July 4th 2000 - the big day! I got up early and was down in the garage by 6.30am. It was a dry, overcast morning, but there had been rain overnight, so I fitted the sidescreens to the car, in case there were any puddles on the road. I'd heard the weather forecast for the day, which wasn't very good, so I carefully rolled up the soft-top and put it in the boot. Rod's car was already out of his garage, so at 7.00 we set off.
I live to the east of Bristol and the SVA test centre is on the south-western outskirts, so most of the journey was along minor roads through small villages, to skirt around the south of the city. I wanted to avoid taking the M32 into Bristol, just in case of any problems with the car - being towed off a motorway is rather expensive and very embarrassing! The journey was trouble-free, but when we were about 3 miles from the test centre, we got stuck in a long line of slow-moving traffic. There were no roadworks or accidents causing the delay, just the sheer volume of traffic. We eventually arrived at 7.50, put the sidescreens in the back of Rod's car and topped up the Quantum's fuel tank. I went to the reception desk and was asked to park outside lane one. I moved the car and at 8.10, the shutters opened. Rod and I introduced ourselves to the inspector, Howard, who started by having a casual look around the car and asking about the donor, the kit and the build.
I was then asked to drive the car into the SVA test lane and to remove the bonnet, so that the chassis number could be checked. Howard seemed surprised that there was no easily visible plate with the number on, just the stamp on the chassis. Next, the fuel filler cap was removed, so that Howard could check that the tank was full. I was also asked if the car ran on unleaded petrol and if it was fitted with a catalytic converter. If the car has a cat (mine hasn't), the filler neck must have a restrictor that only allows the smaller, unleaded petrol pump nozzle to be used at filling stations. He then had a good look around the engine bay, paying close attention to the brake master cylinder and pipes and to the steering column and couplings. I was asked to get back in the car and to operate all the lights while he checked them. The wipers were then tested to check for sweep area, spring pressure and self-parking. Howard then blocked the washer jets with his fingers while I operated the washer motor for 5 seconds. When he removed his fingers, the nearside jet wasn't working, which was immediately noted on his checklist. Not a good start!
Howard then got in the car to check the the steering lock, all the dash warning lights and the speedometer markings and illumination. He also banged on the top and sides of the handbrake lever to make sure the ratchet didn't disengage. I was then asked to demonstrate the low brake fluid warning system and its warning light test facility. Howard didn't like the fact that when the rear fog light was on, the windscreen wiper stalk obscured the fog lamp warning light, when the wipers were set to their second speed. His SVA checklist appeared to have a list of about 20 items, with a box to tick if each item was satisfactory and a blank space next to it to record any shortcomings. The fog lamp warning light earned my second failure entry.
Next, the seats and harnesses. The harness straps and buckle were checked for the correct markings, then he put the harnesses on, lent firmly against the straps and checked that the buckle could still be released - "In case you're ever hanging upside-down from them", he said. Very reassuring! A jig was then fetched and placed on the drivers seat and after adjusting its angle and position, a piece of string was stretched from the top of the jig to the upper harness mounting bolts. This piece of string must slope down from the bolts to the jig, which, apparently, it only just did. The harness and seat mountings were then checked and I was asked about the diameter, length and grade of bolts used. Howard then grabbed the top of the seats and rocked them from side to side and back and forth. He remarked that the seats moved rather more than he would have liked, especially the driver's seat and that he would have to inspect the strength of the mountings later from underneath.
The internal projections were tested next. Howard remarked that the design and layout of the dash and instruments was very good and posed no problems. Also, the large Sierra steering wheel meant that the warning lights, rocker switches and choke control were in an exempt area and did not need to be tested. He then got an inspection lamp and had a good look under the dash and in the footwells. He thought that the relays and their mounting bracket on the nearside posed a potential injury risk to the passenger's legs and also that the scuttle mounting bolt on the offside projected too far into the top of the driver's footwell. Two more failure items on the list! He also wasn't sure about the rear edges of the windscreen pillars, so he went to consult the SVA test manual and returned with the official headform tester - a 100mm diameter hemisphere with a bar at the rear to hold it by. Howard said that the pillars were exempt, but the hooks for the soft-top catches at the top of each pillar would fail. Luckily, I had anticipated this during the build and had only secured the hooks with 1 pop rivet each. This allowed me to rotate the hooks so that the offending edges were not touchable with the headform. "Very clever", remarked Howard.
Next on the checklist was the external projections test. This didn't appear to cause Howard much concern. He checked most items by eye and ran his fingers over a few components, such as the windscreen surround, wheel arch edges and fuel filler cap. All was deemed to be okay, but the foam strips around the air filter did receive a rather long, hard stare. The headform was only used once - to check that the heights of the rectangular openings in the front of the nosecone were less than 100mm. They were, so a tick went in the relevant box. The final test was to measure the height, position and visibility of the headlights, indicators and repeater lamps and the rear fog light. Although he didn't fail them, Howard remarked that the side repeater lamps could be obscured at certain viewing positions by the front or rear wheels. Apparently, many Seven-style cars now have the repeaters mounted on the outer edges of the front wheel arches. I thought this was ridiculous, as the only way to make the repeater lamps "disappear" was to crouch down low behind the rear wheels, or in front of the front wheels. From these positions, the main front or rear indicator lamps would be clearly visible!
Howard then asked me to move the car forward over the very long inspection pit and to stop next to a loudspeaker on a pole. He then announced a 15 minute tea break (it was 10 o'clock) and that there were hot drinks available from a vending machine in the reception area. After we'd finished our coffee, Rod managed to find a small piece of wire on the ground outside. I used this to poke about in the nearside washer jet and after a couple of attempts, it started working again. That's one failure item fixed, but perhaps I should have fitted a filter somewhere in the washer tubing! By now, the skies had clouded over and it had started to rain - just as forecast.
At 10.15, Howard reappeared, asked me to get back in the car, then disappeared down the steps to the pit. The inspection lamps in the pit have microphones built into their handles and he issued various instructions through the loudspeaker next to the car. I was asked to apply the footbrake firmly several times, apply and release the handbrake repeatedly, rock the steering sharply from side to side and to slowly turn the steering from one full lock to the other. I could also feel the car moving slightly - presumably as Howard pulled and prodded various parts of the car and I could occasionally feel faint tapping. This was all a bit disconcerting, as up to this point, I had been able to see exactly what he had been doing and if he had added any notes to his checklist. While he was under the car, I had no idea of what he had found.
When he emerged from below, Howard had a couple of queries. Firstly, he couldn't identify any form of bracing for the rear of the chassis, behind the upper harness mounts. Luckily, I had brought the build manual with me, which contained several pictures of the bare chassis and the bracing bars between the rear of the chassis and the top of the rear suspension subframe. After looking again from underneath the car and by peering between the rear tyres and the wheel arches, he was satisfied. His second query regarded the front suspension ball joints. He'd recognised them as the type used on the Austin Princess and Metro, but couldn't tell how Quantum had adapted them to fit in the Xtreme's uprights. Again, I showed him the manual, which pictured Quantum's adapter flanges, nuts and securing split pins. Howard thought that this was a satisfactory method of adapting the ball joints, but said that there was no way of checking if the flanges had been correctly fitted and secured on my car. Rod politely pointed out that all motor vehicles have many non-visible components that, if not fitted or secured properly, could result in a serious failure. Howard reluctantly agreed and said that it would be helpful if there was a hole or cut-out in the upright that would enable the flange fixings to be viewed. As the rest of the car appeared to be well built, he'd give me the benefit of the doubt. He also mentioned that he was impressed with the design, construction and apparent strength of the Xtreme chassis.
Howard suggested a couple of minor improvements that could be made. Firstly, the seat mountings should be improved to increase their rigidity, although he was satisfied that the seat mountings would not pull through the floorpan in an accident. Secondly, he would like to see some kind of cover to protect the front wheel bearings from water and grit. I agreed with both suggestions, but felt like mentioning that the proposed bearing covers would mean that he wouldn't be able to inspect the hub nuts and their securing method, just like the ball joint fixings he wasn't happy about. I thought I'd better not upset him, so kept my mouth shut.
The car was then moved onto a set of rollers to check the accuracy of the speedometer. It was tested at 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 MPH and was deemed to be very accurate, over-reading by about 6% at all speeds. The next stop was at the headlight alignment tester. Although the car had passed the MOT, Howard thought the lights were set a bit too low, but allowed me to adjust them there and then. The emissions test followed - the reading was slightly lower than at the MOT test, at 2.1% CO, well within the limit of 3.5% CO.
Next, the car was moved to a flat, level area where various measurements were taken of the car. Several markings were chalked on the floor around the car and these were also measured. Two portable scales were then used to measure the front and rear axle weights of the car, with me in and out of the car. All this information is used as part of the SVA brake test, to determine the cars centre of gravity and to calculate weight transfer under braking.
The final stage inside the building was the brake test itself. Much button pressing preceded the actual test, which involved slowly applying the brakes until the wheels locked up. Like the MOT test, the brakes were tested individually and as front and rear pairs. Howard then went to fetch an assistant, who strapped a pressure-sensing device to his foot and held a pressure gauge in his hand as the whole test was repeated. Lots more button pushing preceded each part of the test, resulting in the car being on the brake rollers for about 35 minutes! Howard said that we would have to wait for the computer-generated test results, but he thought that there wouldn't be any problems, as the readings on the test machine's gauges "looked about right".
I was then asked to drive the car out of the building and to park in the middle of the large tarmac yard adjacent to the building. Howard then came out with the noise testing equipment, set it up at the correct distance and angle from the tailpipe and asked me hold the engine at 3000RPM. The meter reading was 91.8dB, well inside the limit of 101dB. He then got in the car and did a couple of rather meandering circuits of the yard. It looked as if he was deliberately driving through every puddle he could find - so much for my carefully polished bodywork! He explained when he returned that he was checking that the steering self-centred and also the general feel of the whole car. He said that the car felt "very solid". Finally, he parked the car in a rectangle marked in the middle of one end of the yard and adjusted the rear view mirrors until he could see several cones and white lines on the ground behind. Howard then announced that that was the end of the SVA test and that I should take the car back to the front of the building, where the test had started. It was now 1.40pm. The time had passed very quickly - I never wear a watch and thought that it was about 12 noon!
When he met us round the front, Howard confirmed that the car had passed the brake test. He then went through the faults that the car had failed on and what would be required to rectify them. The relays and their mounting bracket would have to be moved or their sharp edges covered, the fog light switch would have to be moved so that its warning light was visible at all times, the offside scuttle mounting bolt would have to be shortened and covered and the nearside washer jet would have to work. I showed him that the washer jet was now working and asked if I could fix the other items on the list immediately, to avoid having to return for a retest. Howard said that as long as we were finished by 4.30, he was quite happy for us to work on the car inside the test building (it was still drizzling outside), as the SVA test lane would be empty for the rest of the afternoon. They had been expecting a Formula 27 kit car, but the owner had phoned yesterday and cancelled the test.
Rod very kindly offered to drive home to fetch a large bag of foam and rubber pieces he had in his garage. He was confident that it would contain something suitable to cover the relays and mounting. While he was gone, I removed the steering wheel, cowls and column switches. I was quite prepared to remove the whole scuttle if necessary - I've done it so many times, I could probably do it blindfolded! Luckily, by putting my left arm through the gap between the steering column and scuttle, I was able to reach the back of the rocker switches, so that I could remove the connectors and push the switches out. The fog light and heater motor switches were then swapped over, the connectors were put back on (a rather fiddly job) and the column switches, cowls and steering wheel refitted.
The offending bolt and nut in the driver's footwell were removed and turned round, so that only the bolt's head was inside the car - the bolt's shank and nut would be covered by the bonnet on the outside. One of the plastic nut covers I had with me was then fitted over the bolt's head, so that its edges could not be touched by the headform. Rod returned at 2.45 and in the huge bag he had brought were a couple of suitable pieces of firm foam. These were fitted around the relays and their mounting bracket and were held in place with several large cable ties. I then fetched Howard, who made a quick inspection of the modifications. He declared that all was now satisfactory and that we should go to the reception to collect our Minister's Approval Certificate. After we waited for about 10 minutes, he appeared with the signed, stamped MAC.
After eating the sandwiches that Rod had brought back with him (thanks Dee!), we fitted the sidescreens and soft-top to the Quantum and headed back the way we came. We soon got stuck in another long queue of traffic, caused by a set of temporary traffic lights that definitely weren't there on the journey in. The Xtreme's weather gear kept me nice and dry, although it did get rather warm inside the car. I eventually arrived home at 4.10pm - hot, tired but very happy!
