Jimbo
22-03-2005, 03:57 PM
I've always taken my cars to a place in Newcastle (that's under-Lyme folks :rolleyes4 ) for it's MOT. They're rather strict, but they always go out of their way to help you get through.
So having failed to get out of bed early enough on Saturday, and having finished early at ABP Motorsports this morning, I headed over with the VR4 as the current MOT expires the day after I get back from Germany.
Ok, so the first test is done by the owner's daughter - the emissions test - and this is where I knew things weren't going too peachy when she rammed her sensor up my tailpipe (ouch :smartass2 ) then wandered off round the car muttering "well that's gonna fail then"....come again, duck!?! :inquisiti
Sure enough, she wasn't impressed. The "lamda levels were through the roof" apparently. I asked her what the crack was and she said, "well, it's not a standard exhaust is it?" to which I replied (bending the truth slightly), "no, but it's just a stainless replica of the standard exhaust, and the cat's in place too".
She found this quite amusing...."Standard exhaust?!?!" Ok, so yeah, I know it's a 4.5 inch tailpipe, but come on, it's not THAT much bigger than the normal one, it's still got the cat on, and the piping is 2.5inch as opposed to 2.25 - what's the big flippin' deal? :angry:
She then gestured to me making a hole with her hands to demonstrate to me, as I was clearly a nutcase, that a standard exhaust should be, well about 1.0 - 1.5 inches! :o
"This isn't exactly a standard car, though, is it? Have you mistaken this for a normal Galant? You know that big lump you were looking at under the bonnet with TWIN TURBO written on it, surely that would have given the game away?!"
Luckily common sense prevailed when the owner wandered over, told her to not be such a silly (something or other - my young innocent ears didn't understand :baby: ), and set the machine up again, let the car warm up a bit, then tested it and it passed.....phew!
After that it was all good. I hadn't noticed my rear number plate bulbs were out, but even without asking me they had the boot open and started swapping them - that's why I keep going back to them, and they've never charged me these sort of things either. :happy:
So having failed to get out of bed early enough on Saturday, and having finished early at ABP Motorsports this morning, I headed over with the VR4 as the current MOT expires the day after I get back from Germany.
Ok, so the first test is done by the owner's daughter - the emissions test - and this is where I knew things weren't going too peachy when she rammed her sensor up my tailpipe (ouch :smartass2 ) then wandered off round the car muttering "well that's gonna fail then"....come again, duck!?! :inquisiti
Sure enough, she wasn't impressed. The "lamda levels were through the roof" apparently. I asked her what the crack was and she said, "well, it's not a standard exhaust is it?" to which I replied (bending the truth slightly), "no, but it's just a stainless replica of the standard exhaust, and the cat's in place too".
She found this quite amusing...."Standard exhaust?!?!" Ok, so yeah, I know it's a 4.5 inch tailpipe, but come on, it's not THAT much bigger than the normal one, it's still got the cat on, and the piping is 2.5inch as opposed to 2.25 - what's the big flippin' deal? :angry:
She then gestured to me making a hole with her hands to demonstrate to me, as I was clearly a nutcase, that a standard exhaust should be, well about 1.0 - 1.5 inches! :o
"This isn't exactly a standard car, though, is it? Have you mistaken this for a normal Galant? You know that big lump you were looking at under the bonnet with TWIN TURBO written on it, surely that would have given the game away?!"
Luckily common sense prevailed when the owner wandered over, told her to not be such a silly (something or other - my young innocent ears didn't understand :baby: ), and set the machine up again, let the car warm up a bit, then tested it and it passed.....phew!
After that it was all good. I hadn't noticed my rear number plate bulbs were out, but even without asking me they had the boot open and started swapping them - that's why I keep going back to them, and they've never charged me these sort of things either. :happy: