Well,pulling the 32 out of the garage,the starter engaged and locked up...tried the lights,no lights. Then when I got out, I noticed the smoke....shit, + battery cable on fire!!! Fire extinguisher on wall didn't work,tried to push car out of garage and caught door on something and almost ripped it off. Cut - battery cable to stop current flow and blew out the flame. Got lucky ....after calming down I realized just HOW lucky we are....the new fuel lines were temp fastened to the frame next to that cable right where the fire was!!! Lessons learned: 1.Keep fire extinguishers current & inspected 2.Don't fasten fuel lines to/near cables even temporary Will be diagnosing the original cause...probably starter I'm assuming....but may not make it to the S/E Nats this w/e
I'm taking a wild guess and saying it rubbed through the clutch slave tube there, course my Dick Tracey skills may be worthless. Good job getting it stopped before things got really bad!!!!!!!
It seemed to start at the starter....going to pull that and have it bench checked first..Jegs mini starter,don't know how good they are. I don't think anything from the slave was rubbing, but will check it all out and re-do things safer
hahaha, I had this happen to me. I too tried to rip out the battery cable, but no luck. All I had was a can of 5ALIVE to put out the fire with, which didn't work worth a shit. I had to rip out the dash cables with my hands. Frickin' mice, they chewed the wiring for lunch & dinner. Lesson learned, bring a damn fire extinguisher at all times. It was not fun sitting on the side of the highway at 2am, with 2nd degree burns on my sticky 5ALIVE covered hands with a car that was dead in the water. Urgh... THAT was a long trip.
I think you are correct on the starter. It's burnt right to the starter. If the main cable was rubbing someplace, it would only burn from that point, to the batt.
I got the starter off,going to store to have it bench checked.. The cable was up against the slave cyl line, but the short started from the starter, so I don't think it was from rubbing
Man, I know that feeling. I had a fire start on a freshly done Corvette years ago. Pushed it out of the garage to use a garden hose on it, heart pumping like a Holley blue fuel pump. Turned the hose on full blast and it came out like a 75 year old man peeing. Neighbors called the fire department, but thank God, I got it out by the time they got there. The soot and crap just ruined my new engine and discolored my front fender. Mine started when an open header backfired and set a rag on fire underneath the car. Fiberglass burns easier than metal. I have had a fire extinguisher ever since..and better water pressure.. Glad you were able to make a save. Scary stuff.
Electrical fires scare me. A proper battery cut-off switch (wired so it stops the engine while running) is what ALL these old cars need.
Good save my man! I saw smoke pouring out from underneath an OT Corvette in the parking lot, grabbed a large fire extinguisher and ran out, laid down on the ground and sprayed the hell out of EVERYTHING. Couldn't see shit for the smoke. About this time the owner arrived on scene. Thought the ugly rascal was going to kiss me he was so happy. That would have been worse than the fire...........
I'm thinking the same thing! It will get one now as will future builds. I never thought of one before,as "normal" cars don't have one,but there is nothing,no fuse breaker,etc to cut the current from the battery to starter with no switch.
I'm finding other wires that fused to the hot cables, and melting the whole length of pos cable even inside the car (access to battery under the seat) I'm going to buy a wiring kit and re-wire the whole car as it was done back when the car was rodded,I'm guessing early 70's and I really couldn't figure out what they did.....neat, but not what I feel comfortable with.
Fusable link , there must be somethig to it. i Let the smoke out of a # 10 wire today and it took the exactly 3 seconds to fry 3 feet of it. All nice and wrapped up in the harness too. Of course I opted out of putting he fusable link in that wire last week.
But, there is no fusible link in the main cable is there? just the heavy one from the starter to the car's feed,and not the thick one (sorry,dumb truck driver and don't know the gauge size)
Next time you could wire it the way the old Fords were with a Ford style solenoid so that there is no voltage going to the starter until you hit the switch. I did that on my 56 Chevy. I put an extra solenoid on there because I do not like the idea of a live hot wire on the starter all the time like Chevys have.
Starter spins and runs fine, but the drive wouldn't pop out to engage....don't know if I messed it up trying to see if it was froze by prying with a screwdriver. Oh well a new drive at least or solenoid is in the future
I'll check more tomorrow, but I think it just scratched the paint on the edge,and broke the door check webbing strap. doors open and close well, and I didn't notice any bending
Glad you ar ok and the car didnt get snuffed out. I had an issue with a fire once but didnt fare as well as you (car wise).
I was looking at the cut-off switches that have the aluminum knob permanently attached as they would fit where I want better. I bought a wire harness kit today,just have to rip the old stuff out and install the new. One thing I do have to figure out is how to wire the turn signal push button switches I have....will have to pay attention to the relay wiring that's in the car and splice it into the kit as I don't have a column switch. I did find out on closer inspection and testing at an alt/starter shop today that the starter is fine, that a cap nut that the previous owner had covered up the batt cable post with, had vibrated loose and wedged and arced between that starter case and terminal causing a direct short. Removed the wedged in nut, and the starter bench tested fine
Thats good that you found the cause. You would have worried about that for a long time if you hadn't.
You might want to re-think that switch - hecho in China??? - and go with a heavy duty type with removable key - just an old racer talking here.... www.specialtauto.com/delorean-parts/electrical-2.html or.... www.texasindustrialelectric.com/switches.asp or the type I used for racing from Bosch.... www.autoatlanta.com/porsche-parts/accessories.php?sec=Electric&model=912 1965-69&subsec=Batteries-and-Related They make good theft deterrents as well....
This didn't have anything to do with the short & fire, but this is why I'm re-wiring with a whole new harness & fuse block....imagine trying to troubleshoot this mess!!! And I've owned cars with worse wiring !!! (before I rewired them)
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