s front wheel touching inner wheel arch on full lock. I'd had a go at fixing that after the MOT but clearly hadn't worked.
• Steering - coupling fouling Clutch Master Cylinder.( really glad they spotted that one)
• Steering rack - return pipes touching chassis - metal on metal.
• Brake flexy touching suspension arm on full lock.
• Brake flexy banjo's weeping very slightly - possibly down to stress of full lock - not a positive leak so was allowed to drive car home after the test.
• Cable not clipped every 300mm - I'd left one of the clips off when cabling the new speedo sensor.
• Wheel guards not covering NSR and OSF wheels. I'm using Vintage wheels and I knew these were tight - but clearly no latitude given in the test!. This is a weird one as it suggests that the body is fitted at a slight angle - but there is no adjustment as that is how it comes from the factory.
• Radius tests not met - various. The offending items were
• the so called IVA OK Europa overriders.
• the embedded fog/reverse lights in the rear valance. Turns out the black surround needs to be blunted.
• I'd forgotten to fit the bonnet catch key inserts.
• Seat belt fixings not marked as suitable. What this meant was I'd used some Stainless steel bolts in the boot to secure the roll hoops and as they were not marked 8.8 - that was a fail. Pretty sure the ones I used are better than that but easier to change.
• Upper seat belt mounting below reference height. This is a first for AK it seems and as I'm using a standard AK kit and the seats are from AK it never occurred to check this. Essentially the examiner was suggesting the seat base needed to be at least 20mm lower. He also asked me to remove one of the seats to check the strength markings on the top seatbelt mounting bolt. - That was a pain - and annoyingly caused me to accidentally damage the paint on the rear valance!! 

So there you go - the expected failure notice.

At the end the tester said he thought the car was really well built and not to be too disheartened over the failures.

At least the sun came out on the way home so not too depressed - and funnily enough knowing what its like to drive with the sun out gave me a boost towards getting it fixed and on the road.

Next day I called VOSA for a retest appointment and was given 12th June. ( which incidentally was subsequently cancelled by VOSA and rearranged for 2nd July :( )

Stripped off the IVA kit and returned to AK for the next victim! 

I called Jon at AK the next day to discuss the list which he'd already read as I'd posted it on the Cobra Forum. To be honest most of the fixes are straightforward and Jon was chuffed about the handbrake performance as that often gets bad press on AK's.

From the IVA manual - reference height is 450mm

Here's the bit of string used to check the height  - this is from actual IVA test. You should see the rest of the gadget used!

The key issue was the seat belt mounting height - this is first time this has been challenged at IVA. Jon explained that the AK setup was developed with a safety organisation who signed off the solution, including the triangulation design for the boot mountings. He did admit that the top mounting is right on the limit - this because AK try to keep the seat belt mounting within the cockpit.

The only viable solution is to lower the seat base. taking the carpet out below the seat wouldn't gain enough. Jon suggested possibly taking the fibreglass floor section below the seat but I thought that was a bit too aggressive and would cause me other issues. In the end I made my own seat bases out of plywood covered with thin padding and carpet. Not very comfy but needs must. Took me about half day but result is I gained 5cm so am now below the reference height by 2cm - I made my own gauge to check and double check this.

My thinner seat base

Doesn't look too bad

For the remaining items that aren't obvious:

Wheel guards - I obtained some stick on extenders from the internet. They don't look too disastrous and cost about £30 from China. They might accidentally fall off in near future mind.

Horn - I completely re-cabled this and that solved the problem.

Steering fouling the Clutch Master Cylinder: - this was interesting as I'd noticed previously the steering seemed to catch then all freed up. What had happened was the steering coupling bolt had contacted the cylinder and machined a slight groove in the cylinder. Not enough to weaken it or leak - but was far too close for safety. I removed the steering assembly, opened up the mounting holes for the steering bearing and generated better clearance..

Steering lock: I tried using some nylon clips to restrict this but the hydraulic system is way too powerful and just mangled them up. Others suggested using Jubilee clips - but that looks like a real bodge. I couldn't easily source a metal two-piece collar that could be fitted to the rack - then I had an idea to make a set of aluminium washers. These are 1.5mm thick and split - and are flexible enough to spring over the steering rack shaft, then they compress up into a solid stack. Works a treat but took several hours to fabricate. I didn't take a picture but imagine a normal washer with one cut - bit like a spring washer - then you will get the idea.