first and the last MOT for a little while?

With all the forthcoming changes to the UK MOT system in relation to how some vehicles over 40 years old (on a rolling basis) could now be made exempt from MOT testing from 20 May 2018. However, typically my MOT expired on the day before the Ben Pon 2nd Barndoor Gathering and Vintage VW Show in Amersfoort, in the Netherlands, began! So in this instance, as I was going to be in Europe in my camper, I still needed to get my MOT sorted before I headed off (technically just for a couple of days to be road legal) before my European road trip could even begin.

So off to a seaside location to carry out very some basic pre-MOT checks on lights and windscreen wipers and adjusting washer jets. A very kind Czechoslovakian coach driver on his lunch break assisted me with a reassuring thumbs up for the rear lights all working correctly! 🙂 With my checks done, time for a great beachside Souvlaki from the fantastic Girls Gone Greek – seaside street food at its finest!

Great news, the bus passed its MOT first time!

Woo hoo, great news for me in that my camper passed its MOT first time! 🙂

One of the big advantages of the MOT system is that you get the bus on ramps and the tester also highlights any minor ‘advisories’ that you might want to look at in the future. In my case, there were two minor things for my future reference. My Front offside wheel bearing had a small amount of play in it so needed adjusting, plus the rear brake pipes were lightly corroded and would benefit from getting cleaned up. So before heading off to Europe, I got the bus booked in at Resto Classics to get these bits sorted for my own peace of mind.

A while back I had bought an original VW sump plate with a drain plug to help simplify future oil changes. So whilst down there, I’d get an oil change done and get the sump plate swapped over at the same time.

Once the old oil was drained out and inspected (no nasties found) the oil strainer was cleaned up and a new gasket set and copper washers were fitted ready for the sump plate to be fitted and the engine filled with fresh oil.

Although I had cleaned the replacement original sump plate up prior to bringing it down, in Resto Classics eyes, it still needed a slight finessing to make sure it was true and flat prior to fitting. I love their attention to the little details like that! No one wants a leaky oil sump now do they! 😉 After a quick bit of fettling, Alan had not only cleaned it all up but then given it a protective coat of satin black paint as well! It was looking like a new factory part once again! 🙂

Whilst this was all taking place, and the front wheel bearing was getting adjusted, I tried to be of some use and set about cleaning up the rear steel brake pipes. Structurally they were fine, it was just light surface rust. So after cleaning these up, I gave them a quick spray of clear wax oil to help protect them. Moving forward, I was discussing with the guys the option of getting these swapped out for copper pipes. I’m thinking about upgrading my shock absorbers soon, so maybe this job might get combined with that?

With Alan and Nathans eagle eyes giving things a final once-over, a very slight drip on the offside rocker cover was noticed. On internal inspection, the gasket had shrunk a little in the corner. So a new rocker gasket was fitted. This time I cleaned up the cover before refitting it. Once cleaned up, it got a quick first coat of stone chip paint and then was given a second coat of satin black paint to finish it off! They’ve got me at it now! Next time I’ll clean up the retainer bar as well. That’s the trouble with painting anything, it just shows up everything else! A quick smear of copper grease to ease the retainer bar in place, it looked like a pair of funky cats eyes to me, so that stays!

Well, that’s the MOT advisories all sorted (and a little more besides!), plus new oil in the engine, looks like we’ve got a European road trip to look forward to shortly – can’t! 🙂