Lights, belts, action

The appeal is now in the post and on it's way to the Transport authorities so I hope to hear some news within the next week or two.

I had another look at the headlights to check what they actually meant by failing them. Having thought they must be neutral I noticed actually that there is the tell tail larger triangle on the right of the glass and smaller to the left and so, as I understand it, are for right hand drive traffic. The glass is also marked E26 which I believe means its been approved in Slovenia and they are right hand traffic - Please comment if I'm way out cycling (a Swedish term for being wrong!)

I also checked the spread against the garage door and it definitely shows the distinctive upturn of the light to the right.

I'm not sure  how clear this is or whether it should be more distinctive. I may have it checked out before I go for the retest but as far as I can see there is nothing wrong with it. Either the lenses were dirty or fogged up in some way or the test equipment wasn't set-up correctly - that's my theory at least.

The 3 point seat belts have been ordered from Car Builders Solutions in the UK so hopefully they will arrive before the weekend so I can get them installed and crossed off the list.

Good and bad news!

First the good news!

The longest test drive the car had done up until Tuesday was about 8km around Tullinge. The drive to Gothenberg for the test was 1000 km round trip (600 miles) so to be slightly cautious we decided to take a "support vehicle" driven by Neil full of tools, spare this and spare that and also a trailer just in case of breakdown or thunderstorms.

We left the trailer about 120km from Gothenberg and drove the rest of the way together - must be skiing season!

The car performed far beyond my wildest dreams. Not one single problem during the trip down or the 300 mile trip home again so the trailer wasn't needed! I threw caution to the wind and gradually towards the end of the trip wound her up to around 90mph! Fantastic acceleration, road holding, steering, suspension, fuel consumption, in fact everything was fantastic! It even rained at one point for about 10 minutes and the rain just blew over the top with a few drops landing on the dashboard, so I know the electrics can handle a small shower. The temperature gauge stayed exactly on half the whole way, oil level was the same when I got  home as well as water level.

In the blue corner - the car weighed in at 686kg which included a 3/4 full tank and a bag of tools in the boot. So raw weight I would say is 655kg, a little heavier than I thought but at least I had no issues with it being too light. 

DEKRA is quite a new company, all the lifts and tools were squeaky clean

This is how it looks after 300 miles, I was well pleased and got some nice comments from the guys in the shop. 

Now the bad news!

Some small issues were found but nothing that had anything to do with how the car was constructed or how safe the car was, nothing that said the brakes or the steering were hazardous, I would have completely understood if it was not 100% mechanically safe and would have been only too glad to fix anything that was potentially dangerous, in fact I had done this earlier when I changed the brake pipes,  steering rod and track rod ends. I wasn’t prepared though for failing on:

• Seat belts. I had problems with this earlier so I was prepared to some extent but here is the rule. The rules in Sweden state that the belt must be a 3 point belt ie attached to the vehicle at 3 points. The 4 point belt that is common in the UK for open top, sports type vehicles and proven to be safer than 3 and e-marked throughout the EU is not allowed!
• Easy to fix with a new set of belts.
• Head Lights. The glass I have is of the type “Nuetral” which means it can be used in both left hand and right had drive vehicles. I can drive here and I can drive home to England without disturbing oncoming traffic. In Sweden this type of glass is okay for motorcycles but not for cars. Cars have to have the correct angled glass for driving on the right.
• Also easy to fix with new glass. 

Okay both these issues I can accept although they go beyond logic and I’ll fix them but the show stopper was one small paragraph in the rules VVS 2003:22 Kap 41 paragraph (http://www20.vv.se/vvfs/pdf/2003nr022.pdf) which goes like this:

Amatörbyggt fordon

Fordon som tillverkats av enskild person för eget bruk eller fordon som ändrats av enskild person för eget bruk i större omfattning än vad som avses med ombyggt for-don enligt definition ovan. Med amatörbyggt fordon avses inte fordon som från tillverkaren levereras helt eller delvis i bygg-sats och som därefter monteras ihop av enskild person för eget bruk.

The first paragraph roughly translated to:

The definition of an Amateur built vehicle is:

“Vehicles manufactured by individuals for personal use or vehicles modified by individual for personal use to a greater extent than is provided in converted vehicles as defined above” (Rebuilt vehicles).

Which is fine, completely understood. It’s for my own use, I didn’t built it for profit and I definitely, after the blood sweat and tears I have shed over the 350 or so hours won’t be going into serial production! This is where the rules should stop but there is more!

Then there is the second paragraph:

“Amateur built vehicles are not vehicles supplied in whole or in part in kit form from a manufacturer and then assembled by individuals for personal use”

I understand to some extent that they want to discourage individuals from buying complete kits as they may start pumping them out from their cellar production lines but the statement “OR IN PART” will probably kill off kit car building in Sweden. It’s basically not possible for an amateur with limited or no welding skills (like me) to build a car like this without buying some parts from professional companies who specialise in home built vehicles. So there will always be parts supplied IN PART from a manufacturer.

It's basically implying that it's better to have a car on the road that has been welded by an amateur than one that is welded professionally. Also one has to be a professional welder to build an amateur car!


I now need to appeal the decision by sending a letter to the transport authorities as well as documented evidence! I'll do that by sending a copy of this blog (maybe taking away some of the politically incorrect comments related to Swedish law J) and hope the decision is reversed.

However, once the disappointment had subsided slightly it was time for the drive home.

It was actually quite cold at speed and a little noisy from the bufferting wind. I tried ear plugs and the improvement was dramatic, a real pleasure!

At a steady 50-55 mph the fuel consumption was around 7 litres per 100km or approx. 40mpg. On the way home with the foot closer to the floor between 65 and 90mph the consumption was 36mpg or 8ltrs/100km.

I tried and empty tank test but bottled out when the needle was just about to drop out the otherside of the red so there were a few more miles in there. Distance 262  miles (422km) on 33 litres of fuel. If I had reduced speed to a steady 50-55mph I estimate a tank would last almost 300 miles (500km) which is fantastic for such a small tank (approx 35 litres).

I had to try didn't I, it's okay for a first test but I could have hung on longer in the gears and had a heavier foot!

It's a real disappointment and I'm devastated having the car fail for completely illogical reasons but I have my fingers crossed and I'm generally a positive person so I hope within the next few weeks I'll get the news I need.

I've fallen for the two tone and may keep it this way. I'll get the black fibreglass filled and painted I just need to find a way to preserve the finish of the brushed aluminium.

Registration Test looming

Well the summer has been great and I've had 5 weeks holiday! Actually that's not such a big deal in Sweden; just about everyone has at least 4 weeks off. We were down in Provénce for ten days, very hot and it would have been ideal with a softtop! It would have been a hell of a drive with our arses 10cm of the road but once down there the mountain roads are fantastic - Next year perhaps!

The registration test has been a long wait but at last the test in Gothenberg on Wednesday is the best I could get. Today I've spent going over the car checking nuts and bolts and found all the half shaft bolts loose so the check was worth doing. The copper paste seems to have warn off so the car squeeks quite badly. I tried spraying the joints with silican so I'll see how that goes. I also bit the bullet and polished the bonnet. It had been badly scuffed with the straps holding the bonnet down when on the trailer and I thought about just leaving it until it was painted. I tried on a small area with wire wool and metal polish and the result was great. 

This is one side wire wooled along the grain, well at least the metals natural finish. I put on some polish and the used the wire wool all over to gently to remove the scratches. Another coat of polish on a cloth and then polished like hell to get a good shine - it was worth it though, the finish is great and I may even leave the black silver finish of the car but I have to do the sides and boot too so that may change my mind.

This is one side of the bonnet done. It's hard work as the metal goes black and it takes a lot of clothes to get it to a even shine.

Up on blocks checking for anything loose! I also moved the dashboard mirror and got rid of the mirror stuck to the glass as it was useless, vibrated badly and also kept falling off!

Neil and I intend to leave Stockholm on Tuesday at 7pm and drive the 500km to the test centre in Gothenberg for the 10.00am test Wednesday. We'll be taking tools, spare nuts and bolts, water, fuel, brake fluid, sleeping bags, skiing goggles, hats and a great deal of hope - "hope is a good thing maybe the best of things. and no good thing ever dies" (Andy Dufresne)

Lets hope the car doesn't!