Fixing a SORN NA - Wrexham area

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Hi all! New members from Wrexham. I picked up a non-running 1.6 NA last summer and I’ve been fixing it up myself. The only significant remaining issue is the usual rust spots before it (should) (hopefully) pass an MOT. Last had an MOT in 2009 but I have it running/driving well on the drive after a winter of work.

Does anyone have experience with a crack like this in the rear sill? If this will pass an MOT then it’ll be much easier to get it to a specialist for welding. Alternatively I’ll have to drive to a welder who can do the MOT too, to stay within the “only drive to a pre booked MOT” rule. The goal for now cannot be perfection, to spread out costs, but to slowly work towards giving it the next 30 years of life. So I cannot simplify pay a specialist thousands to make it good in one go.

If you think it’ll fail, I’m very open to recommendations of an MOT/repair garage in the North East Wales/North West England area. Especially the Wrexham/Cheshire area.

Once on the road I plan to get a dry-ice clean and undercoat, probably Bilt Hamper UB.

crack
crack1080×2340 242 KB

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Suggest you put a magnet on the sill near that crack. If it falls off, grind the underseal off around the crack and find out if you have good metal around the crack. A crack in good metal just there would be unusual and easily repairable, but if the sill has rusted away just ahead of the wheel arch, a known problem area if the hood drain is blocked,and someone has repaired the rust with plastic filler then a crack is quite possible over time, and will probably lead to an MoT failure

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I’d put that in for an MOT, and I think it would pass (assuming you can’t poke your finger through the bodywork around it).

Gives you a bit of breathing space to get it fixed properly then (from the look of it, some significant welding will be involved).