23 replies to this topic

[jpw1275]

I wonder if the mot tester will notice once i cut a half circle out of mine so I can tuck the exhaust up more ( I will weld a half circle plate to make a tunnel so no strength will be lost )

Cheers james

[tomgale]

thanks for the replies everyone! managed to get the frame off to have a look, and its in a fairly bad way, another crack on the top in the same place, both due to rust. Since I'm not really in a position to get a new one, I've decided to at least attempt to repair it.

 

damage on the bottom:

 

and to the top:

 

 

 

and pictures of my repair so people can see if this is adequate:

 

 

cut the rot off:

 

clean up the metal and repair the damage underneath (small crack in the large plate that attaches to the heel board and a notch out of the vertical bit:

 

zinc primer on everything:

 

welded up, and primed again. the factory didnt weld all the way round the plate, but i figured why not?

 

 

does this look like a good enough repair to people? will it be good enough for the MOT man?

 

thanks!

[Jonny1812]

That should be a pass, I believe that you can replace that piece top and bottom but shouldn't repair the webs inbetween. Grind it back so you can't really see it then paint it up and test it somewhere else.....

[AVV IT]

I seem to recall that this subject has been covered here before and it was confirmed that the reason welding a subframe is often deemed as an MOT failure is something to do with excessive heat being applied to a suspension component. As others have said though, if the repair is virtually invisible with fully dressed welds, then it's unlikely that an MOT inspector would even know.

[Shifty]

I've welded up loads of frames for MOTs and never had issue, even when re-testing

[surfblue]

That looks like a good weld / repair although going to the trouble of removing it, I think I'd want to replace with a new one, suitably rustproofed to ensure a long service life.

[finch661]

dress the welds a bit more, paint it, and then put a think layer of under seal over it :) jobs-a-good-un :)

[tomgale]

Yeah, that side was ok, but when I looked at the other side it was a lot worse than I thought, the vertical web was going and it was crusty in a few places, decided to change it out, I could keep patching it, but it would probably only have a couple of years in it, so I nicked the one of my brothers project

[finch661]

Yeah, that side was ok, but when I looked at the other side it was a lot worse than I thought, the vertical web was going and it was crusty in a few places, decided to change it out, I could keep patching it, but it would probably only have a couple of years in it, so I nicked the one of my brothers project

haha thats a better plan :)