The last kitcar update was around November of 2008. Since then I have been busy with the DVLA to get everything sorted out. At long last, late in April I received the “authorisation for a number plate” letter and 6 days later the V5c. The V5c turned up the day after I picked up the car and bought it back to the Netherlands, which meant although I drove to Harwich I couldn’t drive in the Netherlands. Dominic picked me up from Hoek van Holland (07:30am thanks m8!) and we took the car home on a trailer… and guess what, once again the car was spotted!
Once the car was here I started going thorugh it and checking things out with the target of going to the Dutch RDW (Equivalent of the DVLA/VOSA) on the 29th of April. On the 28th of April at 3pm I found out that my clutch slave cylinder was leaking badly, and seeing as this shares the same fluid reservoir as the brakes I needed to get it fixed ASAP. Once again Dominic rescued me, after a quick call he arranged a slave cylinder and bought it home that evening. We fitted it, bleed the system and were done! I had also moved the radiator as my original positioning was too conservative with regards to air flow, now the radiator is placed clearly in the air flow within the left hand wing, and the cooling is noticeably better.
The last problem that was fixed is the one that caused rather some embarrassment when I came to book in for the boot home. The car wouldn’t start and showed all indications of having a flat battery! After some research we realised I had made a mistake in connecting the battery earth lead to a bolt that passed through an aluminium component… a bit of corrosion and the connectivity was gone. We’ve now moved the lead and everything is running fine again.
On the morning of 29 April I took the car to the RDW station in Nieuwegein and presented the car for an import exam. This is just a question of checking the vehicle details with the registration paperwork. No problems found, even though the DVLA paperwork said the car had two seats! A few hours later I was on my way home. The vehicle paperwork should turn up around the 4th of May, then I need to arrange for a Dutch APK (MOT) and I’m done and dusted!
I’ve now created a new list of things to do, two A4 sheets full, but I can take my time for most of these.
