I was going to go back to Retford to my usual garage for my MOT but Jim recommended the garage down the road here in Wales.  So I booked in for this friday and started doing my tarting up and inspection routines.

I had a look underneath to see if there was anything that needed attention and a bit more of the sill came away in my hands.   I got my wire brush on the drill to clean it up a bit so I could inspect it and there are more holes under there than a Tetley tea bag.  None of them are near anything structural as far as I can see so it may pass.  However if it fails I will have problems getting it welded.   One of the places that will need treatment is on the floor area and directly above this is a slab of 2″ Celotex insulation.  I think if worst comes to worst I can grind a square patch out of the floor.  But I would have to rake all the underfloor insulation out around that area to prevent it catching fire.  Then once welded drill a hole in it to squirt in rust preventative then fill the big gap with spray foam.   However I am not sure about this.  If the worst happens looks like it may be the end of the road for this van…

If it passes I think this will be the last pass certificate this van ever gets.  I will be hunting for a replacement this year and living a bit rough for a while until I can get it all sorted.  Quite exciting really….

I am considering going underneath again tomorrow and giving it a good spray with rust converter then undersealing.  It is solid enough to the touch and the tiny holes (pin holes really) will easily be filled by the underseal.  Not sure if it is such a smart idea as it will trap any moisture that is in there already.  That said it is a gonner anyway and if I can get another 6-9 month out of it I will be happy.

The only way I could do this properly would be to strip all the internals out and get a proper welder in to fix everything and coat the whole lot with rust converter/preventer after.  But I would need to buy a lot of materials to do this and then pay a welder.  This would cost more than the van is worth…  Damn,  would have been nice to get 1 last year out of the old dog…