MOT Fail - but not as bad as I expected.

WOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Not long back from putting my bus through it's first MOT since I bought her 9 months ago. Now, I have to say, I expected a failure and this was only a practice run, so to speak. I knew my rear fog light wasn't working (never has since I got her,) and I knew about a cracked reflector on the back. Apart from that, I didn't know what to expect and was dreading it a bit.

So, the result was:

Failed on:
1 - Rear fog lamp not working.
2 - Nearside front lower axle swivel joint has excessive play in a swivel pin.
3 - Nearside front wheel bearing rough when rotated.
4 - Offside rear wheel bearing rough when rotated.
5 - Offside front brake pipe excessively corroded.
6 - (Front to rear) brake pipe excessively corroded.

Advisories on:
1 - Nearside front brake pipe slightly corroded.
2 - (Steering box) power steering component (s) has slight seepage.

So, to celebrate this I have just put an order into Paddocks (£430.95) for a whole bunch of stuff I have been wanting to get. Steering guard, bulkhead removal bar, wind deflectors, jate rings, one shot grease, lots of filters and the bits for the MOT. Which just leaves me with a Disklock to buy now to complement my Clutch Claw.

Sounds like someone is going to be busy. Are you doing the advisories as well?
Good luck

If you're doing those bearings, dont forget you'll need new hub gaskets and lock-tab washers.

Just saying, as when I did my brake upgrade I had the the whole thing apart before I realised I needed them. Would have saved me some time had I ordered them along with the other parts and not tried to get them after I'd started.

johns90 said:

Sounds like someone is going to be busy. Are you doing the advisories as well?
Good luck

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Yep, this is why I had it booked in for today as I'm on holiday for a week. The only thing that might not get done immediately is the steering box it will probably get left till later, the lad that did the MOT said there is some sort of additive that can be put in to make the seals swell and that should see it ok for now.

mundungus said:

If you're doing those bearings, dont forget you'll need new hub gaskets and lock-tab washers.

Just saying, as when I did my brake upgrade I had the the whole thing apart before I realised I needed them. Would have saved me some time had I ordered them along with the other parts and not tried to get them after I'd started.

Click to expand...

Yep, I have ordered 4 bearings (nearly slipped up and only ordered 2) and have the seals etc. all included in the order. I was gonna get everything locally but decided to get the whole lot from Paddocks at the same time on one order.

I hope you'll be sharing your progress with us on this forum, Clanforbes. Any accompanying pics will be gratefully received too, please, especially by mechanical numpties like yours truly

Good luck! You have a few hours' happy tinkering ahead of you, it would seem

As for your new box of toys from Paddocks, I for one would be pleased to hear how effective/worthwhile each bit turns out to be, especially the bulkhead removal bar and wind deflectors.

Happy days!

shedchief said:

I hope you'll be sharing your progress with us on this forum, Clanforbes. Any accompanying pics will be gratefully received too, please, especially by mechanical numpties like yours truly

Good luck! You have a few hours' happy tinkering ahead of you, it would seem

As for your new box of toys from Paddocks, I for one would be pleased to hear how effective/worthwhile each bit turns out to be, especially the bulkhead removal bar and wind deflectors.

Happy days!

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I'll do my best, I'd better charge my camera up. Delivery expected in the morning.

Thats not bad as MOTs go. I keep finding bits that need welding on my chassis, at this rate a galv chassis might be needed sonner rather than later.

Good luck getting all the work done.

Thanks PeePee. I have to admit I was expecting a lot more. I know she's a good beastie, but this was the first MOT since I'd bought her, it was a new garage that I'd never used before - whom I understand are strict.

When he went out to get my vehicle, I had a quick chat to the lad who was to do my MOT. I told him I expected a failure and exactly why. It turned out, he was a bloody nice lad, he let me walk through the entire test with him, showed me where the problems were and even told me how to sort out the free play in the swivel.

I'll be making sure the rest of my family and friends will be going there in future, it's only 16 miles from my home town. The garage is called GM Autos, in Dunkeld, just off the A9, north of Perth.

Well, my package didn't arrive on Tuesday as I'd hoped so I had to arrange for it to be delivered on Thursday instead (I had a morning of off-road tuition booked for Wednesday, which was a LOT of fun.)

Anyway, it's now Thursday evening and everything has finally got here. So in the morning it'll be going onto my nephew's drive under his car-port and the three brake pipes will get hacked off, if I can make the ends I'll make the pipes up myself, if not I'll get a local garage to make them. Then I'll attack the bearings for the two failed wheels along with the excess play in the N/S swivel pin, then the fog light. By this time if the brake pipes aint ready I'll make a start on the extras I have ready to fit and once all that is done I'll get it back in for it's MOT proper sometime in the next few weeks (not due for about 5 weeks yet.)

The extras I have to play with in between are: A steering guard, snorkel, bulkhead removal bar and wind deflectors to be fitted. Then I will be able to make a start on my "camper conversion." It won't be anything very fancy or special, but I'll try to remember to take pics as I go along and post them here.

Clanforbes said:

... I'll try to remember to take pics as I go along and post them here.

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Excellent! I'm looking forward to learning from you as you go, Clanforbes

Good luck, mate! It could be fun!

Well, I had a good day today. I started off by whipping off the two failed brake pipes (master cylinder to o/s front, master cylinder to rear axle and made new ones up) and completely drained the system ready for fresh brake fluid.

Next I replaced the front N/S wheel bearings and took shims out of swivel pin to take up a little free play, then replaced rear O/S wheel bearings.

Then I fitted my new brake pipes and bled the system.

Finally for MOT I found the fault in my rear fog lamp (really bad wiring and corrosion in lamp unit) and sorted that out.

By this time, my nephew had got home from work and fired up his compressor so we spend a couple of hours blasting a hell of a lot of the sand/lime whatever it is that has about 75% filled all my chassis, crossmembers and everything box-shaped and covered just about every surface imaginable with a thick coating of this grey coloured dust.

Took it for a 5 mile test drive and everything feels good.

I have a couple of pictures, but not nearly as many as I had intended because my camera battery went flat, but I'm going for a shower and then bedtime. I will get the pictures up a.s.a.p. To be honest, there isn't much to learn from this as the job is so easy. If you have Rave, simply find the relevent section and print the instructions out, they were absolutely spot on.

Tomorrow, I'll give a final check for any leaks in my brake pipes then make a start on fitting some of my "extras." Batteries will be re-charged by then.