anyone had problems with MOT's and flipfronts?
Turbo Mini Forums

dropped me car off for the MOt today while i was at work. when i went to pick it up the bloke had basically condemned it.

apparently the brace bars aren't sufficient to hold the subframe when you've cut the front off. He wants me to build a frame that comes from the bulkhead, to the front subby mounts on either side and is linked together across the front of the subframe. then i should build in somewhere for the shock mounts to fix to as they aren't properly fixed now tht the inner wings have been cut away!

My response was, well does the subframe move at all? has it moved or fell apart/exploded in the 1000 miles i've drove it like that, why does every other flip fronted mini in the country pass an MOT like it except mine?

his answer was, well we didnt do it like that on mine back in the 60's! then he showed a diagram of a fucking meastro in one of his books with grey area's that couldnt be removed and said mine should be the same etc etc.

really fucked off now, gonna fix all the mechanical/rusty bits he found then take it somewhere else.
basically the blokes an old


here's the fail sheet for your amusement

ouch :(
take it to my local place, he'll pass anything!! lol

Yep heard this one before.

If the bloke was worth is salt he would know the front mounts are just to hold up the bodywork and are not structural.The rear bottom mounts and tower bolts are the strength..Get a written Engineers report or go to another MOT man.

Ouch! Ignoring his opinion on the brace bars, still looks like you've got a fair bit of work to do!

Jeez, That's not a failure list, it's a novel!

nah the rest of the list isnt toooo bad, got a wheel bearing and a couple of oversills on me way home from work tonight. i know oversills are shite, but i'll be re-shelling eventually anyway.

other than that its just a few arsey little jobs. i reckon my chances of getting to retro cars have just dropped though.

at least he didnt spot the knackered inner CV boot....lol

I'd say inner cv boot is the least of your worries!

Cover sills are not necessarily THAT bad, just make sure you chop out as much as possible from underneath them, and then trim the sill panel down as much as possible so you can butt weld it in rather than slapping it over the top. Its a bit of extra work but worth the effort to do a better job.

Had my flip front mot twice now with no problems! the mot man thought it was awesome cos you can get around the engine!!

ive never had a problem, i was told that the mini is referenced in the mot testers bible about fitting a flip front and making sure that bracing bars are fitted

Never has a problem with my flip front and mots, just using minispares brace bars on the front.

had a look at them oversills tonight while i was doing the ball joints/bearings. does it have to be fully seam welded all round? if so i better get meself some more wire i think!

looking at the sills though i might be able to get away with just dropping on a few patches here and there with a bit of luck.

I think patches (as oversills will be classed) have to be fuly seam welded yes. Depends on your MOT station though.

Oversills and patchs need to be fully seem welded for mot. just put a few tacks on and use plenty of seem sealer

Sounds to me that the MOT tester does not know his arse from his elbow. I think the picture he showed you was for a car without a subframe and therefore irrelevent. Still if you had gone in with a mint car he may well have ignored it. In my experiance if you go in with a shed (not that I am implying anybody has a shed) the tester will look at everything in detail, but if you go with a nice clean car they are less pedantic.

http://www.twin-turbo.co.uk
http://www.hillclimbandsprint.co.uk/default.asp

A man without a project is like a like a woman without a shopping list.

had mine for years no probs, the only prob i have is that we have to check the lights, indicators, then remove the front as it wont go over the brake rollers.

always looking for them bigger bunches of bannanas

take the car somewhere else for an MOT mate,

Team Racing

add then to the companies to avoid thread.

bet he was just plain jeleous

"In my experiance if you go in with a shed (not that I am implying anybody has a shed) the tester will look at everything in detail, but if you go with a nice clean car they are less pedantic. "

just like to add to that point. my mini when i took ti down fo the MOT was a patchwork of different colour paint and primer, i.e. it looked a shed. and you could see the guy checking everything in detail, until he got it up on the ramp and started bashing away, and his frown turned to a smile when he realised how well cared for the car was(no rust, all suspension and brake compnents as-new) and his atitude was much more lax for the remainder of teh test.

from now on my cars always goin down lookign like a concours queen

With regards the flip fronts, iv never had any bother. find another MOT station, and find one quickly before they al go computerised

turbo 16v k-series 11.9@118.9 :)

Denis O'Brien.

yeah i know what you mean about taking a car in that looks like a shed, its gonna get unwanted attention!

been busy tonight though, got the battery box, rear arch, inner sill and floorpan all patched up. the o/s outer sill isnt too bad so i'm just gonna drop a patch on it tomorrow night then sort out the n/s sill.
hazards are done, vin plate is back on (left it in the drawer from when i cut the front off)
did the new bearing and tried to re-shim the ball joints last night aswell but they're too far gone so gonna replace em all tomorrow.

other than that it's just a few little jobs like re-clamping the exhaust, moving the front brake pipe, was only surface rust on the rear pipe aswell thankfully.

looking like i could stand a chance of getting it re-tested on saturday afternoon if i can find a different garage open.

N/S door will not open lol, did he unlock it?

bit of welding and some elecrics, job done.

thats a small list compared to the i got last year with my mini, it went onto 2 pages!!!

Edited by Mini_Andy on 1st Jul, 2005.

I had a similar thing once, tester couldn't open the boot to test the seatbelts. Riiiight, didn't try unlocking it then, no?

right thats it, i've admitted defeat. there's no way my car will be going to retro cars. i just aint got enough time to get it all done on me own.

i can take me time at it now and just get it all ready and run in, in time for avon park.

still gutted though :(

Shame :( you can't tow/trailer it then?