MOT fail - lots of welding - advice please!

Hi all,

My Mark-1 Disco has just failed MOT rather catastrophically!

The MOT tester explained that the body was barely attached to the chassis any longer. I bought the car 10 months ago for £2k, with an MOT which has only just expired. The garage didn't think it could possibly have deteriorated so much in a year, suggesting the MOT I bought it with was dodgy , but obviously they can't put that in writing in case I had parked it in a river for 6 months...

I am not very mechanically minded and don't have too much spare time, so learning to weld is not an option. I am looking to see whether it would be more economic to have it repaired (garage reckoned up to £1k, but couldn't do it there), or sell it for spares/repairs. The garage thought it would probably need the body taking off the chassis, the chassis rewelding and the body fitting again.

My thinking was, if I sell it for spares/repair I might get £400 - down £1600 on the deal and have no Landy, or I could get it repaired for £1000 and I'm £1000 down on the deal, but still have a Landy.

I want to get a second opinion and cost estimates from a landrover / welding expert. Does anyone know of one in the South Essex area, or has anyone had similar experience?

The list of horrors is:
1. N/S/R wheel arch seat belt anchorage prescribed area is excessively corroded.
2. O/S/R wheel arch seat belt anchorage prescribed area is excessively corroded.
3. O/S/F structure excessive corrosion seriously affecting strength within 30cm of body mountings
4. O/S/R structure excessive corrosion seriously affecting strength within 30cm of body mountings
5. O/S/R (back) structure excessive corrosion seriously affecting strength within 30cm of body mountings
6. N/S/F (2 mount) structure excessive corrosion seriously affecting strength within 30cm of body mountings
7. N/S/F (3 mount) structure excessive corrosion seriously affecting strength within 30cm of body mountings
8. N/S/F (4 mount) structure excessive corrosion seriously affecting strength within 30cm of body mountings

Oh and the brakes are a bit dodgy, but given one of my other cars is a Capri, I had thought they were quite good...!

Cheers,
Wing Commander

Welcome.

Did you buy from a garage or a private seller?

Have a look on here...

http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f16/buying-crock-****-if-you-already-have-76002.html

Many thanks AWP

I had a good read, but unfortunately bought from a private seller on ebay just over 10 months ago - so outside the 6 month rule.

The garage I took it to suggested that it was just possible that it could have deteriorated that much in a year, such that it would not have been picked up on the previous MOT, but that it wasn't very likely. However they couldn't say that it was impossible and prior MOT certificate looked genuine.

Cheers,
Wing Co.

How about some pictures
sounds like a normal discovery- does it have a boot floor?

i bought mine with, i thought, 12mnth mot, was in a bit of a rush when i bought it.

looked at paperwork n 2 months left to mot..

fail sheet was 2 sheets long, turned into rear arches and outer sills and a bit on inner sills... list was much longer than yours but some of them refer to the same area of corrosion..

seat belt mounts and body mounts can be same area..

have someone local have a look and it may not be as bad as it sounds...

Thanks Nick - that brings hope!

Hopefully have attached a picture of the Landy - looks lovely. Bit dark to take photos of the rusty bits!

Cheers,
Wing Co.

wingcdr said:

- that brings hope!

Click to expand...

Mk1 Discos should be re-badged as Land Rover Tea Bag . Whenever mine goes in for an MOT for my own peace of mind I always ask them beforehand if they mind showing me any faults. If they refuse to allow me under their ramp I go elsewhere. Hopefully if you get someone who know's a fair bit about Disco's the repairs may not look so daunting...

Sounds worse than it is I think. You won't have to remove the body from the chassis, it just needs a bit of welding in the usual places, wheel arches and sills around the body mounts. As someone has already asked, what is the boot floor like?

wing co, where are you in essex??

I think most of us have been in this position at some stage. When you first start out with a Disco 1 and it fails it's MOT the knee jerk reaction is to get rid, I know that's what I felt, but repair panels are available and anything can be put right.

I look at mine with an overall annual running cost, it costs bugger all most of the time so a little money on some welding at MOT time balances things out.

I know a good welder who's cheap...everyone needs to befriend one when you buy a Disco!

Good Luck

Standard disco areas it sounds like mine was gone on every imaginable place but the chassis was excellent, it's a shame you can't weld as it would save you a fortune, money that could be spent on new panels hope you get sorted and don't get disheartened its standard stuff!!

goes with most older discos , should come with free welders atatched ! they ALL rust in those place and more ! as said find decent welder and keep themsweet , you will need them most years .

Cheers Guys,

Cheered me up!

Basher, I'm in Stanford-le-Hope.

Cheers,
Wing Co.

first mot took me two full days and a couple of evenings, but i was making new panels as i went..

2nd took a little less but not much..

3rd was easy as it had all been done...

wingcdr said:

Hi all,

My Mark-1 Disco has just failed MOT rather catastrophically!

The MOT tester explained that the body was barely attached to the chassis any longer. I bought the car 10 months ago for £2k, with an MOT which has only just expired. The garage didn't think it could possibly have deteriorated so much in a year, suggesting the MOT I bought it with was dodgy , but obviously they can't put that in writing in case I had parked it in a river for 6 months...

I am not very mechanically minded and don't have too much spare time, so learning to weld is not an option. I am looking to see whether it would be more economic to have it repaired (garage reckoned up to £1k, but couldn't do it there), or sell it for spares/repairs. The garage thought it would probably need the body taking off the chassis, the chassis rewelding and the body fitting again.

My thinking was, if I sell it for spares/repair I might get £400 - down £1600 on the deal and have no Landy, or I could get it repaired for £1000 and I'm £1000 down on the deal, but still have a Landy.

I want to get a second opinion and cost estimates from a landrover / welding expert. Does anyone know of one in the South Essex area, or has anyone had similar experience?

The list of horrors is:
1. N/S/R wheel arch seat belt anchorage prescribed area is excessively corroded.
2. O/S/R wheel arch seat belt anchorage prescribed area is excessively corroded.
3. O/S/F structure excessive corrosion seriously affecting strength within 30cm of body mountings
4. O/S/R structure excessive corrosion seriously affecting strength within 30cm of body mountings
5. O/S/R (back) structure excessive corrosion seriously affecting strength within 30cm of body mountings
6. N/S/F (2 mount) structure excessive corrosion seriously affecting strength within 30cm of body mountings
7. N/S/F (3 mount) structure excessive corrosion seriously affecting strength within 30cm of body mountings
8. N/S/F (4 mount) structure excessive corrosion seriously affecting strength within 30cm of body mountings

Oh and the brakes are a bit dodgy, but given one of my other cars is a Capri, I had thought they were quite good...!

Cheers,
Wing Commander

Click to expand...

Chocks away, what ho!

Try pressbrake. I'll pm you his number.

Many thanks, George. I'll be calling him today!

Won't help much because of where you are (In relation to where I am.) I had the same thing, as have many other owners. I got a little Mig Welder and haven't looked back. Started out messy but strong and now have cut away my ugly bits and redone them. May sound a bit masochistic but I enjoy it now.

its the usual disco rust get a few quotes if you really cant do it yourself as any other disco you will buy will need similar repairs, if its a good runner and reliable i would get it fixed and if its done properly it will last another 15 yrs, its usually not as bad as it sounds or looks on the fail sheet !

I am no mechanic and managed to sort mine out by borrowing a welder and having a go. Good sense of achievement once done..
Story of my disco here.. http://www.landyzone.co.uk/lz/f20/hello-cornwall-disco-project-165186.html

Plenty of others been done on here too, have a looksy, all the info is on here.