How much trouble am I in?

[CJH]

I was hoping to move my MOT date from mid summer to the autumn, so I took my van for a pre-mot check of some offside corrosion that was marked as an 'Advisory' earlier in the year. The garage considered it was now bad enough to fail the MOT, so they didn't put it through. My MOT is therefore still good till June next year.

However, I'd like the opinions of the good people on this forum as to how bad the corrosion is, and what needs doing. Very difficult to tell from just photos I know, but I've included plenty (to get brownie points off Metalmick8y ). I'm told it needs a repair to the outer sill, the inner sill, and the suspension mounting point.

The MOT garage use a mobile welder that they speak very highly of, and his opinion is that I can patch these areas. I'm inclined to prefer replacement inner and outer sills, although the inner sill seems fairly good apart from a previous repair near the jacking point as you can see in the last few photos.

So give it to me straight - what needs doing to do this properly?

The interior photo below is from when I had the interior out earlier in the year, and I was pleased at the time that it looked to be in pretty good shape (the rusty colour inside the side panel is waxoyl overspray):


Outer sill (seems reasonably solid except where the hole is, and apart from the scabby join along the bottom edge):







Suspension mounting (bit of a hole):



Inner sill/rear jacking point (signs of a previous repair, but not noticeably weak forward of this point):

[itchyfeet]

In my limited experience thats pretty rusty and not going to get any better, patches will be temporary.
if the vans a keeper then do it once and do it right with new panels.
I'm sure mm spends many extra hours undoing patches done to buy time, general feeling I get is its always worse than it looks when you start digging.

[DavidPallister]

And it'll be worse in the inner layers. Once you cut the outer panel away, you'll probably find the base of the C post missing, as well as the stiffening panel, inner sill above the jacking point, and maybe the top of the jacking point itself. Ask me how I know....

[CJH]

Thanks folks - yes, definitely keen to do it right, but just a bit concerned what that might mean in terms of pound notes. Repair sections don't seem to be too expensive, but if it's going to need many skilled hours to rebuild the bottom of the C post for instance, it's not going to be cheap.

[CovKid]

Time to buy a MIG welder and practice Chris. For the cost of one, you'd save a lot of money longer term.

[CovKid]

Time to buy a MIG welder and practice Chris. For the cost of one, you'd save a lot of money longer term.

[CJH]

Time to buy a MIG welder and practice Chris. For the cost of one, you'd save a lot of money longer term.

Did I not make myself clear? This is a keeper!

You're quite right though - it's a skill I'd love to pick up. One day.

[pionte]

I am very envious of anyone who can weld I did just about master enough with oxy acetylene to pass my mechanics apprenticeship, but never have been able to get to grips with mig or tig ... give me the oily bits any day !

[volks_womble]

I did an evening class course at my local agricultural college about 10 years ago. That gave me sufficient skill and a bit of confidence to go and try a few things, which is when you actually start learning! It is one of the best and most useful skills I have ever learnt. It is also something that you can only learn by doing it, spending time doing so, getting it wrong, and figuring out how to do it better. 'Time on Gun' as a friend of mine is prone to saying...

give it a try
Mark

[CJH]

I definitely agree - I'd love to be able to weld, and I know that practice is the way to get some skills. And I'm definitely the sort of person who isn't afraid to get stuck in. But my impression is that this is a fairly complicated area to work on. My van deserves better than some novice welder honing his skills!

[Plasticman]

Hmmm. will get back to later in the day when iv the big screen to work from lol
mm

[Plasticman]

you could be lucky with the rear arm mounts/jp's often the rot is confined to the outer sill and as in your case has had a botch over allready,
the inner part that supports it is much thicker steel and again often is surface rust or the very bottom is iffy, again cant say for definite without a little judicious cutting etc
you can see a bit of work needed on the underside of the sill half hidden by the jp bracketry, i have a few genuine inner sills i can take some picks of if it would help though a search of a few threads would give a better idea as your aware
can you do a clrearer picky of the friudge panel inside and out to see whats been done so far
mm

[CJH]

Thanks Mike

I'll take some better daylight photos of the outside - should have done that this weekend. I can't get to the inside of the fridge panel at the moment, as my interior is back in place. I'm pretty sure it's all original though - it was all painted white and there was no sign of welding. Can you see something on the shots of the outside that suggests there's been some repair work already? Obviously there's stone chip all over it, but that may just have been to match the other side, which definitely has had some work.

Chris

[jamesc76]

The garage considered it was now bad enough to fail the MOT, so they didn't put it through. My MOT is therefore still good till June next year.

AS much as that is true your van is still not road worthy, and if the police or vosa see it your in a bit of trouble. Once you open that panel up I bet there will be a fair amount of welding and patching needed! As you have said you cant or have the gear to weld it then your much better off leaving it to some one that can, after all thats a rather structural area of the vans suspension and jacking point, do it wrong and it wont be worth a jot if it bends etc! Dont want to sound like a misery guts but I have seen and put right a lot of very dodgy repairs!

[CJH]

Misery guts.