Morris Minor Owners Club

if the factory fitted seat fixing holes are not useable for various
reasons then get someone who is competent to drill out those
holes so that you can use a nut and bolt to position the seat where
you wish without relying on dodgy threads.

Oh look. It revises your signature in previous messages too. Thats nifty. Well, that's Dolly!

Ray: I downloaded some pics onto 'webshots', which is like a cyber-album, rather than writing a whole website...One day I will muster the energy for that... but not today..... I'll keep wanadoo in mind as my first call of port though. Sounds good.
To get the profile-oojamy to cite the picture I right-clicked it, clicked on 'properties' and copied the url from that. It didn't work just to copy it from the address box as the '.jpg' was missing.

Nikki: Do you mean you stockpile bits of floor and you'll stick them all together? Sounds a good idea stockpiling... i think my mum might do her nut though. Dad's already filled every space with useless large grey pieces of ancient telecommuncations equipment...
Will have to make sure next time i move out, that its into a large garage!

I must say you've all been brilliant. It'd be great to meet some of you if Dolly gets to a rally or event one day.

My next question is about dealing with rust. As you may have guessed (No, I think I got away with it....) I'm a total novice here, so I'm in need of a step-by-step guide for dummies.... what doesn't matter if its rusty, what does, what does it look like when you've removed enough with yer wire brush, what to paint with what , etc? Anyone know a good book or article at my level? Think this thread is getting a bit tired though, so I'll move into body-work!

Relfy wrote:Oh look. It revises your signature in previous messages too. Thats nifty. Well, that's Dolly!

I can't see her! I'm thinking a broken link???

*digs around in the HTML code... Oh, I didn't know there was an oil filter in there ;)*

Tada!



Very nice

Nikki: Do you mean you stockpile bits of floor and you'll stick them all together? Sounds a good idea stockpiling... i think my mum might do her nut though. Dad's already filled every space with useless large grey pieces of ancient telecommuncations equipment...

Exactly! provided you have somewhere clean and dry you should be able to stockpile the parts. Admittedly, if you're goot ad budgetting you can just save up and buy all the parts, but if you stockpile you can at least gradually fix things. I know it can be VERY expensive to replace an entire floor pan if you pay in one go! I'm stockpiling stuff just before I go to America - or rather, I'm making sure Hebe's parts are all ok before we leave!

Will have to make sure next time i move out, that its into a large garage!

Believe me, it makes a difference

I must say you've all been brilliant. It'd be great to meet some of you if Dolly gets to a rally or event one day.

My next question is about dealing with rust. As you may have guessed (No, I think I got away with it....) I'm a total novice here, so I'm in need of a step-by-step guide for dummies.... what doesn't matter if its rusty, what does, what does it look like when you've removed enough with yer wire brush, what to paint with what , etc? Anyone know a good book or article at my level? Think this thread is getting a bit tired though, so I'll move into body-work!

There are some really good books on restoration. It all depends though on exactly what you want your car to look/be like. I know cars which look pretty ropey from the outside, but are actually that way because their owners have been really good at keeping the rust at bay while also using the car as a daily driver.

If you want the technical answer (and I hope Cam or Ray correct me if I'm wrong - ) for the MOT you're not allowed any Rust within 3mm of any structural point - that being any point which is part of, or near, the main chassis, suspension, steering etc etc. Obviously "Rust" in this case is holes. Most Testers will use descresion to decide exactly how bad the rust is.

If you have surface rust, the best way to deal with it IMHO is to tackle it head on - sand down the area, attack it with rust eater, and then seal, re-prime and paint to prevent any more.

If you have holes... well... they need looking at

(For the record, Hebe has a VERY rusty rear floor to her boot between the rear crossmember (which isn't rusty) and the end of the car. I've got the parts stocked up to replace when I get the money

Nikki


*off to tackle the M25 in an attempt to Fed-Ex off her Visa paperwork...*

Relfy,

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /s/image17/5/98/24/182559824sWJAVT_ph.jpg on this server.

Seems like webshots doesn't allow external linking

Probably not... If you right-click the image, copy the address from the properties box, and open it in your browser, it miraculously displays on the forum, however... I do know that some album software isn't compatible with the board, so that could be it...

Multiphonikks wrote:
If you want the technical answer (and I hope Cam or Ray correct me if I'm wrong - ) for the MOT you're not allowed any Rust within 3mm of any structural point

It's 30cm.

err 30 mm?

MOT you're not allowed any Rust within 3mm of any structural point

I hope that's not a new rule as most old cars are covered in rust.
Serious rot / holes aren't allowed within certain distances of structural areas, however most MOT men will fail the car if there are holes underneath or on the inner wings pretty much regardless of position.
Some will fail brake pipes with surface rust, some will pass them with quite serious rust . Either way rusty brake pipes are something that should not be overlooked. If it's light rust, clean them up and paint them. If it's lumpy rust, change them.
As for the other metal it will last longer if the rust is cleaned off and hammerited or red oxide primer / zink primer but the main thing to look for is leaking window rubbers. Regardless of how much paint you use, if water gets in the car when it rains you will get a badly rotted car sooner or later.
I've seen plenty of cars that had huge welding bills every year that could have been put right with new window seals.

Well you have confused me as I still work in English so after looking at a rule 30mm is almost 1 1/4" but 30cm is almost 12"

Well you have confused me as I still work in English so after looking at a rule 30mm is almost 1 1/4" but 30cm is almost 12"

Yes, 30cm is 12 inches (approx) and that is how far away corrosion has to be, makes sense that a seatbelt mount or suspension mount has to be fastened to "sound" metal, but I still think that its all at the discretion of the tester and his/her experience of a type of vehicle comes into this. Human nature being what it is, if unsure about the car construction and many testers are unfamiliar with minors, they will err on the side of caution.

The answer is to find a tester who knows, and preferably likes old(er) cars rather than just the normal 3-10 year old stuff they normally deal with.

regards

Michael

30mm is almost 1 1/4" but 30cm is almost 12

true - but if the MOT person puts that yellow crayon around the hole it usually doesn't matter where it is as they want it fixed before they'll give you a new ticket.
There are also rules which apply to welding - within certain distances stich welding is not permitted and they want seam welding.
Recently I've used 2" weld and a 1" gap 2" weld, 1" gap and so on around sills and it wasn't questions so maybe I'll try and get away with that a lot more often.

Many ISP's offer free webspace and Freeserve (wanadoo) give a basic but foolproof website building package.

Which is seeming more and more preferable all the time.....

Either way rusty brake pipes are something that should not be overlooked. If it's light rust, clean them up and paint them. If it's lumpy rust, change them.
As for the other metal it will last longer if the rust is cleaned off and hammerited or red oxide primer / zink primer but the main thing to look for is leaking window rubbers.

Oke doke.

Errr, is that Dolly Parton, Dolly the Sheep or your car which needs an interior facelift???:D

Err 30cm!

All is revealed, if the link works, at

http://www.motuk.com/mot_manual/appendixC.htm#14

Errr, is that Dolly Parton, Dolly the Sheep or your car which needs an interior facelift???

true - but if the MOT person puts that yellow crayon around the hole it usually doesn't matter where it is as they want it fixed before they'll give you a new ticket.

I'm beginning to think MOT certificates are given out easier here than they are everywhere else. Dont ask me why I think that. ITS GOT NOTHING TO DO WITH DOLLY WHATSOEVER! ...*ahem*...

I'm beginning to think MOT certificates are given out easier here than they are everywhere else.

well the last car I took for an MOT (not mine) failed on a handful of things yet they missed the large hole in the floor next to the sill and directly around the jacking point I guess the underside of the carpet must have looked like floorpan...
I do love that MOT place sometimes!! They don't call him 'blind Les' for nothing

When I lived with my parents in Staffs I regularly used 2 MOT places. A lax one for my cars and a really stringent place (that did a thorough job) for my mums car.

Now I'm paranoid.

I've spent the last half hour looking at hebe's floor...

Granted, she's ticketed until March and she'll have left long before then, but... but...

Seriously though, I need to get that boot floor replaced before I move her. Everything else can wait. - Looking at it just now alongside the panel I brought to replace it has just shown me how much of a "bodge" Job she's had done in the past on her... Hey ho hum...

I have a specific place where I (used to, until it broke) take my bike to, where they are a little more 'Spirito de MOT' rather than specific wording. That's not to say it wouldn't pass anywhere else.....

Rebecca just goes wherever, 'cos she's always in tip-top condition ;-)