Morris Minor Owners Club

owing to a horrendous mistake on my part on Wednesday, i was using the angle grinder on my Austin but stupidly had a bath of petrol siting on the bench with the front suspension in it, this caused a mild fire which resulted in the whole garage burning down, along with the ruminants of the Austin. Having neglected to purchase insurance for the period it was it bits, i am left with a large pile of very rusted, burnt, mangled wreckage that was once a motor car. luckily i was still collecting bits for it and hadn't actually fully opened the wallet to throw money at it.

so, my question is this, how does one dispose of the wreckage? should i use a skip or hack it into smaller bits and used the moggy to transport little bits of it to the tip?

A warning to us all! Angle grinding sparks and flammable liquids do not go well together.

As for disposing of the remains of the austin- pass on any parts that will be useful to others, cut the rest up with the grinder and take the bits to the council tip.

You might find one of the disposal companies that pay £30 for any car for disposal will collect it for nothing - worth a call. Lots of adds in free papers.

What scrap yards refer to as "light iron", in other words any old rusty rubbish, fetches around £90 - £100 per ton, so it's perhaps worth trying to get as much as possible to a scrap metal yard (probably not the same place as a car dismantler-type scrappy). Use the council tip for tyres and upholstery.

********************* Serious Warning - the Institute of Vehicle Recovery advises:

"If vehicles or equipment have to be inspected or worked on after they have been exposed to very high temperatures, look closely to see if any gaskets or seals have started to decompose. They will appear charred or as a black sticky mess. If that is the case, do not under any cirumstances touch it with bare skin. If possible, find out what material the gaskets etc. are made of. If working on suspect materials it is strongly recommended that the operative should wear suitable protective clothing, especially safety goggles and stong impervious glove made of neoprene or PVC, which should be burnt immediately after use. As a prior precaution the suspected components and the area around should be well flushed with 'Limewater' (calcium hydroxide solution) before starting work."
*****************************************************
This is because hydrofluoric acid may be present if the gaskets or hoses were made of fluoropolymers- one of the nastiest materials around. Burn your skin with it, and it penetrates so deeply and swiftly you need very specialised first aid immediately.

Kevin

You seem to be incredibly 'accident prone' - you were lucky not to be hurt. I imagine parts of this old Austin will still be valuable to other Austin owners - so i would offer it FREE to anyone willing to take it away, befoe you do anything else with it. Was the garage not insured ? If it was - the 'contents' may be covered too.

you should get something for scrap metal
or try ebay

you will at least get a few quid back

good luck

I'm glad to hear nobody was hurt.

The scare story about "dangers of burnt out cars" is true, but mainly because of the use of *Viton(tm) as a seal material in the last 10 or so years. This is used for mineral oil sealing and when burnt it it VERY hazardous. You won't find any Viton type materials on a classic, but that's not to say that other stuff will be pleasant.

* I've forgotten the actual chemical name in the last 6 years since I used that at work, but the trade name is what most people know anyway.

As for the Austin - what Austin was it??

And thanks for the Fire reminder - I used to keep a bucket of water around when welding but I've never needed it in 20 years so I've gotten lazy. I've set a few things on fire when grinding, but I'd never use a petrol bath to clean parts so I'm still here to tell the tale. Parafin would be a much safer alternative to petrol. Proprietry stuff like Gunk is good for degreasing and a lot safer. I have some industrial degreaser that I 'aquired' (Tric substitute) but haven't felt the urge to use it, as Gunk is easy & safe.

The odd fire extinguisher or two may be useful in the garage, and in the kitchen.

well, this is a turn up for the books.

whilst surveying the wreckage today, it has been discovered that although the Austin's roof has suffered a bit, (when the roof and wood stored in it, came down) the rest of the car is in surprisingly good shape, the floor pan is just as it was, the under seal on the inner wings has gone (saves me a job) and door bottoms are now paint-less, but undistorted, so all is actually quite good.

thankfully the chassis and the rest of the car and panels where in the shed next door. so that's all safe.

considering i was going to whip the roof off and make it a convertible, the damage to the roof is merely damage to metal that was going anyway.

now, the only problem is the roof, a big green canvas tarp is currently serving the purpose, but that needs to be replaced sometime this week when i get a day off.


so, all in all, disaster averted, car is salvageable and a very very big lesson learnt,

1, no petrol in the shed
2, no angle grinding in the shed
3, not to store wood in the roof space
4, a WORKING fire extinguisher is of much benefit than an empty one
and finally, insurance for such things in a must as well.

so, now back to the grind stone of getting it back on the road for summer (optimistic is not quite the word)

cadetchris wrote: the floor pan is just as it was, the under seal on the inner wings has gone (saves me a job) and door bottoms are now paint-less,

perhaps not the recommended way to remove underseal

but glad to hear that all is not lost

every cloud has a silver lining and turn a disadvantage into an advantage

certainly one cracker of a silver lining. certainly not the best way for removing underseal, but its left quite a nice clean surface, just needs a paint and a clean.