Epic Fail!

[Bassfiend]

Well, not quite "epic" but a fail all the same...

Failed MOT - drivers side outrigger (expected) but suprisingly the MOT tester picked up a "stiffie" in part of the steering rack travel so failed on that too. Advisories on the rear upper wishbone bushes.

Oh well - could be much worse ... on the promising side, my garage are sure they can get my car through an MOT emissions check *WITHOUT* any cats.

Phil

[Chilliman]

Phil, I thought it was a fail if you have no cat when the vehicle is supposed to have one regardless of the emissions it puts out being within limits? Or am I missing a wink wink nod nod know what I mean here?

[alex_gray255]

I saw the title and couldn't help myself

[Bassfiend]

Chilliman said:

Phil, I thought it was a fail if you have no cat when the vehicle is supposed to have one regardless of the emissions it puts out being within limits? Or am I missing a wink wink nod nod know what I mean here?

Thing is, as long as the exhaust LOOKS standard then there's no way that the MOT tester can say for certain that the cats aren't there ... They're not likely to start pulling the exhausts apart. :-)

[Simon says]

Bassfiend said:

Chilliman said:

Phil, I thought it was a fail if you have no cat when the vehicle is supposed to have one regardless of the emissions it puts out being within limits? Or am I missing a wink wink nod nod know what I mean here?

Thing is, as long as the exhaust LOOKS standard then there's no way that the MOT tester can say for certain that the cats aren't there ... They're not likely to start pulling the exhausts apart. :-)

I would be inclined to keep this kind of stuff to one self and off line Phil as VOSA would not turn a blind eye to this if the station is caught in fact quite the opposite as there is no way in a million years the RV8 will hit Lambda with no Cat fitted FACT this is providing the 4 GAS analyser is working correctly of course

[TV8]

My car has no main cat and goes through the MOT test ok on emissions.

[Simon says]

TV8 said:

My car has no main cat and goes through the MOT test ok on emissions.

Then you have pre-cats still fitted you cant hit Lambda without the cat even later Jap tech with much more efficient lean burn engines but de-catted are not able and if they are then the 4 gas needs calibrating its the only way

[TV8]

Simon says said:

hen you have pre-cats still fitted you cant hit Lambda without the cat even later Jap tech with much more efficient lean burn engines but de-catted are not able and if they are then the 4 gas needs calibrating its the only way

I think that I do.. Didnt realise that they made that much difference!

[Simon says]

TV8 said:

Simon says said:

hen you have pre-cats still fitted you cant hit Lambda without the cat even later Jap tech with much more efficient lean burn engines but de-catted are not able and if they are then the 4 gas needs calibrating its the only way

I think that I do.. Didnt realise that they made that much difference!

Certainly do

[Bassfiend]

Simon says said:

I would be inclined to keep this kind of stuff to one self and off line Phil as VOSA would not turn a blind eye to this if the station is caught in fact quite the opposite as there is no way in a million years the RV8 will hit Lambda with no Cat fitted FACT this is providing the 4 GAS analyser is working correctly of course

I think there's more than enough of us with 'illegal' sleeved exhausts, high wattage bulbs, unapproved HIDs etc. to keep VOSA busy for years ... And with no mention of any specific testing station (and in fact no actual infringement of any rules so far), garage or vehicle registration then I don't see too much cause for concern at the moment.

As it is I'm just musing that I've been assured that they can get through an emissions test without cats and I'm tempted to buy a set of manifolds and a y-piece just to see.

[Alexdaredevilz]

My 'old engine' with no cats, 300 duration cam and a Lucas system trying to control it went through a mot no problems, in fact it had identical emissions as a Nissan Micra!

Only bad side to that is I keep loosing £20 out my wallet every time I go to my mot station, Its happened twice in a row now!

[philh]

I can recommend a good steering rack place in Birmingham, had mine done there a couple of months ago and they had seven in at the time!

[Simon says]

Alexdaredevilz said:

My 'old engine' with no cats, 300 duration cam and a Lucas system trying to control it went through a mot no problems, in fact it had identical emissions as a Nissan Micra!

Only bad side to that is I keep loosing £20 out my wallet every time I go to my mot station, Its happened twice in a row now!

[Bassfiend]

Simon says said:

Alexdaredevilz said:

My 'old engine' with no cats, 300 duration cam and a Lucas system trying to control it went through a mot no problems, in fact it had identical emissions as a Nissan Micra!

Only bad side to that is I keep loosing £20 out my wallet every time I go to my mot station, Its happened twice in a row now!

Now surely that's a much more controversial statement than my original posting?

I mean Alex should obviously not be trusted with cash if he consistently loses it...

[Simon says]

Bassfiend said:

Simon says said:

Alexdaredevilz said:

My 'old engine' with no cats, 300 duration cam and a Lucas system trying to control it went through a mot no problems, in fact it had identical emissions as a Nissan Micra!

Only bad side to that is I keep loosing £20 out my wallet every time I go to my mot station, Its happened twice in a row now!

Now surely that's a much more controversial statement than my original posting?

I mean Alex should obviously not be trusted with cash if he consistently loses it...

Yeh but he's young and foolish what's our excuse?

[Bassfiend]

Simon says said:

eh but he's young and foolish what's our excuse?

Well mine is I'm old and incontinent ...

...erm, I mean incompetent.

That's why I need such a loud car ... So I can hear myself coming.

[Chilliman]

Emissions aside I'd love to lose the main cat, but my neighbours hate me as it is

[Bassfiend]

Chilliman said:

Emissions aside I'd love to lose the main cat, but my neighbours hate me as it is

Yeah ... But that has nothing to do with your car though.

[Chilliman]

Bassfiend said:

Chilliman said:

Emissions aside I'd love to lose the main cat, but my neighbours hate me as it is

Yeah ... But that has nothing to do with your car though.

bh

[Bassfiend]

Well without wanting to sound like a devotee I'm not going to say who the garage is but if you have read my previous posts it isn't hard to work out who I use - anyway, I have to give them their due praise ...

...they called me to tell me about the MOT fail as soon as they found out and I gave them the nod to sort the steering rack.

After fetching the car back from the MOT station it seems that they weren't convinced by the testers failing the rack for having a stiff spot and so decided to have a look for themselves. Seems that the "stiff spot" was caused by the dropped front wheels (as the car was lifted off the deck) catching on the bodywork. They contacted the MOT tester back about it and that's no longer a fail.

Also - didn't fail the MOT on the drivers side outrigger either ... we were all fairly sure that it would and hence it was booked in for the outrigger to be done but they phoned me last night to let me know about the steering rack being OK and even said to me "Given that it also didn't fail on the outrigger then we can hold off doing the outrigger til later or next year if you want?" ...

Anyway, of course I'm going to have them do it as it makes little difference to me whether it's done now or in six / twelve months time but I'm really chuffed with them that they have actually given me the option to drop what basically would have been the best part of £1,500 of work down to a couple of hundred quid.

(It did still fail on a steering rack gaitor which needed to be done although I guess I could have done that myself...)

Anyway - really rather chuffed with them for that!

Phil