IVA Passed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's been 3 years of building this car, including a house move and some extended time abroad for work, but I yesterday I finally got it through the IVA test.

This pretty much signifies the end of the build although there may be a few 'tweaks' yet to be applied.

The first test was in the middle of August. I shan't go in to a lot of detail but I shall say it went fairly well. It took 2 hours to find anything wrong and then only really minor problems that wouldn't take a lot of time or effort to rectify. There was one slightly more significant issue regarding the Speedometer which required a bit more attention.

Here's what it failed on:

Radiused edges around the seat belt mounts, gear stick gaiter surround, steering wheel, and front suspension mounts. Trim applied to satisfy the requirements.

The ECU could also be reached from the passenger side seat position so needed a cover.

Collapsible steering assembly. The boss the steering wheel is mounted on needs to be collapsible. The one fitted was not so I had to get a new one. Also for the steering column itself, it wasn't obvious how it would collapse in the event of a front impact. This required a little research and advice from Richard at GBS.

The problem with the Speedo was interesting. At 70 mph and above the needle would flick around all over the place, clearly something wrong there. It turned out to the the sensor not mounted squarely to the prop shaft. I remade the bracket so it was.

Other than that the inspector was quite complementary about the build of the car in general.

Three weeks later I took the car on it's first road journey to the test center for a retest. This took less than 20 minutes, and I was issued with an IVA pass certificate.

So, that's pretty much the end of the project... Only the registration to do and fit the number plates. I hope we get at least a couple of days of good weather in the next couple of months!

I'll continue to update this blog as and when I take the car out or do anything to it.

Update

Well, I could real off a list of excuses as to why I haven't updated the blog recently but they are, as I say, excuses. Here's a quick update anyway:

The car is basically finished and I am waiting to take it in for it's IVA test in a few days time. Here's a few pictures of the (almost) completed car both outside my old flat and in front of the Instant Garage on my patio.

I had attached the wheels and enough running gear to be able to move the car from the garage under my old flat to my new house. Here it was waiting for the transporter to arrive.

After a few very hot days in the instant garage, the glue on the carpets on melted. I had to take the seats out to put it all back again.

I'm really pleased with the dashboard. The modern gauges hint at the newer engine and electronics than the classic sports car styling suggests.

I will endeavour to post a few more photos after the IVA test if I haven't been battered too much.