Funny old world
Discussion
So cars been for its yearly mot today.
After cam setup and tappets I was hoping for the closest run yet to a proper pass. So took it to a garage I hadn't used before that I knew wouldn't give me any leeway
.
Smoke billowing from the handbrake gaitor, mot guy refusing to sit in the car despite me calling him a woose. Carefully finding the spot in my revs where no load there isn't any popping and banging and emssion test started.
Engine rpm 3000
CO <0.30 0.06
HC <200ppm 121
lambda .9-1.03 1.08 fail
Rpm 900
CO <0.50 0.04
Failed on the lambda at 1.08. Gutted.
Told the guy the car is impossible to get through and that if he didn't pass it I'd remove half the injectors and plug leads and bring it back the next day.
Then a strange thing happened. He looked in his MOT bible and found that a TVR Cerbera doesn't have to pass a standard test. Apparently every TVR Cerebra, and for that matter griffiths, but no other TVR has a different set of allowances that allow more leaway due to engine configuration. Now this guy wasn't just trying to get rid of me. I saw it in black and white. The lamda value is allowed to 1.20 which is massive.
And therefore my car passed its first completely independant impartial MOT.
woohoo!
I was so happy on the way home I gave the car full beans, and the throttle cable bracket promptly busted.
I therefore sat on the north cray road in bexley with people tooting left right and centre and various hand gestures which I took to be gestures of support.
But I was in a winning day and think myself to be the sort of person the TVR deserves.
I told my wife not to bother calling the RAC, despite the fact I had no tools, and rolled up a business card into a small tube. I then reached into the engine bay. Opened the throttle and stuck the business card tube into the space between the throttle stop and the throttle.
Engine now idled at 2500 rpm. Which was enough to pull away and slowly climb the rev range in each gear. With some anticipation it took me 10 miles home in busy traffic, and came to rest back in its garage.
The bracket is now welded, painted and ready to go back on the car when the paint is dry tomorrow.
funny old world isn't it. I couldn't be happier with myself, or my car, if it had 1000bhp, and I'd just made it past 300mph
. Maybe I'm just easily pleased.
After cam setup and tappets I was hoping for the closest run yet to a proper pass. So took it to a garage I hadn't used before that I knew wouldn't give me any leeway
. Smoke billowing from the handbrake gaitor, mot guy refusing to sit in the car despite me calling him a woose. Carefully finding the spot in my revs where no load there isn't any popping and banging and emssion test started.
Engine rpm 3000
CO <0.30 0.06
HC <200ppm 121
lambda .9-1.03 1.08 fail
Rpm 900
CO <0.50 0.04
Failed on the lambda at 1.08. Gutted.
Told the guy the car is impossible to get through and that if he didn't pass it I'd remove half the injectors and plug leads and bring it back the next day.
Then a strange thing happened. He looked in his MOT bible and found that a TVR Cerbera doesn't have to pass a standard test. Apparently every TVR Cerebra, and for that matter griffiths, but no other TVR has a different set of allowances that allow more leaway due to engine configuration. Now this guy wasn't just trying to get rid of me. I saw it in black and white. The lamda value is allowed to 1.20 which is massive.
And therefore my car passed its first completely independant impartial MOT.
woohoo!
I was so happy on the way home I gave the car full beans, and the throttle cable bracket promptly busted.
I therefore sat on the north cray road in bexley with people tooting left right and centre and various hand gestures which I took to be gestures of support. But I was in a winning day and think myself to be the sort of person the TVR deserves.
I told my wife not to bother calling the RAC, despite the fact I had no tools, and rolled up a business card into a small tube. I then reached into the engine bay. Opened the throttle and stuck the business card tube into the space between the throttle stop and the throttle.
Engine now idled at 2500 rpm. Which was enough to pull away and slowly climb the rev range in each gear. With some anticipation it took me 10 miles home in busy traffic, and came to rest back in its garage.
The bracket is now welded, painted and ready to go back on the car when the paint is dry tomorrow.
funny old world isn't it. I couldn't be happier with myself, or my car, if it had 1000bhp, and I'd just made it past 300mph
. Maybe I'm just easily pleased.
Yep, thought I'd share cos I'm just dead pleased the things gone through the MOT on emissions, and in the same day kept its honour for never having left me at the side of the road.
Funny thing about pistonheads. When I tell my friends the story (all professional drive brand new BMW/Merc types, who think having to keep a car long enough so it has to go through an MOT is a sign of personal financial problems) they can't see how I possibly enjoyed a day that sounds like a horror story to them.
I'm obviously not where I'm meant to be in life.
I suppose the lesson here is that a Cerb can't get through a standard emissions test as I've said many times on here before. The thing I didn't know till now is that it doesn't have to, and mentioning this to the MOT tester is time well spent as I don't think they know either.
Funny thing about pistonheads. When I tell my friends the story (all professional drive brand new BMW/Merc types, who think having to keep a car long enough so it has to go through an MOT is a sign of personal financial problems) they can't see how I possibly enjoyed a day that sounds like a horror story to them.
I'm obviously not where I'm meant to be in life
. I suppose the lesson here is that a Cerb can't get through a standard emissions test as I've said many times on here before. The thing I didn't know till now is that it doesn't have to, and mentioning this to the MOT tester is time well spent as I don't think they know either.
FUBAR said:
My cerb passed its MOT yesterday too
Just I had to take it to Austec for them to sling the cats on, go get it tested then take the cats back off. Unfortunately not for the same price as it cost you Julian
Still, dont have to worry about that for another year
Just I had to take it to Austec for them to sling the cats on, go get it tested then take the cats back off. Unfortunately not for the same price as it cost you Julian
Still, dont have to worry about that for another year
Why, what does it cost to put a set of cats on and take them off after ??
I had My car three weeks and took it to a local MOT garage in May. It failed its first emissions test and they tried again, the car was red hot so I asked them to drop the revs to help the heat situation, for the rest of the test it was on tick over and some how passed. Thanks for the info on the emissions I shall be trying that one next year, and just to say their a pain in the ar$£ but we still love them.
longbow said:
Julian64, any chance you can provide a detailled reference to the said information regarding emmissions excemptions for a TVR Cerbera, as the local place refused to believe me!!!!!
Not sure how to reply to this. The chap had a large white book sitting beside the emission machine. A quick thumb through it showed that the Cerb/Griff is explicitly named as an exception to the standard test.
I had a quick look around. First thing to quote is this
Regulations do not require vehicles to achieve CO or HC readings below the original capability of the engine when new. A very few vehicles may never have been able to meet the MOT limits.
Where a vehicle owner claims that this is the case, and has sound supporting evidence (eg a letter from the vehicle manufacturer)' the vehicle shuld be considered exempt from the CO and HC emission requirements.
If the owner does not have sound supporting evidence, a Test Certificate should be refused.
This is from the MOT testers manual section 7.3 paragraph 9 'Vehicles which are incapable of passing'. An easy argument is that the racing valve overlap and the subsequent obvious popping and banging of the engine at idle high revs means it is impossible to pass with neat fuel being thrown into the exhaust.
Lastly if you really wanna rub the guys nose in it quote this.
Cerbera, Cerbera Straight 6, Tuscan Speed 6 & Tamora
car maxCO -revs- maxCO/HC lambda -revs- oil temp
3.6l VIN Code FA17A 0.5 900 1000 0.3 200 0.9 1.2 2500 3000 85
4.0l VIN Code CB16A, EA15A & EA16A 0.5 900 1000 0.3 200 0.9 1.2 2500 3000 85
4.2l VIN Code FAC2P or CA11A 0.5 900 1000 0.3 200 0.9 1.2 2500 3000 85
4.5l VIN Code FAC5P or CB12A 0.5 900 1000 0.3 200 0.9 1.2 2500 3000 85
The figures relate to the government book I was talking about earlier. You can see from this the killer lamda is at 1.2 not 1.03.
Hope this is of help
ref
www.motuk.co.uk/manual_730.htm
ref www.dft.gov.uk/stellent/groups/dft_roads/documents/downloadable/dft_roads_028503.pdf
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