part 2

[Steve Kerswell]

Tonight is kit car club night held in a greasy spoon. Tonight its being held elsewhere. Seems we are having a presentation ! The IVA man is coming to give a talk about the whys and what for, and the new European thingy which could affect us all. So hopefully there will be question time after and I can try to find out what these new rules mean for currently built "component" cars. Any Questions??

[Adrian Southgate]

As a backup, I'll ask Sue to check with her workmates on that, It may also be mentioned in the FBHVC newsletter.

This is one of the get out clauses used by cloners, taking an 'existing dutton' and changing the panels for new ones... most MOT testers won't spot the new chassis, different suspension, bike engine ...  because they don't have a clue what they are looking at and have to take the owners word as to what it is.

Don't know about you lot but i'm fed up with being dictated to by a bunch on knobs in Belgium. 

[Steve Kerswell]

The MOT is about safety, something did come up about this, I will have to read my notes, now, where's that fag packet ?

[Steve Kerswell]

it was a great evening, people from another kit car club organised it (they have an in house IVA tester). The good news is it wont affect many Dutton owners, but looks like a new type MOT will. It seems its just a tightening up of laws and a few new bits, like noise and emissions, and could be goodbye to multi advises, 3 advises max, plus they are held on record and brought up 12 months time when they retest. MOT testers are actually supporting this move as its a very grey area for them. Remember this is European so may take years or months to take effect. On the IVA front, it seems its written in stone, so very few changes can be applied, yet. The European stuff is mainly aimed at kit car manufacturers, ensuring that their chassis is up to scratch and issued with a confirmation of standards. One interesting thing is the MOT and tax free brigade, pre 60 I think. Hot Rodders are snapping up the pre 60 chassis and building whatever, then ducking the law. This area is one that is under investigation. As for Waynes question about these clone BMW z3 kits etc. No real clear guidelines, that is why they do it. However it seems to be bolt on panels are not structural, so that is the excuse. It seems legal to take your Dutton and put any amount of bodywork on it as long as you dont mess with suspension pick ups and seat belt points etc. Cross members can be added but not cut or removed, once again its open to abuse at present as there is no way of identifying chassis builders at present. This is another European thing about the welding standards, and a certificate of welding being produced by the coded welder. I looked into this and it seems the European standard for chassis welding is not that high, turn up at a centre, weld in 3 different directions, and the test is complete. They then destructive test your weld. Pass mark is 80%. There was tons more but my brain got a bit fuddled by others asking questions about lighting and heights etc. To sum up build your car to IVA standard and you will have no trouble. Build to a less standard and you take a chance at MOT time, like we all do anyway. Big Brother is coming, like it or not. Could it be the end of the kit car industry?