Exhaust levels for M.O.T

[scott.parker]

Right Ive taken my nova for M.O.T and it's going to need some work doing on the brakes, i know this as they stuck on as i got there! Dam things...

Anyway then i got a call to say he wont pass it through an M.O.T as the exhaust is far too noisy and it would fail any inspection, he wont have his name on the ticket he said, so what's the deal how loud is too loud, and how do i go about getting it through an M.O.T? What do you pack back box's with to quieten the level down etc??

I'm panicking a little bit!! :eek:

Scott

[novautd]

anything louder than standard can be failed under the rules, but usually only really loud ones get failed where i work

[scott.parker]

Mine is quite loud, plus I'm running throttle bodies, I'm a bit pissed off to be honest, as I'm stuck to what i can do now, need it M.O.T'ing ready for PV!

Scott

[Jack]

Ask him to go find a standard Nova thats been fitted with a 20XE and TBs, so he can compare the noise levels, as the MOT book says something like the exhaust shouldn't be louder than the same car fitted with a standard exhaust.

Oh, what, they didn't make a Nova with a 20XE and TBs? Oh. He's got nothing to compare it to then. So yours must be the normal noise level :D

Its pretty much down to tester discretion though. Some will be arsey about it and scared VOSA will come back at them for passing a noisey car.

[scott.parker]

Thats basically what he said jack, he said looking on the book level it's no where near it, i said yeah but you know it's not standard don't you?

he said yes, but it's still too loud to pass, if i do I'm going to get in trouble when the police pull you over.

It's all gay i say.............

[Jack]

Have a word with Craig (saloony), he's well up on his MOT regs.

Basically, as the car is heavily modified you should be able to run it as a custom/kit car, ergo exhaust noise limits either don't apply or are different to regular OEM cars.

Only downside is MOT testers don't like being told when they're wrong, so you're probably best just taking the hit and looking for a local friendly MOT'er

[novautd]

how many silencers are you running? can you weld?ive seen my boss pack the rear box on his rally car with sound deadining from a standard exhaust before, he just cut out a square from the underside of the box and packed it in then used some exhaust paste, 6mm self tappers and a bigger square of metal sheet to cover the hole. but if yours is allready packed with sound deadining then that is useless and you can only really add another box in somewhere

edit: or as jack said go somewhere else, not anybody in your area that your mates have used with modified cars before?

[scott.parker]

Two box's one center section, and a big back box, I'll try other place's once the brake's are sorted, and also look into some sort of bung method.

Can just about see both in this pic.

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/1465/dscf0334small.jpg

Scott

[scott.parker]

Right..........

Had a nice phone call off the M.O.T station, he's sorted the brakes, it was the most stupid little thing, the servo assist adjuster on the peddle was lose and not letting it have no play, so it kept applying pressure all the time meaning the calipers could not free off.
So thats all OK now.

Back to the loud exhaust, well he said he's looked all round the car and he thinks the car is amazing and in very good condition and all work is to a high level and he's 95% sure everything is M.O.T passable, so he's said he's going to call up the local VOSA office tomorrow and speak to the guy there to see if he can pass the exhaust system bypassing the computer system etc.

So i have to wait and see what tomorrows phone call holds.

Basically when i turned up with a nova that had sticking brakes i think he jumped to the conclusion the car was going to be a bogged up **** heap, but after giving it a good look over realised other wise, so is now trying to help me out,and cut me some slack.

Fingers crossed.:)

Scott

[Graeme]

As long has you don't get pulled on the way back from the test centre surely he can say that wasn't the fitted to the car when he passed it and you must of put a louder one on since he tested it and my tester works on the same theory that Jack stated

[scott.parker]

I'll wait the out come of his phone call in the morning, but it's all to much red tape ****, the government/ DVLA are trying to slowly stamp out modified cars basically.