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TR4 sills and the MOT


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Hi, may sound like a daft question, but given our cars have a ladder style chassis are the sills part of the mot? Mine are a little"soft" where the front wings overlap the sill at the base of the A pillar. Not holed, but if I pushed I could proably cause a hole.

TR4 1964 convertable.

Mark

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No unless there is sharp metal showing.

In addition, I've got a feeling that if there is significant corrosion (i.e. a hole) within 300mm of a seatbelt mounting you could be in trouble.

 

In this case though, sounds as though you'll be in the clear. MOT's seem to be getting easier and easier to pass these days to me, although I do think we have a very sensible level of testing in this country.

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The better you keep your car the easier the MOT is to pass.

 

Mick Richards

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Hi, the rest of the body and chassis are fine. Inner sills look good too, not sure why they have started to corrode at this point and its from the inside out, so water must be getting in there from somewhere. Front wing bottom edge is ok too, odd!

 

looks like I'll have to find a bodyshop to replace the sill :-(

 

Anybody recommend a reliable shop near Northampton?

 

Mark

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Hi Mark

 

Holes within 300mm of a seatbelt mount are a failure. Outer sills are too bad to replace, or to cut a section into so worth doing.

 

Most MOT testers won't poke a weak sill but if it's visibly crumbly I'm pretty sure they would 'investigate'? Perhaps others can correct me ?

 

Regards

 

Tony

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Hi Mark,

can you not replace the sills yourself. Very expensive job in a garage.

 

Roger

Hi Roger, haven't put a sill on in 25 years, but the real issue is garage space, oddly I have just been looking at the cost of outter sills which aren't that expensive (£50ish) and the cost of a small mig welder is around £200. So may have a go... If I can find a way to get the car supported and accessable, may have trip down memory lane, and burn a lot of tiny holes in my clothes.

 

Mark

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Hi Stuart, plenum drains? Is this another darstedly design that causes the self destruction of our toys?

 

Mark

It is in their original form as they just emptied onto the bottom of the "A" post and the top of the sill behind the wing. Hence why there are numerous mods to run it away safely.

Stuart.

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It is in their original form as they just emptied onto the bottom of the "A" post and the top of the sill behind the wing. Hence why there are numerous mods to run it away safely.

Stuart.

Ah, this sounds like exactly whats happening then, something else to add to the list of things to change.

 

Thanks

Mark

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Hi Mark

Holes within 300mm of a seatbelt mount are a failure. Outer sills are too bad to replace, or to cut a section into so worth doing.

Most MOT testers won't poke a weak sill but if it's visibly crumbly I'm pretty sure they would 'investigate'? Perhaps others can correct me ?

Regards

Tony

Cheers Tony

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Hi Tony,

you are correct. Seat belt mountings are important - no holes nearby!!!

 

My MOT told me that he is not allowed to remove items to see what is going on, and he can;t poke with a screwdriver either.

 

having said that they do have a knack of spotting the bad things.

 

Roger

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Make sure any rot is not too near any body mounts either. Prime target for the mot man on my old Discovery! Massive chassis but don't want the body to fall off at a roundabout! :o

 

Les

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Make sure any rot is not too near any body mounts either. Prime target for the mot man on my old Discovery! Massive chassis but don't want the body to fall off at a roundabout! :o

 

Les

HI Les, good point, but the body and chassis are in surprisingly excellent condition, the only area is the sill at the bottom of the A post (and some spots on the top of the rear wings along the trim line, but I have some fibreglass inner wings guards to fit when I have time).

After Stuarts comments on the drains, I have done some investigation and can see there are a number of pipes and additions to modify the drain, God knows what I'll find when I take the wing off. But I've decided to follow Rogers suggestion and have a go myself, probably take a week off over the summer (when the weathers likely to be better) and have a play as I'll have to do the welding on my drive as the garage really is far too small to do this safely and comfortable. Only issue is going to be stopping the wind blowing the argon shield gas away (and I'll have to put up a wind break to stop people seeing the welding ark), as I'm not too keen to use the flux mig wire (which works very well outside) as this not as neat as the wire and shield gas (sorry many years since I did this and have forgotten the correct terms). Although the flux (no gas) welders are much cheaper and really only a type of stick (ark) welder using a continuous wire and flux I guess.

 

Mark

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