"New" C5 Z06

[owenemyr]

Picked up my "new" C5 Z06 electrone blue 02 model with 3500 miles at Wallenius Shipping at Southampton today.
Used the brokerage services of Ian Jeffreys of Schumacher cargo, and can thoroughly recomend both his services and Wallenius Shipping.It took less than 10 mins to get the car at the Wallenius building, scratch free!!, and the total shipping/brokerage/handling costs was about £550, so nothing to pay at the Wallenius desk.
The reg plates however had been removed stateside so had to drive to Cardiff sans plates, and got chased by plod in Wilts but managed to escape by a sneaky right turn and back road.No need to put the concession of "single journey" to the test, I may need to use that excuse some time over the next few days.
Have to decide now whether to carry out the SVA work myself, or use the services of the "pros". Its quite a treck from Cardiff to either Bicester or London (especially without plates, reminds me of when I drove back from Saudi Arabia with some "dodgy paperwork, but thats another story!)
SVA thoughts anyone?

[franv8]

Why bother - carry on driving around without plates:

i) No speeding fines!
ii) Every journey is exciting since you run the risk of having to evade the authorities
iii) You can get one of those fill in plates for the front to give a smooth look!

[owenemyr]

The car had a mind of its own, and has already gone through numerous cameras (just to see if they were working, after all, they do need to be tested)
When I drove back from the Middle East (the last time), I had 2 lhd cars with "dodgy" Saudi plates and lived in Taunton.I never had any parking/speeding tickets for 2 years until I registered them for Uk customs

[owenemyr]

HELP! OH HELP! OH HELP!.
What shall I do about SVA?

[owenemyr]

Forgot to say that after pick-up, went to see cheap Ferari's(Maserati's) at Meriden in Lyndhurst.Regret that I have now gone off them, the "art deco" clock is no longer right!

[vetteheadracer]

owenemyr said:

Picked up my "new" C5 Z06 electrone blue 02 model with 3500 miles at Wallenius Shipping at Southampton today.
Used the brokerage services of Ian Jeffreys of Schumacher cargo, and can thoroughly recomend both his services and Wallenius Shipping.It took less than 10 mins to get the car at the Wallenius building, scratch free!!, and the total shipping/brokerage/handling costs was about £550, so nothing to pay at the Wallenius desk.
The reg plates however had been removed stateside so had to drive to Cardiff sans plates, and got chased by plod in Wilts but managed to escape by a sneaky right turn and back road.No need to put the concession of "single journey" to the test, I may need to use that excuse some time over the next few days.
Have to decide now whether to carry out the SVA work myself, or use the services of the "pros". Its quite a treck from Cardiff to either Bicester or London (especially without plates, reminds me of when I drove back from Saudi Arabia with some "dodgy paperwork, but thats another story!)
SVA thoughts anyone?

Congrats on the car a good choice sir!

Picked my 2003 Electron Blue C5 Z06 up from Wallenius in Liverpool last Friday. Luckily as mine came from Texas the plates stay with the car and so far I have not been stopped by the cops. My argument is the car is insured in the UK on the VIN number, it is registered in my name on the Texas Title, it has a valid inspection certificate until July next year, it is taxed in Texas until October next year and if I was a tourist driving my car from America I would be doing it legally so why the stupid rule about not driving between arrival and registration?

Onto the question of SVA work, two places I would recommend, one is Raceshack in Tewkesbury and the other is a guy in worcester, but I can't remember his name.......doh!

Regarding the lack of plates, I would fit a US style plate regardless of what is on it as I drove my other 2003 Z06 for about a month on a dealer 30 day plate (cardboard one) and was not stopped. Basically as long as the car appears to have a registration the police seem to be happy, regardless of whether the registration belongs to the car. with my 1996 LT4 that had no plates and I only drove it as per the rules i.e. to and from the SVA centre, home from the docks, to and from the place doing the SVA work etc. I got stopped twice in 5 journeys but was okay as I had proof I was acting legally.

[te51cle]

owenemyr said:

Picked up my "new" C5 Z06 electron blue 02 model with 3500 miles

Certainly hasn't been driven much has it ? I'm now worried that my colour of car is becoming common !

[chicago zr-1]

congrat on the nice snag owenemyr good luck with the regist. and plate ordeal. Just drive it like ya stole it...lol

[owenemyr]

My C6 6 spd paddle shift is also BLUE!

[owenemyr]

Question for vetteheadracer.
If you are not doing the mods yourself,who are you using for your SVA mods.?

Regards,
Em.

[Rob LM]

All that being chased by the plod and sneaky turns sounds like the Dukes of Hazzard!

How close did they get (other than close enough to spot the lack of plates)?

[Dee Gee]

My Vert arrived in UK last week and I brought it home Friday. I'm still on my Nevada plates until I can register. Hopefully I can get sorted before Christmas. I agree the rule seems petty when you can run as a visitor for as long as you wish. Seems to discriminate against residents IMHO.

I did the SVA work myself. I have the test tomorrow so I'll find out how successful I've been very soon!

PM me if you want any thoughts on my mods.

Edited by Dee Gee on Monday 18th December 08:28

[LuS1fer]

This is my SVA mods page if you need to know what's involved. I used Llantrisant for the actual test as did my mate. I had no problems but think I got the nicer bloke with the beard who is inscrutrable but fair. The only problem my mate had was they wanted to see the handbook to check the tyre ratings but his had 12000 miles on it so they may not have been the original tyres.

You will need the Euro rear light conversion kit from Ecklers and the white sidelights from Bauer Millett.

www.cardomain.com/ride/627465/2

I'm afraid my home computer has crashed so you won't be able to e-mail me until after 27th December (plus set-up time)when my new one arrives.

[Dee Gee]

LuS1fer

Thats a great "How To". I've referred a number of US Forum Members to it as the "Bible". The tips on wiring to the T/S bulbs has been particularly useful. Thanks

I've already had to contact Michelin to get tyre data to prove my Pilot Sports are up to spec!

Edited by Dee Gee on Monday 18th December 10:34

[vetteheadracer]

owenemyr said:

Question for vetteheadracer.
If you are not doing the mods yourself,who are you using for your SVA mods.?

Regards,
Em.

Will probably do most of the mods myself if not will use Raceshack in Tewkesbury.

Planning on getting the car tested at the Derby test centre as it is near to work.

[Dee Gee]

vetteheadracer said:

owenemyr said:

Question for vetteheadracer.
If you are not doing the mods yourself,who are you using for your SVA mods.?

Regards,
Em.

Will probably do most of the mods myself if not will use Raceshack in Tewkesbury.

Planning on getting the car tested at the Derby test centre as it is near to work.

Mines booked into Derby tomorrow!

Edited by Dee Gee on Wednesday 20th December 07:23

[Dee Gee]

Well I passed the SVA test first time
Mick and the guys at Derby were great and very helpful

All the mods I'd done were fine. I'd fitted GM T85 headlights with integral sidelights, GM Euro taillights, LED style side indicators and a square rear foglight between the pipes. I'd also changed out the rear side markers with an amber lens. I did the relay mod to inhibit the DRLs and had twilight sentinel switched off.

I had no need to add reflectors at the rear. The Euro tails were acceptable for that. There was some careful measurement of the front. Apparently the hazard warning lights need to be at least 350mm from the ground measured to the bottom of the cluster. On the C5 the distance is exactly that. Anyone know the difference between the US and the Euro turn signal lamp units? Is the layout different for this reason?

I also had to pull the lamps in the side housing in the front indicator cluster. I'll need to dig into that regulation to find out why it was unacceptable. Apparently a side amber is fine but its to do with multiple functions in a cluster.

Apart from that I now have the Ministers Certificate. Just need an MOT now. If Customs ever get their act together and get the CE388 to me I can register the car.

[LuS1fer]

Dee Gee said:

I'd also changed out the rear side markers with an amber lens.

This wasn't necessary though.

Dee Gee said:

I had no need to add reflectors at the rear. The Euro tails were acceptable for that. There was some careful measurement of the front. Apparently the hazard warning lights need to be at least 350mm from the ground measured to the bottom of the cluster. On the C5 the distance is exactly that. Anyone know the difference between the US and the Euro turn signal lamp units? Is the layout different for this reason?

I never did work out what the difference was but that's the first time any SVA test I know of has raised that issue.

Dee Gee said:

I also had to pull the lamps in the side housing in the front indicator cluster. I'll need to dig into that regulation to find out why it was unacceptable. Apparently a side amber is fine but its to do with multiple functions in a cluster.

Maybe. The same reason you can't have the sidelight in the white indicator compartment. On the Euro ones, that sidelight is pulled out and fits into the new sidelight in the grille. However, since the white part is the indicator, not the orange part, they may have misled themselves as both bulbs in the orange parts provide the same function. I wired mine back in with additional holders after the SVA and it was only not wired up for the SVA because I'd moved the holder into the new sidelight.

[vetteheadracer]

Dee Gee said:

I'd fitted GM T85 headlights with integral sidelights.

.....but if you put on just the sidelights the headlights don't go up? I know if you go to headlight then back to sidelight they stay up is that what you did?

Where do you get GM T85 headlights from?

[Dee Gee]

vetteheadracer said:

Dee Gee said:

I'd fitted GM T85 headlights with integral sidelights.

.....but if you put on just the sidelights the headlights don't go up? I know if you go to headlight then back to sidelight they stay up is that what you did?

Where do you get GM T85 headlights from?

Spot on.

Position 1 for covers down but fogs enabled
Position 2 (on) covers up and both illuminated
Back to position 1, headlights off and sidelights on.

Got the T85s originally from PFYC.com. The original kit came with 2 light units, harness and 135/90 bulbs. Had to order a replacement lamp unit from GM Parts Direct (its a long story!) They're actually GM stock parts and you can get them from any dealer.