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Been checking out the available height adjustable shocks. Seems like they all come in at between 180 and 260 quid unless you found a cheaper supplier?
Have you asked how much you can lower the front end on the adjusters alone?
It looks like they have about 6" of possible travel but it appears most of that would leave the ride height higher than standard.
To me it looks like you can only drop the front about 2" by winding the adjusters fully down, and if you add the uprated, 1" lowered springs that would make about a 3" drop in total, which should be enough, but I wanted more than enough.
Anyway, I'll be interested to see the result once your adjustables are fitted and I'm really looking forward to seeing your car on the road.
When it comes to brakes etc. I think a conscientious tester is a good thing.
The problem with a lot of garages nowadays is they just don't do enough classic car testing and a lot of the fitters don't really know how to test an older car....
You have to treat them a little differently....not ignoring issues but accepting that the car is not up to modern spec.
We have , and lots of others have , MOT'd cars with cut down springs on the front ....I use two different garages and neither has an issue. I have had cars fail if the spring is loose when the car is jacked up , ie. you can move it about ...rectification is done by wiring the spring in place ! Garage decision , not mine.
I think you may have had either a very strict tester or an unsure one who therefore erred on the side of caution to cover his ignorance ....
The wind deflector fail totally backs that up as thats just f*cking stupid !!
I guess if you deal with the issues raised , its peace of mind for 12 months....
Found the VOSA MOT testers guide on the 'net and it says this:
Where a coil spring is incomplete, cracked or
fractured at an extreme end where the spring
locates on the spring mount, it should only be
rejected if:
 the function of the spring is impaired
 following jacking, the spring ends do not
locate correctly when the vehicle is lowered
into the normal running position without
assistance
These criteria should also be applied to springs that
have been deliberately shortened or modified in
order to lower the suspension.
So, the spring can actually run out of travel at full extension and clank around loose so long as it self-seats back in the cups when the weight goes back on. Interesting...
Methinks your chap might have been bullied at school. By someone with a slammed motor.
That kind of backs up my clanky but wired in place scenario.....by wiring the spring to the cup it guides itself back to its seated position....
If you read the regs as written though , it doesn't even suggest that is needed...
Problem is , in my experience , some testers don't like their ignorance pointed out , the re-test could take on a different vibe if you have made him look a bit foolish ( shouldn't make a difference but we are dealing with humans here ! )so you have to decide whether to quote the regs at him or just replace them .....at £200 a pop , I think I'd chance the argument first !
Just a thought Dave .....Are you so far away from Pat in Collumpton that mot'ing your car at his garage would be impractical ?
Pats car clearly passed with cut coils and wind deflector intact ...
Might be cheaper than new shocks.............
That's a sensible suggestion...
Once you've sorted the brakes (and other genuine safety issues) so long as you book an MOT at a garage, technically, you can legally drive your car to the testing station for its MOT, even if it's some distance away.
You won't get away with booking a test in nine months time at a garage in the Highlands then driving around willy nilly while telling the traffic cops that will inevitably stop you that you're just en-route for the test (and people really have tried that one!).
And if the Police don't get you then DVLA probably will. Fine for driving with a long overdue tax disc? two grand plus all the back tax since the vehicle was last taxed. Let's see, mine's been off the road since 1998...
A bit too far sadly and my local garage is _really_ local, as in 3 doors up the lane from me and i do live in a small village!
He is known for being a bit of a stickler, but as this is the first time i've done anything like this (remember i work in IT for a day job, so nothing spanner related!) i wanted to take it to him knowing that he would be that thorough in order to drive me on a bit.
Removing the wind deflector for the test, fine, if that's the way he wants it then i can work with him and it does show that he's giving me an 'option' there.
Then all the other points he found, apart from the suspension, i'm fine with.
It just comes back to the shocks. If i didn't have the money and i wasn't borderline on getting those shocks anyway, then i'd mod what i've got and get a re-test elsewhere and just put up with the agro. But as he's also volunteered to pop down to mine double check things such as the welding before the re-test, i think keeping him on-site is worth it for me for the time being.
I have always thought that with a list of fail items, it is a great result as you then know what to deal with. I have put many cars through MOT's with a couple of minor points, knowing it will fail so I can get the full list to work with.
Sounds like you've got it all under control and well done for getting this far - those are minor bits after basically building your whole car, so good news. And yep, I am with you, work with your tester as it is better all round and you know you end up with a safe car! I have done the same wiht many bike MOT's over the years, especially putting quiet exhausts on for the MOT!
Overall, you have done a great job and to say you have built the kit car from scratch is a huge acheivement over most of the population! Being in IT though I am surprised you have not got WIFi and GPS and 3G built in!
Maybe you can look at it on a wireless IP camera on your smartphone when you are not there or a media centre in the boot!
Nice to see it on the road though, I want to get mine done now. Put some bits on ebay already so the dismantling will begin in earnest this weekend.
Back in 1980 I built a vitesse based Spartan kit. The instructions for the kit recommended fitting softer springs to compensate for the harsher ride that would result from fitting a lighter body and to restore the ride height to standard. The advice was to go one step down the following list.
vitesse 238 lb/in
herald and spit iv 200 lb/in
spit i-iii 150 lb/in
i.e. vitesse engined kit should use herald springs and herald and spitfire engined kits should use the lighter spitfire springs
With new standard dampers (couldn't afford adjustables in those days) the ride was a bit firmer than the herald saloon I also had at the time but still comfortable. At the back end I changed the vitesse leaf spring for a second hand one from a GT6 but this sat a bit low as it was fairly tired. A new GT6 spring worked perfectly with the chassis sitting at the same height at both ends.
The advice was to go one step down the following list.
vitesse 238 lb/in
herald and spit iv 200 lb/in
spit i-iii 150 lb/in
i.e. vitesse engined kit should use herald springs and herald and spitfire engined kits should use the lighter spitfire springs
Hope this helps
Excellent answer! I've spent months tyring to think of a way to lower the front end without making it over stiff and I think that might just be the solution.
What a good idea, thanks Andrew! Being a relative 'youngster' i've always fancied a set of the adjustable shocks just to play with, but i might still experiment with the Herald springs depending on how it goes, cheers
tlrtone wrote:
Being in IT though I am surprised you have not got WIFi and GPS and 3G built in!
Maybe you can look at it on a wireless IP camera on your smartphone when you are not there or a media centre in the boot!
Been there done that with my old XK8, to which i upgraded all the speakers, fitted a free-air sub and then added a double din touchscreen carputer, TV and DVD Player, along with a night vision reversing camera and about 32gb of solid state storage which i could all sync with the house PC
For the Sammio though I'm going completley the other way and only having the absolutely bare minimum with no unnecessary extras at all It's not even got a heater atm, although i may relent on that one!
That said.....
I do have one idea for integrating a 10" tablet PC in between the tunnel top and the dash, to provide a media hub, add additional instrumentation and to double check the accuracy of the speedo. But that's on-hold until after i finally get it through the MOT
That said.....
I do have one idea for integrating a 10" tablet PC in between the tunnel top and the dash, to provide a media hub, add additional instrumentation and to double check the accuracy of the speedo. But that's on-hold until after i finally get it through the MOT
I've got an iPad that I might recess into the dashboard
They weren't mentioned.
Since this started being discused, I have been looking around at a lot of production cars during the daily commute and quite a lot don't have seperate reflectors. They seem to rely on ones built in to the rear lights, or the reflectiveness of the lights themselves.
I wouldn't worry about it, just do what I have done and pick up two small round reflectors (i got mine from the Exeter show) for a couple of quid and keep them on the shelf just in case.
Both the Construction and Use Regulations and the MOT manual are pretty clear on this one - all vehicles need a pair of rear reflectors regardless of their date of manufacture.
I'm including a pair in my rear light set mainly to help prevent anyone driving into the back of me if the electrics fail and I coast to a stop in the middle of nowhere in the dark, which is why the regs require them in the first place.
That's fair enough but how this is implemented is weird as from what i've seen in practice a lot of manufacturers use the reflectiveness of the rear lights to class as reflectors and that is the route I'm also going to use, at least for the time being.
i.e. i was behind a new style VW beetle this morning, and there was no sign of rear reflectors at all. But a Megane that passed me had the full on Jimmy Saville jingle jangle reflector set on all corners
Like many modern cars the 'new' beetle has its reflectors incorporated in the rear light unit. If you look closely you'll see that there's a reflective outer ring surrounding the inside of the unit which complies with the regs. After all, there's no mention of the reflectors needing to be separate from the lights.
FIXED - New shocks and springs arrived and being fitted.
7)O/S drive shaft rubbing on flexi-hose.
FIXED - Looks like someone way back in the mists of time had re-welded the flexi-hose bracket on (badly) and with the lowering of the rear end, the pipe was rubbing slightly, but only with weight (i.e. me) in the car! Easy fix, bent bracket to proper angle, problem sorted!
IN PROGRESS - Rear trunion lining & bushing replacement kit arrived and i tried removing the rear lower trunion bolts last night, but they're going nowhere!
Tried screwing a nut on the end of the bolt and "persuading" with a hammer, but i ended up taking the skin off of three of my knuckles and the bolt only moved about 1mm.
Any advise / help on how to remove this while keeping my remaining knuckles in tact would be appreciated!
Obviously just in the testers opinion, I know Trevors passed first time radical lowered springs, same screen just luck of the draw. 
It's not even got a heater atm, although i may relent on that one!
