MadaboutKitcars

Stoneleigh

[IMG][/IMG]

Its Ok, it was meant with sarcasm, here we are suffering with some serious heat, and yes , I spent many years in cold weather with no roof and sidepipes, hence the lack of hair and hearing! Having said that I am loving the inginuity and 'its not a major problem' that I see.

I don't know what you had in mind for the wiper assembly but I have just removed an assembly from a Corsa C to seal a water leak. The whole assembly is held on with 2 bolts, it includes everything including the motor, I think it would be ideal for you. They are very plentiful and cheap on Ebay, I would suggest that you look for a breaker and ask for the wiring plug to be included along with 6" of the wiring loom. The whole assembly is only about 18" wide and is very compact.

Scottie - Put the chain saw down and step away from the car!

Thanks for that Jag,
I was intending to use the Spitfire ones which came with the car, I already have had to buy two new wheelboxes, as the others had corroded away, and the threads had gone.

If that route fails, I will definitely have a look at the Corsa ones

Only joking Paul!!!!

No top

Oz D,

I know what you mean, I've had several soft top cars over the years, and being a six footer, my head has always been half above the windscreen, and after a couple of hours driving feels as though I've had a ten rounds with a cricket bat!

Which is why this will not happen with this car. I had intended to drop the floor if need be, but I don't think that will be necessary, as when I make the seats, there will be no frame, and my botty will be only an inch or so off the steel floor after compressing a couple of inches of seat foam.

By carefull. I am 6ft 6 and have modified many a car to fit me comfortably . My mx250 has the seats bolted straight to the floor to give me more headroom . The mot tester failed it because the seats could not be adjusted!he said it couldn't be adjusted for other drivers, I said it was adjusted for me and no one else would drive it. Needless to say I had to put the runners back in .

That's interesting, I did not realise seat adjustment was an active part of the Mot. In fact I'm still not convinced about that one!
Mr Towed, do you have any info in this area?
I can immediately see a way round this, as when I bolt my allow flat seat panel in, I will drill a couple of extra holes in the floor and point out that the seat CAN be adjusted by repositioning.

Seat adjustment

That's what I love about this forum!

Answers to most problems!!

Your Mot man was correct to fail your car!

See the pic

[IMG][/IMG]

I will certainly address the issue now I am aware of it!

Thanks for that DM :-)

[IMG][/IMG]

seat adjustment

[IMG][/IMG]

Thanks Drummajor, your Mot man was correct, and I will make some provision so I don't get hit the same way!

That's what I love about this forum, answers to all the problems!!

There are exemptions to this (specialised modifications are to be accepted) which a sensible tester can use - as they do for most cars used for racing (my sprint/hillclimb car for example)

Do you have any printed criteria for this Jim?
That would be interesting to see.

Unfortunately some MOT testers are just pedantic A-holes who can't think for themselves.

What I did was found a local tester who had a rolling road and a selection of modified/classic cars waiting to be worked on. I had my tin top car mot'd there and broached the subject of him mot'ing my Spyder while he was doing that. I talked him through a few of the idiosyncracies I'd built in to it, like the single, central rear brake light and the fact that you have to put some revs on to get the indicators flashing fast enough, for example, and really got him interested in the concept.

When I showed up in the Spyder he loved the car and ran it through the test with a sympathetic eye. It failed, but only on a couple of genuine, minor issues - a leaky rear brake cylinder and a split steering rack gaiter. It then passed easily once I fixed those two issues.

From reading the quote from the mot guide above, it looks like it was written to ensure that the seat locks in place if it's adjustable. There should be allowances made for the fact that not every person in the human race can drive every vehicle, after all, if you've ever driven an old Land Rover and you're taller than 5'6" then you'll know that the range of adjustment in the driver's seat goes from too close to the steering wheel to far too close to the steering wheel.

My dream car was always the Porsche 718 RSK, as driven by Sir Stirling Moss (built like a bulimic jockey), but I found I couldn't drive it when I had the chance to have a go in one (GP Spyder), because my upper leg was too long to be able to get my left foot on the clutch pedal with the seat fully back. Should that be an mot fail?

Anyway, best advice is to shop around until you find an mot tester with a brain.

Thank you for that Mr T, good advice as ever.

I always hankered after a Lambo countache, until I sat in a real one,
(not a replica!)

The steering wheel was in front of me and my feet on the pedals were around 45 degrees to the left, leaving my body in a horribly stressed out twisted position, (as the front wheelarch is where the pedals should have been).
Also I was virtually lying flay on my back.
I realised then that there was no way I could live with either of those factors, and I gave up the idea easily!

It just occurred to me that there are blokes on this forum who have Lambo's,
so how do you fella's cope with the pedal offset? Are the replicas different from the originals in that respect?

AcC8braman and Davecymro??

Still on the subject of seats, my old series 1 landy didn't have adjustable seats and never failed an mot. Agree the tester was over zealous.

That would come under the exemption clause of "original design characteristics"

So could you argue that a fixed seat is part of the original A352 / Sammio / Ribble / Miglia design?

I can't fit runners with my current seats / floor pans, so this is a key bit of news for my build too.

Cheers, Paul.

You can't argue with MOT testers - you either have a reasonable discussion or don't bother

I coped by buying very slim shoes to drive in and ensuring that I NEVER adjust the seat from the fully back position as otherwise you're trapped in the car!

My two local MOT testers, one never blinked an eye at my bolted in seats on the Spyder as it was a classic car and designed that way. The other was unsure when I mentioned to him that i was thinking of removing the runners on the Countach as it was designed with runners and re,moving them then falls foul of the above guidance.

So it looks like its being read, at least around here, that if the vehicle was originally designed with/for seat runners then they have to work. If it wasn't then they don't fall under inspection.

But as Towed says, I expect this comes down to personal interpretation!

Hey thanks for that input Dave, that's interesting stuff.
Hopefully, all this input may help other people to not fall foul of the regulations and laws that seem to plague us all!

I think what people need to do is to shop around for an Mot tester that is willing to give a little and be more flexible where our type of cars are concerned.

Seat Runners

What about using the original lotus idea, having a fixed floor squab, then removeable padding at the seat back. thefore the comfortable seating position is not fixed, but the 'seat' is, otherwise what are the rules about a set of marcos pedals!

Good idea OD! When the Mot man asks me how the seat adjusts, I'll point to the cushion and say "like that" mate! Stick that behind your back!

seats

Today I spent time planning the seat configuration.

I needed to know what size they will be, so they will fit in the cockpit, and also how thick the foam will be that I will make them from.

This involved an awful lot of farting about getting in an out of the car, trying different thicknesses of foam, trying this and that.
I did get a lot out of it in the end. So it was worth it.

I will use 4 inch foam for the bottom seat part, and 2 inch foam for the seat backs.

I have ordered it now, and when it arrives I will set to and crack on with the work.
In the mean time, I will make the alloy seat backs and " adjustable" seat squabs. :-)

[IMG][/IMG]

[IMG][/IMG]