My Coupe has failed the MOT today this is what was stated on the VT30 form:

'Nearside & offside rear (outer sill) suspension component mounting prescribed area is excessivley corroded' [2.4.A.2]

it was not clear to me what this meant - I knew there was some corrosion on outer sills, that I plan to sort, but what is the suspension component mounting it's referring to? Is it because the sill corrosion is within a certain area?.

So best thing to do is get skirts off, chop out any corroded metal, clean & treat best I can & get some new stuff welded on? Or not as simple as that

i feel for you ive got a coupe outside thats prob never gonna see the road again , not sure where it means but anything that within 20cm (i think ) of anything sturtal is a fail , you should beable to patch it up and it will be good for awhile

The suspension is mounted to the subframe. The subframe is mounted the the chassis via bushes.

The sill is the edging of the underbody, there are no suspension components mounted to the sill.

Not really sure what they mean, did they not offer any expalnation?
You can talk to the tester himself to ask what he means in english.

Main thing to remember is that is can always be fixed, and welding the underside is not expensive, i had 2 fist size holes welded recently for £60, nice piece of stainless steel welded into place. Welds flattened and re under sealed.

Dont just under seal it if it has a hole

If there is no hole the wire wheel on a drill will clean it up for you to assess the severity of the corrosion. If it comes back to strong metal then some dinitrol rust treatment and dinitrol metallic underseal is what i recommend. (BMW factory underseal).

Thing is I had a good inspection & apart from the sills everything else is solid & clean. the failure description doesn't make sense - what does the outer sills have to do with a suspension component mounting?

I'll go back to the place & ask the tester - god knows why I didn't do it at the time, I thought I'd ask on here first, I was so gutted I just drove off lol

I can understand the shock, I might have done the same! Told you rog, johnny or joe would know Let me know wednesday if you need some more help with this

The sill is itself a structural component (It helps with the rigidity of the shell) and excess corrosion on int has always been an MOT failure.

Since it's the rear end of this that goes on the Coupes and it's near the mounting point for the rear suspension arms.......

It usually means either a replacement panel or patched to MOT standards.

A jack and a good look will probably answer your questions.

If the corrosion on the sill is within a set distance then it will fail the mot.
Excessive corrosion will fail if :-
Its on the subframe shocker or spring mounting
On the body or sills near to the seatbelt mounting points or the subframe or suspension mounting points.

The coupe suffers from the rear 1/4 panel sills rusting,especially if yours is a late model and with sideskirts.

understanding the wording is difficult,
but those words describe the sills at the rear where the subframe mounts to the floor.So it is the body as such not the subframe.
I am yet to fail a 20vt for this but corrosion is now a big problem with most i see showing early signs of oxidation.The 16vts suffer really badly with it.

I got the Coupe on axle stands last night & started to remove the skirts, It looks like it's abit worse than I thought, the offside in particular - the skirt fixing points & the end of the sill literally crumpled away & there is also rot & holes in the rear outer sill, the bottom of the arch is also starting to go.

The nearside doesn't look as bad - but there is a hole.

What I am going to do is photo it at the weekend & post the photos on here see what you guys think.

I was going to do it myself, but I think I will shell out & get someone recomended to sort it. I've had one recomendation already from a guy at work - used to restoring 70's Truimphs, say no more - this will probably look like a spot of surface rust to him ha. basically I would be looking for someone to do the lot i.e. assess & quote, clean & chop away, supply, work & weld new metal in & treat/seal etc.

so any recomendations local to me? & a basic benchmark price I would be looking at

btw the underside BIW & rest of the car looks solid & the inner sills have already been done.

If I could just get it sorted to last a few more years, as it's running so good, everything works & it's in super nick (apart from the sills!)

Also the skirts don't seem to want to come off! - are the glued in along the top?, what is the best way to remove them? I'm not too bothered about damaging them, as they are looking tired now so may replace - depends on how much the work is going to cost me

Your not too far from me,i can do the work if needed.
Prices range from £100 all inc upwards depending on the work involved.

Nice one, I'll have to pop it up for you to take a look at, yes I was expecting to budget around £150 ish tbh, could stretch more if there is more involved.

I'll post pics up tomorrow or sat, well as soon as I can get the skirts off! - I will do as much myself as possible to save on labour costs.

The MOT has now ran out - what is the deal nowadays - it's ok to transport the vehicle for a pre-booked appointment for the work and/or retest, as long as it's taxed & insured, which it is.

Yes, BUT it must be booked in prior to your journey!

https://www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q360.htm

This is quite an interesting page/site on MOTs http://www.motester.co.uk/CarOwnersGuidetoTheMOT/MOTQA/MOTQApage3.aspx

Yes it would be

And it also has to be insured of course! - which that 'ask the police' site answer does not even mention

No wonder it failed!, got offside skirt off:



I only photo'd this side as the nearside isn't as near as bad + I havent got the skirt off yet.

So...... is it make or break?

All of them are worth a make rather than break, if you have the money to get the car done, as well as the love to keep it going

Yes hopefully, as I'm pretty sure it's only the sills

Rust is pure filth, damn the Iron Age!

Same rust problems here too, torments the mind, induces insomnia and the odd pint or two

Chin up JLow, keep it alive if you can

shocking Jamie - mine must be much worse though if JBT says it's bordering on unrepairable


sorry to see that fella, keep your chin (and wallet) up

Yes hopefully, if it is just the sills, which I'm pretty sure it is.

I can't believe your's is as bad as it is being a late(er) one. you mean it passed the MOT in feb & JBT reports the severity just 2 months later!. Mine was an instantly spotted failure

It has done just less than 5000 miles since the last MOT in Feb 2010

Nothing is unrepairble!

Thats some pretty heavy corrosion under the skirts, definitely saveable though

And all of us will follow suit... eventually & there is absolutly nothing we can do about it

BUT just look at the restored 70's MG's & Truimphs (and what they are worth to the enthusiast now ) they were absolute rot-boxes

so hope yet + advancements in auto technology lol

Where is this carbon fibre shell.....? ha

It's not THAT bad!!!

Granted it is bad, but I'm sure some one one of the specialists can easily sort this out with some fresh metal and a welder!!!

Then the skirt can hide the job!

Keep it alive!

What's a few houndred quid??

I see it like this, if you break it, make some money then you buy another one...

BUT you will end up downing money on a cambelt ect and what ever that will need to make it mint!

At least with yours, you know the car, you know the history plus you know it will be repaired with 12 months MOT once it's done!!

My advice, take it to a specialist, get it fixed and fully inspected!!

Sorted

Yep thats exactly what I intend to do it has a 40K engine in, running superb, everything works & I know it better than any of my other 3. it won't be broken

The new skirts will hide the sill work - I bust the old ones them getting them off GOD knows what they were stuck on with!, but they were very tired anyway.

Yep that's rusty, no great mystery as to why that failed the MOT there.

Nothing unrepairable though. Unfortunately Hadrians only list the front cross member. A decent bloke with a welder and a stock of galvanised sheet should have no problems with that.

You should have seen the mess my Datsun 240Z was in when I bought it!

Coupes are reaching the stage that Alfa 155's reached a few years back....and rusting in basically the same areas and same levels (same basic floor plan as the 155 iirc)

The guys on the 155 list would just get on with the repairs without any thought of scrapping now...mainly as ther are so few 155's left, they have little choice.

The same will happen with Coupes...what seems terminal rust now will become accepted as standard repairs as the cars age and supply of replacements dwindle.....no different from any other classic really...


There I've said it...the coupe has reached classic status with real rust at last!

....oh and if anyone thinks this is an Italian exclusivity....have a good look at the sills on most MR2 mk2's these days....unless it's been imported from dry climbs the tinworm will be making a mess down there no mistake!

Yes I agree, Coupes will become like the classic cars of the 60's - 90's & 'just restored' without thought, as the number of them is going to continue going dooowwwnnnnn

as long as the following & the skills-matrix around the country to do it remains, which I think it will!

And of course as the numbers go down, the price people are willing to pay will only go up

Looks scary, but IMHO worth trying to fix. Decade-old cars are going to be hit by the worm eventually, and Coupes are no better or worse than any other car from that period.

If we carry on scrapping there will soon be none left . Easy for me to say though as it is not my wallet (yet) and there are still plenty of other Coupes for sale. It would just be a shame to see the roads completely full of Hyundais at the end of their 7 year warranty

Trouble is I'm trying to do my new house up & I'm on a single income!, I'm working all the overtime available at the mo.

Yes of course I have Coupe 'Funds' set aside - but it's not a great deal!.

Basically what I'm saying is if I max out my budget on body restoration, then something else was to go wrong I'd be stuffed for a while.

Then again it's not my main use/only car & only does around 3000 miles a year so I will hang onto it for as long as it lasts!

That is shocking! I'm guessing the skirts have kept a moisture / water in them for a long time.

Were the skirts added recently or is your car a plus / LE?