My blade engine is stolen/recovered and the Engine no. has been filed off and replaced by some nonsense which means nothing according to my Haynes manual.

As such, I have no proof of the age of the engine - Except that it is a 919 so, as I understand it, this means 1996 onwards. As such, surely it would need a CAT to pass MOT emissions. It does not have said CAT.
Therefore, would it be fair to assume that the MOT that was done when I bought the car was a little dodgy?
Is it actually possible that a post '95 engine can pass without a CAT?

If I do need a CAT to get a legit MOT next year, can anyone recommend the cheapest one, as I am likely to whip it out (as it were) after the test.

This has been discussed in some detail on other posts and no real conclusion reached. In order to get throught the SVA, it seems that if you are running a post August 95 engine, you will need to be running a cat. However, as most MOT stations don't know the rules, they will probably just do a 'visible smoke' test (which is what is done on a bike MOT). Have a look at the other posts regarding emissions and see if you can work it out. We have a '96 engine and are intending to stick a 'cat on to get through SVA and then see what happens for MOT. If we need one then we will just hire one.

Also discovered that the visible smoke test is done on all 'Q' plate cars at MOT, so might be OK without a cat at MOT if you have a 'Q' plate. Don't quote me on it though!

You dont need a Cat for MOT whatever age your engine is, any amateur built vehicle (be it a Q plate or not) is only a visible smoke test. Only SVA do you need it, hence the emergence of a "rent-a-cat" system to get you through SVA.

cheers

Chris

There was some talk of this Q plate MOT stuff on the Yahoo BEC list a short while back. They seemed to be getting worried that the MOT may be changing so that if the car wasn't Q registered then it would be subject to some sort of emission test. If it is Q registered though it's still the visible smoke that's a fail.

MOT changed earlier this month, It does not effect Q plates at present but any car SVA'd and registered on a S plate or newer needs to meet current emmissions at MOT ie needs a cat.(unless you can prove engine is pre 1995)

[Edited on 28/3/03 by jonathan Madeley]

Where did you get that info from Jonathon, I thought it was just a rumour, but that someone clarified it on the Yahoo BEC list that in fact it was business as usual for the time being at least?
However, I remember someone saying that if this did come in, if you had a newly registered car but had a pre-95 engine in for SVA purposes, you'd have to prove that the engine was pre-95 to the MOT man in order to qualify for a visual smoke only. Obviously if you are registered on a Q plate then it wouldnt matter.

Chris