Really bad luck.
Bodily you shouldn't have a problem unless it was salt water (did the tidal
flow get up as far as Uckfield? Can't remember) or smelly stuff gets in the
cavities. Remove all soft furnishings (seats, foams, carpets, trim panels)
whilst wearing protective clothing and dispose of them. Mechanically you
shouldn't have too many problems as long as you can drain, flush and refill
quickly. Electrically you may have problems with powered circuits shorting
out in contaminated water, non-powered connectors shouldn't really be a
problem - some of them get wet all the time in a daily driver anyway. It
sounds like behind the dash might have largely escaped. The biggest problem
is going to be contaminated water drying out in and around the car and
leaving a film waiting to be disturbed for years to come. A good
power-washing with a mild antiseptic inside and out after stripping the soft
stuff and protecting the dash may be advisable.
Good luck.
PaulH.
----- Original Message -----
From: Chris Rose <chris_rose@totalise.co.uk>
To: <mgs@autox.team.net>
Sent: Monday, October 16, 2000 11:27 AM
Subject: Any advice?
> Hi All
>
> Bad news to report, and some advice needed.
>
> Some of you may have seen the news reports about extensive flooding in the
> South East of England. Anyway, my 1963 MGB Roadster was in for a service
at a
> MG specialist garage last week, unfortunately based in Uckfield.
>
> I had been abroad during the week and went over Saturday morning to
supposedly
> collect the car after its repairs, and take it to the MOT centre for a
> re-test.
>
> Well, sadly that was not to be. Wednesday night/Thursday morning, the
river
> Uck burst it banks, and its probably fair to say that my poor car was
> basically left stranded in about 4 feet of sewage polluted water for about
36
> hours.
>
> I took some digital pics of the car when I got there, but don't have the
> ability to post them up on the web from work, but if you can imagine a
> beautiful looking red and chrome car, with tell tale leaves and debris in
the
> front grill, and then opening the doors to find a brown scum all over the
> entire car, up to about half way up the back of the seats, then you have
some
> idea. The boot was full of water, and it was even deep enough to seep in
> through the air filter, so the engine is probably shot as well.
>
> Needless to say, i am completely gutted, not least as the car belonged to
my
> dad before me and has been in the family 20 years!
>
> The only real plus side of the whole sorry affair is the fact that the car
was
> in the garage and is therefore covered by their insurance.
>
> I felt so sorry for the garage owner as well, my MG was one of 7 B's
parked
> outside and completely ruined, inside his warehouse, everything had been
under
> a couple of feet of water, including all the cars in there (a couple more
B's
> (including one which, by the looks of it, had JUST been re-upholstered all
> through, the seats were so new they didn't even have the covers off!))and
a
> couple of MGA's as well.
>
> I guess I'm posting this partly as I hope some of you might be able to
> sympathise with how my weekend went seeing as this was the first thing I
did
> in it, and also to ask if there is anyone out there who has any experience
of
> re-building a car that has been flooded.
>
> I understand that the insurance company will pay, and the the chap at the
> garage (who is a specialist MG place and so should know the right things
to
> do) will arrange for repairs, but I'd like to know what I should be making
> sure they have checked before accepting the car back, if you see what I
mean.
>
> I am assuming as the water was sewage contaminated that cleaning the
carpets
> isn't really an option and the seats which were virtually new, are ruined,
but
> what else should be checked? Gearbox obviously, engine will need checking
and
> drying out, the boot, the brakes and other stuff, horn would have been
under
> water, as will most of the lights, the tonneau that goes over the car when
the
> hood is down to keep stuff out was in the back of the car, and still had
> puddles in it, all my tools were in the boot, the spare wheel, even the
> speaker for the stereo (well, mono, actually!) would have been submerged.
>
> My dad says that when he rebuilt the car he wax oiled the shassis, and so
I'm
> hoping that may have done some good, is it something worth trying to do
again
> as part of the cleaning up/drying out process?
>
> Basically, i want to try and get a check list written down of things you
all
> think should be checked on the car, and then make sure that I cross
reference
> that with the work that the insurance repairer will do on the car.
>
> Any advice or comments very much appreciated.
>
> Many thanks
>
> Chris
>
> 1963 MGB Roadster Submersible :(
>
> -----------------------
> "New 2001 BMW 325 Ci - Save £2,600 on UK list with no wait. Visit
www.eurekar.com"
>
>
>
>
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