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Mot failure welding needed


catfish79
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Hi Guys .Focus Mk 1 just failed mot.Looks like a lot of welding needed.Please can You give Me thoughts on the cost?Will it be even worth doing?Thanks

4D72A956-C810-4B7C-8BBC-A5BFA141D370.jpeg

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10 minutes ago, catfish79 said:

Hi Guys .Focus Mk 1 just failed mot.Looks like a lot of welding needed.Please can You give Me thoughts on the cost?Will it be even worth doing?Thanks

4D72A956-C810-4B7C-8BBC-A5BFA141D370.jpeg

I had welding done on both anchorage areas on my mk1 two years ago and i was charged about £500👍

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It’s always hard to say because until you begin the job you don’t know how far back you have to go to find good solid metal behind under sealer etc.  Also some places will do a good solid job that will last longer than rest of car and others will do a lesser job as a bare minimum to get mot for this year. The only way is to drive it somewhere and ask for quote.

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Cheers Guys. I guess this is pretty common on older mk1s now? The beginning of the end lol.Shame As mechanically it’s good and drives nice even has a sunroof so would like it for a bit longer. 

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4 hours ago, catfish79 said:

Hi Guys .Focus Mk 1 just failed mot.Looks like a lot of welding needed.Please can You give Me thoughts on the cost?Will it be even worth doing?Thanks

4D72A956-C810-4B7C-8BBC-A5BFA141D370.jpeg

Another place to look at  the underside of your rear shock mounts👍

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Do you know anyone with a welding kit?

Some years ago on my non Ford (SAAB) car, the front right wheel arch which supports the strut had rusted through. I stripped everything out, wheel, strut, brakes etc. and removed the rusted metal. I crudely shaped metal plates then had a friend round to weld everything in place. After his mirth at my sheet metal work, he welded it up the best he could without setting fire to the rest of the car.

It cost me a flat of beer but was worth it.

If I had gone to a garage the cost certainly would have been well over the value of the car.

ScaniaPBman.

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Probably still worth it financially if rest of car still good and the car meets your needs and is reliable. You could buy another car instead and it have loads of faults and annoyances and end up wishing you’d stuck with what you had

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3 minutes ago, isetta said:

Probably still worth it financially if rest of car still good and the car meets your needs and is reliable. You could buy another car instead and it have loads of faults and annoyances and end up wishing you’d stuck with what you had

I gave my car a reprieve but it was close.I just love the way my car drives and is reliable so decided to keep👍

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After mot is done pay some attention to the advisory corrosion areas eg. Clean up and paint with suitable stuff so they don’t get worse and fail next year.

 I know it is easy for me to say, but perhaps the need for this year’s welding could have been avoided with previous checking and preventative action.

I know yours doesn’t mention brake pipes but corrosion on brake pipes can often be avoided by checking and prevention. Clean up and paint with three coats of hammerite when you get the white surface corrosion. I definitely don’t mean painting over scabby brown rust to disguise it when the rust has already set in.

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Cheers Guys. I guess this is pretty common on older mk1s now? The beginning of the end lol.Shame As mechanically it’s good and drives nice even has a sunroof so would like it for a bit longer. 

Thanks Guys. What bothers Me about doing a bit of diy welding is that to get it MOTD it will need to be up to a certain standard or it will be a lot of work to have another fail.

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51 minutes ago, catfish79 said:

Thanks Guys. What bothers Me about doing a bit of diy welding is that to get it MOTD it will need to be up to a certain standard or it will be a lot of work to have another fail.

What about a heavy coat of underseal?

ScaniaPBman.

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In years gone by I have done tons of diy welding on sills etc and then you put a load of under sealer on it. But the welding does need to be continuous all the way round. Not tack welded. With a mig welder you can get adequate welds for mot standard with a bit of practice. Getting the amps and wire feed speed right for the thickness of metal. Many people get it wrong with a superficial surface weld that does not eat into the metal far enough but even then a load of under seal disguises that. But with seat belt mounts do it right. If it was just a hole in the sill it’s not quite so critical.

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39 minutes ago, isetta said:

In years gone by I have done tons of diy welding on sills etc and then you put a load of under sealer on it. But the welding does need to be continuous all the way round. Not tack welded. With a mig welder you can get adequate welds for mot standard with a bit of practice. Getting the amps and wire feed speed right for the thickness of metal. Many people get it wrong with a superficial surface weld that does not eat into the metal far enough but even then a load of under seal disguises that. But with seat belt mounts do it right. If it was just a hole in the sill it’s not quite so critical.

It’s all about the penetration lol

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Exactly Guys. I don’t think slapping under seal on it will work with the mot tester on this one. On the plus side I’ve fixed the stop light ,and aligned head light so It’s just welding needed now.I guess lots of mechanical work needs doing to get access to the areas that need welding?

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9 hours ago, catfish79 said:

Exactly Guys. I don’t think slapping under seal on it will work with the mot tester on this one. On the plus side I’ve fixed the stop light ,and aligned head light so It’s just welding needed now.I guess lots of mechanical work needs doing to get access to the areas that need welding?

Back seat was removed and carpet was either taken out or lifted👍

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1 hour ago, williamweb said:

Back seat was removed and carpet was either taken out or lifted👍

Ahh and that will give access to seat belt anchorage area and suspension area for welding.? If it wasn’t ***** down now I could have a look lol.

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5 minutes ago, catfish79 said:

Ahh and that will give access to seat belt anchorage area and suspension area for welding.? If it wasn’t ***** down now I could have a look lol.

I know nothing about welding presumably access and potentially burning anything that’s not metal 😆 

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Lol After all these years I’ve just found out the rear seat cushions lift forward and expose the rear seat belt anchor points!!!!

image.jpg

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14 minutes ago, catfish79 said:

Lol After all these years I’ve just found out the rear seat cushions lift forward and expose the rear seat belt anchor points!!!!

image.jpg

Is it the lower anchor point that's rusty?  On the 306s it used to be the upper anchor point...I've scrapped a few of them for this, just wasn't worth paying someone to weld them when they were virtually worthless anyway lol.  Also, the rear seat bases lift up so that you can fold the rear backrests flat for large loads. :wink: 

Image result for 306 rust seatbelt

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Hmm good point Tom .I guess low points as they are most exposed to moisture.Ive posted the ‘Fail’ paperwork on My first post.

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4 minutes ago, catfish79 said:

Hmm good point Tom .I guess low points as they are most exposed to moisture.Ive posted the ‘Fail’ paperwork on My first post.

"Upper wheel arch behind liner" would suggest it's the top anchor point to me, but I don't have much Mk1 experience!

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Your making sense Tom.I assumed it would be lower what with water being forced at it in the rain

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In the old days mot testers marked the failure area with yellow chalk so you knew where it was. It can be hard to tell sometimes exactly where they mean from the descriptions.  Any mot testers reading this- is the yellow chalk just a thing of the past?

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I guess removing liner and inspecting will reveal an obvious area of rot

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We still use yellow crayon/chalk, always fun colouring in the underside of someone’s car.😂

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