Section XXV The SVA Test

Insurance

Before you insure your car shop about. I really paid well over the odds for my first years insurance (2005) and my quote from ROADSURE was considerably LESS than other similar quotes. Believe it or not it was half that of another well known advertiser in the RHOC&R magazine.

Once again ROADSURE Ltd have beaten any quotation (April 2008) for my 2B and provide a very helpful and personal service. Very switched on to the needs of kit car owners etc. Everyone seems to be offering a better deal but very few actually deliver the goods.

SVA or Single Vehicle Approval

There is a wealth of information available regarding the SVA and it would be impossible to repeat it all here. Please refer to the many excellent articles on the RHOC&R web site. For those who wish to print off their own copy of the SVA Manual (all 178 pages) there is a link to the manual that can be found on the North West RHOC&R club web site. As it is a .pdf file. (Portable data format) you will require Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 or above to open.. Adobe Acrobat Reader is available as a free download off the Internet. Try printing in black & white and when you print use the little printer logo in the extreme top left hand margin, print odd pages followed by evens to save paper. Set the printer to Landscape format. I think it would be impossible to get an SVA pass without access to the SVA Manual. ( It's almost impossible with it !!) You can of course buy an up to date copy from The Vehicle and Operators Service Agency, P O Box 12, SWANSEA SA1 1BP at £37.00 (Price in 2004)

As you read the this manual any areas of the build that require special attention have been highlighted with an SVA Note. This does not cover ALL requirements but covers at least those items that have been brought to my attention by members of the local RHOC&R. To ensure an SVA pass you MUST read the full SVA regulations. Not to do so invites failure.

Change of Major Components

If you intend to fit a different engine to your 2B rather than the one from the original Sierra donor you need to take certain precautions. The regulations regarding the issue of Number Plates are open to interpretation, but to obtain an age related Sierra donor plate your 2B must be built using a substantial number of major parts from the original car, ie. Engine, Gearbox, Rear Axle Assy, Front Hubs etc. The more the better. See DVLA INF26 pg.2. If you do not comply with this requirement you may finish up with a 'Q' plate. Before you start the re-registration, SVA, MOT and Insurance procedures make sure that the donor registration document (log book) reflects the serial number and engine capacity etc. of the car you intend to submit. It is a simple matter to send off the registration document to Swansea (use recorded delivery) noting all the proposed changes. In due course you will be issued with a new document (which as far as the DVLA computer is concerned, is for an existing Ford Sierra) this can then be used for the aforementioned procedures. Apparently, you do not get the original donor plate, but an age related plate. Cars from uncertain origin get a 'Q' plate. As far as I am aware it is not possible to convert a 'Q' plate to a personalized plate at a later date. Once you are issued with a 'Q' plate you are stuck with it forever.

Do not forget your SORN declaration. This is now a legal requirement from January 2004.

Re-Registration, SVA, MOT and Insurance Procedures.

Before you go any further ensure that the log book of the Sierra donor car reflects the build state of your car, see above.

1) Before we can proceed we have to decide how we are going to get our finished car to the SVA testing station. We can tow it on a trailer, (since the car is totally untested a trailer may be the best option, dealing with "shakedown" faults on your way to the SVA test in not a good idea) with a tow rope or it may be possible to use trade plates. The car cannot under any circumstances be driven on a public highway without at least third party insurance. A call to one of the Kit Car Insurance companies gave me the answer. They will insure the car using the Chassis Number (the Robin Hood Order Number was suggested) in order that the car may be driven legally to the SVA testing station. (Similar rules apply as per the MOT, no Tax required as long as you are pre-booked and go directly to the SVA test) Don't forget that at this stage the final Registration Number is not known for certain and that the DVLA may decide to issue a "Q" number etc. The only Insurance proviso is that an application to Register the car, see stage (5) below, (assuming it passes the SVA) is made within 30 days. This is a bit tight, as if the car fails, as most do, you have to carry out the remedial work, get a retest and hopefully pass. Then get the registration carried out, have the DVLA inspection etc. A bit of a push in 30 days. (some allow longer) so do not hang about. You may loose your Insurance money.

2) When the car is 100% finished telephone the VOSA on 08706 060 440 (select option 5) and request an SVA Information Pack. The pack comes with an Application Form, SVA1 & The Single Vehicle Approval Scheme Guide, SVA4. The address of your local HGV Testing Station is given in Appendix 3, Pg 22 and on the back of the form. Send the form off together with the fee, currently £150.00 (as of April 2004) to the SVA Section, VOSA, Swansea not your chosen local test center. A re-test is £30.00 and a failure to attend will set you back £50.00. As soon as a date is issued contact the your Insurers and Insure the car for your journey to the test. (See Note 1 below) The test takes up a full 4 hour slot so only morning appointments are available. (08:00am) There are quite a few instructions with the appointment letter, so read these carefully. Note a FULL fuel load is required for the test. There is a map and some notes regarding Diesel testing, very unlikely to apply in the case of a Robin Hood.

I have just been advised by the DVLA that an MOT is not required, as the car is registered as a new vehicle. Additionally no further MOT is required for 3 years. The vehicle is effectively registered AS A NEW VEHICLE but given an age related plate. ie: My car will get a "G" plate but NOT the original donor plate.

3) Possibly NOT in the correct sequence, I had the MOT at this point, driving on the temporary cover note. This was a good plan to get a few miles in and have the lights and tracking set up prior to the SVA. The MOT found a couple of faults and gave the car a good once over.(see the above note)

3) Proceed to the SVA test. Take the booking confirmation just in case you get stopped, also your Provisional Insurance details if you are driving. I am using a trailer c/w loads of tools etc. It is also essential to take any supporting documents with you, particularly for the engine date and photo's of hidden parts. Following a successful pass you will be issued with an MAC or a Ministers Approval Certificate. On the assumption it passes proceed to Registration.(4)

4) Ring the DVLA on 0870 850 0007 You will be presented with a range of seven options, one of these options includes kit built cars. You will eventually get through to an operator who will take your postal details and send you an information pack on the procedures to be followed. This usually comes by return post. To save time you can do this prior to the SVA.

5) The information pack comprises no less than ten documents:- INF26, INF54/1, INF148, V55/4, V55/5, V100, V149, V355/4, V355/5, V627/1. The important document is INF26. Guidelines for the registration of rebuilt or radically altered vehicles and kit cars. Read this carefully. There are two forms requiring completion. V627/1 Built Up Vehicle Inspection Report and either V55/4 or V55/5. INF148, V355/4 or V355/5 gives guidance on completing these forms. The V55 forms require, amongst other documents, a successful SVA test certificate. The V55/5 and the V627/1 Built Up Inspection Reports are the two applicable to most Robin Hoods.

6) Complete the required documents V55/5, V627/1 and take or return to your local DVLA office together with the monies required. You MUST do this in your own DVLA catchment area. (No Credit Cards accepted) together with two cheques, £93.50 6 for months Tax and £38 for Re-registration. You also need to supply the MAS (SVA Pass Certificate) the Robin Hood Invoice, the Donor Log Book, two forms of identification (Driving License, Utility bill) and your Insurance Cover Note. (the address of your local DVLA office can be found in section 11 of the V100) Do not forget to include all the all requested documentation. (Use recorded delivery) Most DVLA offices will send an Inspection Officer out to see the finished vehicle and inspect the build status. This is mainly a check of the Engine Number as the Gearbox, Diff etc are hidden away. You will receive, by First Class Post, Form V948, Number Plate Authorization Certificate. This is required in order to purchase a set of Number Plates, together with proof of identity. The DVLA do not return the MAC test form so take a colour copy as it will be useful when you eventually sell the car. ( You can even frame it and hang it on the wall ) As you paid the Road Fund fee when you submitted your V55/5 they will also issue a Tax disc with the new number. The Registration Certificate or Log Book ( Form V5C ) comes direct from Swansea in a few days.

7) Have a set of Number plates made to the newly issued Registration Number and advise the Insurers of the new Registration Number who will issue a normal policy for the car.

8) You can now go and DRIVE. As mentioned above you will not need an MOT for 3 years.

9) You should not get a SORN reminder for the original Donor Vehicle as the number has been "retained" by the DVLA.

The MOT & SVA Test

I decided not to follow the usual sequence of an SVA followed by an MOT and had the MOT first. ( Note an MOT may not be required but check this out with your local DVLA first. ) This gave me the opportunity to have a little "shakedown" run first and to get the Headlamps aligned, an Emissions test and a Brake test etc, prior to the SVA where NO adjustments are permitted. One or two problems were found during the MOT and these were put right on the spot. The MOT was passed OK and the SVA awaited with the usual trepidation. The bad news was that, despite the best efforts of my good friends in the RHOC&R it failed. The good news is that the noted 17 failures were all of a minor nature, mainly external projections, and there were no major electrical or mechanical non-compliances. It was interesting that area's I had reservations about passed without comment. Notably the projections at the outer ends of the Rear Suspension, Noise levels ( passed with a bog standard RH silencer and no pronged insert ) Seat mountings and the Handbrake layout. I have included photographs of the non-compliances and details of the rectification required in the table below. The staff were very helpful suggesting methods of ensuring compliance and the test was conducted without any bias and, as far as I could tell, to the letter of the SVA regulations. I now have a full 6 months ( if required ) to comply and re-present the car with a re-test fee of £30.00. It was pointed out that virtually no kit cars pass first time so do not be disappointed if yours fails, they all do. The second SVA test has now been carried out with a pass. It was far less formal than the first test taking less than 20mins.

The major problem with the SVA is that it is inconsistent. Items that fail at one station ( or tester ) will pass at another. Some items may not even be inspected at all, but given due emphasis at another. With a 178 page manual, this is hardly surprising. One example is the Robin Hood Rear Mirrors, mine were fitted in the position shown in all the RH brochure's and failed. Other builders have passed with exactly the same set up. All you can do is present the car as good as you can get it, DO NOT ARGUE with the tester, he will always win, and then re-submit. The very worst thing you can do is to submit a badly built car and hope that the tester will point out all the faults. The SVA testers might be inconsistent, that is after all human nature, but they are not mugs.

There is an Electrical Check List just to be sure all is working, very useful prior to the SVA (Lights, Instruments etc.) See Appendix II Technical Notes.

Do take some tools, the tester wanted to see evidence that the Front Ball joints had been fitted into the tapers the correct way, ( yes they have seen the old Video ) and nuts had to be removed. Also the photographs of hidden seat belt mountings were required. The test also requires a gas probe to be pushed up the exhaust pipe a good 200mm. Any restriction is a fail, if you are using the RHE gizmo make sure it is well up the pipe.

Photographs

Extra Padding on Dash (1)	Tiger Racing Mirrors (2)	Vacuum Serve Pipe Clip (5)	Spare Wheel Cover & No. Plate (9,16)
Front Wishbone Beading (11)	Number Plate Removed (10)	Beading on Mudguard Supports (12)	Track Rod & Coil Nuts (13,14)

Note 1

As you fill in Form SVA1, Q1 requires you to enter the Vehicle Identification Number or VIN. This number is derived from your original Robin Hood Order Number plus the addition of arbitrary, random numbers to make a total of 17 numbers. This should fill up the boxes for Q1. Q13 asks for the Maximum Design Speed and the Maximum Power RPM enter 70mph and 2,900rpm**, further down Q15 asks for the Design Weights, these are 600kgs Front Axle, 450kgs Rear Axle and Gross Weight of 1050kgs. (Official Robin Hood Sports Cars figures) Maximum SAFE revs for an unmodified Pinto WHEN NEW are 6,000rpm. Some of these engines are the better part of 25 years old and it may be prudent (unless you have done a very through rebuild) to limit your maximum revs to 5,000rpm. Unless you have access to a Dynamometer you will not be able to determine the revs for max power anyway. Tuning books give between 2,500rpm and 7,500rpm for useful power output but the state of tune, camshaft, carburetor's, compression ratio etc. play a major part. 3,000rpm is given as a safe figure for the purpose of the SVA test. I suspect the SVA use this figure for the Decibel test so the lowest rpm you can get away with the better.

Maximum Speed. One of the questions relates to the cars maximum speed. I entered 70mph, but a subsequent letter from the SVA requests the vehicles maximum speed, NOT the legal maximum. Since, for legal reasons, we are unable to establish this figure by actual driving, I have entered a theoretical maximum based on the cars speed at the estimated max power or 5,000 rpm. Pinto's are Red Lined at 6,000rpm WHEN NEW.

To calculate the Maximum Speed divide the engine rpm at max power by the gearbox ratio in top gear (for my 5 speed box this was 0.82:1, but for a 4 speed box this is usually 1:1) then divide by the diff ratio (3.92 in my case an Estate Diff:) then multiply by the circumference of the tyre. (Diameter x 3.142 = circumference of 72.2") This gives the distance the car travels in one minute in inches. Divide this by 12 (inches to feet) and multiply by 60 (distance traveled per hour) then divide by 3 (feet to yards) and then by 1,760.(yards to a mile) This gives the top speed in Miles per Hour. All these ratio's can be found in any Sierra Haynes manual. See worked example below:-

5,000/0.82/3.92 x 72.2/12 x 60/3/1,760 = 106.3mph (this seems about right) This equals 127.6mph at 6,000rpm and 148.9 at 7,000rpm.

** Haynes gives rpm figures for various Sierra engine codes. Maximum Engine Power is approx. 5,000rpm whilst Maximum Torque is approx. 3,000rpm. Refer to the manual for your particular engine code.

Other useful links:-

http://www.hunshelf.btinternet.co.uk/sva4.htm

http://www.hmso.gov.uk

http://www.europa.eu/comm

http://www.roads.dft.gov

http://www.via.gov.uk/

http://www.via.gov.uk/vehicle testing/sva/sva.htm

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© Colin Usher 2008