It’s been nearly 4 months since I have worked on my car, and to be honest, I had almost given up hope in getting an IVA date in 2020 due to the COVID-19 lockdown, cancellation and delays. But to my surprise I got a phone call from DVSA one afternoon offering me new date. Therefore it’s now time to remove the dust cover and finish the tasks needed for the IVA test.

  • Washer bottle filled and tyre goo fitted
  • Washer jets adjusted
  • Testing the washer jets

The first task on my list was to fill the washer bottle, and adjust the washer jets. Adjusting the jets is refreshingly old school. All that’s needed is a needle inserted into the jet and move the jet to the desired position. I also fitted the tyre repair goo. One of the benefits of having a boot carpet is securing the tyre goo was a simple Velcro job.

  • Labels made for dash
  • Indicators and Start button labled
  • Horn and Main Beam labled

Next on my list was dash labelling. All switched must have a symbol or text label, therefore all my toggle switches are fine, but the Horn, Indicators, Starter and Main Beam all needed a temporary label. The head light flash switch was already hidden in my previous IVA Trim post.

  • Brake fluid cap removed
  • Dot 4 label fitted

Next, I fitted the fragile DOT 4 label warning label, lifting the brake fluid reservoir cap carefully. It drips, because the cap contains a float switch for the warning light, so have some paper towels on hand.

  • RainX applied

My nearest IVA test centre is 2 hours drive away and ever since my date has appeared on the long-range weather forecast, I have been weather watching. Since it looks likely the journey to and from the centre will at some part mean driving in the rain, a coat of RainX on the windscreen seems prudent. After all the wiper design is hardly cutting edge.

  • Steering clamp to remove
  • Turn the wheel to access the bolts
  • Bolts to remove the clamp
  • Column ready to remove

Now the big one: swapping the removable steering wheel for the standard wheel (EU spec). The wheel is supplied complete, steering wheel, column and top bush. Therefore, the first task is to remove the removable steering wheel column, by removing the two bolts securing the steering wheel clamp. Once the clamp is removed, the column is pulled out completely.

  • Steering lock must be unlocked
  • Column just through the bottom bush
  • Push the top bush in using the wheel
  • Position steering wheel to fit clamp
  • Refit the clamp

Before I fitted the fixed steering wheel column, I checked the steering lock was off and if you have read my blog post on the Steering Column you will know I deliberately didn’t fit the top bush, because I knew this was coming. If you have fitted the top bush, it’s time to remove it, which can be challenging. The column is slid in, to the point where it just protrudes through the bottom bush. Next I lubricate the top bush, located it by hand, and then pushed it home using the steering wheel. All that remained was to refit the column clamp bolts and torque to the manual specified 14Nm. Remember, these are imperial bolts, so a 7/16” AF socket is needed.

At this point I should finish the post, because that’s all the prep finished. However, Caterham also supplied the rear exit exhaust, as a belt and braces approach to my IVA noise test.

  • Remove the exhaust
  • Compress the collector springs
  • Remove the wiring tie wraps
  • Unbolt the side exit silencer
  • Silencer removed
  • Collector removed
  • Remove the lambda sensor
  • Cat collector removed

Therefore, I set about removing my exhaust, reversing my installation process. Compress the collector springs with tie wraps, removing the mounting bolts, cutting the tie wraps holding the lambda sensor wiring, finally removing the lambda sensor from the collector. Then things started to go wrong.

  • Rear exit collector
  • Lambda sensor fitted
  • Collector fitted
  • Collector fitted
  • Rear exit silencer rear mount aligned
  • But silencer was to short

The rear exit exhaust has the catalytic converter in the silencer can, so the collector is the same design as a cat by-pass pipe. I refitted the lambda sensor, attached the collector with the springs to the primaries, and tie-wrapped the lambda sensor wiring. Then I realised the silencer was too short.

  • Collector comparison
  • Rear exit side silencer fitted

I am a bit of a hoarder and I had a standard Duratec cat by-pass pipe I purchased for my 360R, but never fitted. This gave me the extra length needed to make the silencer fit the mounting point, so once again I removed the collector, lambda sensor (and wiring), and fitted the longer collector.

Unfortunately, that’s where the good news ended, because one of the exhaust mounting rubbers supplied to hang the rear exit part of the rear exit exhaust was split, not fully but 75%.

I had no time to arrange a replacement, and even less time to fit it. Since I consider the IVA test as a nit picking exercise, I wouldn’t pass a car with an exhaust mounting rubber thats 75% split, so at this stage I decided to revert back to the side exit exhaust, and I will be having my fingers crossed when it comes to the noise test.