It was a long day, but....

[Donald]

Hi Stuart, any news on the headlights and rear fogs etc? As you know it was never my intention to buy a RHD, but to wait until the price drops a bit in Germany (or Holland)

[stuwilson128]

Hi Donald.  Auto Halan have said that they can do all the conversion on both the headlights and fog lights before I collect the car.  I did try some garages around Cumbria to see if they could give me some idea as to cost of doing the work, but nobody could give a positive price, so I have decided to let Auto Halan do the work.  As regards RHD, there is no news on whether it is currently possible to build it in RHD at the moment.

[Donald]

Thanks for that Stewart. As yours is a bespoke car, it is probably best to let the Dutch do the conversions. It is good to know that the kits are   available, so I will probably get mine done in Scotland. What are they going to about the speedo, or do we just go with the satelite one?.
I think I will go for yhe 2.0 m/j diesel 165 ps

[stuwilson128]

When I get the car, I will find out how the headlight conversion is done and also get numbers for any parts that are used.  As for the speedo, I am still looking at what options are available.  I am probably going to do as you did on the Kappa and use a satellite one!

The 2.0M-Jet sounds like a good choice giving the best of both worlds with regard to the diesel engine figures: plenty of power and torque combined with good fuel economy.

[fay66]

When I get the car, I will find out how the headlight conversion is done and also get numbers for any parts that are used.  As for the speedo, I am still looking at what options are available.  I am probably going to do as you did on the Kappa and use a satellite one!

The 2.0M-Jet sounds like a good choice giving the best of both worlds with regard to the diesel engine figures: plenty of power and torque combined with good fuel economy.

There is a company near Bristol that makes mph overlays for speedos, when I imported my Y Elefantino Rosso in 1999 they quoted about £100, the problem was that you had to send your speedo asm so that they could modify it, I thought it was too much hassle, and by that time I'd got used to automatically seeing kms and without thinking converting them to mph, while it might not have been legal it wasn't a problem as the speedo doesn't form part of the MOT.

It's worth asking Harvey how his Ypsilon got over the problem, as I understand that his car has had everything done to it regarding lights & speedo to conform with Uk construction & use.

Brian
8227

[stuwilson128]

There is a company near Bristol that makes mph overlays for speedos

This is one of the options I am looking into at the moment.  The other option is getting a Road Angel type device which gives an mph readout and hardwiring it into the car.  I am also considering doing nothing to the speedo as the satnav in the car can be set to give mph although this option depends upon how the DVLA etc view it!

[Harvey]

My Ypsi has a mph speedo disc - I think it really is just a card slotted in. I don't have the original, so I get mph only - no kph. I tend to rely on the satnav as it seems more accurate. When I'm following trucks at 56mph*, the satnav shows 56mph, but the speedo shows 62mph...

* - as all trucks do on all roads in all weather.

[Donald]

All vehicles under 10 years old have to conform to UK regs. It has to be proved that the neccessary conversions have been done to lights, and speedo has to be in MPH, before the all important certificate is issued by the VCA in Bristol. There was no headlight convertor for the Kappa SW, so just used beam benders. I got a Talex camera locator, hot wired in to the back of the 12 V socket. This gives MPH very clearly on top of the dash. I still use it on my Bravo 150 sport. Much easier to see than the fitted one.

[fay66]

Hi Donald,

According the regulations at the time I brought my elefantino Rosso in (1999), beam benders were not considered to meet the regulations and were not allowed, I didn't have to present the Y for examination just sign a decleration and have the certificate of conformity of which had to be sent off along with the other documentation, as far as the headlamps were concerned I always kept them in the low position when anywhere there was traffic which was easy to do with the headlamp control on the dash, in 4 years I was only ever flashed once.

Brian
8227

[fay66]

When I get the car, I will find out how the headlight conversion is done and also get numbers for any parts that are used.  As for the speedo, I am still looking at what options are available.  I am probably going to do as you did on the Kappa and use a satellite one!

The 2.0M-Jet sounds like a good choice giving the best of both worlds with regard to the diesel engine figures: plenty of power and torque combined with good fuel economy.

 A friend has come up with an alternative for speedo conversion, a unit attached to the back of the speedo converts the signal from KMs to MPH so when you look at the speedo what you read is in mph, it also records the distance covered in miles. the only other thing required is a sticker that says mph which is placed over the legend KMS on the speedo face.
Have a look here.

www.ncs-systems.com/speedm8/

Brian
8227

[Donald]

Hi Brian,
Yes, beam benders are 'iffy', but the ones I had on the kappa SW worked well. They were transparant plastic, hardly noticed. It used to be that you you could self certify that the UK mods had been done. Then, it could be done by  a friendly garage with a letter head. I believe now the conversions have to be confirmed by a main dealer. There is always the chance that VCA or DVLA may want to inspect the vehicle. But, it is heartening that Stuart seems to have established that rhd light coversions are available for the Delta, so just the speedo to worry about, but there seems to be ways round it. I expect to buy my Delta, on my next visit to germany, in October.

[stuwilson128]

Latest update.  I have received a letter from Auto Halan    unfortunately I don't understand a word of it since it is in Dutch    From what I can make out so far, my car has now been built.  When I have translated the letter, I will hopefully post more.

[St Volumex]

Stuart,

Please forward the Dutch letter to me for translation.

[stuwilson128]

Guy,

I have sent you a p.m. with the parts I haven't managed to translate.

[stuwilson128]

I have translated some of the letter and I can now report that the car has left Turin and gone to a central depot in Belgium where it will undergo quality control checks.  After these checks, the car will then be transferred to Auto Halan.  They expect to have the car within the next three weeks.  My plan is to go to Holland in the last couple of days in August (when I have some time off work), collecting the car at the start of September    If everything goes to plan, the cars first public outing will be Auto Italia at Gaydon.  More information when I get some!