Grilles - are they compulsory?

[Rusti Evo]

The IVA manual tells me about the form that grilles should take but does anybody know of the regulation that states that they are compulsory?

Cars like the Atom and BAC Mono appear to have no anti intrusion grilles or meshes at all, so just interested as to why conventional cars have to have all the air intakes etc. with meshes.

[AdiT]

No regulation that says you have to have mesh. If you don't then (for IVA) you could be tested for sharp edges within the nose. Without a lot more stuff of a dangerous size can get to the rad' and cause damage.

[Steve_D]

You don't need a grill however without a grill in, say, the nose the inspector is free to roam around inside the nose cone touching all the sharp edges with his sphere.
A single, well positioned, vertical bar may be all that is required to prevent his access.

If an exoskeletol car has no side panels then I believe the tester can again fail items inside the car which would otherwise have been exempt.

Steve

[Rusti Evo]

Thank you for the replies chaps. So its the dreaded sphere and sharp edges to check for.

[Fastpedeller]

I put this note on the IVA sticky, but as it's relevant to this topic (and nobody responded when I posted it last week) I'll put it here..........


Can anyone explain........
In the IVA manual we have for external projections:
Grills, gaps, slots, grooves, channels, recesses and holes that have a width of 10mm or less as determined by the contact points of a 100mm sphere must be blunted.

Grills, gaps, slots, grooves, channels, recesses and holes which have a width of more than 10mm, and up to 25mm determined by the contact points of a 100mm sphere must have a radius of curvature of at least 0.5mm.

All the above seems reasonable, then we get:

Mesh is only considered to provide an external surface if it is made of a rigid material and is of a type utilised in the automotive industry, mesh that is typically used in the construction industry is not acceptable i.e. Chicken Fencing.

What's the problem if it has the correct radii? Am I missing something? Do they not like chickens, or are they just trying to pump money into the auto spares industry rather than poultry? Please enlighten me!

[Stuart Mills]

Fastpedeller said:

I put this note on the IVA sticky, but as it's relevant to this topic (and nobody responded when I posted it last week) I'll put it here..........


Can anyone explain........
In the IVA manual we have for external projections:
Grills, gaps, slots, grooves, channels, recesses and holes that have a width of 10mm or less as determined by the contact points of a 100mm sphere must be blunted.

Grills, gaps, slots, grooves, channels, recesses and holes which have a width of more than 10mm, and up to 25mm determined by the contact points of a 100mm sphere must have a radius of curvature of at least 0.5mm.

All the above seems reasonable, then we get:

Mesh is only considered to provide an external surface if it is made of a rigid material and is of a type utilised in the automotive industry, mesh that is typically used in the construction industry is not acceptable i.e. Chicken Fencing.

What's the problem if it has the correct radii? Am I missing something? Do they not like chickens, or are they just trying to pump money into the auto spares industry rather than poultry? Please enlighten me!

My understanding is that the if the mesh is effectively shielding sharp edges that would otherwise result in a fail then it needs to be rigid so it resists deforming on to said sharp edges.

[Steve_D]

Stuart Mills said:

My understanding is that the if the mesh is effectively shielding sharp edges that would otherwise result in a fail then it needs to be rigid so it resists deforming on to said sharp edges.

That is exactly the way an inspector described it to me.

So, if you wish to use a light weight grill material put some vertical or horizontal bars behind it so the grill is no longer the prevention of entry to the sharp bits and is purely cosmetic.

Steve