Registered at Last

Today I finally received my registration document from DVLA. Good that the car is registered as a 2014 model. Got the plates made up and fitted to the car, just need good weather and an engine fitted now...

Tax should arrive in the next few days.

IVA Pass

The car went in for a re test today and I'm delighted to say that it has now passed.

Marc took the car to Beverly for the re test on noise and brake balance, the exhaust is now below 99db and at an acceptable level.

A good job well done.

IVA Failure #3

Car is booked in for it's re test next Thursday on the 14th November. Will be tested on the brake bias and the exhaust noise levels, looking forward to better results this time.

IVA Failure #2

Gave Chris a chase today to get an update on progress with my car. I have had various conversations with MNR since my car failed the IVA.

The brake balance issue has been fixed by changing the setting on the remote adjuster. The noise issue has been somewhat perplexing. Marc borrowed Damian's noise level meter and in the workshop the reading at 7000rpm was 95db from the exhaust, however the reading at the IVA test was 104db with a calibrated meter. Marc has added an extra baffle to the exhaust in an attempt to make things quieter.

To try and help out, I bought a noise level meter from Maplin and sent it up to MNR to get another reading. As a precaution Marc agreed to order some sound proofing to fit to the engine bay and also to connect a flexi hose to the air intake of the stock airbox. The idea of connecting a hose to the air box came from a friend of mine with a Caterham, apparently Caterham route the inlet of their airbox on the R500 away from the induction area. The ducting moves the induction noise away from the engine and to the location of the outlet. 

As the noise level reads an acceptable level and is under 99db the car is being booked in for a re test. Hopefully I will get a better result.

 

IVA Failure #1

Marc Norden of MNR took my car for it's IVA test first thing this morning at the Beverly testing station. As I had not heard anything by early afternoon, with anticipation I decided to chase Chris to see if there was some news. 

Disappointingly Chris told me that my car had failed. He went on to say that this was due to noise levels and also that the brake balance was out. 

After the failure, I am now waiting to see what solution is proposed and when the re test will be. 

Getting ready for IVA at Daytuner #2

Spoken to Damian today for an update, he has now swapped over the cams for a standard set and shimmed them for the correct clearances. The emissions are now where they need to be for the IVA test.

I'm glad it's sorted now, will get the car fully mapped for performance at a later date.

Getting ready for IVA at Daytuner

Had a call from Damian at Daytuner today who told me that he was having difficulty in mapping my engine for emissions. The car is fitted with a cat and exhaust but was refusing to provide a consistent emissions readings.

Damian has completed compression tests on the cylinders and found that cylinders 1 & 4 are 210 psi and 2 & 3 are reading 190 psi. Given that the engine is supposed to be fitted with high compression pistons, these should be reading of closer to 240 psi. 

He also completed a leak down test which showed up a problem with the piston rings and a small amount of leakage via the valves, this can be fixed by seating the valves with a grind. I'll do this sometime in the future.

The other possible issue is with the high lift kent cams that are fitted and the possibility of valve timing overlap. Damian will swap out the cams for standard ones tomorrow and to try again. 

Hopefully he can sort the emissions and get it down to an acceptable level. IVA is booked for 8th so will need to let them know by Thursday if I need to postpone the test. 

Still Waiting For IVA

Chased up VOSA in Swansea today and they told me that the documentation was in order and they had had passed it to the local testing station in Beverly on the 4th September.

Was told that the station should he in contact within a month to book an appointment for the IVA test!!!

Called the Beverly test station and they have now booked the car in for 8th October for the test. 

Waiting for IVA

All done now, waiting for a date for the IVA test, MNR will collect the car to set up the geometry and then the car will be off to Damian at Daytuner for a rolling road tune. Will be interested to see what power the RPE engine makes.

MNR will check out the car and then take it for IVA, just waiting for a date now....

 

Padded Wheel Centre

In getting ready for IVA I needed to fit a padded centre for the steering wheel. Managed to get some foam when I dropped in to Europaspares, I got a sheet of fabric from eBay and used superglue gel to fix in to place. 

Removed the dash push buttons for the time being and cut the foam shapes and fabric using a template made from the Momo wheel. Wrapped the foam layers with the fabric and fixed around the wheel, glued the fabric in to place.