Renard wrote: The suspense is killing us!
Sorry, we've been busy.
Today was the day of the registration test, and our result was: an
F!
All was good with the electricals, though we will be using some stainless steel zip ties on the conduits down the transmission tunnel. These zip ties are available from the electrical section of Bunnings. If the plastic cable ties let go and cables were to wrap around the tail shaft, well, this could be bad. He also suggested that we put more polycarbonate in the battery boxes, especially around the wheel well area. Stones end up everywhere, and do amazing amounts of damage.
The brake deceleration test was acceptable. Our engineer used a fancy machine that records pedal pressure and deceleration.
Considering the tyres that were allowed to harden for over 4.5 years without use, and the new brake pads not being bedded in, the okay deceleration of 0.65 g was really quite good. The car was loaded with 2 x 20 kg bags of chook feed and a ten litre container of water behind the back seat, to achieve close to worst case weight.
He also didn't like our tyres. While they are just within their rated loading of 475 kg, he considers that commercial tyres like that aren't really meant to be run close to their ratings. Weber has found some tyres that fit the existing wheels and give an extra 220 kg of load rating. The existing tyres are 185/60R14; the ones he found are 195/60R14. He strongly recommends a wheel and tyre upgrade, but will pass the car without this.
Where we failed was with the brake vacuum system. After only two brake pulses, the brake assistance is noticeably less on the third press. So we need a vacuum reservoir. We have some 65 mm poly pipe and assorted bits of plumbing (pipe and end caps from Bunnings; fuel/vacuum cable from Clark Rubber; barbed joiners and T pieces from Supercheap Auto). We're about half way through the install. Our engineer will return tomorrow afternoon for a retest, and hopefully we'll get a pretty blue compliance plate. He has the machine to make the plate on the spot.
It looks like after that, we'll need a roadworthy certificate, download a registration form off the web, fill it in, and bring it to the Department Of Transport office for actual registration.
[ Edit: 110 kg -> 220 kg; 110 kg was for the rear axle, which is the axle of most concern. Department of Transport, not Traffic, duh. 190 -> 195 tyre size. ]
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