Is it really worth it (landy MOT fail)

My old landy failed the MOT at the begining of june, It's begining to get me down trying to get the work done on it although she's probably the best motor I've owned I was just wondering if it was really worth carrying on with her.

Failure list was very short but is working out to be very long to put right. it failed on the following: welding on the rear crossmember, center cross member, rear N/S outrigger, footwell on driver side rotted through and 2 rear floor supports. and front brake hoses failing on steering components (which had worn through the F/O/S hose and brake pipes aren't attached to the chassis.

The rear crossmember has been completely replaced prior to the MOT but failed as I forgot to weld the underside plates fully (my fault, should have known better and double checked it before MOT) which is now completed.

Outrigger has now been plated all round (boxed in). Front footwell has been completely replaced from seatbox to the underside of the dash going over the top of the original.

Center crossmember I can't find anything wrong with it other than a hole about 3/8" round which looks more like a drain hole than rot and isn't even rusty around it, nothing around the handbrake mounting etc..


Brakes were missing the small short pipes from the cylinders that push the hoses away from anthing it can fail on (took me three weeks to find someone that had these in stock).

All in all I would say it's going to take me another 2 or 3 days to finish the welding and a day to sort the brakes, and a day to replace the floor supports so say about a week in all. Is it worth spending the time and money getting this sorted. The only place I have to get the work done is at a friends that have the landy in their back garden are saying I should just scrap it and get myself a smaller motor that doesn't need anything doing as the motor isn't worth doing.

My welding isn't that brilliant this is the first time I've done welding and it looks more like pidgeon do-do's than a nice straight weld.

To me it's worth every penny and minute spent on it, I just can't get left alone to finish it and keeping getting put off doing it, Not sure what to do for the best....

Dunno what mileage you get from her, but I'd never ever swap my Landie for a smaller car. In fact I'm selling one of the smaller ones. The parts are cheap, and in the end repairs cost less on the land rover if you do them yourself. My Peugeot 106 needs a new set of front brake pads soon: 80EUR. A full set of brake pads, cylinders and springs cost 60 quid for all four wheels @ paddocks.
Might be some time you have to invest, but it's worth it I'd say.
Wouldn't mind some pics though!-)

Cheers

Don’t despair you will get their my first landy (Larry) took me ages did it one winter under a blue tarpaulin had to weld the chassis up almost completely the only good thing was I could weld that’s what kept me warm it passed its mot no problem now I have a new project its a 109 striped it back but im doing this in a dry garage when winter comes I may leave it a bit no rush, now onto welding practice on some scrap make sure you grind the paint and the rust off well get a good earth and don’t have it too high or the gas coming out to fast if its mig if it’s stick strike it like a match and fan your hand side to side very slightly catching the patch and the body , hope this encourages you don’t give up

i sold mine when i realised i was fightin a losing battle.Cars come and go.Get another one when you have enough money

Heya philvy as requested some pics of the old girl

This was at the hop farm paddock wood 2010 with SEE4x4R had a great couple of days that weekend specially with the free offroad track, It cost me £50 for the whole weekend in fuel to get from Margate to Paddock wood, playing on the track and the journey home so really economical for a landy (and a lot more economical than a 2.3 volvo 740)




These belong to the PO from the advert that I bought her from.









generally a great tidy motor, just the few bits that are left to do, she's mechanically sound. All the parts (not including the chassis parts i already had) have cost me about £60 thats a complete service kit, brake pipes, brake hoses, carb, oils and fuids.

hiya Lenny the landy, I'm Arc welding the old girl, this I was told would be the easiest for a newbie at welding, I got the general idea of it and managed to work out setting up the welder, getting the amps right, rod size etc... completely cleaning any area I'm welding back about 6" all round, and back to bright, clean metal same with the metal i'm using to plate with, I've been told one of the issues I might be having is because in my thought's of it lasting in the long run I used stainless steel.

Had a word with the ladies and gents over at the series club who gave me a deserved straightening (still not as straight as me landies wings though) so I'm going to get the ol' girl back on the road and get about driving her and not give up as I feel I'm being pressured into doing just gonna turn my hearing aids off while I'm working at her.


Thanks for the encouragement and words of help and advice I will have to buy you a few beers if we meet perhaps if you not to far and I've got the landy on the road if you need any help (mechanical, bodywork etc..) I can lend a hand (you can't have both I need the other to hold me cuppa with)

Thanks guys

Wow... she looks a lovely landie - keep going mate you'll get there.

I spent about 2 weeks this winter lying on my back every night in the snow, wind and rain until 11 most nights trying to fix mine in time for the next green laning trip. It was ****, i came down with something rather nasty from it all - but got there and had an awesome time laning in the snow - so - its worth it in the end. My neighbours think i'm totally mad though...

I'm glad you decided to keep her, looks great. Especially as you don't need much for the MOT and she's exempt.
I like your rear fog light, the one above the door!-)
But what's the chequer plate and the tow ball doing on the front bumper?

Good luck, whenever ya get downhearted just pop on here hay! ok i've only done a semi-rebuild as it where but to stand back at stages of it and go, sweet, i've done that and its comming along is great

Arc welding the easiest for a newbie?!?!?! FOK THAT!!!

I've done arc welding when I started playing with welders last year....took me ages to get the hang of it and maintain the right space between the rod and the metal and feed the rod in as it eats away...

then, I tried MIG welding, using an auto-darkening mask..... will never ARC weld ever again!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mate, give a go at MIG, you'll see how easy it is to do a proper weld that doesnt look like pigeon ****

[JP];1139304 said:

Arc welding the easiest for a newbie?!?!?! FOK THAT!!!

I've done arc welding when I started playing with welders last year....took me ages to get the hang of it and maintain the right space between the rod and the metal and feed the rod in as it eats away...

then, I tried MIG welding, using an auto-darkening mask..... will never ARC weld ever again!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mate, give a go at MIG, you'll see how easy it is to do a proper weld that doesnt look like pigeon ****

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gotta agree with JP here.

MIG/MAG is much easier to use but MMA (arc) welding will give you better penetration / stronger weld if done properly

I could never get used to Arc welding, gave up and bought a gassless mig that was 14 years ago, I have a gass mig not very good at it but I try if I need to. Good luck doesn't look bad enough to give up on.

Andy.

Well, after a day and a half (not bad for someone that can hardly walk if you ask me) she's finished, all the welding is done, brake pipes and hoses fitted to the front, brake pipes secured to the chassis (had to use cable ties for now) Hopefully now she'll pass the MOT going down on monday to book her in, I think it pay's to ignore some people at times, showed my friends some similar landies that are for sale on the net and the prices that are being asked for them "well do it and sell it" was the response :doh::doh::doh: :mil90:

philvy said:

I'm glad you decided to keep her, looks great. Especially as you don't need much for the MOT and she's exempt.
I like your rear fog light, the one above the door!-)
But what's the chequer plate and the tow ball doing on the front bumper?

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I'm glad I decided to get it done aswell mate thanks to you guy's here and the chaps over at S2C for giving me the good kick in the ass she's done now. The fog light on the rear was marked "reversing light" which has now been removed, the chequer plate on the bumper was there when I got her which I still haven't got round to taking off, The tow hitcthes have multiple uses, they act as recovery points, towing points (when recovering) and are a great assistance when manouvering trailer's about in tight places

As for Arc welding.... I'm going to save up for a half decent Mig welder is there any preference in using gassed or gasless migs or differences in the quality of weld they produce ANYTHING is better than f***ing arc welding and I'll be investing in a nice new auto-darkening welding mask aswell I've already bought a new basic one this week after running my cheap & nasty (free with an aldi welder) one over with dads series 3

Big thanks for all the kicks here guys I really appreciate it :tea:

well... went down Monday morning to book the mot, earliest i could get was 10:00am this morning (Wednesday) well was just about to head down to the test center at 09:45 thought "oh better make sure the lights are all working as it's the last thing to check" guess what no headlights or sidelights "here we go" got dad to ring the garage to let them know what was happening they said it's fine just bring it down and leave it with us and we'll fit it in when your all sorted.

13:00 finally got the headlights working the wiring was off the dip switch on the floor (must have kicked it somehow) sidelights were full of green moss cleaned them and everything was working fine, took it down to the mot center and then dad rung them at 15:00 "the motor is fine except that had to fail it as no lights, indicators or instruments are working "here we go again" so got dad to run me down to the test center went in to see the chap got the keys opened the door put the isolator key in turned the ignition on, switched the lights round everything was working fine. showed the chap and he passed the motor.

So long story short for all that don't want to read through all that crap here's the short version

Took the the ol' girl for the mot and it passed

Thanks for all your help guy's I really appreciate it :crazy_driver:going for a drive now

jaycraft21 said:

well... went down Monday morning to book the mot, earliest i could get was 10:00am this morning (Wednesday) well was just about to head down to the test center at 09:45 thought "oh better make sure the lights are all working as it's the last thing to check" guess what no headlights or sidelights "here we go" got dad to ring the garage to let them know what was happening they said it's fine just bring it down and leave it with us and we'll fit it in when your all sorted.

13:00 finally got the headlights working the wiring was off the dip switch on the floor (must have kicked it somehow) sidelights were full of green moss cleaned them and everything was working fine, took it down to the mot center and then dad rung them at 15:00 "the motor is fine except that had to fail it as no lights, indicators or instruments are working "here we go again" so got dad to run me down to the test center went in to see the chap got the keys opened the door put the isolator key in turned the ignition on, switched the lights round everything was working fine. showed the chap and he passed the motor.

So long story short for all that don't want to read through all that crap here's the short version

Took the the ol' girl for the mot and it passed

Thanks for all your help guy's I really appreciate it :crazy_driver:going for a drive now

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Lucky git! I am still dreaming of driving a landy with an MOT, LOL... It'll happen soon (ish!). :doh:

Shame your not a tad closer Box, I'd have popped round and given ya a hand to get it done.

Good luck getting there and I hope it passes first time for ya :5bcheers2:

Hi jaycraft21
she looks great i bet now she`s looking even better,what are the wires for ? does the front lift up i have seen that on a American web sites to access the engine compartment im thinking of maybe doing the same would have to make sure the front wings lock down well due to the speed landy`s go at,maybe see you around

lenny the landy said:

Hi jaycraft21
she looks great i bet now she`s looking even better,what are the wires for ? does the front lift up i have seen that on a American web sites to access the engine compartment im thinking of maybe doing the same would have to make sure the front wings lock down well due to the speed landy`s go at,maybe see you around

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The wires are limb risers for off-roading/green laning. They are designed to try and push up any low branches away from the windscreen...well thats the theory

Well done, it looks great. For me to have a landy with an MoT is just a dream right now, I seem to fix one thing and then another goes wrong, not having a job gives me all the time in the world to fix it, it's the saving up for parts that screws it all up - but we will get there eventually!!

sorry not replied till now, for some reason I didn't get a notification that a reply had been posted.

yep, the wires were limb risers but have been taken off due to near fatal self injury whilst working on the engine. (plus there illegal on uk roads unless factory fitted)

Lizard, they're are some great sites about on the net for landy parts which I've used and found very cheap, do a google search for "series+parts" which should bring up something like lrseries parts, found these to be cheaper than most and even sell bearmach stock cheaper than they do themselves,also try bearmach.