Rust and MOT's

[Suvvey]

Exactly where on a defender can rust holes cause an MOT fail?

More specifically I have a rather nasty one that on a 'normal' car would be fail as it would be a structural point but not sure if it is classed as that on a defender because of the chassis being seperate. I do have some photo's which I will try and put up later but for now if you can picture it it is on the steel frame around the rear set of doors on a 110 county. Not on the B or C pillars but at the bottom of the angled bit that runs by the rear seat box between the C pillar and the bottom sill. I only bought the truck a couple of months ago and this hole doesn't look like it appeared in the last year so would guess it was present at the last MOT unless someone's given it a good poke about :roll: But sometimes it just comes down to the tester on the day :?

Also the doors are pretty rotten but as long as they open and shut as they should I believe thats enough? Shame because the rest of it is rust free, not a spot on the chassis or even the original bulk head :shock:

[Disco-andy]

i dont think the doors wont fail an mot unless they are sharp,

[Suvvey]

And there she is in all her glory :'( Just to clarify, in the photo I am pulling the panel away after drilling out the pop rivots.

Typically I saw this very part for sale on ebay whilst I was waiting to go pick her up from the guy I was buying it from but only had poor picture of the hole at the time so didn't bother bidding I now have no idea how much of the frame  comes as one piece or whether it has to be chopped out and the replacement welded back in. Happy to do either myself but would like an idea of just how much has to come away and also where to source the parts.

If it is not a fail then it will get probably get filled for the time being but will be sorted properly some time soon.

[ChrisW70]

I think Dave had similar issues - some discussion here - http://www.mud-club.com/forum/index.php/topic,71474.0.html

[Suvvey]

Aha! Cheers for that. I had seen that thread before but thought it was on another forum which would explain why I couldn't find it :roll:

So does anyone know if it is a Mot failure?

[russ3120]

If memory serves, yes as it looks like the rust is within 30cm of a seat belt anchorage point


here is a link to the  MOT teaters manual,
http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual/contents.htm


but it depends on how grumpy the tester is on the day

[Suvvey]

Yeah that was the bit that worried me but wasn't sure if it had to be 30cm from the anchor point AND on the actual part that it is anchored to as these are seperate.

[Saffy]

remove 2nd row seats and belts? get it tested as a 2 seater + driver.

[Suvvey]

I think I'll just do it myself before I get it tested but won't be untill next week now even though the MOT is due on this Saturday. Guess I'll just have to go back to driving the FFFFFFFFF.............FFFFFFFFFFFF.....FFFFFFF.....FFFFFFFFFFFocus! :oops:

[CHIPFAT]

Id say it was an mot fail for reasons mentioned above,
But for what its worth just get if repaired as your motor is worth nothing as scrap!

[Suvvey]

Planning to cut it out and make up a replacement bit of box to weld back in over the weekend. As long as the boss will let me near the MIG :twisted:

[Suvvey]

Well..... it wasn't exactly a 5 minute job :shock: