# The Kit Car Latest And A Sorry Tale It Is :(!!



## pauluspaolo (Feb 24, 2003)

Well we put the kit car in for its mot a couple of days ago & it's all gone tits up big stylee









The problem stems from the fact that it's still registered as a 1275GT Mini (which it blatantly isn't and has no resemblance to). I noticed this on the logbook of course when we went down to pick it up but I didn't think it mattered that much considering it had obviously been around on the road for ages & came with the best part of 12 months MOT. Well more fool me because it does matter & affects the whole bloody mot test. All the tester does now when he gets a car in for it's mot is enter the registration & VIN number into the DVLA's computer & it spits out what the car is & tells him what he needs to test the car as. So Mr mot tester has to test the car as a 1275 GT Mini, which means the car has to pass the brake test for a 1275 GT mini - which it hasn't done. I'm a bit hazy on the details but the tester needs to see a reading of 425 kg (which is a minimum of 50% of the 850kg weight a 1275 GT Mini is classed by the DVLA as being) and the best he's managed on the kit car is 390kg. The mot tester (who's a seriously nice & decent bloke) has said that the brakes themselves are fine they just lock up on the rollers a bit early, because the front end of the car is so light, and don't give a high enough reading as a result. He's told me that they can actually re-register the car for us through the DVLA - all mot testing stations are now linked by computer to the DVLA - but we aren't keen on them doing this as we think the DVLA will then insist that the car's put through the dreaded SVA (Single Vehicle Approval) test which it isn't designed to pass at all. This test costs over Â£200 lasts some 2+ hours and goes through the car with a fine (and I mean fine) toothed comb - I downloaded the SVA manual today and it's 228 pages long! To add insult to injury the nearest SVA testing station is in Manchester!

This is a worst case scenario of course, it may just mean that we have to send the V5 in with a change of vehicle name on it i.e. Chris Hollier Mosquito ('coz that's what it actually is) instead of 1275GT Mini and we get away with it. However I suspect that this is one of the reasons that the new system came into being in the first place to try and get (as someone so politely phrased it today) all "the sh*tters" off the road i.e. cars that aren't what they are registered as. I don't think the kit car really falls into this "sh*tter" category but it's not a 1275 GT mini & it isn't going to be legal to drive unless we get it through the mot somehow by the end of April. Unfortunately the mot tester has now said that he's not prepared to risk his license (which is fair enough) & issue a new mot certificate, even if we get the brakes to read what the DVLA say they should do (425 kg), because it's registered as a 1275 GT mini & it isn't one. Another option is to try a different mot testing station but I presume they'd have the same problem as the one we've taken the car to.

There are other bits & pieces it's failed on too but these can all be faairly simply & cheaply put right - the brakes are the real problem. I think we'll end up having to re-register it & then do what the DVLA deems neccesary to get it back on the road.

S it looks like we'll have to re-register it & risk the potential nightmare & expense of the SVA test.

Bummer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## johnbaz (Jan 30, 2005)

paul

couldn't you add ballast to the front?, sort of erm make some mudguards out of quarter plate then bolt 'em on so's they can be removed later, that should give the braking effort needed, trouble is that you'd have to take it to another mot station, assuming any of them would risk it









bloody red tape spoiling everything























my sympathies, john.


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## Mothman (Oct 11, 2005)

Paul, sorry to hear of your woes with the MOT







. Unfortunately I gave my SVA manual to the guy who bought my old part build kit car, otherwise you would have been more than welcome to it. It may be that the mod's required for your car to pass it's SVA are not possible given the vehicles design. I am not familiar with the Mosquito kit, is it still made? If so, have they had to change the design greatly to enable them to be SVA'd. I'm gutted for you and hope the DVLA will let you sort the problem the easy way by re-registering the car.

Richard


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## Mrcrowley (Apr 23, 2003)

What an arse.

You should stick to watches & production cars.

Seriously, hope it gets sorted.


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## thorpey69 (Feb 8, 2006)

paul pretty sure that if the tester entered the vehicle as what it is it shouldnt mean an sva test,if the vehicle was built some time ago before the sva was introduced etc then it might be ok,best bet is to contact vosa and speak to them,the mot testing laws are so vague you can argue and win over virtually any decision as it is open to discretion and vosa will rarely find in favour of a test centre if you know your stuff and make a valid point,i know that my testers sometimes have to re insert a vehicles details as it doesnt tally up with what they are seeing on the screen and so far i dont thinjk anyone has had to have a sva,but then again that is for bikes.good luck anyway


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## pauluspaolo (Feb 24, 2003)

Ta for the support chaps - I haven't entirely given up hope of getting it through the MOT as a 1275GT. The brake reading isn't far off what it needs to be and the MOT tester (who, as I said, is a very nice bloke indeed) isn't convinced that he can't get it through the test somehow. The ballast idea is a good idea and a full tank of fuel may help a bit (the tank doesn't hold much but it's right at the front of the car). I get the feeling that if we can get the brake reading up to what he needs to see then we may just get away with it - he's certainly prepared to test the brakes again with a full tank of fuel which is something positive. Also the weight of the car (or the lack of it) may be able to be taken into account somehow. I've been told that the kit car only weighs about 450kg which is a fraction of the weight it's actually being tested for. I'm having a week off soon so will try & get it down to a public weighbridge & find out just how much it does weigh - just to satisfy my curiosity if nothing else! It's failed the Mot on other things as well as the brakes (though they are the major problem) so once we get the car back we can start sorting out the other failure points just to keep us busy - they'll all need to be sorted for the SVA anyway.

As for whether the Mosquito is SVA friendly or not well I don't think that it will be, but there's a fair chance that I'll find out for definite this year! The Mosquito isn't produced anymore, though someone has plans to start building it & making it available as a kit again - no offence to said person but I'm not sure if this will ever happen & he certainly hasn't put the car through the SVA test yet, which is something he'll have to do if he does start making it available in kit form again.

Kit cars of a similar style are still being manufactured (if you do a Google image search for the ABS Freestyle you'll see what I mean) and these get through the SVA test so all is not lost, though I suspect that any plans we may have had to get the car back on the road this year may well have taken quite a few lengthy steps back. Jon (co-owner of the car) has gone on holiday & I'll need to talk to him at length about our options before doing anything about getting it re-registered or SVA'd (there'll be a waiting list anyway at the SVA testing station so goodness knows when the test will happen).

I'll let you know how I get on but don't don't expect anything to happen soon







!


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## JonW (Mar 23, 2005)

Paul. As I said in email - I feel for you mate.









IMHO the extra ballast over the front wheels is a good idea but will only help you so far... As usual with govt regulations youre often better embracing them when they arrive than later as the regs just seem to get tougher and tougher. My worry would be that if you dont SVA the car then you will have this hassle every year and it could get worse over time. There was a lot of hassle about 10 years back when the govt brought in the first set of rules to argue a points system for kit cars. Many Bond Equipe owners and other classic cars based on other vehicles were suddenly sent Q plates with no chance to argue...







I was building a TR7 Conv. with a Rover V8 at the time and its was looking like with the engine and original TR gearbox (they are the same as the SD1 luckily) I would be fine, but if I went to Rover SD1 suspension / axle (to get the wide track - I already had a lower ratio diff) I would not have enough points... really silly as the car had an engineers report and MOT etc









I think youre right that the govt is trying to get the death traps off the road and generally improve road saftey with less sharp edges and cars that conform to lighting and other standards. FWIW the UK is pretty lienient over other countires, ge here you cant build a Caterham for the road - it has to be built for you by the importer. you can build a kitcar but it is subject to a Â£1k test and only if youve used parts fromother cars that were ADR (Aussie Design Rules) approved previously. So importing an engine from abroad from a car not ADR approved would mean instant failure or another Â£1k test. Failing the test means its a track car only and often cars get crushed. I was told by one importer that they crushed 15 Skyline GTRs the other day as they didnt comply and were waiting on a decision after 2 years of legal wrangles for another car but it was likley it was going to go the same way... breaks yer heart!









I would have thought that most of the SVA test would be fine with your car by the looks of it. It has a decent motor and so long as the noise is low enough and the sharpe edges on the inside and out are covered by foam etc then it should be ok... I may be wrong but surely it has to be worth the hassle, it looks like such a fun car. I know its a hassle to read and comply with the rules but once youve done it youre set, assuming you see the car as a keeper of course....

Of course there is an alternative.... spend the money getting a trailer and use it off road for either autotests or grasstrack etc. I would have thought the mini base and its cheap parts would make it nice and ideal for these sports.


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