E30 Zone

right then folk's a mate of mine has got himself a 1990 318i (which he intends to drop a m20b25 into) but he's asked me to find out one thing for him.

you see one of the front wings has a fair sized dent in it & the other one has got a fair amount of rust on it.

now he's been offered a pair of front wings without the mounting holes for the side repeaters & if they fit (he hopes they will) where would he stand regarding the mot? i;e lack of side repeaters.

any help would be ideal thanks folks.

Simple: it will fail:
Vehicles first used on or after 1 April 1986

These must be fitted with one side repeater indicator on each side. Instead of a separate lamp, the side repeater might be part of the front direction indicator if it includes a wraparound lens. (See information on following page).

cheers for that brian i'll let him know.

use the old wings as a template and cut the holes for the side repeater

also depends on the tester, some say if its not there you cant test it

blitz877 wrote:also depends on the tester, some say if its not there you cant test it

The correct answer is, if they are not there, fail it.

blitz877 wrote:also depends on the tester, some say if its not there you cant test it

Bikes don't have to have mirrors or indicators, but if they are there they HAVE to work

i understand it as if it is there it must work
if it is not then it can pass

this i belive to be true and the mot will pass

BUT its Vehicles first used on or after 1 April 1986 must have side repeaters in wing its the fit for road use and construction stuff that will get you into trouble. not the mot.

like the mot wont fail a car for no bonnet . but you will get pulled and stopped under construction and useage rules , all to do with how the vehicle should be from factory.

Duke137 wrote:

blitz877 wrote:also depends on the tester, some say if its not there you cant test it

Bikes don't have to have mirrors or indicators, but if they are there they HAVE to work

but cars and bikes have different tests anyway. just because the above applies to bikes doesnt mean it does to cars (which MUST have a minimum of 2 rear view mirrors, either a compination of internal plus one external, or two external. the 'if it's not there it can't be tested' thing simply doesnt work for a lot of things. if you presented a car with no rear shock adsorbers would it pass?

the mot handbook quite clearly states that "all cars registered after the 1st april 1986 MUST be fitted with one side repeater indicator on each side. Instead of a separate lamp, the side repeater might be part of the front direction indicator if it includes a wraparound lens." (which is what brian quoted above.)

No ifs, No buts. If your car is later but has passed an mot without them it hasnt been tested properly.

http://www.motuk.co.uk/manual_150.htm

Fitting the side repeaters is not a big job,just a matter of making a suitable hole in the wing.
Lucky that a wing from such an early(pre 1986) has servived to be re-used!

Hmm... I wouldn't be making holes in genuine wings that don't have holes, surely this would be a great opportunity to have the repeaters in the mirrors/bumper/somewhere less obvious.

I've also read about people who have the side repeaters wired in, but not on show until an mot where they pull them out and tape them to the wings... although there are many stories on this internet thing that may not actually be true

What I was thinking of doing is getting a pair of US spec front side markers and using them

AS a tester.

Have to be fitted, have to work.

However, my own car has managed the last 13 MOT's without them. And I would suggest that my car is Ok aside from that little issue. "IF" it ever became an issue they'd get put in the mirrors somehow. I much prefer the clean lines of wings without them.