Didnt start very well with a fail of the very first test when Andrew the tester called me over to see that the speedo was reading too high, 37 at 35mph, 43 at 40 mph, 52 at 50mph, 64 at 60mph and 73 at 79mph. Thats with Escort donor gearbox, instrument pob and 185 70 x 13 tyres. Failed on the screen height which kind of suprised me as I had made up a dummy of the testing jig. Only realised when I got home that my seat is 36mm higher than the passenger one and he had tested it from the passenger seat!!! DOH on my part but I did ask for it with a screen! Sharp edge on an electronic immobiliser that I had fitted just to the left of the drivers knee on the side of the transmission tunnel. Unfortunately it was above the 150mm height. The front wheel outer rim was just outside the body line ie: the edge of the front wings, by a few millimetres and the offside wing just touches the body side on full lock. I realy wasnt aware of Andrew testing or checking everything but I suspect that testers become very aware of what is OK and what not without us being aware. Took 2 hours 10 minutes for the full test until Andrew went to input all the brake info on the computer and then write out the fail note. He chatted all the time, was ready to answer all my questions and also talked about the fact that there are quite a number of small and not so small differences with IVA. I would definately recommend Carlisle VOSA for SVA/IVA. All the fail points should be easy to rectify so feeling quite chuffed.
Question, how do I now pass the speedo test? I have a mental block about gearing and rolling radiuses etc. Do I fit 185 60 x 13 tyres?

if it was reading 37mph, and actually doing 35, isn't that right?
or do you mean reading too low? so when it showed 35, it was actually doing 37?

Sorry, perhaps I am confusing things the way I have explained it. At a speedo reading of 35 I would be doing 37, at 70 I would be going 73 etc so my speedo is under reading. Anyway it was a fail. How do I sort it?

Not a bad fail. 185/60/13 should sort the speedo. Keep the presures low to be on the safe side.

adrian

any info about the day would be great please.i have my sva at carlisle next thursday with andrew. i have spoken to him and he seems like a really good bloke!

seems like reasonable fail well done
one question myke, how did you go on with thne filter, mine is the same as yours and failed on the top edge did yours get through, did you cover it with anything?

cheers
chris

Hiya Chris,
I had no problem with the filteras I used some self adhesive rubber strip around the top and bottom edge that is used to seal around doors and windows as a draft excluder. I cannot see where the comment on here somewhere of a max 50mm height comes from. Perhaps it is in a testers interpretation of the manual.
I would like to think that if you present the car in a tidy state and have photos that can be refered to if needed that helps. I was able to refer to a photo of the seat belt mountings on the outside of the car as they were not easy to view otherwise. Be honest and dont try to cover anything up that you think may be dodgy. These guys know the ropes well!!! Andrew did make reference to all the edge covers on the front end dropping off. I quite like them now so they may stay.

thanks myke iv had my test last week and failed on just a few things but just as he was handing me the sheet i was popping the bonnet back on and he pulled me on the top edge and asked me to sort it before retest, so as its the same as yours wondered how you had got on with it.

thanks
chris

185/60 tyres will easily sort that they are a lot smaller than 185/70 if you go that way just check your light heights afterwards if they were marginal

Sounds like a model test. i bet you were quite chuffed with it.

ref speedo - can the needle be bent a bit so that it points to the right numbers? Unless im reading the data wrong - it looks like its roughly the same mph out at each test point. What about getting a new dial face kit and sticking it on at the correct calibrated position? (of course im saying this without knowing if you can even access the face).

the challenge is getting the dial face in correct position to pass the retest. This is the beauty of digi dashes - they can be reprogged quickly at the test and fine tuned where allowed.


i assume for the screen topass you just need to reposition the passenger seat. Dont suppose you were able to see if the drivers seat position allows a pass?.


Its great that the normally tricky areas have all passed (emissions, noise, centering, visibility etc) You have done a great job so far.

If it's the Escort binnacle, then 4 screws and you can take the speedo off. I think you can take the needle off and reposition 5mph higher. Much cheaper than new tyres

I would think it's out by a percentage as you have fitted tyres much larger than the standard Escort (155/13 = 175/70 13 = 185/6014 = 195/50 15 ) bending or repositioning the needle would be ok at modest speeds but just be carefull when you get to Motorway speed checks as the needle will under read more the faster you get , if you see what I mean .

Good luck for the re-test