IVA Attempt No.1

 After an approximate 9 months build of which delays and hold ups frequented, the build is complete.....well, almost. I had a few things I wanted to sort out, most importantly the steering column which was still very close to the alternator, should be a quick rearranging, nothing too major....

Yeah....not the best thing to be doing less that 12 hours before I'm due to leave!
Other things I wanted to do too, was fitting some carpet. Gives a nice look, especially as it's only a £1 pack from Poundland!

 Back to the main part, the steering column was adjusted by rotating by rack so that the column came down at a steeper angle, giving more room from the alternator. Problem solved...until I realised the next day my degree of self centring had also disappeared.

During all this last minute fiddling and fitting, I was accompanied by a new friend...who almost got thrown across the car park.....the cheek of him!

        










  
Well, on Thursday 12th last week, my Zero MX went for its, and mine, first IVA attempt. Because of this, I was not expecting to pass due to little things such as sharp edges or potential chaffing on areas I had missed. Little things really. Since booking the test though, I have been more excited than anything and when seeing my Dad the night before, compared me to a 5 year old at Christmas – something of an understatement in my opinion!
Anyway, after deciding that I was going to drive to the test (no brainer really) I set off at 6am for an 8am test – google estimated a 40-odd minute journey! This gave me plenty of time for any problems to surface and still have a chance to get to the IVA on time. After all, this was the first time it would be properly run and something may come loose or go wrong. I had a strong belief in my build though so was very confident about making it.









All set, helmet on! Lets go!

Quick stop off for petrol, only ever had a couple of cans full so this was a test of the fuel tank fittings. Looked good and sealed, happy days!

Well, first problems I encountered was my speedo not having a back light….strange, but easy fix using alternative methods. Secondly, my fuel gauge would only read up ¾ full on a full tank, might just need the needle “adjusting” we’ll see afterwards. So two problems without even leaving Tamworth…..but who cared? I’d waited so long to drive the car, nothing was going to put me off, not even the cold!

Straight away, the noise, the responsiveness and acceleration of the car eliminated any worries, stress nerves or anything, it was an absolute pleasure to drive and such a fantastic experience, especially as I’d built it myself! I was loving every second of driving the car. At about half way to Derby though, I came off the dual carriageway to find that my gear selections were not working properly, the clutch needed depressing further it felt, a problem I thought I’d fixed earlier in the build…either way, I pulled over, extended the pushrod to its maximum length –not much but enough to carry on. Note to self, longer push rod required. Later on I thought about getting a return spring as the piston isn’t returning fully maybe causing a problem too. Again, easy fix.

Other than that, I made it to Derby IVA station with 30mins to spare and a great big grin. No other feeling is like that, easily the best experience of my life!

I met Roy at Derby for the test, a friendly chap, definitely made the experience more relaxing! And we began at 8am. To cut a long story short, the car did fail on a number of trim items, wiring supports, no speedo back light and anti-slip on the pedals. These were the expected items I knew I’d probably miss anyway, so no worries, easy things to fix……not so easy and unexpected is the steering self-centring, headlights (GBS provided lights, have the keys in the cowling and headlight to line up, however, these are not in the correct place and cause the pattern to be wrong! Should be able to adjust round to ensure correct pattern), and finally brake efficiency/effectiveness. Handbrake passed no problem, however foot brake needs a minimum 60%, I was getting 44%. However, new pads so these just need to be settled in – another excuse to drive the car.

Overall, the car was looking good to drive home, Roy seemed happy with the build and believed it would be safe to get home. Last thing required was the noise test….Roy took the car around the site to check for self-centring and try warm the brakes up a bit for a re-run of the brake test after we did the noise. He parked it up, left the car idling, fetched the machine then asked me to jump in and hold the revs at 4,200…..uh-oh…the car began to cough and splutter, returning to a rough idle, tried an Italian tune up and red lined the engine, back down, nope it got worse eventually cutting out at idle. Very confusing. The car appeared to be over-fuelling. Needless to say I was baffled and so was Roy, especially after how well it had got to the test and continued to be fine up until the very last part of the test! How gutting. Even gutting couldn’t describe the feeling, knowing it would be trailered home, I was distraught.

We pushed the car back inside and went off to complete the paperwork. I had to wait for my Dad to get back up from work so spent a bit of time trying to figure out if I could get the car working. I was determined to drive it home. The fail didn’t ruin my mood, but this would…..a bit of searching, checking the Lambda sensor wiring and fitment, no problems obvious, I thought coil-pack/spark plugs, but had nothing to replace them with if I realised it was them, even looked for vacuum leaks but everything seemed to be in the place it should be…..except one thing….a bolt…one single bolt that by coming loose, was causing the issue. Not something you’d expect to cause that, however, when it is acting as an earth point, big problem. So, the bolt was retightened to the point of nearly stripping the threads – this was not going to cause me a problem on the way home. Fired the Zero MX up and it was puuurrrfect. Back to normal. I was a very happy bunny again! Driving home was back on the table!!!

The drive home went without any issues, it was an absolute joy to drive and turned many heads. I was loving the drive, even contemplated missing a few turnings to prolong the experience. Nonetheless, every problem I have ever had with it, all the long cold hours in the garage and sweltering summer days too, none of that mattered, the drive was worth every single moment. I haven’t driven it in 3 days and already have withdrawal symptoms, shame Christmas and Uni coursework is getting in the way but priorities first. My next IVA will be sometime in the back end of January, the suspense and excitement is killing me, but in about 1-2 months, I will hopefully be in the position of being able to drive it whenever I want, and that thought is the only thing keeping me sane and partially focused on my work at the moment…..

 

 

 

Car Completed....For First IVA Attempt

Well many thought it wouldn't happen, but GBS FINALLY got the handbrake cables to me! After waiting since June and hearing a number of conflicting reasons why it was getting delayed, it got there 4 months later.

With that sorted, it was a weekend spent with the car, fitting the handbrake, boot inner panels and boot cover, sheet aluminium for IVA purposes - if you can't remove the cover, it can't be tested for sharp edges which it would fail on. The handbrake and cables were straight forward to fit and easier not using the predetermined slots by the wishbones, obviously from the Ford based kit and not changed for the Mazda. These just cause the angles to be wrong and runs the risk of getting caught or rubbing on the driveshafts. Anyway, handbrake on, dash light on, good strong shove on the car and not a single bit of movement. Sorted.

Boot panels were a little more tricky as none appear to fit properly, however, they are in and will be carpeted over anyway once I get onto that stage, making it look more tidy, just like the rest of the car without the worry of IVA regulations.
My make shift boot cover does however look very nice. Much nicer than I was expecting.

Overall, from starting the build in March, I have gotten to an IVA ready stage in just 7 months. When I first started out and stated my ambitions of having it done before starting university again in September/October, I was told I was looking at a minimum of 12 months if I was balancing my work placement at the same time. Well, it's been 9 months from picking my kit up, 7 from actually being able to start it, and probably would have been done in under 6 months if all the parts could have been delivered on time. Not a bad effort I'd say. Either way, I just want to get this beauty out on the road and enjoying my hard work and time.

Enjoy the photos below!

 

 

Kit Ordered  > November 2012

Kit Collection  > January 2013

Build Start  > March 2013

Ready for IVA  > October 2013

IVA Pass  > ??????? Watch this space.

 

 

Awaiting the Handbrake

Still no delivery date from GBS regarding the handbrake, however it is now being tested and checked over this weekend. I would guess that a date for delivery is going to be set this week.....

Anyway, the weekend was not lost. I've repaired and fitted the drivers side cycle wing. A bit of a polish and it should barely be noticeable, serves me right for trying to be clever with the fitting. Either way it is now fixed on using a healthy doseage of the black glue stuff, pushed into the gaps by fingers (wear gloves, you'll look grubby for days!)

Also fitted is are the side repeaters on the wings and the front indicators on the nose cone. The side repeaters are required to be seen from quite far back along the car, so I aimed for seeing them from the drivers seat and you should be ok.

The front indicators though require the extension arms to meet IVA requirements. I originally read it as they have to be 400mm further in from the widest part but it is in fact 400mm maximum from the widest part of the car, hence the extension bars. Also these help with the angles required to meet the IVA too.




I have been spending a lot of time reading through the IVA manual which is leading to many questions being raised about interpretting the wording, however I have decided that 2 IVA tests are a high possibility for a first timer. Saying that though, I will be aiming for the first time pass but will not be devastated if it didn't pass (depending on the reasoning of course!) With that, I have been excessively applying trimmings and covers to help avoid failing on a sharp edge (some of which are ridiculous but rules are rules) and ensuring everything is working as it should....so far so good.

 

 

So as it stands, the car is ready for IVA...minus a handbrake and boot cover, however these will go on in a day once I have them...that is the hold up. So close...I hate waiting!


 

Aimless fittings

I'm at the stage of the build where there are only little things left to do for IVA. I have tried planning some form of plan but I never seem to follow it.

Problems I am currently having:

• Handbrake kit from GBS. This is taking forever for them to sort out, it's been 2 months since having a IVA'd and working Mazda demonstrator and they have only just put the order in with their supplier for a batch of cables.
• Had a little argument with them over the phone about it, amongst other things, needless to say they have not supported their "outstanding customer service" claims. I would say its good...at times, and at others, its diabolical.

• My tracking and steering/suspension set ups are leaving a lot to be desired. With the car mobile, running around the driveway, I have noticed that there is heavy scrubbing from the front wheels when on full lock.
• Solution is to adjust the toe and camber settings. As I have only done this by eye, I'm not expecting them to be any good. The camber on the drivers side wheel was clearly not neutral, sorted that and opened the toe settings a bit. That reduced the problem, did the other side, seems to be worse again...did the drivers side again and have over-inflated the tires, we'll see what this does. Below are the photos before I made any changes.

 

The photos might not show the problem clearly enough as looking but it might give you some idea.

• Steering Wheel Self Centre. This is fixed from the wishbone design. Personally I'm not too worried about the centring but IVA is. I can only test this at slow speeds due to the area I'm working in but it seems fairly solid in the position I leave the wheel in.
• A number of things to check are: wishbones on correctly, wishbones as far back as they go? From looking at the car, they only go one way, and it's also the same way GBS have their Mazda Zero wishbones, might need a call and clarifying.

Enough of the problems, I say problems....more set up features...anyway, I have the passengers seat fitted in. I decided that I can still access the centre panel to fit the handbrake easily enough from the top. So the passengers tunnel went on, pre-drilled holes lining up perfectly (preparation win!) and the seat dropped into the holes made for that to fit in too.....pfft yeah right! Can't have everything go well! For some reason, it wasn't having any of it. Holes made bigger, adjusted and finally dropped in. Not the 5 minute job I planned but it was still all done within the hour.

I also decided to fit the rest of the transmission tunnel. I cut a slot in the top for the gearstick, fitted the gearstick cover too. I have been thinking about this for a while, looking at what trims to get, stainless, chrome, aluminium etc etc. In the end I went for the cheap option. I riveted the cover on using some 3.2mm washers on the back to hold the cover and then fitted some black rubber trim to the 'sharp' hole that was cut. I'm probably going to get some better trim for the hole but generally pleased with the result. Looks almost finished inside.
(I also considered painting the transmission tunnel black, don't think I will but opinions welcome)


Photo time!