Welding for the MOT

MattV8i · Jan 30, 2009

My '95 Discovery went in for its MOT today, and failed on welding. It needs repairs to boot floor where the body mounts are and also to the offside inner door shut (seatbelt anchorage). I had treated the door shuts to some kurust back in the summer and waxoyled them and they havnt got any worse, but the inspector mananged to get his screwdriver (or pointy MOT inspectors hammer) through it today. They quoted £350+VAT for the welding and they say the boot floor is not too badly gone to require the whole lot replacing, but they will repair the sides properly rather than putting a plate over the top etc. My first question is, does this sound like a reasonable quote?

Secondly, I have just had a look on autotrader, and there is a dealer (www.tradecars2u.co.uk) selling one they describe as 'Superb' with an obviously much worse rot problem in the inner door shut than mine, with 4 months MOT.

Is this an MOT fail area? Also I have removed my carpet from the boot and the floor has some glassfibre repairs but looks solid from above and below. I am going to strip the interior out to save on the labour costs but would like to know if anyone else has had to do similar on their disco's, and if so how much they paid, thanks, Matt.

Soloby Rob · Jan 30, 2009

An MOT tester is not allowed to use anything other than the official corrosion assessment tool to determine corrosion, so if he poked a screwdriver through your Disco, hes in the wrong.

oil dripper · Jan 30, 2009

i shudda told him ta shove the screwdriver up his arse the bastid

G-man · Jan 30, 2009

1 fibreglass isn't a proper repair
2 yes it is a fail imagine a 12" sphere around the seatbelt mount that is the prescribed area! this works for all structural points on the vehicle
3 i wouldn't pay to have it done i would do it myself

RyanP · Jan 30, 2009

Thats sounds like a lot of money dude. Is it a land rover specialist? Maybe you could look at alternative garages? an independant mechanic that works from home would probably be a lot cheaper. Or do you know anyone who is good with a mig? There might even be someone on here in your area?

colinl · Jan 30, 2009

you are better off doing all the work yourself! as G-man says a twelve inch area around the seat belts is a mot failure if corroded so they must be done properley but the boot floor is not so critical. its better to do it all properley the first time though as you would only have to do it again later on.

MattV8i · Jan 30, 2009

Thanks for your replies, I thought the inner door shuts are quite important as they are close to the seatbelts, yet most discoveries I have seen have brown patches down in that corner - obviously an area we are all going to have to replace one day unless they have been well waxed and cleaned underneath from new.

I used the garage for a first time as they are just up the road and recommended on the good garage scheme website. He kept saying how many other garages would just plate over the top whereas they will cut all the grot out and do a proppa job.

I would do it myself if I had the space, time and tools to do it! Will get a few more prices to 'compare the market'.

Andy200TDi · Jan 31, 2009

I had the same prob around the rear inner door shuts... Check behind the rear side panels, the rot can carry on over the top of the wheel arches... mine did!

classic kev · Jan 31, 2009

The tin worm strikes again!! You'll need to have a good crawl under it, over it and in it.

Nothing unusual these are common problems for Disco and RRC. Would suggest you also have a good look at the bottoms of the A and B pillars, peel back the carpet on the wheel arches and check the seat belt mounts, also remove the sill finishers and check the outer sills. Another place to have a thorough prod is the ends of the sills in the rear arches. Then of course there are the inner front wings. Another place that can escape scrutiny is the corners of the front footwells where the floor/bulkhead and inner wings meet, these are not clearly visible from underneath as the plastic inner arch liners hide this area.

Oh rear cross member too.

I know it sounds like a long list but better to check now and get it all done at once. Not all of these are MOT failures but better to have a motor without holes in it.

Get hold of a mig welder and some steel plate and an angle grinder. Depending on how much rot there is you should be able to make repairs in a day or two if it is just a case of localised patching. Doing it yourself will save a bundle of cash. If you aren't happy to repair it yourself, you're gonna have to pay a garage or a welder to do it for you so that'll be a couple of hundred quid plus materials.

Mr Alford · Feb 1, 2009

heres some pics of mine

this is my boot floor replacement
http://www.mud-club.com/forum/index.php/topic,54605.0.html]Boot floor replacement (aluminium)

Heres a quick low down on all the places i found rust

it was a suprise every time, im slowly fighting it away, some people have told me to scrap it but i love it far too much to do that but now its probably stronger than its ever been

rear cross member

re-welded then put a 5mm thick aluminium plate over the top so i can jack off it

the passenger footwell and front arches were shagged, grind out the old in with the new

disintegrated front body mounts

cut the old out in with the new

jai_landrover · Feb 1, 2009

This is very common in Disco's and RRC's.That is why the price of them has plumeted over the last 5 years (and petrol price) to find one without rot is almost impossible unless it has been treated with waxoil and the like from new. If you cannot weld do not do it yourself. Unless you really honestly feel you need to learn a new skill as these repairs need to be done correctly. I have seen supposidly "qualified welders" make a mess of a disco boot the customer ended up buying all new panels again to replace the whole lot again.

Be careful who does the work:
My dad HGV mechanic/test driver of many years, once had a RRC once took it our local T and H motorist center they failed it on the sills. He didnt have much time and work was hectic so he paid them to do it. Ok it passed my dad took delivery and took a look (my dad doest swear much) but he was cursing them all the names under the sun for about a week. After he got past the filler, the under body sealer and the fibreglass. he found wads of newspaper and the patch they welded on was hnging off the weld didnt penetrae and they just filled over it. Will never go there again. Idiots.

Jai

Mr Alford · Feb 1, 2009

jai_landrover said:
This is very common in Disco's and RRC's.That is why the price of them has plumeted over the last 5 years (and petrol price) to find one without rot is almost impossible unless it has been treated with waxoil and the like from new. If you cannot weld do not do it yourself. Unless you really honestly feel you need to learn a new skill as these repairs need to be done correctly. I have seen supposidly "qualified welders" make a mess of a disco boot the customer ended up buying all new panels again to replace the whole lot again.

Be careful who does the work:
My dad HGV mechanic/test driver of many years, once had a RRC once took it our local T and H motorist center they failed it on the sills. He didnt have much time and work was hectic so he paid them to do it. Ok it passed my dad took delivery and took a look (my dad doest swear much) but he was cursing them all the names under the sun for about a week. After he got past the filler, the under body sealer and the fibreglass. he found wads of newspaper and the patch they welded on was hnging off the weld didnt penetrae and they just filled over it. Will never go there again. Idiots.

Jai

thats an extremely valid point best way to do it is either do a course like i did and learn off mates and practise practise, the key to it is setting the welder up right first

failing that chuck a mate whos a landy enthusiast some cash and hell be happy to do it

aston108 · Mar 4, 2009

Hi, would this rust on the top of the rear wheel arch be an MOT failure ? I'm investigating buying a landy with rust in the same place and thought that the seat belt anchor went through the panel here and bolted to the chassis... am I wrong...cheers

Mr Alford · Mar 4, 2009

aston108 said:
Hi, would this rust on the top of the rear wheel arch be an MOT failure ? I'm investigating buying a landy with rust in the same place and thought that the seat belt anchor went through the panel here and bolted to the chassis... am I wrong...cheers

i think thats less than 10 cm from a seatbelt mount so technically yes but it its just body rust then no

Pikey · Mar 4, 2009

Mr Alford said:
i think thats less than 10 cm from a seatbelt mount so technically yes but it its just body rust then no

For an MOT, the critical area is within 30cm in any direction. So it probably will fail. However you could argue that the seatbelt isn't fixed to the disco's bodywork at all. As the mounting passes thru the body and is attached to the Chassis.

shinydiscoball · Mar 4, 2009

redhand said:
For an MOT, the critical area is within 30cm in any direction. So it probably will fail. However you could argue that the seatbelt isn't fixed to the disco's bodywork at all. As the mounting passes thru the body and is attached to the Chassis.

Thats what I thought and also i'm a little suspect on why some seem to fail on sills even though on disco they aren't as integral to the strength of the vehicle as a normal monocoque bodied car due to having the chassis.

andyb66 · Mar 4, 2009

The seats mount to the floor. Discovery door sills fail because the front seat belts mount to the floor right by the B-post.

shinydiscoball · Mar 4, 2009

Ah answers that one then

ag820i · Mar 4, 2009

Matt,had the boot floor, both inner and outer sills and 2 repairs done to the wheel arch on my Disco last year, cost £300. To be honest, the repairs to the boot floor and arch are fairly easy.Didn't do mine last year because of my heart problems,but would have done otherwise. Disco really is a simple machine to look after. I'll try to get to the meeting and chat to you about it

smurphy · Mar 4, 2009

If I was close to you Id offer my services but I'm afraid I'm to far fella. Mine due for MOT soon and needs welding on the A-post and innerwing but I'm a dab hand with a mig though

that from Jan when I did my Manta. I think I'll do a bit of a welding party when I do mine so people can pick a few tips up. Or maybe if anyone wants a hand for a few beer tokens give me a shout

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