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MG MGB Technical - mot test.

i,ve just had an mot on the old 64 mgb,and all was well untill he got to the front seat backs on my roadster,
he said that the seat backs don't lock in the upright position ,i said that there is no lock on the seats to lock,they were made that way they are not broken,
so he got his mot book out and said there you are front seat backs should lock in the upright position,
yes i said if they have a f@?*:*&g lock this one has not got a f@>&*?g lock so it will not lock it was f@:?*%:g made that way you p@*?%k.
well i got the mot in the end after coming down off the roof of the garage and turning eight shades of red,
so when i got home i looked it up on the web mot gov site it said that if the car was made with no lock on the seats it will pass,
so if this ever happens to you call them all the names under the sun and all will be fine.
da wright

mine went straight through today ,just needed a side light bulb .
daz

When I purchased my'67B in '72 it had small J shaped hooks mounted backwards on the bottom of the seats. They were indeed factory installed. I have never seen another pair since and can only assume that P.O.s removed them because they were a pain to use requiring a 7/16" wrench to install or remove. RAY
RAY

have my mot on monday so hopefully its will be just like yours. a pass.
jr williamson

Most MOT testers may resent being called all the names under the sun.

If when built the car did not have something fitted then it is perfectly acceptable for it not to be part of the test. It allows the presenter the benefit of the doubt, and the legal responsibility passes to the presenter when the certificate is issued (see para 4 on the back of the VT20). Conversely if you add something (such as a high intensity rear fog light) then it has to work, despite not being an original fitment. If you fit new seats that are designed to lock they would have to, despite the car originally not having locking seats. Hopefully the tester put the non locking seat down as an advisory (VT32) which you can show next time.

Michael MOT Tester....
Michael Beswick

I guess we've all felt aggrieved by failures, my pet hate was the headlamp adjustment. "The headlamps are misalligned, do you want us to adjust them?? it will be £5".
But two years ago I put my 76 MGB in for an MOT after being laid up for ten years. I did work on the brakes and suspension, but there was a hole about an inch wide and 10 inches long between the inner sill and floor pan. I left the carpet up with no attempt to hide it. The car passed! I asked the examiner, and it said it was not structual. Needless to say I had the floor welded.
c cummins

"a high intensity rear fog light) then it has to work"

Not entirely so. If you have a pair then the off-side one must work, but the nearside doean't have to. My offside one had failed due to a bad earth (through its mounting bolt), and I got back to the test centre to find the tester carefully putting a wired earth in. For no charge!

As for holes in the bodywork if they are within six inches of a suspension mounting point, or considered structural like the sills, it will fail. My V8 had a pin-hole in the inner wing where the tubular manifolds had hit it at some point, knocked off the paint, and because of the heat I could never get paint to stick and eventually it peforated. Less than six inches from the front cross-member mounting point it failed the MOT, even though it was right where a much larger hole would be if I had RV8 manifolds! Doesn't matter, the tester said, an intended hole is OK, a rust hole isn't. I patched the hole, but I also fitted a sheet of stainless sheel on the inside of the inner wing in that position to protect it against further problems by reflecting the heat from the manifold.
Paul Hunt

Page 15 of the 1965 Driver's Handbook refers to a bracket to lock the seat back.
The period parts book does list the bracket as a part.
In 24 MOTs with my 1965 car (251 GRW) this question has never arisen. I believe it is a requirement for later carshowever but I am unsure of the date.
George
G R Wilder

had no worries with the mot this morning te mechanic even comented on how good condition she was in, not even an advisory.
jr williamson

its funny how this has come up,never seen anyone do it before but i had my mot a month ago and my tester got hold of the seat one hand on back part and one on bottom and pulled and shook the life out of it. i thought at the time he could rip it out the floor. is this a new thing. ???
BOB
1970 gt
Bob Taylor

Maybe they get a rocket from the Ministry when someone misses an obviuos fail and they focus there for a while. One year they gave the pedal box on my car a very close look, no idea why as it's all solid as the day it came out of Abingdon and its clearly so to a quick glance. BTW my seats fold forward and are unrestrained and they were like that when I got the car in 1969, it's never been mentioed in the 30 odd MoTs the car has had while in my possesion.
Stan Best

Paul - 300mm not 150mm! but whatever! Many modern cars don't have a high intensity rear fog on the n/s but you are right it is only the off-side that has to work!

Fwiw We re-adjust headlights for nothing -providing it is quick (MGB's are more time consuming than most modern cars due to removing the chrome bezel carefully.) Bulbs are fitted for no charge other than the bulb itself unless I have to remove half the front of the car. technically only headlight adjustemnet is permitted during the test the others have to be done right at the end of the test under "PRS"

But please remember it is a TEST - not a fixing session. Theoretically on a modern car the headlight adjustment (provided for the driver in the car if several passengers) should be left as presented and then moved (to 0 setting) under PRS! Daft- so we move them to 0 at the beginning.

seats not flapping about -is part of the test -not too common on a modern car but not all testers have an MG to "practice" on!

Usually the "rocket" comes from mechanic colleagues who ask "how the hell did you miss this!!!" but yes if the Ministry come round and spot something we are bound to look at it more closely for a while!

M
Michael Beswick

"Maybe they get a rocket from the Ministry when someone misses an obviuos fail"

They certainly do, one of mine was tested while the tester was being observed and afterwards he said it is very nerve-wracking, so much so that it is easy to miss something under the stress that they would otherwise do automatically.
Paul Hunt

This thread was discussed between 03/10/2008 and 07/10/2008

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