18 replies to this topic

[Tags]

Hi guys,

 

I emailed VOSA or DVSA whatever it's called now and asked them the same questions there actual reply was;

 

'When carrying out an emissions test on a vehicle as part of the MOT, the tester carries out the test according to which is oldest, the engine or the vehicle, providing you have evidence that the engine is eldest'

 

So looks like i will be trying to find a carb engine soon then. I am a little bit concerned how I would prove the age of the engine but there is a Mini specialist near where I work so hopefully if I were to take it there they would be able to tell.

[FlyingScot]

http://www.ukmot.com...-Spark-Ignition
 
the emissions test will be based on whichever is older - the engine or the car
 
the difficulty would be proving the engine is older, to make it bullet proof I would get a copy of the V5 that the donor engine came from, this would prove the age. You would also need to change the engine number on your V5

Fast Ivan already supplied the answer and a reference from the official manual....

FS

[greenmini1275]

I fitted an SPI engine (not sure what year) into my 1990 mini, converted to Carb. Because I couldn't get a letter from a garage proving the age of the engine, I had to take a photo of the engine and the engine number and send them into the DVLA with a letter explaining where I had got the engine from and that me and a mate had fitted it. They didn't really care, they just changed the capacity, because it was originally a 998, and the engine number in the V5C. Only one has a MOT tester asked me why I haven't got a Cat, I told him it was because of the age of the car, and not once has it failed emissions test, so they must have tested it from the age of the car. Which will be interesting because I've just bought private plates with a 1978 reg on them.

[Fast Ivan]

an MOT station will assume that they are going by the age of the car unless told otherwise, at that point you will most likely be confronted with someone who has no clue about the regulation on engine swaps, this is not something they will be confronted with often.

I spoke to three local MOT stations and none of them had heard of the engine swap regulation.

 

So go armed with as much info as you can, like I said - the bullet proof approach would be the old V5, I would also take a copy of the regs