1 November
Ok, I've been a bit remiss in not updating the site very often recently. But I was working on the carpets and I didn't enjoy it, so I wasn't getting on very well. However, I did plug away at it slowly. The footwell carpets, tunnel sides and the parcel shelf one went off to a local firm to have the edges whipped (oh, er, missus!). That took a couple of days, but only cost £13 and the result is really nice. I also worked on making carpet covers for the pigs ears. They ended up looking like that fake yeti scalp that Edmund Hillary brought back from Tibet! But they do fit the pigs ears.
The gear stick and handbrake gaiters got sewed to the tunnel cover and that was stuck down. The result looks good.
Next the stoneguards got fitted. I used some allen keyed dome head bolts so that I could keep putting the guards on and off to make the piping fit really well. The heads of these bolts are the same shape as the big pop rivets that hold the back panel on, so they all seem to match quite nicely.
On Saturday I got a local mobile tuning firm to come and check Kitkat's set up. It turned out I had it timed spot on, ( click here for a story about how tweaking the timing left me flat footed) but the carbs needed a bit of tweaking to get the emissions down. The chap said that was because it was a re-con engine and in a few hundred miles it would settle. However, he did get it under the magic figures, so that was ok. It seems cylinder number 2 is a bit down on compression, but that should come up when the valves bed in properly. He also showed me which screws to turn and by how much to get the hydro-carbon emissions under the limit if they are a bit over at SVA. If that fails he suggested I pull the vacuum tube off the dizzy and bung a bolt in the end. This drops the reading from 1150 to 880 - well inside the allowed range. Then, when the pass certificate is in my hands I can put the pipe back on!
I've cut the slot out of the bonnet to fit round the carb trumpets. Then we put the nose cone on and tried to make the scuttle, bonnet and nose fit together. Impossible! The hump in the bonnet is too high, though I'm assured by the newsgroup that this will settle when the engine gets hot underneath it. Also the bonnet is three quarters of an inch longer on the left than the right and the scuttle was half an inch further back from the front end of the chassis on the left than the right. This is all going to take some fiddling to get right, so at the moment it is in the 'leave it until a good idea turns up' state.
I rested the cycle wings on the front tyres and took a photo just to inspire me onwards. It did.
Oh, while I had the engine ticking over it became clear the silencer had a hole it it. The weld didn't go all the way to the end of a seam. Pat and I had a trip down to Tiger to swap it. Tiger had hoped to have my new seat pad done to pick up at the same time, but it wasn't so that will have to come in the post.
I've noticed that both the nose cone and one of the cycle wings have big bubbles in the gel-coat. These aren't obvious until I polish the surface, then - pop - a big hole appears. I'll try and fill them, but if the results aren't good, I'll talk to Tiger about having them replaced.
Finally, tonight I worked out how to extend the front indicators so they are within 400mm of the widest part of the car (an SVA requirement). I originally tried using some aluminium tubing, threading it to extend the indicator. But cutting the thread on the tube made it very weak, so I abandoned that idea. Eventually I found some plastic tube that I could thread inside to screw the indicator in and also thread outside to take a couple of M12 nuts. With suitable padding this should work fine.
I've started the web site to show Phil's progress with his Phantom. It's mainly photos at the moment and not polished at all, but take a look if you're interested. There's a link on the links page if you want to keep checking in.
5 November
Tiger had sent me some new bushes for inside the track control arms as they had found that some had been supplied earlier in the year which had the wrong internal diameter. They had sent replacements out to several builders who had collected kits at that time. I had wondered how I should get the old ones out now that the suspension was well and truly fastened in, but I put the car on axle stands, removed the nut from the front of the bush, pulled off the rubber, slid out the old bush and put on the new one. The ones I had were clearly wrong as the new ones had to be hammered in. However, in they went, back went the rubber bush, the washer and the nut and the job was done. Strange how things that look tricky turn out simple and vice versa, isn't it?
The horrible noise coming from the alternator fan blades as they ate the suspension still happens even with the longer fan belt, so I decided to remove the alternator and trade it in for another, smaller one. Getting it off was awkward as there's no room now the exhaust is on, but eventually it came off. We tried every alternator in Halfords (about 40 of them) trying to find a smaller one that would fit. There was one, a real beauty - small fan, right electrical connections, proper pulley, except that it was a mirror of the one we wanted - the mounting brackets were the wrong way round!
In the end I simply powerfiled the ends off the fan blades on the old one and put it back. While I was doing this, someone walked up the drive for a nosey - its funny how building a Cat makes you lots of new friends. Turns out this chap Mark and his wife/partner Sam are building a Locost to go racing next year. Early days in the build yet, but as they only live up the road, I'll have to pop round and see how they're getting on.
The solution to the nosecone problem duly arrived when Dad pointed out that if the nose was brought further forward at the bottom, it would go up and back on the top. So I removed it from the two bolts that held the radiator in place and tried it in various positions, eventually ending up with it a good two inches further forward than it had been. I had to remove the radiator to drill two more holes, put bolts through them and then replace the radiator. Nyloc nuts simply turn the bolts when they get to the nylon bit, so I've fastened the nose on with ordinary nuts. I hope SVA are OK with that.
The indicator exenders worked a treat and we put the grille on. Tiger supply the grille with a couple of nails attached that you are supposed to put through two holes in the nose cone and bend back. Well, they broke off. So the grille is attached using a couple of small cable ties and looks rather smart.
Now the nose was sitting easier, the bonnet almost fitted. It still needed the scuttle to be undone and moved about to get a consistent gap to the nose and then the bonnet sides were filed back to the same size as each other. The end result is a consistent gap, albeit one that is slightly wider than I would have wanted. The piping needs to be attached using silicone sealant and a recommendation from the newsgroup was that I put the sealant on and hold it in place overnight with the bonnet. This meant I had to work out where the bonnet catches went and fasten them on. The springs went on the front, bolted to a piece of chassis and the clips went to the back. Then we roughed up the GRP with some coarse emery cloth and stuck the piping on.
The inside vinyl panels were next. The ones supplied by Tiger don't fit round the new pigs ears and neither do they go all the way to the end of the footwell. So I bought some more 4mm ply and using the originals as a template and bits of cardboard for the extra fiddly bits, made up some new ones. I sprayed glue on the sides and stuck some thin foam on them, then a layer of bin liner (Matt's suggestion to stop the vinyl 'grabbing' the foam and looking unslightly). Finally applied the vinyl, sticking it at the back only. I used the Tiger supplied black self tappers to attach them to the sides of the car and replaced the carpets. The throttle pedal had to be bent towards the brake a bit now that the vinyl panel goes all the way down to the end of the footwell, but that's no bad thing if I intend to do any fancy heel and toe 'brake while keeping the revs up' driving (unlikely!)
Did you notice how I glossed quickly over the 'stick some thin foam on [the panels]'? It wasn't that simple. Sam is a very keen helper, but I am aware that I treat him like an apprentice - in other words I give him all the crap jobs. But I thought he'd enjoy spraying the glue all over the panels so I passed him the new glue aerosol. Why he has to do this, I don't know, but he always juggles everything. This accounts for the numerous holes in the bottom ally panels where he has repeatedly dropped tools. Today, of course he dropped the spray can - on its nozzle. This jammed it in the 'on' position and set it merrily coating everything in glue, including the tumble drier, the car, the carpets, Sam's head and my arms. But as it was the only can I had, we couldn't afford to waste it, so I hastilly grabbed it off him and sprayed the foam and the panels, giving the glue on us ample time to dry. This stuff is like Evostick, so by the time we could attend to our wounds, it was nicely set.
Here's a tip - spray glue comes off carpets, GRP, fingers etc with a vigorous rub with a rag soaked in WD40 or light machine oil. But for heavy coating of the hair, face and arms, I recommend Hammerite paint thinners. It burns a bit, but it eventually got us clean.
Finally I wanted to fit the seat belts, but the bolts supplied with the belts don't fit the holes in the roll bar, so I lost interest and decided to polish the car instead.
12 November
This week I've made some small extension panels that fit between where the side panels end and the nosecone begins. You can leave this bit with a gap, but I thought it would look better with a panel, so I made a couple up, painted them and riveted them on. For no reason other than being tidy I also put a couple of strips of U shaped trim on the edge to finish them off.
The black self tappers that were holding the inside panels on didn't look right. They caused dimples in the vinyl, but because you couldn't see them, it wasn't clear what was going on, so I changed them for shiny chrome screws in little cups.
You may remember, the seat belts didn't fit straight out of the box because I needed a 12mm bolt to fasten them to the rollbar. Well I got a couple of bolts and fastened everything in place. The bushes that come with the belts needed drilling out to 12mm as well, but I couldn't think of a way of doing that safely, so I didn't use them on the rollbar end. Tiger said they sometimes don't use them either, so I didn't feel too bad. However, Ed Needham suggested that, as I was going over at the weekend, I should take the bushes with me and he'd drill them out using his lathe. Cracking good idea.
The seats went in next by drilling the chassis and back panel for some coach bolts, popping the bolts in place and putting a dot of paint on the top of them. Then I put the seats in place and the paint stuck to where the bolts needed to be. Using a router, I drilled some keyholes out of the plywood of the seats and slid the heads of the coachbolts between the plywood and the foam. Then it was a simple matter to drop the seats back into place, the holes and bolts lined up and I could tighten the nuts up from the other side.
Ha, flippin' ha!
The theory was good, but the bolts in the seat squab were too short, so that meant a trip to the car spares to get some longer ones. (I chose to go to the shop run by a new Cat owner - well not quite yet - delivery is due in a couple of weeks. However, I did introduce myself and suggested he might like to pop round and see how I'm getting on. Another new friend!) The new bolts were long enough, but getting all eight to go through the holes I'd drilled by pushing the foam very hard with my thumbs proved painful. Eventually though, they went through and I tightened them up.
I had been worried about the thick aluminium windscreen support brackets as they weren't quite the right shape to fit the sides of the scuttle. However, thick as they are, I could still bend them round my knee or in the workmate to get them to the right shape. Filed the edges to SVA friendly 3mm radius and polished them up.
The windscreen surround needed the edges rounding and a bit cutting off the length both sides. I jig-sawed a piece of the old side panel plywood to make a template the same shape as the windscreen (so I could drop it without worrying). Using this, getting the surround to the right shape and size was easy. Rather than try and polish the aluminium surround I primed it and gave it four coats of paint and three of lacquer so it looks part of the car.
The thich support brackets are fastened on to the scuttle using six coach bolts. However, the holes in the brackets are round, so don't hold the head of the coachbolts still, which makes fastening up the Nyloc nuts impossible. Sam cam up with the solution - tap the Nylocs then they will screw up easily. They won't lock, of course, but where they are fitting, it doesn't rerally matter. Another twelve washers were needed to tighten the nuts down as the un-threaded shank of the coachbolts stuck too far through the scuttle GRP.
Sunday morning I drove Kitkat out of the garage and took a couple of photos to put on my desk. Ooooh, lovely. And another view.
Spent Sunday afternoon over at Ed and Sue Needham's house checking out their Cat. Although they started nine weeks after I did, they are catching up fast - probably because they are doing without a windscreen, so don't need a heater or wipers. They are also going for the natural aluminium look, so no painting, but probably the main reason they are catching me up is that they are reading this diary and so avoiding many of the deadends I wander up!
Anyhow, here are a set of photos of their progress so far:
Whilst at Ed's he reamed out the seat belt bushes while I made use of his 4" vice to re-design the cycle wing support bars so they fitted where they should without eating big lumps out of the tyres. I made a template out of some scrap ally which I could bend to the right shape by hand. Then I used that to try against the thick steel bar that the brackets are made out of. Eventually I got a set that fitted Ed's car, I wonder if they'll fit mine!
Oh yes, this week I applied for an SVA test. I've made Derby first choice and asked for an appointment no earlier than the end of November. I'll let you know.
17 November
This week I've been concentrating on putting bits on the car to keep the wet off me. The windscreen surround got eleven press stud bottoms pop-riveted to it to fasten the front of the roof to. Then I masked them off and repainted where I'd made a mess of the surround putting them on.
Before I put the screen in I marked, drilled and fitted two press studs for the front edge of the tonneau cover. With the screen in place I wouldn't have been able to get the drill or the pop-rivet gun in.
The build manual contains a dimension (one of the few) that is relevant here. It needs to be 1185mm from the front of the roll bar mounting plate to the front of the screen edge. Mine was 1205 with everything in the places they felt most comfortable. This meant the roof wouldn't stretch over the back GRP, so I had to ease the holes that the big aluminium brackets were fastened to and pull them back. Eventually I got 1190mm, which was close enough.
Note for any Cat builders out there - DON'T TRUST THE TEMPLATE IN THE BUILD MANUAL FOR DRILLING THE BRACKET HOLES. The screen surround holes are fine. The side screen hinge holes are fine, but the mirror mounting holes don't fit the mirror Tiger supplies.
I learned this after I had drilled them, of course. So I filled them with epoxy metal and smoothed them off. Well, Dad and I smoothed them off.
Five out of six surround mounting holes went perfectly into the surround, The sixth was a little bit off centre, but a rat tailed file put that right. We filled the surround with clear silicone sealant and put some black StikaFlex stuff into the GRP channel followed by a strip of the large piping folded into the channel so the piping ran along the front edge of the GRP screen channel.
The glass went into the surround and the whole lot dropped into the channel. All the excess silicone oozed out which made a bit of a mess, and we got covered in black StikaFlex, but all in all the screen went in quite well. We pushed some small, thin piping between the glass and the surround round the front top and sides of the screen and allowed the silicone to set.
The wing mirrors (I had two - one from Tiger and a spare from Matt as he'd replaced the Tiger one with a fancy carbon fibre covered jobbie) went on best by covering up the middle surround bolt with the plastic of the mirror plate. A couple of nuts and bolts fastened them on tight. The sidescreen hinge bottoms were bolted on, but they keep coming loose and spinning round, so I need to find a way of locking them down tight.
Wipers! The wiper arms in the kit have a bend in the end that goes in exactly the wrong direction to lay the wipers down flat on the driver's side. Also, they are twice as long as they need to be, as are the wiper blades. The blades cut down easily with the ally snips, but the arms took a bit more thinking about. Eventually I drilled out the rivet that held the arms in the spring covers, then I shortened them, turned them over (so the bend faced the right way) and pop-riveted them back on. The blades got pop-riveted to the arms, so changing them will be a pain, but at least they won't fall off.
Testing the wipers resulted in the wheel boxes working themselves loose as the threads on the second hand bits disintegrated. So it was off to MiniBitz again for a pair of new ones. Replacing these under the scuttle was a working blind, one handed job, but I managed.
The wipers now wipe, although the screen is so small and the wipers even smaller, it hardly seems worth the effort!
The sidescreens go on opposite to the way I expected with the flap going behind the hinge, not infront of it. This way the water runs off the screen and gets channelled down the scuttle side instead of blown inside the car. There are two straps inside the sidescreens that needed press studs attaching. The bottom bits of the studs go inside on the side panels. I was half lucky. Two lined up with existing screws and two didn't, but the end result is reasonably tidy.
Nephew Jim had come round for the evening on Thursday, so we set to on finishing the wet weather gear. The key bit was the hood so we fastened the front to the screen surround and pulled the back tight over the roll bar. Marked for two press studs on the back GRP. Took the hood off; fitted the press studs; put it back; marked for two more; took it off; fitted the press studs, put it back and so on. The press studs on the rear cover fasten to the same bottom bits with three extras across the roll bar mounting plate.
Fitting the press studs was a lot easier than I thought. I punched holes in the cover using a hole punch (ok, ok) then put the rivet from the top of the press stud through. Turned it over and put the spring bit on the end of the rivet and hit it using a Philips head screwdriver bit as a punch. This made the rivet split neatly into four petals which could be flattened down finally using a centre pop upside down ie hitting the pointy bit and using the fat end to flatten the petals.
When we'd done, Jim got in the car and I fastened everything down round him. The side panels have a notch in the top corner which matches a notch in the corner of the roof, so the top of the sidescreen goes inside the roof and the back of the sidescreens goes outside the roof. Everything nearly lined up. Close enough for me to wonder whether it would be worth adjusting it. Not decided yet.
The tonneau gave us another problem. It goes back as far as the roll bar plate, so the rear cover needs to be on to complete the effect. However, the covers both need press studs to fasten to. Originally Jim suggested we should cut circular holes in the tonneau about the size of a penny. The stud bottoms would stick up through them and we could fasten the rear cover down on top, trapping the tonneau. It would have worked, but it wouldn't have been very tight.
Then, at about 00:30 Jim innocently said 'Why don't they make double poppers?' and I had an idea. By pop-rivetting a press stud bottom to a press stud spring bit and sandwiching the tonneau between them, we could fasten the tonneau to the studs on the roll bar plate and the rear cover to the studs on the tonneau. It worked! Jim gets the credit for the idea, and I get the glory for working out how to do it. Smug smirk.
The tonneau doesn't really pull tight, partly because of the tuck in the material put in to fit the steering wheel and partly because of the distance it stretches without support. But as it is only to keep the rain off, I'm happy with it. (Note the fan heater on the bonnet trying to warm the screen to make the silicone go off.)
This weekend we put the cycle wings on and the spare wheel bracket. After which, all we'll need is an SVA date!
21 November
I got a letter from the SVA people - opened it with trembling hands to find another form to fill in! Apparently they want to know how much of the kit I've assembled myself and how much someone else (a professional) did. Cheek! Completed form back in the post by return.
On with the cycle wings. The brackets were held to the fixing plates on the suspension with a couple of mole grips (clever bits of kit) and drilled and fastened on with M8 bolts.
The cycle wings went on top and I checked the gap to the tyres - sides and top - no problem that a bit of pulling and pushing of the brackets wouldn't fix. I didn't want any fixing to show on top of the wings - things like bolts or rivet heads - so I'd decided to glass fibre the brackets on.
Here are a few tips learned over the last couple of days:
- Never steady a piece of work with your hand whilst drilling from the other side or you end up with a hole through your palm. (Ok, who's stupid enough to do that - me!)
- Never try and apply glass fibre upside down. When it gets heavy with resin, it falls off.
- Buy several packs of very cheap paint brushes to apply the resin - they are a 'use once and throw away' item.
- Don't flick resin in your eye or you'll have to spend ten minutes with your eye under a running tap to stop your eyelids closing for good (Ok, who's stupid enough to do that - two guesses!)
As the wings don't fit on the top of the wheel, but more round the back of it, they kept falling off the brackets while I tried to resin them on. So I tried 'No more nails' as a temporary fixing. I've never had any success with 'No more nails', and that still stands. Useless product. Anyway, by holding the wing down with one hand, the GRP matting under the wing with the other and sploshing the resin into the mat with my third hand, I managed to get enough in place to hold the brackets firm. Once the resin set I could take the brackets off and apply another three or four layers of matting/resin with the wings upside down - much easier. Pat had suggested turning the car over, but I discounted the idea as too silly.
The wings went back on and I cleaned up all the resin that had somehow managed to get itself all over the wings and the rest of the bodywork, using a Stanley knife blade as a scraper. Cutting compound tidied up the rest.
The handbrake cable had pulled through again, so we spent a happy couple of days thinking up foolproof ways of locking the ends of the cable through the balance bar. Eventually we ended up with small steel plates riveted together trapping the cable which went through holes in the plates, bent back on itself and riveted again with more plates. Ugly but effective (we hope). I posted a message on the newsgroup asking for suggestions and Jim from Tiger answered saying they had some new clamps that work much better. I'll get some either next time I'm down there or by post if the current solution fails again.
Getting to the brake linkage was a pig - there's not really enough room from under the car. However, forward planning meant I'd attached the tunnel top and sides with self tappers, so by ripping up the carpet and unscrewing the screws, we managed.
The spare wheel bracket got painted and riveted on to the back panel, lined up using a length of M12 threaded bar. A Nyloc nut on it fastens the wheel on. That should stop It bouncing around, but the flexibility of the GRP means it still moves quite a bit. Another engineering job to solve at some point.
The seat belts are about twice as long as they need to be, so when I tighten them up I have about eighteen inches of belt flapping round. It won't clip up tidily, so I cut it off and re-sewed the end. Much neater.
Finally I put the 'Cat' badge on the nose cone. Technically, I've finished.
SVA phoned to arrange a date. The waiting list is about five days, so I could pick any time I wanted. I'd already arranged for an MOT for Wednesday 22 November, so, to give myself a week to sort out any problems the MOT throws up, I said Thursday 30 November. That makes it exactly five months from picking up the kit to getting it tested. I'm in trouble - Pat said it has to take me at least six months.
Sam wants to hang out of the tin-top car window on the way to MOT, photographing Kitkat on its first real trip, but as it's a school day, that could be awkward. We'll try and arrange to take the car in early and then whiz Sam off to school.
I sorted out some insurance. Quotes ranged from £700 to £136, so I chose the £136 - don't know why. This included cover for Pat at no extra cost. She doesn't know whether to be pleased or not.
The next diary entry will be either chirpy or despondent - let's see.
25 November
Well, it turned out to be a bit of both. A bit despondent because the donor track control arms were knackered both at the ball joint end and the bush end, so new ones were required and as they were one of the first bits to go in, I thought they were going to be a pig to replace. In the end it didn't turn out too bad a job. A bit fiddly under the car now the panels and brake lines were on, but each one took about an hour.
The rear brakes also failed MOT as they were 'inefficient'. That turned out to be because the nearside bleed nipple didn't have a hole through it, so when I thought I'd bled them, I hadn't. That was sorted in two minutes and the brakes all got bled again. I originally thought they were ineffective because of the glaze on the new brake shoes, but when I took the drums off, it was clear the glaze was being successfully removed by the drums and just needed a bit more heavy braking to bed them all in properly.
Finally the steering was stiff. I asked Tiger about this and they said it was usually the little bush that takes the steering column through the driver's footwell panel. I took the column off and cleaned out the hole, tidied up the bush and made sure it turned easily, but when I put the column back on, it still got stiff through half it's turn.
Eventually I tracked it down to the Mountney boss. This is the lump of metal that the wheel fits to that also fits on the hexagonal end of the column. The hole in the middle wasn't in the middle, so the wheel turned eliptically and fouled on the steering lock casting. Half an hour with the power file and I took off a couple of millimetres from the boss. It cleared the casting, but still turned eliptically. Then Matt, who had read of my plight on the newsgroup offered his old boss, which fitted perfectly straight away, so that's another job sorted.
Enough of the MOT bad news. What's Kitkat like to drive? Absolutely sodding marvelous! Twelve miles I've done in it now and I can't wait until Monday - 'cos that's when the re-test is and I can do another twelve miles.
Anyway enough of that. Moving on... I built a cover for the petrol tank for use when the rear cover isn't on ie when the roof is. It's covered in vinyl and fastened down with screws in cups at the same distance apart as the ones on the side panels. It look rather neat.
I've also started trimming the car for SVA, putting silly bits of rubber all over anything that looks remotely sharp. The nuts that hold the mirrors and sidescreens on are an example - covered in bits of spare petrol pipe.
30 November
To say a lot happened this week would be an understatement. To start with I sewed a small rubber mat under the pedals to protect the carpet a bit. I put some black mastic into the bottom back bit of the windscreen to hide the fact that the screen barely fits the slot in the scuttle. Then Jim and Sam sanded the edges of the GRP where it was a bit sharp and we cut it back with rubbing compound to restore a bit of the shine. More of that when I get time.
Finally we finished trimming the car for SVA, using bits of water hose to cover the large nuts on the front suspension and petrol hose to cover the smaller ones. I also wrapped a bit of heater hose around the support for the headlamps - just in case.
Sue at Tiger had loaned me a rubber cover for the steering wheel, so by Tuesday, I was very nearly ready. Here's a photo which is supposed to show all the trim round the front suspension, but it's not too clear.
I got a couple of huge cable ties and fastened the spare wheel to the carrier to stop it jumping out. I doubt whether it ever would have, but it won't now. I also fastened the carbon fibre bonnet clip covers on with rubber bands because they keep throwing themselves on the floor ebverytime I turn my back.
The bonnet edges curve inwards, showing the top of the chassis rails - not very attractive. So I made some stuts out of that aluminium strip that you fit in doorways to keep the carpet down. These were fibre glassed under the bonnet at an angle to push the sides out level with the edge of the chassis. It looks much better.
So, there we were, the night before SVA and no panicking. Kitkat got a dollop of polish, another can of petrol, and a kiss for luck.
Didn't sleep very well on Wednesday, not exactly worrying about the test, but worrying about getting to Derby on time and other mixed emotions. What if it failed for something major or something minor - which would be worse? What if it broke down on the way there or the way back. Five solid months leading up to this point, with me being so proud of what I've done, but what if it was actually rubbish, or even dangerous.
Oh well. There was nothing more I could do, but get on with it. Pat had decided to come with me to Derby, so we set off about 7:45, but it soon became clear that we were going to be late. We had chosen to go the pretty way rather than the motorway, and the villages and towns between Sheffield and Derby all seemed to have their own rush hour. So at 09:00 we were still a few miles away from the target and so Pat phoned in an apology - not easy to do over the noise of a Cat in full flight.
We were supposed to arrive with a full tank, but rather than hold everyone up any longer that necessary, we went straight to the test centre and checked in. The lady at the test centre pointed to way to the nearest petrol station and we popped out for five minutes to fill up. Then we parked the Cat in Lane 1 and waited for the SVA man to arrive.
A chap called Roger wandered up and introduced himself as 'the assistant'. He encouraged us to get out of the car, stretch our legs, unwind, relax, have a coffee and not to worry. He said he'd call us if he needed us. So we went inside and grabbed a cup of awful coffee from the machine and watched through the window. Roger was joined by someone we later learned was called Cameron and Cameron tried to slide himself into the Cat (which had the roof on). Now anyone who has tried this feat knows it isn't easy, so I stuck my head out of the reception room and suggested they took the roof off altogether. That made life easier.
Cameron drove Kitkat into lane 1 and onto the inspection pit and that was just about the last we saw of it for a couple of hours. We sometimes heard it and on one occasion saw it blast round the test centre with Cameron at the wheel. Then, at 11:45, Cameron came into the reception and asked me to come out to the car. While we walked to it, he said that it had failed (my heart sank) but only on three very minor points (my heart floated a bit).
These were:
- The offside rear brake line union wept a bit of hydraulic fluid when the brake was applied hard.
- The plug leads were not 'marked' and so failed the radio supression test.
- The fog lamp bracket, so carefully crafted to make the lamp face backwards, was too flimsy.
I explained about the bracket and Cameron said they didn't fail cars for that at Derby, so five minutes with a drill and a screwdriver later, the foggy was fixed. I had brought a selection of spanners with me, but not one that fitted the brake union nut, so I went to Halfords in Derby and bought a suitable spanner. A quarter of a turn of the nut later and that was fixed. Finally we called in at T C Harrisons Ford Dealer in Derby for a set of plug leads and that was done. Well, almost. the four plug leads were fine, but the one from the coil to the dizzy was too short. I asked Cameron if he minded and he didn't, so that was that. Cameron also handed me the carbon fibre bonnet clip covers which he couldn't get back on - so they were very useful!
Cameron went for his lunch while we did the repairs and when he came back we put the car onto the hydraulic lift and he checked the brake line with me pushing the brake pedal down. That was a pass, the foggy was a pass and he didn't even bother to check the plug leads. Ten minutes later and I had the certificate in my hand. I presented Cameron with a few Kitkat Chunkies as a celebration and we went home.
On the way, the car was running a bit lumpy when I put my foot down, but I guessed that was just the rubbish being pulled out of the tank. Anyhow it got us home.
Once there I phoned everyone I could think of to let them know. Pat bought me a box of Celebrations choccies and a bottle of champers and we went out for a meal. I had no trouble sleeping on Thursday!
So, five months - 1 July to 30 November - and the vision I set out on the first page of the website has been achieved. I'm dead chuffed. All I need to do now is get it registered and taxed, and I'm on the road.
