Another day another banger..

[keith19]

Good point, Snooper. Truly a MOT pass job is not always a 'proper' job.

But some folk would say something like: "Can you do a cheap job, just get it through the MOT, doesn't have to be a posh job."
Which meant: 'Get it through as cheap as you can, I can't/won't pay much, and I'm not bothered what it looks like.'

So they get what they wanted. Trouble is, the place you work for gets known for these cheap cover up jobs, and tends to attract a certain class of clientele...

 

[SiPMerlin150]

The lincoln welder has been a little 'weird' since they bought it, at first the polarity was the wrong way round, secondly the shroud has to be literally resting on the surface of the area to be welding otherwise, it spatters all over the place.... I think the contact tip may be recessed to far in. (6mm)

 

[zardoz]

Wouldn't that fail an MOT once the underneath was spotted ?



If I could just go off on one of my tangental journeys...

You gotta be glad you got any work these days. Wish someone would pay me to patch up old vans

I have a family member who wants me to do something similar. Unfortunately, he seems to expect me to do it for £20 or something. Don't see that happening any time this side of the year 3000.

I used to work for a mechanic who refused point blank to do any work for family members (excepting his parents) They all expected big discounts then still begrudged it, he said! I remember his sister coming in and he wouldnt even let me fix it as a foreigner (he was doing me a favour he said, and maybe he really was) In the end he sent to to a place down the road, that was our biggest rival!

 

[SiPMerlin150]

It'll be seen from underneath, the rough edges have been tapped in and then coated with anti stonechip paint. From other botch welding jobs I have seen on this vehicle, It'll pass! I agree, working for family members and their friends doesn't pay the bills!

 

[Wallace]

One of my neighbours likes mates rates, he presented me with his LDV van asking for a couple of small patches to pass the Mot expecting a £20 job...........



A small patch to the battery tray and part of inner wheelarch for the Mot please.



What was left of the battery tray after a light battering with the needle scaler. Notice the block paving of my drive covered in bits in the upper third of the photo!



This part of the inner wheelarch survived the needle scaler due to being thick body filler.



A small patch on the floor please.



Straigthen the chassis rail that wasn't done during the previous accident repair and weld the outrigger back on with a little more than the 20mm of weld it had. Nice long weld runs next to it though!



One of the small patches, 3ft long. Add to that an inner wheelarch section, the floor and repairs to all the drivers seat mountings too.

 

[SiPMerlin150]

That LDV worse than what I had to do. The battery tray on the iveco was non existant, and even with the battery removed it still proved a nightmare to do. Only the band sander got in there. I thought work around the foot pedals was a problem until I got in the engine bay! haha! You'd be using the best part of £20 of flap disk/cutting disk long before actually getting down to welding in new steel

 

[eil]

Who would have thought Wallace had to do the same to my brothers LDV for the last mot, the pick up has only done 58,000 or so, the mechanicals have generally been ok but every test time it needs a patch somewhere or other. It doesn't help at all that its standing most of the time while he`s building his house though. Nice repair "patch" by the way.

 

[octo0072000]

footwells are normal on the LDV built in water leaks from the factory water leaks into the footwells they had a felt type under lay under the rubber mat instant rust

 

[SiPMerlin150]

What were they thinking when they made these vans?

 

[zardoz]

What were they thinking when they made these vans?

Maybe it was designed by an ex welder thinking ahead, to create some future work for his former welding brethren ?

 

[eil]

footwells are normal on the LDV built in water leaks from the factory water leaks into the footwells they had a felt type under lay under the rubber mat instant rust

Too right, we have removed that, would rather live with a noisy cab than put it back. Are there any out there with doors that actually close tight to stop the weather coming in as well I wonder

 

[octo0072000]

Too right, we have removed that, would rather live with a noisy cab than put it back. Are there any out there with doors that actually close tight to stop the weather coming in as well I wonder

most of the leaks come through the wiper spindles and the heater box you have to remove the heater and reseal it also the plastic below the windscreen the bit the wipers go through
the heater box you can glue a bigger bit of plastic on to to stop water running into the heater

you will find lots of info on the ldv forum not very active nowadays

http://www.ldv-sherpa.co.uk/index.php

 

[Wallace]

On that LDV, some of the panels I repaired had white paint straight on the bare untreated steel, the carpets were wet too and I found water under the paint in places! Most of the work I had to do was the result of a poorly executed accident repair that had rotted through as one part was letting water in. They made a lovely job of the inner wheel arch with filler, my needle scaler just bounced off it!

 

[Exuptoy]

I understand where you're coming from regarding paying for the work BUT surely you had to use the grinder to clean up and it would have been easier a maybe even less time consuming to just disc it out with a 1mm disc and clean up the edge rather than cleaning up around your patch.

 

[tel76]

I am not being crittical about the welding far from it,but when i do any welding i also have the weld standing proud as in the pictures and to make it smooth requires a lot of grinding.
Is it possible to acheive a flat weld that requires only a small ammount of grinding and if so what settings should i use?

 

[octo0072000]

I understand where you're coming from regarding paying for the work BUT surely you had to use the grinder to clean up and it would have been easier a maybe even less time consuming to just disc it out with a 1mm disc and clean up the edge rather than cleaning up around your patch.

remember that van is done on just get it tested minimum price etc
owner id not bothered how or what you do just get it tested as cheap as possible
from what i see to disc it out you would have needed to remove the pedals
throttle stop top end is engine bulkhead so all bits to remove from that end
chassis leg would be under middle of repair as well so maybe more wiring brake pipes etc
all that means it would be a lot dearer in price
also lap welding on old metal means less chance of blowing through
over the years all people are interested in is how much to get it tested for another year
then winge a year later when it's rusted through somewhere else etc etc
just look on ebay now at how many cars are up for sale or repair plus look at the years 56 57 plate spare engine fault etc dpf cam belt broken
people just cant afford to repair them

 

[Wallace]

over the years all people are interested in is how much to get it tested for another year then winge a year later when it's rusted through somewhere else etc etc

I agree and go to great lengths explaining that patching to get a ticket can be false economy if the car is to be kept on the road for any length of time as often all they see is a small yellow chalk mark around a hole in their sill and think that's the patch size needed. When you sit them in the car, pull the carpet back then do this from underneath they kind of get the full picture!

 

[SiPMerlin150]

I understand where you're coming from regarding paying for the work BUT surely you had to use the grinder to clean up and it would have been easier a maybe even less time consuming to just disc it out with a 1mm disc and clean up the edge rather than cleaning up around your patch.

Getting an angle grinder up behind those pedals and the steering shaft without removal is impossible. I had to operate the MIG torch in ways I thought you couldn't!

 

[keeny]

re grinding behind pedals

hi
any awkward places, i find out using a dremil is a usefull tool
with a stone bit in it, it got me out alot of trouble many times...keeny

 

[SiPMerlin150]

I used a band sander for those awkward parts. Shame the sanding belts don't last very long!