"MOT Failure Help & Opinions Needed"

Hi friends,

Have Just got back from the yearly "MOT" ..

And my 1995 Ford Duetto has Failed with the Dreaded "Tin Worm"...  
(No Advices last year)

I need some advice Please..

1. Do I bit the bullet and have her welded at considerable cost.
(With no guarantee that she will pass next year)

2. Stick her on Ebay and hope to get something for her.

3. Or try to find somebody with a bit of spare time and space that could take their time and sort her out for me. (At a cheaper price)

Any advice would be most welcome.
Especially if you know of anyone that could do the welding for me.


Thanks for taking the time to read this post...

Heather...

it all depends on where the welding needs doing, how much there is, and how solid the rest is?.
i would get a couple of quotes from local body shops and go from there.
if its in good condition inside and everything else is good, then i would think you should bite the bullet and get it done!!!.

We had the same problem when we took our 1995 Symphony for it's annual MOT last November. Previous MOT's had gone well and we were therefore not expecting the devastating news that rust had well and truly taken hold underneath!
Though our Symphony was on a Boxer base vehicle, I guess that 20 years on the road takes its toll in the same way. We were faced with the problem on what to do, but we chose to have the work done professionally, and the final cost was £1000. 
However, we decided that although all the habitation stuff was working, it had also cost an average of £500 a year to keep it so, and so, reluctantly we decided to sell, and did so a few weeks later. We sold with a full new MOT and everything working, and sold to a dealer who spent a lot of time making sure he'd not bought a dud! So we have a clear conscience. 
We bought in 2010 for £14000 and got £6300 back. We spent  about £4000 on repairs whilst we owned it. Not the best financial decision we made it seems, but you have to factor in the fun factor and the enjoyment over the four years of ownership. We just couldn't sustain the cost in retirement.

Hope that helps,

regards

Jeff and Di Giblin

Hi there,

You can replace your 1995 Ford Duetto with a brand-new Warwick Duo at a cost of £48,700 ....

.... or you can get the Duetto repaired for a bit less.

We paid £15,000 for "Petal" four years ago, have spent another +/- £5,000 keeping her roadworthy (MoT, tyres, services etc) and looking good (new wheel arches, painting etc) and we will probably keep her until WE are ready for the scrapheap.

I will be amazed if buying and maintaining "Petal" will come anywhere near the cost of a new van and in the meantime we can enjoy her without worrying about every scratch or pebble chip that life throws at her.

Hope this helps. 

Best regards,

What does it say on the failure sheet?

To my mind, even though these vans are 20+ years old, they're still fetching thousands of pounds. If your van in good, roadworthy condition is worth, say, £9000, it's worth spending a £1000 on welding.

Don't just get it patched over though. Have a decent job with the rot cut out and replaced with good quality steel (or reproduction panels), otherwise you'll just be repeating this every year. Then clean off all the surface rust and grott and cover it in a good quality paint / underseal.

You'll always get more as a going concern than a project, it's just weather you've got the stomach (or deep enough pockets) for the work? If it's any consolation, I've had to weld my 3 previous VW campers.

Incidentally, in the classic car world, which I think is comparable when we're talking about vehicles this age, you often see more money spent than a car would sell for.

Hi
  This is a very difficult decision to make,a lot depends on your financial position.The problems with transits is that they do rust ,what is of concern is that on yours it is all structural and any repairs must be perfect or it will not steer straight or handle properly.you must also check that there is nothing that is likely to need repairing in the future as it could be good money after bad I know you can get a lot of repairs done for the price of a new van,but there are still good used vans out there,see what your is worth as it stands their are people who like a project,work out what you budget is and see if you can afford an upgrade to a later duetto as these do not seem to rust as badly
  all the best regards
    Alan

Hi there,

That's the spirit!!! Think positive, do the research, get a few quotes and GO FOR IT!!! 

Googling "vehicle welding repair sussex" threw up these companies from +300,000 hits ....

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

.... who give the information "all types of classic cars, but primarily Volkswagon campers." so they should at least know someone local who could do it if they didn't fancy the job themselves.

....  here's another company ....

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

.... apparently well able to do the work.

Living in Lincolnshire and not knowing where you live means that both of the above may be complete "merde" but "Seek and ye shalt find."   

Hope this helps.

Best regards,

Thank you for the links "Dutto" 
Have left a message with "Whites Body Works" fingers and everything else crossed they can help.
Cause I love my little "Duetto" and would be very sad to see her go to the big Duetto Scrap Yard in the Sky...

Heather, I'm with you, AS vans are too good to scrap if the interior is still working. I've just spent £900+ on a gearbox rebuild which, if it had been a 17 year old car would have been razor blades by now !!
If needed I'd happily spend a few quid on repairs/upgrades (even an engine replacement) which would far cheaper than funding a replacement van.
Terry

Go for it your old van will give you many years of pleasure once she is repaired.

From personal experience with a '99 Flair, the difference in resale value between a fully functional van and an MOT failure is huge (typically you will get offers at around half the price with the latter), so it's almost always a good investment to get it fixed yourself.

However, be aware that the front upper suspension mounts on Transits of that age can be a problem, because when I last looked 2 years or so ago there were no reproduction panels available and the original Ford parts are extremely expensive (IIRC at least £300 per side). Obviously that's not good news, and the panels themselves cannot realistically be home-made as they are a complicated shape. But even if both need replacing, it's almost certainly still worth doing compared to selling as an MOT fail...

Hi and Thank you Newterry, Shuggiegreen, Mojo and Dutto,
For all your input on my problem "Duetto" MOT Failure.

I have spoken this morning to Phil from "Whites Bodyworks" who was very helpful, and "She" is booked in for an Estimate a week on Thursday.
Couldn't do it any sooner as he is really busy.

Talking to Phil over the phone it seams that he can do any sort of Welding and Body Repairs so fingers crossed.

I will post an update after our visit.... 

 

Heather.....

Heather,
I'll keep everything crossed that it's not terminal, good luck.
Terry

newterry wrote:Heather,
I'll keep everything crossed that it's not terminal, good luck.
Terry

All crossed here as well!        


Ian

I second what Dutto's saying.  I had £500+ worth of welding done 2 years ago, and another £550 this year.  I winced a bit at that 2nd bite and looked at upgrading our £12k-ish Symphony to a £25k ish Symbol; part from being a bit updated, I'd trade say £500 of welds/maint for say £1k+ deprecitaion .. no, I think not! 

Besides, our Symphony is not just a Symphony, it's a Snowdrop - says so in signwriting on van 
'Welding' does cost a bit, but the cost really is in hacking out the old stuff and fabricating new, it's not the quick squirt of the mig.  I would get an assessment done of how exactly the vehicle looks underneath - is the chassis solid etc.

Hi All,

As promised an update on the "Duetto" Welding problems.

We took her into Phil At  [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

yesterday and he sounded very sure he could do all the work needed for the MOT.

Left her there overnight for Phil to have a good look at what Welding was really needed.

Well I have just spoken to Phil and there is Good News and Bad News..

The "GOOD NEWS"


Rest of Post Underneath Cut me off in my Prime....

Hi
   What GOOD NEWS and just to balance ,what BAD NEWS
 hope every thing works out
  regards Alan

Hi All,


As promised an update on the "Duetto" Welding problems.


We took her into Phil At  [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

yesterday and he sounded very sure he could do all the work needed for the MOT.


Left her there overnight for Phil to have a good look at what Welding was really needed.


Well I have just spoken to Phil and there is Good News and Bad News..


The "GOOD NEWS" is that he Can Do All the Welding needed for the MOT.

The "BAD NEWS" is that he has found more rot that will need to be done soon...

What did i Decide to do ??????

Give up on Her and send Her to the Big Duetto Scrap Yard in the Sky ???
Bite The Bullet and get Her Repaired ????
Have her Bodged up and get Shot of Her Quickly ????
Sell Her as is with No MOT ????



Well the Big Decision was Made to "BITE THE BULLET" and leave Her with Phil at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] 
to have done "ALL" The Work Needed to give Her a New Lease of Life, and us years more of Enjoyment in Her...

Please Dont ask how much we are spending on her to have all this work done, as i have only just got up off the floor with the shock...  

Phil is going to have to Take Off All The Tanks and everything else that might get a bit Hot during the work.

Also he will have to Fabricate quite a lot of parts as they are not made anymore.

The whole process will take 2 Full weeks of work...

He is going to send me regular updates and photos, and if i can i will post them up (so watch this space)..

Lastly I really must say a Great BIG THANK YOU To "Dutto" (Ian) for finding me [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] 
You are a Very Nice Man.... I owe you a Drink or Two...

And to Everybody else that has commented on this Post my Thanks go out to you all..

Cheers Heather


To Be Continued......


P.S. Please ignor the last Post i put up as it only posted up some of what i wanted to say..

Probably my fault putting it in the Quick reply Box....

Very glad you have been able to save the life of your duetto.

If you can post photos in due course, that will be really interesting - especially if they include before and after shots. They might help other duetto owners to be aware of where the rust attacks and perhaps nip things in the bud.

Also the photos will give reassurance of what can still be achieved even when things get bad.

I look forward to them very much.

Heather,
I would have done (or do) the same, our Harmony is one of the family and you don't bodge 'em or scrap 'em, even though you might feel like it sometimes !!!!
Good decision, well done.
I know cost is a personal issue but I've not been shy about it in the past as it may help others in future.
Looking forward to the concluding episode.
Terry

Just Chillin I think you are doing the right thing how much would it cost to buy another van and it could have problems of its own.When your van is finished you should get a few more good years from her. Good Luck with the work and keep us up dated.

Look at this way can you buy another vehicle like yours for say £1000 to £1500 that will be as good as yours the answer I would say is no, as you know your vehicle, get the repairer to show you what's needed to be done and the extra work he is indicating , you don't need to be an expert to find rust get him to go over with a very small hammer or get him to gently prod the underneath with a small pointed object, it will be cheaper in the long run to get it done all together  ( I know before I retired I welded many a rusty vehicle, after repair get him to wax Inject the chassis and surrounding components and underseal the underneath, but ask to have a look at what his done before he does the wax and underseal,it should help to preserve the vehicle.

Tony A.

Hi there,

I'm so glad that you are having her rebuilt and I agree with Tony "Protect whatever it is you are having done!" 

There's a lot of pleasure out there and motorhomes are so much fun, it's a bit like owning a dog ....  

.... but even with dogs you have to pick up the bits that they leave behind ....  

.... and please don't get me started on vets bills; they can make welding look as cheap as chips!!!!  

Enjoy!

Best regards,

Just content yourself that your green credentials have gone up a notch, as it is much greener to keep her going than scrap her and buy another.  Also she will probably run sweetly for years yet as Ford engines are very good like that and it is only really the rust that lets them down occasionally.