On Wed, 23 Oct 1996, John Wells wrote:
> Our tragedy is that our family heirloom MG TF was the subject of an
> assault by Hurricane Fran on September 5th along the coast of North
> Carolina. Specifically, the car was submerged for several hours in 30
> inches of salt water that invaded my mother's garage. She was away
> Is there anything that could be done to rescue or revive or renovate the
> car, or its parts, at this point? Does it have any value whatsoever, or
> should it just be forgotten as scrap?
Unlucky you!!!
I agree with Ray Gibbons:
>I would say that it can be salvaged if you hurry, but
>if you let it sit for very long it will be fit only for parts. I think
>the first thing I would do is rent a high pressure sprayer and spray
>everything I could reach with lots of fresh water. Then I would
>dismantle the car completely, cleaning each part as I go.
But you should rinse the car for a considerable long time (it has been a while
ago since the car was in the water> make sure you soke it and after on other
hour or two, soke it again. to get even more salt out of the car.
>Dismantling would have to include removing the body panels from the
>wooden frame, I think, to allow cleaning between the metal and wood. If
>you wait very long, the body will be ruined. Fortunately, new bodies are
>available, though they are expensive.
It should be fairly easy. Stripping a car would cost not more then a weekend,
given enough storage space and the above mentioned watering action. Make sure
you get the right books (If interested I will send you a list of good
books/catalogues) and make loads of pictures to see how it was connected.
>Basically, the car needs to be restored now, not later; the invasion of
>salt water has taken away the option of waiting. All instruments that
>were submerged are scrap after a month, I'd suspect, and some other
>stuff, but a lot can be salvaged if you are quick about it.
After cleaning the instruments you should dry them realy good, using a not so
hot heater or even sun on a bright day will do the job.
>It does have value still, though a hell of a lot less than before the
>flood. I think you either need to start restoration immediately
Stripping the car is not that difficult, just nuts and bolts ( and if in an as
good as mine) reletively easy to loosen.
So to conclude:
After the shock and the pityness. Just do it. The mechanics are not to scare
you. Have good fun with restoring the car. If the car was in reasonable shape,
you could have done the rebuild within a year (buy a new cable-tree).
You can chooce between:
a rebuilt (just loosen end fasten the panels and electrics)
a better rebuilt (including the drivetrain etc.)
even better (including paint job etc.)
Just your pick.
Go for it and enjoy afterwards.
Danko Roozemond
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Please feel free to reply to d.roozemond@ct.tudelft.nl
MG TD '53 (to become toy after DIY restauration ;))
FIAT 500 '69 (Daily driver, small, utterly slow (55 mph max) and in need of
running in new motor)
MG BGT '72 (daily driver in spe, just got title)
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