SVA Test

The SVA test was on the 5th July. All in all it was a good experience, though a little nerve wracking at times. I has the joy of having 2 examiners as they were training a new bloke at Norwich. All of the things I was worried about didnt cause any problems. Amazingly he didn't find any sharp edges with his ball. They allowed plenty of time to adjust things such as head lights. They even continued the test after lunch, even though my time had long run out. I had fuel starvation issues on the speed rollers which almost put a stop to the test, but the blokes were very understanding.

I failed on two minor points. The front indicators were too bright (it's true, they are a bit on the bright side!) and the brake pedal was sticking a little after the brake test.

The re-test was on the 19th July, and took literally 5 mins and I walked away with a MAC.

For those who want to know. The car weighed in at about 625kg with a full tank of fuel with 55:45 front:rear weight distribution.

 

DVLA

The DVLA was not a pleasant experience. I was originally told I could drive the car to the inspection (they wouldnt do a home visit) and eventually it transpired that in fact I couldnt, so the car had to go on the trailer again. Then once I was there I was told I would leave with my tax and reg number, and I didnt. It seems safe to bet that whatever you are told by one person, if you ask another 5 mins later they will tell you the exact opposite. Plus I stood and waited for over an hour to have my paperwork sorted...

 

Post SVA Jobs

The carbs have been changed to the newer set of 45's, looks the same, but now have even more induction noise and probably even worse fuel economy coupled with a few more horses hopefully. I hope to take the car to a rolling road within the next few weeks to get it set up properly.

The dimmer SVA indicators seem to have fallen off, and been replaced with the smaller ones without their stalks. And a few bits of superfluous trim have disappeared as well on the way home, weird that.

The fire extinguisher has been fixed in infront of the passenger seat.

The exhaust headers have been wrapped, but I still need to fit some vents to the bonnet as its still getting far too hot under there at the moment.

The GTS badges have been fitted front and rear.

 

New Cylinder Head

The pinto is getting a new unleaded head. I have done considerably more work to this one. The exhaust ports have been fully opened out to match large bore exhaust gaskets (ignore the yellow paint pen, I use it as a base for marking out on). The cross sectional area of the port has been increased all the way back to where it begins to turn into the valve throat. Both the inlet and exhaust valve throats have been opened out, which has reduced the width of the valve seats. The valve guides in the ports have been streamlined and slimmed up, especially the exhaust one, to reduce their restriction. I have left the guides protruding into the ports as it is essentially a road engine, and I need reliability. The counterbores around the valve seats have all been removed. The inlet port was left as cast. The valves have been lapped in, all threads cleaned out with a tap and the whole head been pressure washed. It will be fitted with a new Kent FR33 cam kit, which is a step up from the current FR22. The head gasket will be a Felpro Blue which is slightly thinner than the standard one, giving a slightly increased compression ratio. The head will be swapped in a couple of weeks, then the car will be taken to the rolling road and set up and I will also get BHP and torque figures, which could be interesting.