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Thread: MOT Failure, welding prices and other gibberish

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    MOT Failure, welding prices and other gibberish

    Took my S14 for an MOT today after having it off the road for 7 months, wasn't too optimistic as I have an exhaust with no cat and don't know any MOT testers personally. So as expected the emissions caused it to fail which wasn't too surprising, however I ended up getting a much bigger failure sheet than I hoped for. Reason? Rust. I got recommended someone who can do welding in my village who is apparantly cheap, but I thought I'd post pictures on here and ask what people think would be a reasonable cost for welding.

    There were some other few random bullshit things it failed for which are weird, but cheap to fix. Failed for having the drift button hand brake thing, apparantly it needs to have a spring and also failed for having a square jap plate on the front, which is supposedly not allowed on a UK car.

    Now to the juicy bits, rust. Surely the bits where the subframe bolts to don't have to be pretty so that's a bonus. The middle of the sill is also luckily not a red painted area but can be seen. Whilst I'm at it, theres a lot of rust in the top of one of the rear arches, that should be done as it flings water inside and will rust everything out as it runs down into the bottom.

    The two subframe mounting points. Click to open a larger version, one is a tad blurry.





    And the sill, it was just bubbly before, he poked the holes in it.




    And finally the bit that hasn't go anything to do with MOT but I want doing. I took off the rear door cards to have a good look at it. Not a nice place.



    And from the inside the car, it can be seen from inside the big whole that exists that lets you see the wheel well and the outside of that.





    What do we reckon reasonable prices would be to get all that welded?

    Thanks

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    Guest Matas's Avatar
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    Now I'm thinking, there's another bit. FFS.

    Front arch, don't have arch liners, which I need to get. There's a patch of rust here which I can see like carpet or something through it. Might aswell add this to the price


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    Guest Matas's Avatar
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    After contacting the person I've found out it's a father and son car restoration place and he said it'd be £30 per hour cash, I'm told that's a good price. Just depends on how many hours he quotes tomorrow.

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    Ask them how much of the interior needs to come out. That front arch looks like a carpet out job. Taking it out yourself and just putting drivers seat back in can save a lot of time and money, about 2 hours.

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    Guest Matas's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by skyshack View Post
    Ask them how much of the interior needs to come out. That front arch looks like a carpet out job. Taking it out yourself and just putting drivers seat back in can save a lot of time and money, about 2 hours.
    Yeah my mate just mentioned that. Annoyingly enough, I had all the interior apart from carpets and dash out to clean and check the rust in the rear arch and only put it back together two days ago. At least I know how it all works now. But I will do that myself to avoid paying for that.
    Last edited by Matas; 02-06-2017 at 21:10.

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    Guest Rochester's Avatar
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    £350 a day is the going rate for a damn good welder down here in leafy Surrey.

    That looks like three days worth to me, if not worse. Sorry....

    If you want to see my recent S13 rust and sill repair work both sides log in to Facebook and seek out Stellawelding

    Bloody brilliant good welding work and stuck to a fixed price, no probs.

    Probably too far away for you to benefit, but for anyone else in Surrey / Hampshire / Sussex, couldn't recommend Stella Welding more.

    I gotta good paint guy too....

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    Guest Matas's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rochester View Post
    £350 a day is the going rate for a damn good welder down here in leafy Surrey.

    That looks like three days worth to me, if not worse. Sorry....

    If you want to see my recent S13 rust and sill repair work both sides log in to Facebook and seek out Stellawelding

    Bloody brilliant good welding work and stuck to a fixed price, no probs.

    Probably too far away for you to benefit, but for anyone else in Surrey / Hampshire / Sussex, couldn't recommend Stella Welding more.

    I gotta good paint guy too....
    It should be less here up north per day and I don't necessarily need anything pretty looking if im honest. It's under the car and worst case for the sill I can get skirts, I just want it not get worse and be structurally sound. I hope you're wrong about the 3 days haha, as a student the thoughts of spending all this money on this car is terrifying. There's plenty of positives still about this car, but I'm struggling to see them today.
    Last edited by Matas; 02-06-2017 at 22:54.

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    It's about a days work for a MOT standard weld job.

    3 days for a showroom sill with matched paint instead of black sealer.

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    I got quoted £400 for the MOT failure welding bits, which is the first 3 pictures. Although if he starts cutting and everything is rotten inside it's obviously going to start getting more expensive :/. I think I'm just going to spray those bits of the sills on both sides black myself.

    Leaving the other bits for now, I've taken out the interior and carpets so he doesn't spend any time on that and have found more bits that need doing, so there's going to be more work soon enough.

    Rust bucket

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    He doesn't want the job.

    First SX I had I got the whole floor welded back in from bulkhead to rear turrets both sides for £400 in 2008. My welder took it on as a fill in job to do when he had slack time, took 9 days, just got in for free re-test.

    https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/

    M 977 MNV

    2017 £80 3 patches, also welded the rear nearside seatbelt anchor bolt back on.
    2016 £120 4 patches.
    2015 £50 1 patch.
    2014 £150 6 patches

    None of this list of horrors cost more than £200.

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    Quote Originally Posted by skyshack View Post
    He doesn't want the job.

    First SX I had I got the whole floor welded back in from bulkhead to rear turrets both sides for £400 in 2008. My welder took it on as a fill in job to do when he had slack time, took 9 days, just got in for free re-test.

    https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/

    M 977 MNV

    2017 £80 3 patches, also welded the rear nearside seatbelt anchor bolt back on.
    2016 £120 4 patches.
    2015 £50 1 patch.
    2014 £150 6 patches

    None of this list of horrors cost more than £200.
    What makes you say he doesn't want the job? The prices you've gotten for your welding are excellent.

    I have agreed to let him do it, he was the person I was recommended and I didn't really look for anyone else which is dumb of me. However I failed MOT on the Friday and I'm going away on the Tuesday for nearly two weeks so just wanted it doing whilst I'm away and didn't have time to search for people. I'll definitely be looking for peoples recommendations of someone to do more welding for me when the car is back on the road and I can take it to someone easily. It's just convinient that this person is 1 mile up the road and doesn't seem extortionate.

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    I'd say it was a very good price personally, once you start cutting those bits open you inevitably find more and I'd imagine he's accounted for some of that in the quote given his experience.

    There's a big difference between slap a plate over and hope and cut out, fabricate and weld in. Slapping a plate over seems great at the time as it's cheap and quick but they always end up worse and ultimately these cars are always going up so you don't want a crap job doing and end up with a scrap shell in a couple of years time

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    Quote Originally Posted by sprint View Post
    I'd say it was a very good price personally, once you start cutting those bits open you inevitably find more and I'd imagine he's accounted for some of that in the quote given his experience.

    There's a big difference between slap a plate over and hope and cut out, fabricate and weld in. Slapping a plate over seems great at the time as it's cheap and quick but they always end up worse and ultimately these cars are always going up so you don't want a crap job doing and end up with a scrap shell in a couple of years time
    Oh he's definitley not just plating over. It's all being cut out until theres proper metal that has been cleaned up. He seemed very opposed to some of the shit jobs he's seen working for other garages. He's aware that I'm after a proper job, not just a cover up. As they do car restoration, I'm hoping it'll be a good end result and not a nasty price. I'm hoping he doesn't rip me off, he knows that I'm not a total dipshit and I know what I'm on about, sometimes haha, so hopefully that helps. I stripped the entire interior for him, so hopefully that's a bit of labour saved incase he had to do it himself for access or to not set my car on fire.

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    BTW your square plate is not a fail.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dastardly View Post
    BTW your square plate is not a fail.
    What's dumb is that he told me it failed because you're not allowed a jap plate on a uk car but then the actual mot failure reason isn't actually that.
    "Front registration plate with character(s) which are not the correct height smaller than normal (6.3.4a)"

    I'm not going there again after my retest, but I've got another front plate for a fiver.

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    Hard as it is, I'd write-off the cost of the MOT and take it somewhere else.

    There are some garages out there that are real twatty about "drift" cars even if they are classified as such simply because they are RWD turbo Nissans.

    I'd be more confident of a garage that was recommended, quoting a per hour price and being a car restoration place than a lot of local garages.

    If i were you, I'd agree a plan with the garage that says, do what we talked about until you've spent £x, then call me and we'll talk about it and agree the next discussion price.

    That way, you won't get a bill for more than you have agreed. It does mean that you could end up with a part finished car but, as long as you make yourself contactable, its likely to keep them honest and it will mean they understand you are on a budget.

    In the meantime, find yourself a RWD Nissan friendly garage. Nobody with any sense wants a hooky MOT that results in you driving round in a killer car but what you want is someone who knows what is dangerous and what isn't and won't be pedantic/vindicative because of the sort of car you choose to drive.

    The rust you've shown is dangerous and needs fixing. The numberplate stuff is a bit twatty.
    Last edited by Jonny Wilkinson; 08-06-2017 at 23:43.

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    Quote Originally Posted by skyshack View Post
    He doesn't want the job.

    First SX I had I got the whole floor welded back in from bulkhead to rear turrets both sides for £400 in 2008. My welder took it on as a fill in job to do when he had slack time, took 9 days, just got in for free re-test.

    https://www.check-mot.service.gov.uk/

    M 977 MNV

    2017 £80 3 patches, also welded the rear nearside seatbelt anchor bolt back on.
    2016 £120 4 patches.
    2015 £50 1 patch.
    2014 £150 6 patches

    None of this list of horrors cost more than £200.
    What a load of bollocks! That is a good price for the work thats needs doing. I have done no end of welding on s14s and I would want more than £400 tbh.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jonny Wilkinson View Post
    Hard as it is, I'd write-off the cost of the MOT and take it somewhere else.

    There are some garages out there that are real twatty about "drift" cars even if they are classified as such simply because they are RWD turbo Nissans.

    I'd be more confident of a garage that was recommended, quoting a per hour price and being a car restoration place than a lot of local garages.

    If i were you, I'd agree a plan with the garage that says, do what we talked about until you've spent £x, then call me and we'll talk about it and agree the next discussion price.

    That way, you won't get a bill for more than you have agreed. It does mean that you could end up with a part finished car but, as long as you make yourself contactable, its likely to keep them honest and it will mean they understand you are on a budget.

    In the meantime, find yourself a RWD Nissan friendly garage. Nobody with any sense wants a hooky MOT that results in you driving round in a killer car but what you want is someone who knows what is dangerous and what isn't and won't be pedantic/vindicative because of the sort of car you choose to drive.

    The rust you've shown is dangerous and needs fixing. The numberplate stuff is a bit twatty.
    Yeah I don't feel I made the best choice with the local garage but I didn't have much choice, it had no existing MOT, I had a week at home before going on holiday so just went with them, equally after failing the mot, I only had the weekend until I was going away on holiday so I just agreed to let the person who was recommended to me do the welding work whilst I'm away. Once again, not the most logical idea but with not MOT I couldn't really take it far and I had no time. I'm wanting the car on the road for going to Japfest Donnington and Goodwood Festival of Speed.

    I got the local garage to accept to do a free MOT retest over 2 weeks after the fail, so that's booked in when I get back. All the issues it failed on are being addressed and it should pass there. Bought another handbrake lever since I f8cked mine and then a new number plate which will be temporary

    After passing I plan on putting on my new suspension arms and going to Slide Motorsport for an alignment and to get the car checked over so I'll be more confident in their opinion than the local garage. In the future I guess I can take it to someone like Slide before the MOT expires and get them to check it out, see if it would pass MOT and then they have someone they work with for MOTs I believe.

    Quote Originally Posted by spice_weazle View Post
    What a load of bollocks! That is a good price for the work thats needs doing. I have done no end of welding on s14s and I would want more than £400 tbh.
    Just to confirm, the £400 was just for the first 3 pictures shown, which were the MOT failures. Even though the other bits are awful, I've chosen to put them off. I'll get them addressed shortly after. If £400 is a good price for those 3 bits shown then that's good to hear, hopefully he doesn't charge me any more.
    Last edited by Matas; 09-06-2017 at 12:56.

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    You know you can appeal the reg plate don't you? I wouldn't buy one to please them, hate people who don't read the manual before failing a vehicle.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Dastardly View Post
    You know you can appeal the reg plate don't you? I wouldn't buy one to please them, hate people who don't read the manual before failing a vehicle.
    No I wasn't aware, I know I shouldn't give in for something like that, but it's piss easy to get a plate off ebay and I just want to pass without any further issues. Have not driven the car in 7 months, so I'm getting inpatient. It's probably a lengthy process to appeal.

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