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…..