MOT exhaust emissions question

[Brad Tipp]

My car is up for its first MOT in the next few weeks and I'm trying to find out how I stand regards emissions.

 

I have a K-Series kit built car that no longer has it's cat fitted. It has a custom map on a custom engine management system. Which of the following options is correct?

 

1. Don't worry about it your local MOT man won't know either.

2. You'll have to take it back to the guys who did the engine management work for them to "reset" the map for the test.

3. Don't worry about it, as it's a kit you don't need a cat anyway.

4. None of the above.

 

 

 

 

T 1 PPB - Superlight

 

"Well yes officer I'm not arguing, it's just that [insert excuse here]..."

[New Barbie]

As the law currently stands, an amateur built vehicle must have the cat to pass SVA emissions testing but thereafter, is only subject to a visible emissions test come the MOT.

 

Here's what Caterham themsleves say...

 

"Here's the score with emissions:

For SVA - Need a cat unless you can prove the ENGINE was manufactured before 01/08/95. It is very much down to you to do the proving as well (ie, a letter from the manufacturer).

For MOT - Any amatuer built vehicle (inc those that have been through SVA) requires a viz smoke test only. Refer your tester to paragraph one of section 6.4 of his manual (current issue 7/97). Factory built SVA cars (for Caterhams, this is only cars that have an 'S' as the sixth digit of the chassis number) require a cat for MOT.

However...it is possible that the government may have a change of heart in the future and decide that the MOT should reflect what was done at SVA. So if you take your cat off, don't bin it..." - Simon Lambert

 

 

To my mind this makes an amateur built Caterham worth more than a factory car, but then I am biased - I had a real amateur build mine wink.gif

 

 

[Brad Tipp]

Count,

That's great news!! When I rang Caterham they said

"hang on a bit".... "It needs a cat"

"Are you sure" I said

"Pretty Sure" they said

"hmm O.K. I'll check elsewhere"

 

T 1 PPB - Superlight

 

"Well yes officer I'm not arguing, it's just that [insert excuse here]..."

[JP]

I think it depends on age of car, with post '98 requiring an emissions test for MOT. Mine's kit built and SVA reg'd '99 and required emissions testing. My MOT'er is very understanding and I'm sure would not test it needlessly. It is a K SS and sailed through the test. We discussed removing the cat and his suggestion was to hang on to it for tests. Cat free cars do seem to fail, but only just.

[New Barbie]

The age currently does not affect the test, what you havw is an incorrect reading of the rules and you need to make sure the tester is interpreting his book correctly. If you point out the section that is relevant and back that up with a suggestion to call Caterham themsleves to clarify if in doubt, I would think he'd see the light.

 

Given the few sevens seen, it's hardly surprising MOT stations are vague on what rules to apply. Same could be said of handbrake rules where you can remove your handbrake and pass MOT still with a line lock on the front system.

 

 

[Bricol]

Now that last one has got to be wrong - MOT book states that parking / emergency barke has to a separate system to service brakes and also hasn't got to use a method of stored energy - compressed brake fluid is stored energy. (although what a stretched steel cable is, I don't know!).

 

Been there, looked it up . . .

 

 

Bri

[Mark Piper]

Count's right...but then he knows that....call Caterham in Dartford & they'll give it to you from the horse's mouth

[Roger King]

It's amazing how a threat to protest an MOT result over emissions can make the tester read the rule book in a hurry.

[luddites7]

I had a problem with the MOT test a few months ago, the garage happliy phoned caterham who were quoting from an old edition of the test manual and couldn't give the garage a true answer, the garage involved the local inspectorate who knew the answer straight away. The part of the manual that gives the visual only emmissions test is from the Agust 2001 edition section 6.4 page 5c on the bottom right hand side of the flow charts - if I remember correctly the section is something to do with ****el (this is autoedited out but should be the old Mazda RX7 engine type) engines. My car is a 96 K series with no cat classed as amatuer build as per chassis number.

 

Visual test past.

 

Hope this helps, I know the standard answer from Caterham was of no help at all as the info was 5 years of date a little on the vague side.

 

Once the garage had confirmation they were perfectly happy to pass the car, I now have a local caterham aware garage - they even wrote the section etc down on the test sheet so they can go directly to it next time.

 

Jason

 

Edited by - jnessling on 14 Apr 2002 08:17:17

[JP]

So can we all ditch our cats if it's a kit built car irrespective of how new it is/ SVA etc?

[New Barbie]

Ditching the cat is quite OK for any car amateur built. I've kept mine as I don't trust President Blair and his mates to retro enforce rules at a whim.

 

If you gave just passed SVA, you can still lose the cat in other words.

 

Which brings us nicely to what to replace it with; you will discover that Caterham charge £250 plus VAT for a smallish section of stainless steel that replaces the cat on an R500 system and I think about £150 plus VAT for the same pipe on an SLR system.

 

The price differential is purely because R500 owners have more money (Caterham feel) from what I can discern.

 

 

 

 

[JP]

Replace with the 4-2-1 collector to link the 4-branch manifold to the new race silencer!

[mike ashurst]

This is how I got mine through:-

 

First of all, courtesy of Len Unwin(ex Caterham service manager):-

"Any Caterham built before July 98 needs only to comply with visible smoke

requirements as they are all deemed to be amateur builds. Even if the car

was fully built at the factory, before July 98 it was only ever supplied to

the customer still requiring work to qualify for amateur build status. That

is not to say that the car was not pushed from production to the service

area where the Service Department would finish the car. As you may imagine,

this is a bit of a "grey" area. As far as the MOT station is concerned, if

the car was built before July 98 it is amateur built. If customers had any

problems I always suggested (when I was service manager at Caterhams) that

they asked the MOT station to ring me at the factory. We would then explain

the situation. From memory, I believe it is section 6, sub-section 4 of the

MOT handbook."

Len's quite correct on the section numbers, I have now seen it myself, the only slight modification would be ti his first sentence which should read "Any Caterham built (from a Kit or set of Component kits)...."

The reference in the manual says something about cars that are amateur built (i.e. from kits or components as in 90% of Caterhams) should be treated as vehicles first used before 1975 and subjected only to a visible smoke test.

Lastly you need to be able to prove that your car was amateur built (In case your tester is a Jobsworth like mine). I got this Information from James Whiting, he's a really nice helpful bloke.

To do this you will need to look at the chassis number. The first 8 digits are the ones you need to look at, here are mine:-

SDKRDKCR - this is followed by a string of numbers

Of particular interest is digit 6 - in my case a K. This stands for kit built, it could be a C, for component built, or an F, for factory built. If its a K or a C then you are OK, you just need your tester to ring Caterham and ask them the question. James told me that around five years ago the Ministry issued some loose leaf directives which include info for the testers about Caterham chassis numbers which could be checked for proof, but he thought the easiest way to prove it would be to get them to ring the factory.

 

 

Len was pretty sure that the rules changed for post '98 cars.

 

Mike