am hearing so many nightmare story's about sva that its worrying me now. my test is on thursday and have a similar problem to bassett! have a collapseable colum but a sparco wheel with kliktronic gear shift. it is well padded with no sharp edges but has no collapseable feature i dont think. to change this now woul be impossible so i can only hope my tester does not pull me up on it!

Dont worry too much... go along and keep smiling...

Even if you fail you will come away with a definitive list of things "to fix".... then you can make a return trip and be almost guaranteed a pass

"So many nightmare stories"

What are you on about???

SVA is fine as long as you've built a decent car.
I've scene some shockingly ropey looking cars get through... if they can do it what are you worried about.

Even if you fail you've got 6mths or summat to get a re-test.

Good luck,
James

its a fun day, just enjoy it

As above - its not worth worrying yourself about. Go along expecting to fail, but coming away knowing exactly what you have up to 6 months to sort out. Pass and its a bonus!!

I found SVA a good experience once i was there (years ago) even though i failed. I learnt a lot there too so look upon it in the right way and it will be a good day

as long as you present your car and it looks tidy and like the dogs b*ll*cks, it will put the examiner at ease, say hello to him and talk to him about your build, most of them are actually quite interested in them.

print off a copy of the SVA manual and go through each section and do as much of it as you can, this will put your mind at ease when you see that you are ticking everything off and you narrow it down to only a couple of things that the tester could possibly fail you on, mainly noise & emissions

thanks guys! not sure if the quick release boss kit is collapsible? but i can hope it is.

Hi Daniel, if youve read my story all i can say is good luck it is daunting but you cant worry about the unknown plus the test itself was great with our inspector overly helpful as atleast we know how to make the car safe. Safety first and all especially regarding seats and seat belts im glad it failed although emissions i couldnt give a stuff about With my clutch popping off at 7am yes it was a nightmare so please get up early - super early if possible as if atleast you get there the car can always be retested even if it isnt what you want. From what ive read i think you need a sierra wheel. Mine was heavily padded and really well but had to be collapsable as is clearly stated in the inspectors sva. How are your emissions? you can definitely drive to a pre arranged mot(before or after sva) i have a document stating if you want scanned copy.
You can spend all day on the car before but i wouldnt just make sure it stops starts and goes.
All the best
Adam


[Edited on 30/3/09 by bassett]

thanks adam. i am running a 2001 5jj R1 on carbs and i think emmisions is one of the biggest problems i face. i was tryin to look on net to see if my quick release steering wheel boss is collapsible but struggled to find relevent info. the sierra wheel is impossible as my gear shift is built into wheel on push buttons.

shouldn't the 2 uj's & offset column be ok instead of collapsible hub?

GeorgeM

From memory, I think your steering wheel will fail on sharp edges.

What has Marc said ?

its all padded up with foam and 2 small holes in it to enable gear change still!

The SVA testers are rather variable so as to what they'll pull you up on varies from place to place. I reckon the best option is to assume a fail. At least they'll tell you what you need to do to get a pass and then off you toddle and go back a few months later and voila! 1 MAC....

quote:

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Originally posted by BenB
The SVA testers are rather variable so as to what they'll pull you up on varies from place to place.

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Had my SVA a week ago today,car sailed through it .
I was really worried about it,the girlfriend was really surprised to see me flapping so much as normally I am very laid back.

The tester was very thorough and asked me as many questions as I asked him.He even had a look through the build manual to check on the column deflection and steering boss info.

I had two minor issues I had to address on the day,move the exhaust clamp and securely stick two pieces of U channel trim on the cage.

All in all the test was a walk in the park, the next hurdle with the DVLA is much more stressful