Emissions

Over the past few days there have been questions and answers on http://www.wscc.co.uk/ regarding emissions from Zetec Engines and SVA. Some of the solutions proposed include false declaration of the age of the engine, a sure fire way to fail SVA and probably worse, to fitting throttle bodies and a catalytic converter.

With all this, going on we decided to contact our local SVA Test Centre in Southampton. The guy, Andrew spoke to, was very helpful. Basically we have to prove to them the age of the engine on the day and they will test it to the emission standards applied at the date of manufacture. Speaking in general terms he said, 75 – 85 CO 4.5%, 86 – 92 CO 3.5% and so on. The age of the engine must be proved by the registration document of the donor vehicle, showing the engine number, or a letter of authentication from the vehicle manufacturer.

The Ford Technical Information Centre (FTIC) provided us with the engine build date. A written request either by letter or FAX, with the engine identification number is required to get documentary proof. In our case the engine number was formatted MMM AB 12345. MMM is the model, AB is the year / month, and the 5 digits match the VIN. According to the FTIC, This data can be used by the DVLA to trace the original vehicle if required.

Ford Technical Information Dept.
PO Box 300
Walsall
WS5 4QH
Tel: 01922 725 551
Fax: 01922 725 266

Ford gave us verbal confirmation of our Engine build date. Following a Fax they responded in 5 days with written confirmation.

More digging around on the Internet lead us to the Dept of Transport and Environment site. This site contains lots of information about emission levels and European Standards. We extracted some of the data below:

Table of Emission Limits (Data extracted from Vehicle Certification Agency. updated 17/02/2000)

Euro Standard	Fuel	Directive	Limit values (gm/km)					Implementation Dates
Euro Standard	Fuel	Directive	CO	HC	NOx	HC+NOx	PM	Type Approval	In -Use
Euro II	P	94/12/EC	2.2	-	-	0.5	-	01/01/96	01/01/97
Euro III	P	98/69/EV	2.3	0.2	0.15	-	0.05	01/01/00	01/01/01

From the data above it looks like we will need to achieve 2.2% CO. When we were testing the engine we easily achieved this but we could not measure the HC and NOx content. Our plan is to get our local garage to do an MOT before we apply for SVA then we will know what needs to be done.

In general when building your kit car and deciding on the engine you must make a decision on carbs or fuel injection. If the engine is 1994 or earlier you can use carbs and will be tested accordingly. Post 1994 you will have to go for fuel injection in order to pass the SVA emissions test.

Whilst Andrew was talking to the SVA guy he got some other questions answered. They know and are familiar with Westfield’s. It seems that our local SVA testing centre prefer the flush fitting lockable bonnet catches and front locating dowels, to the over latches that are supplied by Westfield, as standard, even if they are rubber covered. We asked about using 4-point harness rather than inertia reel belts? He said that it was not a problem. He also gave us some additional advice. Get and fit the SVA kit from Westfield, which consists of rubber covers to cover nuts, catches and external protrusions. Finally Speedo calibration, they have a rolling road at Southampton and will check the Speedo accuracy. The catch is, if it fails, they will fail the SVA and they will not allow you to reprogram the Speedo to correct it using their rolling road. I tackled this last point with Peter Sharp from our local garage. His rolling road for MOT purposes does not check Speedo accuracy and he doubts if many garages will. He suggested we check it against another car driven between milestones on the A4. So I guess that is what we will do.

As reported by others Southampton will allow minor corrective work on site but health and safety regulations prevent any major work such as an work requiring access to the underside of the car using the pit.

All the above was written before Steve Richards, Ed Cane, Steve Emms failed SVA at Botley. Botley has earned the reputation as the place not to go if you want to pass SVA. At the time of application, you can nominate where you wish your car to be tested. You are supposed to select the nearest one to you (they are listed with addresses on the application form) and travel by the shortest route. You are not guaranteed to get the test centre you choose but it is worth a try. We nominated Bristol and Leighton Buzzard and were lucky enough to get Leighton Buzzard.