ADVICE ON WELDING FOR MOT.

[Fat Bloke]

HI, Just been looking round my RRC to check how its coped standing on the drive for the past 2 years and notice a few welding jobs that need doing. I have a couple of corrosion areas to the rear arches within the door shut areas, Some corrosion to the inner wings where they join to the light boxes on the front panel and also minor corrosion on the sills/step area.

When i purchased this truck 3 years ago i was led to believe these would not be MOT failure points as they are non structral areas. The only thing we could find was a body mount on the rear crossmember requires a big washer or plate as the rubber was compressed and hanging out the sides.

Since toying with the idea of actually starting this project i have read on various posts, differing opinions on whether these areas are now failure points or not and would appreciate any advice concernind current MOT legislation. Also is it worth getting it MOT'd before actually preping it for Offroad to see what it will need or just crack on with the build and put it in at the end.

Cheers Guys.

[bigedyant]

Mine failed on those very same things last friday.
 
Had to fabricate;
 
                  Box in end of sills on NSR, NSF, OSR.

                  Weld patches on rear arch within 'x' inches of Seat belt mount

                   rebuild lower half of arch due to lack thereof.

                  repair hole in chassis right next to the exhaust
         (wouldn't have thought that would stay wet long enough to rust)

 Just thought I'd share with you. Don't know if that helps.

 Peace!

[Fat Bloke]

Mine failed on those very same things last friday.
 
Had to fabricate;
 
                  Box in end of sills on NSR, NSF, OSR.

                  Weld patches on rear arch within 'x' inches of Seat belt mount

                   rebuild lower half of arch due to lack thereof.

                  repair hole in chassis right next to the exhaust
         (wouldn't have thought that would stay wet long enough to rust)

 Just thought I'd share with you. Don't know if that helps.

 Peace!

Thanks Mate......It sort of helps and doesn't at the same time. It  seems like the test has got harder but if that is the case i now have more work than i planned on !  :(  

[clbarclay]

Most of those points arn't structureal as such but are within 12" of seatbelts mounts or seat mountings (which have seatbelts attached to them) which are critical areas. Within 12" of suspension is also fail areas, but on a RRC atleast that is still just the chassis.

The front inner wings near the lights should not be a problem, mine are rotten as and still passed as there is nothing important or structrual near them.

If it is just light surface corrosion then it should pass, its where its rusted through into holes that they fail it on.

[Range Rover Blues]

Corrosion has to withstand finger pressure if it's nicely painted and a medium hammer tap if it's not.  As said already 300m from any seat belt anchorage, body mount or structural member which includes the sills and rear crossmember.

[cactus]

It will fail on rust by the headlights as theres a body mount there...

I, and most MOT testers, realise the chassis is the strenth of the

vehicle but, a 27 year old vehicle left standing for 2 years, will

have serious rust problems!

I would go over such a vehicle with a fine tooth comb before

issueing a pass.

Parking up for 2 years causes many things to deteriorate  :(

[Fat Bloke]

Cheers for the extra advice guys. Funnily enough it has very little corrosion, probably because it was in excellent condition to start with and even after 2 years although when i said standing i meant parked outside rather than in the garage but it has been moved around the street and the field next to my house to make sure nothing seized up.
Obviously if i know i need to do some welding before the MOT i will now just attack the whole project in one go i:e bodylift, bobtail, suspension and paint etc rather than bits and bobs and just put it on the road sometime next year when its all done.

[ChrisV8]

:( Just been tackling a similar problem with daughters RR which had stood for about 12 months.

So far have replaced passenger cill complete, most of rear floor, rear x member, welded front inner wings, replaced both front brakes, discs and calipers, taken fuel tank out and welded both sides of chassis. It has amazed me how bad it was as before it's enforced stand in the wet it was in good order, in retrospect I wish I hadn't started on it, it's only the ace tdi under bonnet that makes it worth while at all !!