NITRAM'S BUILD

[scooby1929]

Nitram must be on some pub crawl in celebration and later an open top bus ride

[nitram]

So, about the test. First, though, thanks for your kind words and a brief reply to your comments.

The mass shown on the IAC is not the kerb mass but what they call the mass of the vehicle in running order. I think this is derived from the calculation shown in the IVA Manual Section 44 App 1 and includes a full fuel tank, 2 assumed passengers (68kg each) and luggage (7kg each). The calculation is to show that the mass is less than the mass for each axle declared on IVA application – the 550 and 450 are my declared figures. So, if what I have just written is correct, the kerb mass (car and fuel only) comes in at about 670kg. I would think this is towards the top end of Exocet masses; I have made no efforts to save mass particularly; I have, for instance, retained the MX5 power steering, ABS and seats.

Shame on you, Scooby. Why would I want an open top bus when I’ve got an Exocet.

THE TEST

I first read about the Exocet in Kit Car Magazine in Nov 2010. They were running a nine page article asking whether the exo could really be built for £2000 (as advertised by MEV at the time). We all know what the answer is, but I was sufficiently interested to search out the MEV website and start reading the threads of the intrepid pioneers of the time. There were always questions about this IVA thing and it became apparent that the IVA manual and the test was the important thing in the world. As a result I started my build for the test long before placing the order by starting to get familiar with the manual. Nobody should build an exo to impress their girlfriend (or their granny) but to impress the IVA examiner. Every nut and bolt, bracket, component, everything, should be put on the exo after you have a clear understanding of how that bit will feature in the IVA test. That was the best bit of advice I received and I pass it on. Only standing on the shoulders of giants….

The examiner at Southampton, Mark, was friendly, chatty, interested and, when required, pedantic. After the intros, he said the car looked good and his first question was: “How much do you know about the IVA Manual?” I replied that it had been my constant bedtime companion for 3 years (stretching the truth a bit) and that the car had been built around the manual 100% true). He said that that was good news and that there shouldn’t be any problems then. I suggested, therefore, that we might move straight on to completing the pass certificate but he declined at that time. There then followed 4 hours of nerve-racking torture. But, at least Mark kept up a running commentary of “OK so far”.

Backtracking….. I lost count of the times I referred to the Manual but by the end of the build I could have cheerfully sat a written test of any aspects of the Manual. There are things that require a fingers-crossed approach. Emissions, noise, mass, cannot be checked by an amateur builder in an amateur garage, but in most of these cases, there is the consolation of knowing that it worked on the MX5 so it should be OK on the exo, shouldn’t it? For everything else, there are no excuses. If you are concerned about something, do not hope the examiner will miss it. He will not! Fix it before the test and do not leave anything remotely dodgy to “see what the examiner thinks”.

The week before the test, I had a small panic attack and started seeing sharp edges that I had not seen before (like the vertical rectangular bars on the exo frame that hold the side panels in place). I had already used miles of edging, nut covers, amalgamating tape etc etc but still rushed out to our local bike store to scrounger a few used inner tubes to cover more and more perceived sharp edges, and it worked. Mark said: “I can see I’m not going to find anything wrong here” staring at the acres of rubber.

Everything is measured. If there is a measurement quoted in the manual it will be measured. Specialist bits of kit, like the giant protractors used to measure the angle of the mud guards are impressively high tech while the contraption that sits in the seat to measure seatbelt mount heights and forward vision came from the Heath Robinson garden shed. The tape measure was used so much it almost wore out. The most common tape measurement failure, Mark said, is on external mirrors; the “third” dimension in the Manual is often forgotten. Even things that I would consider obvious are measured. I had some reasonably beefy load spreaders for the seat restraint bolts but even these are measured even though they are “obviously” twice as big as required in the manual. A Vernier gauge is used to measure the height of the lettering on the VIN and manufacturers plate. The only measurement which I thought appeared a bit casual was the field of view of the exterior mirrors. The coloured poles are mounted on the wall of the test bay at Southampton and once the vehicle was roughly aligned, Mark's comment was: “I can see everything on the wall from end to end. No point in wasting any time on that”.

I could not set up the headlights with any degree of accuracy in my garage. To be on the safe side, they were probably pointing at the nearside gutter. Mark accepted this, allowed me to loosen them off, and then held them in place while looking in his gismo while I tightened them up again.

I’ve used most of the MX5 exhaust system but with a new, cylindrical, intermediate box. The noise test came in a only 86db (but still higher than this year’s F1!). The engine is run quite a lot during the test and although the temp gauge showed warm, Mark said it needed to be really hot to ensure the emissions test was OK. He made me take the car outside and run the car at 6500rpm for several minutes until everything was red hot and I had p***ed off plumbers merchants in the next unit but the test was OK. There was no need to prove the engine age in my case as the donor was ’99 and we agreed it would need the latest CAT.

The examiner will check the 8.8 bolts specified in the Manual. The seat belt mounting bolts were capped when I took the car in and he asked me to remove the cap. I told him he would not see an 8.8 but the equivalent American 3 lines in a triangle (as permitted in the Manual) and, presumably because I knew what I was talking about, he told me not to bother.
ī
He asked me to remove 2 wheel nuts at random, one front one rear, as there were instances of cars being presented with after-market wheels fitted which, because of their shape, were only held on by a few threads. He also commented that after-market wheels had occasionally affected the speedo and resulted in failures of under reading. Use MX5 wheels for the test?

I wasn’t expecting him to examine the brake contents low fluid level warning circuits, but he did. He asked if pushing in something like a biro would depress the switch and activate the light. I said I didn’t know whether the internal geometry would allow this. But, flash of inspiration, I remembered that, in my thread, I had commented that there were still a couple of circuits that I could not test at the time. One of these was the handbrake that shared the same warning light as the low contents switch. The examiner accepted this as proof that the warning light was permanently on with no fluid in the reservoir but off with fluid in the reservoir as he was seeing it (having checked that the bulb illuminated when the ignition was first turned on).

As I expected, he checked that the ABS light illuminated when the ignition was first on and extinguished after a few seconds. I was not expecting him to ask me to drive past him in excess of 20mph and slam on the braked to demonstrate the characteristic ABS “rumble”.

I was asked to remove the steering wheel boss to prove there was no air bag hiding in the hole and Mark was pleased that I had sanded off the air bag writing on the boss.

Finally came the sharp edge inspection but as mentioned above, my exo was swathed in rubber. No problems. I had also fitted grills to the side triangular panels by the engine bay and at the steering wheel. He liked these and said there had been failures because he could touch sharp edges on some cars by pushing his 100mm balls 200mm into the interior.

That’s about all I can remember for now. I’ll post anything else I remember. Happy testing.

[trident]

Nice write up. Many thanks. I'm already in the process of making some engine bay panels.

[mrjingles705]

Very thorough writeup - much appreciated.

[driver]

Thank you

[scooby1929]

Great write up but a couple of quickies

1. Did he check for a drip tray / heat shield under the fuel tank.
2. Did you have to remove the fuel cover
3. Did he check the rubber fuel pipes
4. Did he check the vin plate was fully welded
5. What height do the digits have to be on the other plate
6. Do you need trim on the side panels and transmission cover
7. Did he check the brake fluid said dot 3 only
Fours hours of this is mad. Cant believe it. Goin to have nightmares now

[nitram]

In the order of Scoob's questions:

1. Yes, he checked the drip tray from underneath and was happy with a photograph from the top. (I took my laptop which had loads of photos of all stages of the build).

2. He asked if the fuel tank dustbin was removable. I said it was not designed to be as it was "permanently" attached to the fuel tank. He was happy to see photographs which showed the fuel pipes were not chaffing and that the tank was earthed.

3. He did not ask to see the paperwork for the pipes but was probably satisfied with the photos which showed that the pipes had the usual type of markings that fuel pipes have.

4. My exo was a weld-free build. I had stamped the VIN on the chassis - not very neat but he was happy. If the VIN had not been stamped he would have expected to see a fully welded plate.

5. Read the manual, Ch 18. On the manufacturer's plate the VIN has to be a minimum of 3.5mm; all other letters have to be at least 2mm. I got mine engraved on a sheet of Al at the local engravers - see my thread.

6. I did not have trim on the side plastic panels but had rounded the edges top and bottom with a sanding block. He ran his fingers along this and was happy. My transmission cover was trimmed all the way round. No chance of sharp edges but I also found this helped with the fit - no metal to metal contact.

7. Yes, he checked the label. The one I bought from Car Builder Solutions actually said dot 4.

The test lasts 4 hours because everything is checked, everything. This includes such things as:

The markings on all tyres especially the speed rating compared with test application declaration of top speed.
Horn.
Anti- thefts devices - had to demonstrate the steering lock.
All lights. Rear fog had to come on only on dip or main and had to go off automatically when dip or main were turned off. Reversing light.
Exhaust for leaks.
Brakes for leaks. Checked that flex brake pipes were not fouling lock-to-lock, driver in, engine running.
He also drove it around quite a bit. Said he loved the handling!
Can't think of any more specifics, but if it was in the Manual, it was checked.

[nitram]

Back in Nov 2012, I reported on the poor fit of the bonnet and nose cone. Neither were symmetrical. I asked how the bonnet could come out of the mould 8mm longer on the right than on the left. Days of sanding and fettling produced an acceptable fit, so, take the medicine and move on. But the problem has come back to haunt me.

I've been trying to produce a cardboard template for a fly screen but haven't been able to get it to look right. The passenger's side always looked lower than the driver's side. This seems pretty well impossible as there is a moulding on the top of the bonnet that holds the fly screen at the same angle on both sides, doesn't it. When I measured the angles accurately, the moulding on the drivers side is at 42deg to the bonnet and on the other side it is 33deg.

Has anyone else found a similar problem? If so, how was it fixed?

Perhaps Stuart Mills might like to comment.

[gwnwar]

Have you trier to make a tapered shim for the one side to even it out..If made of soft wood soak it in water for a couple of days till it will bend to rounded shape.. Really bad QC when made..

[nitram]

Haven't tried it yet but that will almost certainly be the way forward. Hopefully small shims will suffice that can hide behind the fixing washers. I've PM'd Stuart to ask him what the angle is on the design drawings so I will know which side to shim.

Gwnwar, have you been away?

[gwnwar]

Yes been on holiday for a week or so won't be home till July 8.. You might want to paint the inside of the lower edge of the wind screen maybe 3/4" up to hide all shims and foam filler if needed..

[nitram]

Because the Exocet, in DVLA, terms is old parts added to a new kit, it is defined as a "Kit Converted Car". This is different from a "Kit Built Car" which is made from all parts supplied new by the manufacturer. Different registration forms are required for the different types. The one needed for the Exocet is the V55/5. I emailed DVLA to get confirmation of what other paperwork was required and they replied:

"Applications to register your vehicle should be sent to MASET Team; DVLA; Swansea; SA99 1ZZ.

Documentation required for registration: -
• V55/5
• V5C (if donor vehicle is used)
• ID(Photocopies are acceptable)
• 1st Registration Fee £55
• Fee for road tax
• MOT (if applicable)
• IVA/SVA/MSVA Certificate
• Receipts for any new or second hand parts.
• V627/1 ‘Built up Vehicle Inspection Report’ to be completed before inspection.

You would need to allow up to 10 working days to receive tax disc and supporting documents.

A V5C Registration Certificate will then be sent to the keeper within 6 weeks."

The V55/5 cannot be downloaded as it is a 1960's vintage 2 page, carbon paper museum piece. It can be ordered on-line but takes 10 days to arrive by post. You also need a V355/5 which is the guide for completing the V55/5 and this can be downloaded or ordered at the same time as the V55/5.

The V627/1 can be downloaded and this has an additional list of things to be provided (receipts, photos etc).

I asked DVLA if proof of insurance was required and they replied:

"As a result of the Road Transport Red Tape Challenge, the requirement to produce evidence of insurance at the point of taxing a vehicle was abolished on the 16th December 2013."

This helps.

I sent my documentation off, recorded delivery, on 21 June but it hasn't arrived yet. Then 10 working days..................

[pincherrn]

Hi Nitram,

You mention about the size of the seat mount spreader plates being the correct size, where did you find these measurements I read through the seat section of the IVA Manual and didn't see any dimensions mentioned.

Cheers

Colin

[nitram]

Colin

Welcome to the minefield. Only a normal, sane, rational person would look in the seat strength section of the IVA Manual to find out how to bolt in the seats.

If, like I did, you use the MX5 seats and lap and diagonal seat belts, the static end of the belt is bolted to the seat. So, the seat transmits any seat belt crash loads to the chassis and hence the seat anchorages must comply with the requirements for seat belt anchorages. With me so far?

Go to Chapter 19, Seat Belt Anchorages. On page 8 of this chapter is the section "Anchorages Integral with Seat Structure". One of the items for the examiner to look for is "Use of spreader plates to spread loads into structural areas of the car". I don't believe this section specifies the minimum dimensions of the spreaders required but further down the chapter there are examples, not all the same. Take your pick but big is beautiful.

Incidentally, Chapter 19, at page 6, also specifies 8.8 bolts for seat belt anchorages and hence the seats need to be mounted using 8.8 bolts.

If your seat belt anchorage does not involve the seat, ignore all the above and go back to Chapter 15 for seat fitting.

[nitram]

Setting off for the IVA test at 1:30 in the morning.