IVA application

 Here goes, time to get stuck into the paperwork. I'm doing it online and I don't know whether I'll come to regret that decision! First off then, design weights. From the earlier post I have;

Front left: 144.2 KGs

Front right: 144.9 KGs

Back left: 152.8 KGs

Back right: 146.8 KGs

Plus 20KG's of fuel to add on.

For a 2 seater car I then have 75kg per seat. That gives me a gross weight of 770KG's (rounding up the corner weights to 150). 

Given the rear takes the 20kg's of fuel and the 14kg of luggage, plus half the person weight, that gives the rear maximum as;

300 + 20 + 14 + 75 = 409kg

Then the front is 770 - 409 = 361

(Later that day)

Well, the application is in, arranged for Kidderminster. The website is awful, with no back button it has to be absolutely perfect. My third application was enough to go through complete. The first time I'd put the wrong class, which I didn't notice until it asked me for a payment of £199. It should have been more than double that!

The second time was a simple user error, I didn't attach the right documentation and couldn't go back. So the third one took longer but got submitted correctly. Time to wait for the test date and possibly reschedule to next year if required. 

In the meantime, I've done a couple more jobs. First was changing the coolant. It was only water while I checked for leaks, but with the cold weather I thought it would be a good idea to replace some water with antifreeze. I did flush things out though, the water wasn't exactly clean so hopefully now it'll keep things a bit healthier.

I also took the car for a drive, and it's actually feeling a bit more comfortable and smooth. There's a squeak coming from one of the interior panels that I'll sort at some point, but the main issue was the spongy brake pedal. 

So I need to sort that over the winter. It's going to be one of two things, either there is still air in the brake lines, or the master cylinder is leaking internally. Air in the brake lines is probably the easiest/cheapest to sort, the master cylinder a bit more of a challenge. A new master cylinder is about £300 so I won't be doing that! But there is a rebuild kit available, part number BW0A-43-61Z. I found one on Autodoc;

https://www.autodoc.co.uk/abs/7799158

And also lists part numbers BW0A4361Z, GJ214361Z, NM02298.  FT-3055. SK21311-2.

I'll try bleeding first, but I need to buy some more fluid if that's the case. 

(December update)

I forgot I left this hanging! So it's now the 8th of December, and it's been just over a week since I submitted my IVA application. As above it wasn't a pleasant experience, but I got there in the end. 

A few days later I got a follow up email. They wanted the following;

    Copies of build invoices for major parts purchased EG kit receipts

Well, that was going to be interesting, mainly because it wasn't a kit! In the end I sent them some receipts for raw materials (steel and aluminium stock), as well as the receipt for the bodywork. They seemed to accept that, and as of today they're waiting for me to call them and arrange a date. I'll probably do it today, it was a manic week at work.

Last update for this post, the brakes. Thankfully I didn't have to do anything with the master cylinder, after asking what my symptoms meant everyone just said 'they need bleeding'. So I spent several more hours bleeding the brakes, and it seems to be ok now. I did find one hose connection that seemed to be leaking, so I replaced the copper washers on that one. For some reason it was the rear left (expected) and the front right (unexpected) that were the worst. The rear left coughed up so much air and bubbles that I'm amazed I had any brakes at all!

I am planning this week to do the headlight alignment, unfortunately it's an outside activity that requires movement of all three cars and at night so I'm not looking forward to it. I am hoping the process isn't too painful though, the main issue will be finding a level surface that is 7 metres long with a fence at the end of it. My drive is that long but whether it's level is an entirely different question!

Well, I've just come off the phone with the DVSA, and it's disappointing news. I have three test centres within driving distance, Kidderminster, Derby and Nottingham. The first two have no bookings available, and Nottingham is closed. Looks like I'm going to have to go a bit further afield, so time to check Google maps and see what is realistic.