8th July....and the result of the MOT test was.......

.
He PASSED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now I didn't expect that. I was expecting to be hauled up on something but only two advisories came up. A low headlight on one side (they tweaked it) and play in the steering. This I will need to look at first but I'm sure I adjusted as much as I dare when I rebuilt the box?

I did have a worry on the way to the MOT center when the heavens opened and I bunged on the wipers. After half a mile the nearside/passenger wiper decided to part company with the bulkhead drive shaft end and deposited itself, luckily, onto the bonnet. I pulled over and grabbed it but only refitted it when I dropped the 109 at the test center. At least it didn't pop off while they were testing?

Another 'surprise' was when the garage were doing the smoke/emissions test (apparently ALL diesels now have to pass this). Unfortunately the bottom rad hose blew off and deposited all the coolant onto their test bay! They immediately shut Trig down, refitted the hoseclamp that popped off and refilled with water. Nothing seems to be harmed and I needed to flush through and refill with coolant anyway.

All together I am quite chuffed and picking up a 12 month RFL for nowt is the icing on the cake?

So the rest of the afternoon was spent giving Trigger a shakedown. The result of which is a further short list that need to be tackled.

1. Check whether there is any adjustment left in the steering box - NOW DONE (8/7/11)
2. Fix the errant NS wiper - DONE (8/7/11)
3. Fit a small silencer to the exhaust. It is loud! - DONE
4. Lacking power on SVO. Fuel starvation? - DONE ....I hope.
5. Find some larger door mirrors. DONE (16/7/11)
6. Sort out the tow bar and wiring DONE 23/7/11
7. Seat belts are too short for anyone past my stature so I need to look at replacements.DONE 23/7/11
8. Steering stops make the 109 like a Thames barge to manoeuvre. - DONE (10/7/11)
9. Once all these are sorted out then look at the front bumper. - |DONE (10/7/11)
10. 'Calibrate' the speedo. 20% out at mo

Buzzing about today I did around 30 miles on 70% SVO. The tank was then topped up with another batch so now probably closer to 90% SVO. The offside tank is 100% dieso.
Ran without any issues until I topped up the SVO tank, went for a longer run then hit the throttle on the A303. I seem to be hitting a 'wall' when I drop the throttle. Feels like fuel starvation. As the SVO oil lines are heated by the FPHE I am thinking a fuel restriction somewhere on the SVO supply/return. Literally as soon as I select dieso the problem goes away and Trig will hit 65mph or so without any effort.

I first found that the supply pipes into the fuel supply selector valve were bent and restricting flow. I fixed that but it made no difference. Next item to check is the SVO tank in-line filter. It has been sitting there for about a year full of SVO so maybe that is blocked? If that isn't the cause then I may run a direct supply and return to/from the SVO tank to the engine lift pump. That will also cross off the manual fuel selectors as being the cause of the issue?