It will be ready later disasters

[MikeR]

whats the worst to befall your pile of metal , one small patch later     or not as the case may be .......

 

[Squire_Dawson]

Good grief, that's terrible news. I'm always nervous when one of my cars goes in for welding, in case of interior trim damage or fire, as it can smoulder unnoticed for a long time.

[omegod]

Exhaust looks reusable !

[Royale80]

Back in the 80's friend used to do a bit of welding-he was a fully qualified welder working in Llanwern steelworks.

 

He has bottles in his garage. Somebody asked him to do a bit of welding to an Avenger I think-friend welds it alone outside the garage-doesn't notice that the inside is going up. Finally realises and gets the hose on it-inside is wrecked.

 

Then went to the Le Mans 24 hr race leaving a note on the windscreen of the Avenger explaining why the inside looked like a disaster movie.

 

Steve

[Supernaut]

One of my dad's colleagues once told me about something that happened at their work before I was even born.

 

Apparently my dad was doing a weld on a seat bracket in his Maxi in their workshop, and the interior went up... then the whole car went up. They pushed the still-burning car out of the workshop and left the burnt out shell there for several years before getting it removed!

[mercrocker]

A friend of mine tried a piece of inadvisable exhaust welding on his Reliant which he had a habit of driving mostly on two of its three legs.   God knows why he didn't take the pipe off first but I am sure you can guess the rest.  I was quite relieved to be staring at the molten mess of vaguely car-shaped red fibreglass.   I honestly thought he was going to die in that thing - his replacement Anglia was felt far safer.   

 

Another, hardly more prudent, friend had a habit of waving the gas torch about whilst he discussed the next step of whatever restoration he was in the midst of.   Apart from lighting fags continually from it (they were usually half-smoked rollies making this even more hazardous) I have personally witnessed him set fire to a Standard Vanguard workshop manual and a wooden broom.   I am sure there were many similar unplanned casualties in his crowded garage.

[richardmorris]

I did once have a call from the garage, along the lines of the car is ready but we’ve had a slight incident.

The CX was having welding to the back end, on the four post ramp. Tank had been dropped to allow access. Whilst welding, my friend rick suddenly noticed the patch seemed to be getting harder to reach. Flipped up his mask to find my car heading upwards! It tipped nose down and hit the roof beams with the rear screen surround, rebounded and landed exactly back on the jacking points. He grabbed it and shouted for help.

 

Garage paid for it of course, but the only damage was to the stainless window trim and a 50p sized dent on the side panel.

[SiC]

It's my biggest fear about learning to weld cars. How do you stop sparks and the like getting to where you don't want them if you're welding near flammable bits?

[Split_Pin]

My job as the workshop laddie was to make the repair sections and then watch for fires with a watering can in hand!

[richardmorris]

It's my biggest fear about learning to weld cars. How do you stop sparks and the like getting to where you don't want them if you're welding near flammable bits?

 

I think it helps to have two people to hand. I needed some work done on a wheelarch on the merc. We took the back seat panel out and then had one sitting inside the car with a couple of steel sheets and a fire extinguisher whilst rick was under the car welding. Saved stripping the entire car interior anyway!

[forddeliveryboy]

Almost any material other than unpainted steel is easily damaged by spatter and sparks, so you remove what you can and cover or shield what you can't, not forgetting glass and headlinings. Welding to steel which doesn't have any rust in it reduces spark showers to a minimum.

 

Your ears tune in to the sound of the phut of flame inside box sections (which usually vanishes fairly quickly) and the smell of smoke, you use your hands to feel the temperature of sills to be sure there's not a travelling flame. I have a water-filled plant sprayer to hand, with a bucket or two of water nearby and fire extinguishers just in case. Having a car with all four wheels on which can be pushed directly outside is a bonus too, should the worst come to the worst.

 

Having a clutter-free workspace is a huge safety bonus, every now and then I see a workshop with old crumpled newspaper sheets strewn about which have been used as masking when the paint gun is out, blooming lethal.

[Tamworthbay]

I have acquired half a dozen out of date fire blankets, they are brilliant for putting over things you don’t want to get sparks on but I (almost) always have a fire watcher as well.

[junkyarddog]

In a Garage I know of,

they first pour a bucket of water into the car prior to carrying out and welding.

[Timewaster]

A garage I know had an Ital van in for some work which involved draining and removing the tank.

One carelessly dropped inspection lamp meant that the workshop burnt to just a frame.

The owner of the petrol station next door must have been shitting himself.

[bezzabsa]

whats the worst to befall your pile of metal , one small patch later     or not as the case may be .......

 

0811_aug11_00.jpg

I do hope they have good insurance!!!!

[AlabamaShrimp]

My job as the workshop laddie was to make the repair sections and then watch for fires with a watering can in hand!

This used to be my job too. Sitting in the car or laying underneath as well with a brass pump fire extinguisher with my dad stuck the bits together. Seeing as he only ever used gas and took as little of that black sound proofing stuff out as possible I've stopped more fires than I can remember.

 

God only knows how he used to go on he used to go on years ago when he worked alone.

[DVee8]

My job as the workshop laddie was to make the repair sections and then watch for fires with a watering can in hand!

This was my job as well,when I was a young YTS.

Sitting inside with the carpets pulled back or the pusher with the large screwdriver pushing up the patch for the next part to be welded.

[Split_Pin]

I did my stint in 'screwdriver support' too, totally forgot about that until you mentioned it.

[DodgeRover]

This was my introduction to welding, fire watching as a maybe 6 year old while my dad gas welded or brazed new parts on, holding a squeezy bottle full of water and squirting anything that flamed on the inside, whilst either wearing an old eye sheiks or not looking at the welding. Happy days

[meshking]

 

When welding I always stop and check frequently, this helps let the metal cool which is always helpful on the 2cvs thin metal. Also, I'll always go back an hour or so later to check everything has cooled.

 

The other week a local garage went up:

 

http://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/west-byfleet-w-carey-fire-13991187

 

I think it had 11 fire engines on it at one point,very sad. A good local business and now I guess a few mechanics out of work just before Christmas.

 

Sent from my SGP621 using Tapatalk

[twosmoke300]

No welding past 4pm in my workshop . Seriously paranoid about fire

[richardthestag]

wrong to like that ^^ fvcking nightmare

 

glad nobody hurt

 

I was partly responsible for the near demise of a mate's P6B almost 30 years ago. 

 

It predictably needed a load of welding, instructed owner to remove all carpet and disconnect battery. made up templates and cut repair sections. my chum Stewart was stick welding. I was on fire duty, owner was on tea duty.

 

After about 15mins welding owner observed "wow look at the white smoke coming from the vents" or something like that. It took about 1 second to connect with my subconscious, called a stop to the welding, flung open the drivers door and was met with a wall of flame. 

 

Launched myself in, adrenaline overload, and tore gert lumps of burning carpet and launched them over my shoulder. the glove box on the driver side was next. tore it off it's hinges. that was pretty much all the burning stuff out.

 

Owner sobbing as he needed his Rover for a Jollyboy trip to Brighton that evening. Sympathetic I showed him how the very burnt out section of the loom could be cut out and enough slack was left to join it back up again. Probably why Rover went bust with overspending like that!!!!

 

We carried on with welding while owner cut the loom about, "oh look at the sparks, is that to do with your welding?"

 

Stewart stopped welding, I casually wandered round to the boot where I found the battery connected.

 

By the Grace of God the car was saved from a firey death, the loom was repaired and the alternator survived.

 

Since then I have been mega careful when welding

[M'coli]

5 years ago, I had the waxoyl inside the sill of my sadly-departed Cavalier ignite during welding to the top of the sill.  Below is a cut-n-paste job of the escape job that ensued:

 

See below

 

 

There was a little bit of rot left in the left sill after the last lot of repairs - it's visible in the last photo above just underneath the door rubber - so with this morning being dry I decided to takle it prior to the MOT on Monday.

I began by running over the rot with the wirebrush in the angle grinder, then cut it out with the thin cutting disc. I had a peer into the sill, clocking the waxoyl that I'd pumped into it previously. After cutting a patch to size, I cleaned it off with the rotary wire brush, sprayed it with weld-thru primer, let it dry and began to butt-weld it in. I had the welder set ot the lowest power setting, and there was a little bit of burning through, but nothing I couldn't deal with. Then I saw some flames inside the sill, which I blew out. Then there were some more flames, and I belw those out too.

Then there were some more flames, and I tried to blow those out, but that didn't work. I grabbed the grinder, swapped the wire brush for a cutting disc, and began to slice open the sill - time was of the essence, so I didn't change the welding helmet for the grinding mask. The mask went dark as soon as the sparks appeared! Off with the mask, and risk it wearing the prescription saftey specs. Hole cut open I peeled the sill back and tried blowing the flames out - didn't work. Next was to try extinguishing them with the CO2 from the welder - didn't work. Water - try some water! Nope, not that either. The rear arch was getting hot by this point, and smoke was issuing from the vent above the arch.
Panic.
Into the house, grab the keys for the motorhome, intot the van, grab the fire extinguisher, back outside - by now the smoke's coming out fromn the loose trim in the boot - and point the fire extinguisher into the hole in the sill and squeeze...CHUUUFFFFTTT, and the fire is out.

This is the scene immediately after:


Nicely blistered paint on the wheelarch!


The hero of the day:


How it looks now - the welding was done very carefully.



So, it's only an old car some might say, just let it burn and collect the insurance and you can buy something new - fair enough, but it was parked on the drive less than 2 foot from the motorhome, and if that were to go on fire it would cost way more.

This afternoon, I'm hope to buy a new fire extinguisher for the motorhome...

[Wack]

I do hope they have good insurance!!!!

 

 

Trade policies aren't meant to be claimed on if you ever want insuring again, like goods in transit cover for couriers, it's just meant to reassure the customer, claim on it and you're out of a job

 

I'd think the boss will be getting his cheque book out unless the garage burnt down as well

[barefoot]

Many years ago I took my T2 to an old school VW bloke for a new exhaust.

I popped in to collect it, the bus was up on the ramp - all done.

Bob reached up to show me how quiet it sounded, turned the key and the bus drove along the top of the ramp,

hit the asbestos wall that divided the unit from the one next door...

And stopped.

The only damage was a smashed windscreen and a kink in the aerial.

 

I thought chap was going to have a cardiac!

 

Anyway, he sent me home in his car and when I returned the following day all was sorted.

He never spoke of the incident again.

[stephen01]

Trade policies aren't meant to be claimed on if you ever want insuring again, like goods in transit cover for couriers, it's just meant to reassure the customer, claim on it and you're out of a job

 

I'd think the boss will be getting his cheque book out unless the garage burnt down as well

 

surely this depends on the size of the claim? £500 quid micra or 30k Merc 

[Wack]

what I mean is claim for a 30k merc and you're unlikely to get an affordable quote come renewal

[Wack]

The guy I use in Blackburn was insured with the same company for 7 years, come year 8 he gets a letter declining renewal , no claims, nothing changed, rings them up , we're not insuring anyone in the BB postcode any more , wouldn't say why, just no

[The Reverend Bluejeans]

I don't do welding. I'm iffy about sparks from a grinder as well - I managed to set myself on fire last week grinding a bearing inner race from a pinion, sparks were shooting into my overalls and up they went. Twat. 

On Saturday I was fannying around trying to get a fucked E34 going, fuel pump out, fuel everywhere, battery and jump leads. Then I thought 'this is fucking stupidity' and stopped.

[chaseracer]

On Saturday I was fannying around trying to get a fucked E34 going, fuel pump out, fuel everywhere, battery and jump leads. Then I thought 'this is fucking stupidity' and stopped.

 

Wise move.