MOT due what to do?

[clartsonly]

Okay so the camper is in quite good shape apart from a hole in the sill. Now I read the other thread about "rust" failing the MOT. I am better off getting the sill welded first then MOTing. or simply MOTing telling them I know there ias a hole in the sill and see if anything else is wrong with it before paying out the weld something that might need completely replacing anyway?

apparantly it will be about 50/60 pounds for the welding.

[R0B]

get the welding done first i recon..

[fullsunian]

If it were me then I would get it tested first then you will know exactly what its going to fail on, then it may save you getting it welded twice...
IAN

[Red Westie]

I agree with Ian
MOT first and then you know where you stand....there are plenty of MOT 'TEST ONLY' stations out there that just do MOTS and nothing else and give you 14days to return without a retest fee.....ASK FIRST.
Martin

[clartsonly]

I always get all my vehicles tested by the same garage and have done for about 4 years now. only twice with all the MOT's have I needed any work doing, 1) replacing the steps pop rivet with seem welding 2) a windscreen wiper.

They have always had a tiny light prod at the sill whereas I had a feel about and then pulled out all the "pooh", they are very good when it comes to sensible resolutions to issues. The first year the camper was MOt'd it let all its water out of the expansion tank where I had not bled the system properly and the second year we had to bump start it from the ramps to the brake machine.

I think they would offer the welding there but the other guy does campers and is only around the corner so I can drop it off and pick it back up, rather than being stuck in a garage for 3 hours. I was considering no more big gaps and some expoxy resin, but that is fine on panels not when it comes to structure based components.

[meehaja]

For £60 if it needs doing anyway, you might as well get it done regardless of MOT. A garage I used to use told me that if a car looks like S*** then they look harder to for problems, if it looks like its been looked after they tend to advise more. didn't help me, they charged me £500 to weld my old fiesta and failed it anyway!

[Red Westie]

For £60 if it needs doing anyway, you might as well get it done regardless of MOT. A garage I used to use told me that if a car looks like S*** then they look harder to for problems, if it looks like its been looked after they tend to advise more. didn't help me, they charged me £500 to weld my old fiesta and failed it anyway!

Exactly....get it tested first and then you will know the full extent of repairs.....instead of chasing things.

Martin

[billy739]

firstly it will only fail the mot if it is 30cm / 12 inches of the rear arm mounting

but obviously for the long term have it welded. if its done neatly get it sprayed back to match the van , not just patched and schatlzed!
then some waxoyl in the cavaties!

[clartsonly]

if its done neatly get it sprayed back to match the van

ha ha ha ha as you can imagine I am not that worried about someone cloning my camper This was the first time we used it over 3 years ago now, I have a massive awning but no new photos of the rust bucket.

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and yes it is next to the rear jacking point on the nearside. MOT first then

[clartsonly]

barr humbug.

failed on

corrosion (as expected)

handbrake effeciency (they have always let me off with an advisory with that one before)

condensation in the headlight (oh please)

one side number plate light not working (jesus, I have never even had one on my motorbike)

front brakes unbalanced


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a little tight "interfered with" I must say obviously the number plate light and head light are already done, the welding is due next thur / fri. I have got some rear brake shoes - the brakes are okay but the handbrake is ever so poor even though I have adjusted the cable so tightly. I assume the front brakes are unbalnced because the van hasn't been used since october.

[fullsunian]

Well at least you now know what needs doing...

[clartsonly]

I have the shoes and will change them does anyone know about the manual adjustment the haynes manual states you should do to the shoes eg 1.5mm less the diameter of the drum? I dont want to have issues with adjusting the handbrake afterwards because I didn't reset them correctly.

I am not really looking forward to stripping the front brakes either I get lazy and just spray them with £8 of brake cleaner instead.

[billy739]

perhaps you need a handbrake cable?

[clartsonly]

okay I know why the handbrake had issues, on one side the adjuster had seized it was all lose unfortunately that was the second side I did which means I have changed the shoes now there is basically no brakes whatsoever the pedal goes to the floor - two pumps and the van stops I dont think I have damaged anything (as I normal would do ) I think I have not adjusted the self adjuster up enough, it cannot be leaking otherwise the clutch would have packed up in the little run I just did.

Has anyone else had this type of issue when changing rear shoes ? everything else is quite easy... I was doubtful of this manually setting up the shoes before replacing the hub right from the getgo after reading the haynes description.