1st inspection tomorrow

[voucht]

Tomorrow is the big day... well not “the big day”, how can I call it? “The small day”? “Half-the-big-day”? Anyway, it's my first building inspection, but not the last one. The car is ready, last week, I could manage to weld the rails I'm going to attach the seats on, so the chassis is now in its final state. I checked, double, triple-checked everything, so not much more I can do for now.

I also could get hold of a car trailer from a guy living in the neighbourhood who rented it to me for £20, so that's not half bad.

But of course I have a big knot in my stomach, even though there will be no «*pass*» or «*fail*», it is just an intermediate inspection where I will have recommendations on what is to be changed/improved before the final inspection, when the car will be completed. However, I'm nervous. It's been almost 3 years that I've decided to start this adventure of building my own car. That was crazy, daring, uncertain, and I'm glad I could go so far in my build and actually present myself to the inspector. 3 years ago, this was just a very blur image in my mind. And it wouldn't have been possible without all the help I got from the members of this forum. Such a long way! I had never welded before, and my biggest fear is that the inspector will tell me tomorrow that my chassis is crap, distorted, welds are bad, etc..., and perhaps tomorrow evening I will have to admit the evidence that I was not up to the job...

Anyway, I must go through that now, and telling myself I did my best. “Alea jacta est”, as Julius Caesar used to say!

What makes we nervous is also diving a 200 km round-trip, most likely under the snow, and at night (inspection is planned for 18:00 tomorrow evening!), with my Roadster on this huge car trailer.

So fingers crossed, and we'll see!

I'll keep you posted.

So, bye for now.


IMG_7960 par Voucht71, sur Flickr


IMG_7957 par Voucht71, sur Flickr

(just to avoid any confusion: you will see on these pictures that fuel and brake lines are attached with tie locks. It is just to show the routes to the inspector. After the inspection, when the chassis is sandblasted and painted, they will of course be attached with proper p-clips)

[jason 82]

Good luck Sylvian ! I am sure everything will be spot on. I always find a spot of Phil Collins goes down well on a long trip. Lol

[vmax1974]

Good luck will be keeping my fingers cropped for you and watching with interest for the results however they go

[ayjay]

Yours is a quality build Sylvain I can't foresee any problem. Best wishes

[Numplumb]

Good luck hope everything goes well for you.
Mick.

[K4KEV]

good luck mate, I'm sure your build thus far will be good in the eyes of the inspector.....fingers and toes crossed for you Syl

[Dualist]

Good luck mate, you'll fly through, crackin build

[flyerncle]

Merde ! Bon Chance...

[thailoz]

good luck

[voucht]

Thank you very much for the support and all the wishes, I really appreciated.

Now it is time for a small report about my inspection from yesterday. Well, I'm happy to say: it went pretty well!

First the inspector made me talk about my build, the parts I fitted, their origin, the technical choices I've made. There has been also a lot of paperwork, and I think he appreciated the way I planned the car, and the fact that I could answer all his question straight away.

Then he told me that he couldn't see any major problem with my build, and asked me to make only two small adjustments before the final inspection:
- put one or two extra fitting points on the exhaust, and at least one of them has to be from underneath the exhaust (there is only one now, and the muffler is hanging from it).
- reconnect the rocker-cover breather to the intake manifold or induction pipe. There is just a breather filter now, and they don't want that, or even an oil catch tank. They want all the vapours to be recycled in the engine to be burnt.

It is quite different from your IVA, as you go to the inspector's place. Everything happens in his own garage (where he is building a car himself), so it is quite friendly. I don't know about the final inspection though, as they need some specific equipment to test the brakes, etc.

The inspector is a star here, as he had a TV show for years (the car doctor), and he has been very friendly, welcoming, nice, and it was no problem for him to speak English with me even though he was absolutely not obliged to do that. So good feeling

Driving there and back, loading and unloading 2 times the Roadster on the trailer in the cold has been a real pain though, the weather was terrible (snow, wind, and slippery roads, all that at night time), but we did it!

So now, the goal is to have the car finished for May or June. I'll get my body kit in 2 or 3 weeks, and now, I have time to strip off the car, send the chassis to sandblasting and powder coating, buy another engine, and finally reassemble everything together.

Thank you very much again for the supports.