A lazy bugger writes...

I've got a 2cv I'm trying to get ready for the World Meeting. I still have loads to do. I'm not panicking.... (I might be panicking a bit...)

The shell I'm looking to use needs a bit of welding here and there - but was wondering if I'd get away with cleaning and painting the rear seatbelt mount for now.

Have some pictures:




I've cleaned it a bit - and it's really solid inside the car and under the wing. Probably a lot more solid than it'd be if I cut it out, and welded a replacement panel in.

So the question is - if I clean and paint this - should I pass an MOT? It doesn't have to pass loads, just this one...

Or is it bullet biting time.

Yours - scared of welding

Steve

(Puts Dad hat on, and prepares to lecture) More important than if it passes the MOT is the issue of whether you crash or not and there's a passenger in the back, depending for their life on your rear seatbelt mounts if you have a bump! etc etc drone drone.

On a practical note, you could clean it up and wodge it full of filler and paint it nicely and a dozy MOT bloke might miss it, but if he doesn't then he'll fail you and your efforts will have come to nothing.

On the other hand, get it welded now and you won't have to worry about it again.

Whereabouts are you in the country?

That would fail an MOT.... Unless you remove the rear seat

Only your MOT tester can tell you if he'll fail it, although the rules would probably say it would if you had rear belts in. Ill weld a new one in if you can get the shell to West Sussex, I'd do that for £50 and leave it in primer ready for you to paint.

If the tester can prod a hole in it with his special tool, then he should fail it.

Remove the rear seat and belts for the MOT, or rather just don't put them in. Then if you're so inclined, get it welded once the car's mobile.

It depends on when the car was first registered. I'm not certain about the date, (I can look it up later if you like), but I'm pretty sure the cut off is 01.04.86, before which you don't have to have seat belts fitted in the rear and if they are not there, they are not a testable item. However, if they are fitted (regardless of registration date), then they are a testable item, along with a 30cm area around their mounting point.

It may (or may not) save the rear passenger's life, but another thing that rear seat belts do, is to help save the lives of the people in the front. If you have a front end collision and the rear passengers haven't got seat belts on, the driver and the front passenger get hit from behind by two unsecured people coming at them at 30 or 40 mph (or whatever speed you were doing). This can be quite enough to kill them, and even if it isn't, it'll be quite painful.

Get a van - no problem then

Other than the cargo contents jamming you in the back everytime you slam on the anchors at high speed

Spot on Dennis ... The other option is you could take the rear seat out fit a plywood base sides and end (behind front seats) take out all the seat belts and tell MOT it's used as a van

Hey all,
thanks for your thoughts. I had another play with the car this weekend - and more importantly fired up my welder for the first time...

I've got the repair panel I need, so I'm going to have crack at welding it up. Watch this space... as I burn holes in it...

Also got a front lower bulkhead section to do, so expect more questions soon...

Cheers

Steve