I got my second opinion and it went something like this...
Christ this is a long list... this tester has had VOSA up his arse recently, but I can't say it's wrong... harsh but valid; it's his opinion.
You're looking at a worse-case of £500 to get this sorted, but I'd spend the long weekend under the car with a wire brush. Clean up those brake lines and protect them with grease, not any kind of undercoat or sealer, then they'll probably pass. The rear arch you can cut back and fill. It won't be pretty but it's the rough edge that makes it a fail. The floor, try sanding it back and treating it. It's mainly surface rust... but those box sections need to be done... and don't try taking the ARB off; it will still fail and you don't want to drive the car without it.
Why don't you take it away and do some of these, then we can talk again next week.
So I might have a go at getting some of the easy stuff sorted; where he doesn't think it needs to be cut out, then take it back to get those ARB mounts sorted... and let him take it to be MOT'd somewhere else.
In the interim, I'll have to drive it down to East Sussex to collect my mum's car (which is locked in a garage), then drive back...
I'm still considering reshelling, but it's a big job so I'll see what is said when I've cleaned it up a bit. If it's still not going to pass, then that's the end of it; £500 is the cost of a rolling shell... but if it's going to be ~£150 just to get that box section fixed, and the rest is not as bad as all that, then I'm back on the road pretty quickly!
Christ this is a long list... this tester has had VOSA up his arse recently, but I can't say it's wrong... harsh but valid; it's his opinion.
You're looking at a worse-case of £500 to get this sorted, but I'd spend the long weekend under the car with a wire brush. Clean up those brake lines and protect them with grease, not any kind of undercoat or sealer, then they'll probably pass. The rear arch you can cut back and fill. It won't be pretty but it's the rough edge that makes it a fail. The floor, try sanding it back and treating it. It's mainly surface rust... but those box sections need to be done... and don't try taking the ARB off; it will still fail and you don't want to drive the car without it.
Why don't you take it away and do some of these, then we can talk again next week.
So I might have a go at getting some of the easy stuff sorted; where he doesn't think it needs to be cut out, then take it back to get those ARB mounts sorted... and let him take it to be MOT'd somewhere else.
In the interim, I'll have to drive it down to East Sussex to collect my mum's car (which is locked in a garage), then drive back...
I'm still considering reshelling, but it's a big job so I'll see what is said when I've cleaned it up a bit. If it's still not going to pass, then that's the end of it; £500 is the cost of a rolling shell... but if it's going to be ~£150 just to get that box section fixed, and the rest is not as bad as all that, then I'm back on the road pretty quickly!