I bought a 1991 mk2f breadvan a month or so ago, it has a few months on its MOT. Upon taking it to a garage to get a fuel leak fixed and some welding looked at it now appears the sills are FUBAR and will require a good bit of welding. I haven,t got a huge budget for this so I am keen to know if I should just cut my losses here and now or if its worth stretching to get a solid little car that can survive a few more years.

 

There was shoddy looking welding visible on the offside rear wheel arch that was done in a small shop in Wales or so I've been told. It passed it's MOT after this welding was done, though I cannot attest to the thoroughness of the test centre.

 

I am very much new to cars and repairs and the like, though I can appreciate that with what little info I can provide it will be hard to give a solid answer. I'm at university currently so sadly cannot get pictures/ a better look at her. I do have a single pic that I took on the ~220 mile trip back home on the day I bought it, so it does still drive, just probably won't pass an MOT.

 

 

(on an unrelated note I couldnt find a Mk2f breadvan in the drop down menu, It may be me being rubbish so please let me know)

best speak to some local garages 

 

a rough patch the size of your hand covered in black underseal could be £50-100 each, often poor quality work to get a bit more life from an old car

 

new whole sills painted to look like new would alot more 

 

or do what i did when mine got frilly...buy a welder and crack on

 

On 22/10/2019 at 15:26, steveo3002 said:

best speak to some local garages 

 

a rough patch the size of your hand covered in black underseal could be £50-100 each, often poor quality work to get a bit more life from an old car

 

new whole sills painted to look like new would alot more 

 

or do what i did when mine got frilly...buy a welder and crack on

 

thanks steveo,

 

at the moment its early days of me having this car, I've only had it looked at by the one garage so I'll hopefully get a better clue as to the severity once its had a few more sets of eyes on it.

I'll ask my dad to snap some pictures as I'm not with the car at the moment. A quick and dirty job definitely isn't off the menu as long as it'll pass MOT and wont fail on me, though welding it myself is daunting and I sadly don't have the access/time to crack on with that.

 

I'll keep this thread posted as and when I get updates

got both sides patched up with underseal for £300

 

however, it now comes to the issue with fuel pissing out when i get it full to the brim. the garage claims to have done it however nothing seems to have changed. if i pump until it clicks then add a little bit more it drips out onto the floor from behind the sills.

having parked on my road with a reasonably steep camber, fuel cap side downhill, i noticed it was dripping petrol quite rapidly, again from behind the sills, so i moved it around which stopped it.

there is a petrol smell in the car but this was only apparent after i filled her up causing the first spill.

 

im assuming the issue is that there is a hole in the neck or the neck simply isn't put on properly.

 

is it very dangerous to drive in this condition? i've been doing plenty of driving (>150 miles) and nothing seems to be coming of it, though i shan't get complacent.

 

any advice would be greatly appreciated

Edited 18 November, 20196 yr by Will B

Yes dangerous.

Fuel vapours could ignite from passing smoker in theory.

Fuel spills could be slippy on road and contribute to accident for someone else.

 

Keep fuel level in tank low (max quarter full ? and get it sorted as soon as you can)

 

The filler neck can rust.

 

Maybe the fat breather tube from top of tank to filler neck was dislodged by the work on the offside sill.

Or the thin breather tube from filler neck that does an inverted U then drips into filler neck rubber boot and from there onto the floor 

for tiny amounts of condensed vapour or fill spillage if very careless with pump nozzle.

 

In dry conditions, on level solid ground lift car on jack, support on axle stand, remove rear wheel on offside (loosen nuts a half turn while on the floor

then blow flour onto the filler neck. Lift car with jack on the near side until reaches level then inch by inch until fuel is seen to drip down filler neck with a clear track in the flour.   

 

Make sure the car cannot fall of the jack with your head under it.

Preferably do not use the "widowmaker" standard jack...

Edited 18 November, 20196 yr by dvderlm

binned it.

bashed into a road sign too far from home for a tow back (3 hours drive). 80 quid tow to get paid 40 pounds for scrap was a real kick in the teeth.

 

lost traction coming down a hill with 4 mates in the car with me. lifted off the brakes at the last minute to dodge the ford kuga that was turning, ended up hitting a sign. still better than going off the embankment. complete write off, passenger door wedged shut, i had to yank it open from outside. turned out the shoddy welding was far more extensive and there was filler in more places than i imagined, the result of which is that she crumpled just in front of the b pillar on the passenger side and bent at the bottom of the passenger door frame. nobody was injured thankfully. can't say the same about stacey

 

im absolutely gutted

 

just thought id add, the 3rd pic shows a telephone pole, not the sign, it was a three legged sign, we glanced off the middle leg and hit the last one right on the headlight

 

Edited 30 June, 20206 yr by Dean
Copied from status update - Dean

Ahh mate, that's absolutely gutting. Lucky escape with all that filler, glad you're safe though. Car is just a piece of metal at the end of the day.

Fancy something similar but older?

 

 

Lucky escape there dude, scary how it bend, did the roof get damaged by the sign or fold from impact?

roof crumpled from the impact, car initially bounced back into the road before we pushed her up onto the grass

Edited 1 July, 20206 yr by Will B