MOT: In need of moral support

As Lambert says - the cheapest car is always the one you have. Its nothing that can't be sorted - its just a pain to have all these things in one hit, but if it was me I'd bite the bullet and just go for it.

Had a bit of a dig around on the things it failed on...

Headlights are brand new - they work perfectly fine but there is flickering when the engine is OFF on high beam. Surely it seems logical to have the engine running if you test the lights? I don't tend to sit parked up with high beam on!

The car was tested cold for the emissions as evidenced by the 'quick tick over/high rev' which goes down after about a minute of the car actually running and it warming up a bit.

Bloody MOT BASTARDS. To top it off, the stupid pricks have scratched all the newly painted metal underneath on the chassis and other areas in the process!! Paid £45 for that privilege!! Bunch of incompetent spanners.

This is why I use my local authority mot service, an honest assessment of the vehicle not an attempt to garner work for a garage. You can contend the test with vosa if you genuinely believe it is wrong.

I go to a local workshop out in the sticks - the guy is a BMC mini enthusiast, so we get on at a 'car enthusiast' level from the start. He also knows I'm an aircraft engineer so he's not going to try and hoodwink me - not that aircraft are very similar in any way - but you get my meaning.
They're fairly strict but very fair and use a bit of engineering licence when there is doubt. They're also fairly agricultural and of a mind to keep people on the move and not out to make a swift buck like the more commercial ventures found in large towns.
As they're a small outfit tin the sticks hey need to keep a good reputation or rapidly lose trade

It does sound like I need to fine a more 'local' local garage - this one, although they are helpful are maybe a bit too mainstream.

I've had a few days to think about the situation so I'm not spitting my dummy out anymore, although I am still frustrated a tad.

I approached the local welder who is going to rip off the sills and put box section in - I have told him to go over the whole car and fix anything that looks suspicious - this includes some work on the boot floor (previously put in by KAP Suzuki - but he did a gash job and used a load of silicon instead of welding it properly).

I want to keep this car for as long as I can - it is old and the rust situation is not ideal, but that can be fixed. The only thing that I do not have at the moment is time or a place to work on the car as I'm between houses living in a little flat temporarily. Once I have a house with a garage (next few years perhaps) I can put the JImny aside and work on it in my own time. At present it is struggling to be my weekend greenlaner and main car; I feel I am asking too much of this old boy.

I totally understand your frustrations, but from the sounds of it you are doing what I would consider the right thing, and certainly forming a good workable plan of action to resolve the problems. Old cars - often a dilemma, but with tenacity can be sorted out - sometimes more quickly and easier than expected.