The Triumph Dolomite Club - Discussion Forum

Ok here's the thing, leaving aside for a moment the whys and wherefores of modding and the engineering qualifications of those who do them (or lack thereof)

When you have built your frankensteins monster, you are obliged to notify DVLA that the engine number and capacity (if that is different too) have been changed. You may be asked to provide provenance for the engine. You are not obliged or required to tell them about anything else you've done. No one will ask you either. No one will want to inspect your work, beyond an MOT tester and he won't CARE what you've done, as long as HE thinks it's safe. It's not part of a tester's remit to do DVLA's dirty work by deciding if your car meets the 8 point rule and he won't try. If you've done a proper job, as you should, he may even congratulate you!

You may well ask, "why should I worry myself about this stupid rule if I can flout it with impunity?"

This is not entirely the case! A small but growing number of modified cars, I myself know of maybe a handful, have had their registration numbers revoked and the car banned from the road by DVLA until and unless they are submitted for and pass a BIVA exam, whereupon they will be given a Q plate and may be returned to the road. Without of course the benefit of any "historic car" privileges. In every case the car has NOT been examined AT ALL by DVLA, the owners just got a letter saying this action has been taken, no explanation, no apparent right of appeal.

Now it must be said, that in all the cases I am privy to, the vehicle in question has been a high profile, massively modified one, Sit-up-and-beg Ford Pops with tube chassis, GRP body and huge blown V8 motor type of car where the owner/builder is, quite frankly, taking the p*ss and the only part of the car that bears any relationship to the original is the number plate. Maybe a badge or two!

But it begs the question, how has DVLA decided that this particular vehicle is outside the regs, they've not set eyes on it!

The theory expressed to me by victims of this is that their cars have appeared in magazine photo shoots, blogs, social media and the like and someone at DVLA is paying attention to this stuff. Then, with some photo evidence to hand, they are sending these letters out, effectively throwing some mud against the wall to see if it sticks!

But it appears to me, that if you get one of these letters (and how long before they send one out to anyone who has a car with a bigger engine than it started life with) It is going to be down to YOU to prove that it complies with the rules (if it does) or go through all the rigmarole of the BIVA, expensive, frustrating and time consuming, or take the car off the road and keep it as a track only car forever. Effectively destroying it's value and wasting all your hard work.

Since I don't care for ANY of those options, I build my cars to conform with the rules, and on the rare occasion I do put a pic on facebook or whatever, I go to some effort to state categorically that it HAS ben built to conform! In the hope they may just leave me alone!

However, it would appear, for the time being at least, that if you have such an illegal beast, or are building one, if you keep it quiet and shun publicity, including writing about it and showing pics on Bookface and even public Forums like this one, you could escape negative attention from undesired quarters for some considerable time!

Steve

PS, I too regard that Landrover as a poor example, sure the mods weren't the best idea, never been a fan of excessive "lift" myself, or a handful of other fad mods, like huge camber and stretched tyres but proper maintenance (and dare I say it, an MOT) would have caught the major faults before it got too dangerous. And the silly b**ger paid an enormous price for his stupidity, Darwin ALWAYS has the last laugh!

The point is more that the modified car could be and often is, a minor engineering masterpiece (ie Project Binky) and STILL be illegal and banned from public roads for the cardinal sin of disobeying some beaurocrats rule, not any engineering failing. Fortunately the guys behind Binky undestand the rules, are taking no chances and getting it BIVA'd. It would make more sense to adopt the rules from NZ where every mod gets inspected and approved for road use but (more or less) nothing that's safe gets refused. But we just have to make the best of what we have - and that, for better or worse, is the 8 point rule.

I ditched my v8 conversion due to the 8 point rule as its impossible to fit a rover v8 to a dolomite without cutting the bulkhead and prop tunnel so are a clear Q plate candidate.
I looked at getting an IVA test however no one does the required E marked glass, and amazingly the equivalent BS mark is not acceptable.
Interestingly the IVA has only a visual assessment of the structure and no stress calculations are required,,I mean if you can visualise the stressed imparted through a shell and make a grounded estimation of what sort of structure is required and have experience in 'live' fabrication then a comprehensive stress analysis is not required,,,obviously stupid obvious things like subframes with the front crossmember cut off, exhausts through sills and missmatched brake calipers are the stuff even my 4 year old child could spot.

Also not a good example as everything the Daily Hatemail writes is fiction / bile.

Interesting, I would have thought they would be far stricter than that, especially with modern crash requirements. So I could literally design anything I liked, as long as it met stuff like the protrusion tests for pedestrians and fitted on UK roads?

Of course the big issue for people with older cars, is I don't see how you get a car with such an engine through emissions on an IVA. Do you have to meet current standards or historic ones for the year your engine was made?

Imo these insignificant paper based rules follow the premise of it's fine and no one cares unless it causes an injurious accident, ie a home made tow bar fitted to a post 98 car isnt going to be punitively punished whilst it performs its duty incident free and imo same with the mot exemption and the hypothetical 6 point modified car on its void number plate, all fine and unnoticed unless an attributable collision is linked to the failure to have obeyed the beaurocratic process, thereby placing the onus of potentially ruinous liable choice on the individual .