Drove it to scout out a local hot rod shop, cool place. One man band kinda thing, but he has an eye for quality.. Driving home, smelled elect burning...Look down and my firewall, yeah, the firewall, is on fire. I have an extinguisher in the car, but don't want to deploy just yet...I smother the fire out and think I am all good. Now I am just trying to get it home. Two miles down the road, fire lights off again, I rip into the local stop and rob, run in and grab two big bottles of water, no time to pay... I tell the lady, I'll be back, my car is on fire..... Get the smolder out for good. Get her home and put to bed. Turns out, the metal coil cable going from ign to coil thru the cabin was grounding out on the firewall. So a rubber grommet should fix this issue. That is all.
Glad you made it but why on earth would you continually drive it knowing you had a dead short. Sounds like you need alittle more than just a rubber grommet and a fuse at your electrical system.
I did pay the lady, not into thievery...LOL! I did not knowingly drive a car with dead short. This took me by surprise. Per the manual, all the wiring is straight up by the book. It has been re-done in the past, and they used the factory wiring with the cloth wrap...sigh. Coil is mounted to the block, like it should be. There is a wire that goes from the coil to the ignition switch, that is the subject in question and has a stock metal sheath and I have no idea why. I asked my buddy with a '39 if his was set up the same way, and he confirmed. Just to re-cap, iggy switch (cabin) to coil (engine bay). Am I off base here?
The original ignition wiring on my 47 Pontiac was also covered with a coiled metal loom. I would imagine if the old wiring cracked inside it would short out.
Nope. I fix things the right way. But thanks Pete. I think the metal sheath slid down to touch the energized side of the coil, hence the hot wire.
Sorry about the name screw up. I didn’t have my reading glasses on and I thought lothoniandon had made this thread. But good to know you went and covered the water tab!
I'm not sure about your car but the LaSalle I had (in the middle of the last century) had heavy shielding over that wire and the coil. I believe it was a theft deterrent to prevent hot wiring the car. When I lost the key while fishing I had to hot wire it and that was a real pain.
The Jalopy Journal
