CAV GT SVA TEST OUTCOME

The SVA test was carried out yesterday at the VOSA Bristol centre.
My car was booked in at 8am and as I was going to drive my car to the test centre,I was up at 5.30am!to make preparations.My younger brother had very kindly agreed to be a passenger,although I must admit he did not require much persuasion.The anxiety of the test was somewhat releived by the thought of my my first drive which was going to be about 50 miles round trip.

We arrived at the Avonmouth centre late at 8.30am; fuelling the two tanks took longer than expected and the traffic was heavy.Not a good start. The examiner greeted us accepted my excuses for being late.He then immediately began the examination which lasted about 4 hours.

The car FAILED the test on the following points. I was not expecting to pass as I had been unable to align the headlamps the day before so I was not too disappointed.

1. "Front lower indicators and side light lamps not completely disconnected"- I had moved the indicators higher up on the bonnett in the small air ducts but had not removed the indicator and side light lamps from their original positions.

2. "screw thread projecting into the passenger footwell"- There is a screw roughly in line with the lower windscreen edge which projects into the passenger footwell from the top.The examiner suggested I cut it short and put a dome nut over it.

3."front indicators fail to meet angles of visibility at 80 degrees"- As I mentioned I had positioned the indicators in the small air ducts on the bonnet and done my own rough checks on visiblity from various required angles in my garage. The examiner again was very helpful and suggested I mount the indicators on a rounded fitting to bring them higher up.

4."Both headlamps aim incorrect"- As I have already stated I was unable to align the headlamps.I think there is not enough adjustment in the cibie headlight brackets.

5."Exhaust pipe edges incorrect radius less than 2.5mm"- I had hoped that the standard CAV tailpipes
would pass as I had incorrectly thought that they do not project beyond the rear of the car.However the 30 degree cone the examiner brought out showed that they did project a tiny amount,enough to fail.

6" Brake warning lamp fails to be identifiable" The handbrake and brake warning lamp on the dash does not have any markings on it.

7." Service brake peformance fails to meet the front to rear brake distribution requirements"- The CAV has a brake bias control inside the car which I had hidden inside the center tunnel.The examiner did not ask me about brake bias control and I did not volunteer the information. I was not able to adjust the control and test the brakes before the test.


All the failure points are in my opinion minor and can be rectified easily.

In conclusion my experience of the SVA test was positive.The examiner was both fair and polite and suggested solutions to the failure points.The drive to the test center was uneventful,the car behaved itself and tyhe engine ran sweetly.However the drive back home was interrupted by run in with the law.I was cruising along a dual carriage way about 1 mile from home when I noticed in my rear view mirror three police cars with sirens and flashing lights. One police car pulled in front of me and another was alongside and one behind,a BOX IN manouvre I think. Reminds me of an episode of "Police, action, and camera". I had no choice but to pull over but had I been some lawless young joyrider I am sure I could easily have outrun the police in their escorts and mondeos in my 400hp gt40!. Anyway I had all the relevant documents and after ten minutes of interrogation they let me go home.

If anyone has any specific questions about the preparation of my car for the SVA test then please ask on the forum or e-mail me.
 
D

DavidTC

Guest
Syed
Owning a GT40 is certainly an interesting and exciting experience !. Well done on coming close to passing first time; as you say the requirements are not too onerous. The police incident does raise a simple issue for me which I guess the old stagers already know the answer to. What concession allows you to drive the car to the test centre ?.How do you get insurance etc, and even how do you drive without a number plate to get to the centre legally; it's a bit different to the MOT concession. With the police now having access to the data bases lnking road tax, insurance,MOT etc I am not surprised you got stopped but 3 vehicles sound over the top.
Regards
David
 
Hi Syed2,
Congratulations on the the near as damn it pass! Only a few minor little niggles to sort and they dont sound to serious. Glad you found the SVA examiner to be fair and helpfull. Ive found them to be a good bunch and a wealth of usefull knoledge.
have you a date for the re-test? hope all goes well!
jerry
 
With regards to the legalaties of driving to and from the SVA test center, I will quote a paragraph from the SVA examination appointment letter that I received from VOSA:

"Please remember that until the vehicle has been licensed and registered by DVLA it must not be used or krpt on public roads.The only exceptions are for driving it to or from the above test appointment or if the vehicle fails the examination to or from a pre-booked appointment to have relevant work done on the vehicle to allow it to pass the examination.you are responsible for ensuring that you have insurance cover and that the vehicle complies with the requirements of the Road Vehicle Regulations and Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations when driven to and from test stations".
To me it means I can drive to and from the test station as long as I have insurance and a pre-booked appointment.However to a traffic policeman the bit in the paragraph about the vehicle complying with certain regulations may mean thet it is illegal for the vehicle to be driven.

With regards to insurance,I managed to obtain fully comprehensive insurance from Adrian Flux insurers.They will allow you 30 to 40 days to provide a registration number.

I have not booked the car for the re-test.I will get the car fully prepared before I do that;it only takes a week to get a re-test appointment.
 

Pete McCluskey.

Lifetime Supporter
Good effort mate. My experience is they have to justify their existance by finding something. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif You will pass no problems next time. Ask for the same examiner. in our first effort in OZ we forgot about the hand brake and it did not hold on their test slope.Could we adjust it sir while we are here and have another shot? No sorry pay another fee and come back next week. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/censored.gif /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif
Sounds like your bloke was a nice guy. Good luck.
 
D

DavidTC

Guest
Syed
Thanks for the feedback, the concession is a little bit like that for the MOT, and the info on insurer is helpful. Did you have to place some sort of sign in the car since you do not have a number plate ?; a bit like the requirement for 'On Tow' if a car is not self powered.
The retest turnaround sounds good in your area.
Regards
David
 
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