MOT in 42 mins!

Booked the old bus in for 11. Bricking it - MOTs have to be worse than even sitting in a dentists waiting room!

I think I've taken care of everything on the fail sheet but still not convinced the brakes are going to pass - adjusting series brakes seems to be an arcane art.

Ah well, nothing for it....

Well...

Ach, still an imbalance with the front brakes. Thinking it might be an off-round drum as I've adjusted the brakes on both sides as best as possible - and it's new cylinders, shoes, pipes and adjusters all round.

MOT tester was pernickety as hell - decided my foot switch for full/dip beam was a fail because he couldn't use it - even though I can consistently.

Says there is too much play in the wheel bearing I replaced - the wheel is moving slightly but he said 'it's nearly hanging off'.

And the same argument over seatbelts - doing my ****ing head in.

Oh, and the water washer decided today would be a good day to stop working - damn thing was only replaced in January!

I'll get the damn thing passed this week if it kills me!

what pain, we're so lucky with the guy who does our MOT's, he'll only fail it if it's something illegal like a bald tyre, only thing he tells me off for every time is the amount of mud underneath all my cars

Thinking it might be an off-round drum

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an oval drum will give a 'pulsing' feel to the brakes and not imbalence , how far out are they ? did he give a percentage and what side is braking more ? .

Whats with the seatbelts btw ? ( guy sounds like a right strict git ....

let us know where youve taken it so we dont ta!!!

try n book it in somewhere else?..might get a better tester whos a bit more tolerable

I think you are all correct, I agree that I need to go to a garage that understands or has an appreciation of these old classics - this guy seemed to take an instant dislike to my SIIa. Sure, it's a bit tatty on the outside but I've tried to do all the work properly myself so that it's mechanically sound.

The seatbelt issue is this - I have only the drivers seat in the front, which does not have a seatbelt. The passenger side has a seatbelt which was in when I got the landy, and I have the seat ready to bolt in but it's not in yet. As far as I understood it, with no seat in place that belt does not need tested - it even says so in the MOT Testers Manual.

It's the front passenger side wheel that is binding - skewing the brakes to about 70% (even though the landy pulls up straight). I did have trouble adjusting this hub so it could be that the adjuster is wonky and not the drum.

I wasn't asking for charity or anything, just a fair recognition that this is a well-looked after 46 year old vehicle and a wee bit of common sense!

sounds like he had a few good reasons to fail it, can't really see what you've got the hump about

Sean said:

sounds like he had a few good reasons to fail it, can't really see what you've got the hump about

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Two good reasons and the rest utter bollocks.

Now please stop getting in the way of a good moan, there's a good chap.

so he failed your seat belt or he failed you for not having a seat belt drivers side?

goonarmy said:

so he failed your seat belt or he failed you for not having a seat belt drivers side?

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He put it down as missing seat belt from the offside front. I did point out that the MOT testers manual says a seat belt fitted where there is NO seat is not considered to be testable. I will be fitting seatbelts to the driver seat and lap belts to the bench seats, but as this is all new to me I've spent my spare time doing the MOT stuff first.

In all honesty, I am more annoyed with myself for not getting the bearing and brakes adjusted correctly but I'm learning as I go.

moonie said:

He put it down as missing seat belt from the offside front. I did point out that the MOT testers manual says a seat belt fitted where there is NO seat is not considered to be testable. I will be fitting seatbelts to the driver seat and lap belts to the bench seats, but as this is all new to me I've spent my spare time doing the MOT stuff first.

In all honesty, I am more annoyed with myself for not getting the bearing and brakes adjusted correctly but I'm learning as I go.

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Weel sounds quite reasonable.Could you not just transfer the belt from passenger to driver side?

goonarmy said:

Weel sounds quite reasonable.Could you not just transfer the belt from passenger to driver side?

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Yeah, good idea I'll do that, cheers.

Bloke sounds like a tosser!, Place i took mine to had a proper appreciation of the age and tested it accordingly, even though he said he'd never tested a series 3 before. Where do you live?

pholme68 said:

Bloke sounds like a tosser!, Place i took mine to had a proper appreciation of the age and tested it accordingly, even though he said he'd never tested a series 3 before. Where do you live?

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i reckon anyone who thinks a MOT tester should pass a vehicle with dodgy brakes and wheel bearings is much more of a tosser

no offense pal

offense taken I meant the seatbelt issues and not the brakes.

pholme68 said:

Bloke sounds like a tosser!, Place i took mine to had a proper appreciation of the age and tested it accordingly, even though he said he'd never tested a series 3 before. Where do you live?

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Did you take yours to that nice chap on the A19 by any chance?

He's a top bloke!

No, it was Barkers off huntington road, top blokes.

Not heard of Barkers and I live in Huntington!

I'll check them out, thanks for the tip.