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Need some sensible advice!


Silvertemper

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But first a small rant at my incompetance! <rant rant rant> Ok got that out of the way...

My lovely 91 Classic has hit a stumbling block, which to an enthusiast is a run of the mill expectation, but to me who has moved to the wrong part of the country, doesn't have endless supplies of cash and doesn't know who to go to, it's a bit of a mess. So I'm hoping that some of you good people will be able to assit or point me in the right direction..

It failed the MOT due to corrosion of the Off side wheel arch (which needs replacing/rewelding) and corrosian of the panels where the rear seat belt mounts join. The rest of the vehicle is really clean, & mechanically really sound, just I don't have the contacts and obviously as I'm not in 'the know', this is proving to be very very expensive. Any suggestions? It seems criminal to break it when the rest of the vehicle is so clean. But I'm stumped.

:blink:

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Excuse my poor geography but where is close to where you are?

There will be someone kind enough out there to help ya i'm sure, as i felt the same when i got my RRC, turns out there are 2 or 3 folk near me who are life savers for me...............also funds are v tight but they have helped me out due to sheer kindness,

Good Luck matey

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The repair panels are available from Paddocks, or you can find the nearest dead washing machine, 19" rack cabinet door, Dexion shelf, etc. and hack that up :ph34r:

The welding can be a fair bit of work, you can help yourself by stripping the area before delivering the vehicle for the welding to be done, and doing the reinstating work yourself too. The carpets etc. all need to be up for a good 6" radius around the rusty area to allow access. Depending where the holes are, it could be an easy job or an absolute b*gger. If you were near me I'd offer to have a look.

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Garages are usually expensive on welding repairs.

There are mobile welders (man in a van) who come to you to do the job & are usually much cheaper, esp if you have stripped all the trim as FridgeFreezer says. These are often to be found advertising in local papers & your local Yellow Pages is worth a look.

The other alternative is to teach yourself to weld........

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Where in Worcestershire are you Silvertemper? I'm in Herefordshire and if you can make it as far as Hereford there's a brilliant bloke for welding RRC's near me. Used to work for landrover and has owned/does own loads of his own. He did a really tidy job on my rear seatbelt mounts. Like the other guys said if you do as much prep work as you can yourself it shouldn't strain your wallet too much! I painted the repairs afterwards and put the carpets back.

If you are thinking of having a crack yourself you could always hire a welder for a couple of days.

Also, if Hereford's too far then there are lots of independant LR specialists in the Herefordshire/Worcestershire area. Try searching Yell maybe.

Good luck mate. I think I can safely say we've all been there!

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Yeh but then there's the expense of buying a welder.......................well that's what i'd be thinking about, :rolleyes:

Considering there's nothing massively thick to be welded on a RR you could probably get set up for £300 with a half decent 2nd hand welder, a proper bottle of Argoshield and a cheapo auto-helmet. If you price up getting the work done or setting yourself up there's probably not much in it, and money spent on tools is never wasted.

There's plenty of good welding advice in the Tools'n'fab forum.

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:blink: Rats..I'm inbetween a rock and a hard place. Don't have the time (or the tools) to do it myself..and lets be honest, the technical know-how..so I have a vehicle stuck on private land, fully taxed and insured and no MOT and actually no way of getting it mended. <insert unladylike swear words here>

Thanks for all the replies by the way

Where abouts am I? Broadway..all the quotes we have had have been in the kerzillion pound mark (£900 and upwards) :( I am completely stuck..anybody any suggestions or have a desire to take it on? I can send over a pic of how it all is etc etc including what actually needs doing..

Eep my bad, that was just for the front wheel arch bit and it was £1100 not £900..I'll drop in a couple of piccis (not sure where I got the 900 figure from ---> noob!)

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Hi ,

Show us some pic's, it might help to find someone local to help. I thought if you are taking a vehicle to be repaired following a MOT failure it is wthin the law, after all you are still taxed and insured, only if you're taking it for repair/ re-MOT. Is it just the o/s rear wheel arch/wheel tub ?

£900 sounds a bit on the generous side tbh...thats 20hrs @£40/hr and £100 for matl :o:o .....having said that I have done plenty of welding on Land Rover products and it can take a while.....and be hard to estimate/quote , things change when you start grinding/cutting out :blink:

Cheers

Steveb

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Hi ,

Show us some pic's, it might help to find someone local to help. I thought if you are taking a vehicle to be repaired following a MOT failure it is wthin the law, after all you are still taxed and insured, only if you're taking it for repair/ re-MOT. Is it just the o/s rear wheel arch/wheel tub ?

£900 sounds a bit on the generous side tbh...thats 20hrs @£40/hr and £100 for matl :o:o .....having said that I have done plenty of welding on Land Rover products and it can take a while.....and be hard to estimate/quote , things change when you start grinding/cutting out :blink:

Cheers

Steveb

I'm told it's a straight forward job, especially as the chassis is abs fine. It's the labour taking off rusted/welded on nuts bolts :( Here's what the Mot chappi said we needed to have done. The quote I had was just for the wheel arch..; ok problem--->Wheel arch off front, and corrosion within 30cms of rear seat belt mountings on both off and near sides.

Re being covered, I think that because it's failed an mot, unless we actually book it in for another mot subject to welding that we aren't covered? (don't quote me on that) which is a bit of a chicken Vs egg situation..

post-6665-1206472701_thumb.jpg

post-6665-1206472761_thumb.jpg

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I'm told it's a straight forward job, especially as the chassis is abs fine. It's the labour taking off rusted/welded on nuts bolts :( Here's what the Mot chappi said we needed to have done. The quote I had was just for the wheel arch..; ok problem--->Wheel arch off front, and corrosion within 30cms of rear seat belt mountings on both off and near sides.

Re being covered, I think that because it's failed an mot, unless we actually book it in for another mot subject to welding that we aren't covered? (don't quote me on that) which is a bit of a chicken Vs egg situation..

Here's a couple more piccs

post-6665-1206472869_thumb.jpg

post-6665-1206473049_thumb.jpg

post-6665-1206473299_thumb.jpg

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Nice to see a bog standard classic in good condition.

Re: front inner wheel arch i assume its rusted within 30cm of the body mount which will be found at the rear of the engine bay deep down in the recesses of oil and mud.

This inner wing panel does not provide structural strength but will still fail according to the examiner's interpretation of the rules. Dependant on the level of corrosion and whether it extends to the seperate bulkhead panel will affect the ammount of work considerably.

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I think he meant pictures of the problem areas... ;)

edit:

Sorry SilverTemper - didn't see your last post...

Pfft!!!! I wanted to show why I was so keen to try and get it sorted or at least get some un-biased feeback! It would have to be on the side where there are` lots of bits :blink: And my engine has only done 78k all documented.. .. ..

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Some pic's from under the wheel archs would be good....put the steering on full left lock and poke the camera in the arch , you should be able to see any holes there and up into rear wheel tubs looking forwards will show the area t'mot man is referring to, and rear door open , lower rear wheel arch......ooooh I think I've welded tooooo many rusty RRC's , although I can see why you want to keep it going , very nice ;)

Cheers

Steveb

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If your current MOT certificate has not expired then you can continue to drive it right up until the expiry date regardless of it having failed a new test.

If the vehicle was unsafe the tester would be within his powers to not release it back to you. As he has (I presume) you are OK.

DISCLAIMER - this is my own personal understanding. Please check with a grown up first!!!

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If your current MOT certificate has not expired then you can continue to drive it right up until the expiry date regardless of it having failed a new test.

If the vehicle was unsafe the tester would be within his powers to not release it back to you. As he has (I presume) you are OK.

DISCLAIMER - this is my own personal understanding. Please check with a grown up first!!!

Sadly it has expired, I guess I just look trustworthy! Seriously though...I guess there's always a way forwards...

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By the look of it the rear bits should b a lot easier/cheaper to get done.

The front inner wings i would think will involve a lot of labour time. The point where the inner wings meet the bulkhead behind the screen washer bottle and brake servo could seriously add to the 'scope of work' if corroded.

My inner wings are a bit patchy and will need attention eventually.

Wats annoying is that the inner wings do not provide any structural integrity - but as we all know the 30cm rule still applies.

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