Hot Rods Little set-back with the 36...Fire

WTF is it with all the fires lately??

 

Man I've been there so I feel for ya Gary! Hope you get it fixed up and back on the road soon!

 

It is good to hear that your fire event has all turned out as well as it has. I had a very similar happening 10 months ago. Mine happened on a dual 4 BBL set up and was caused from a leak through a hair line crack in the casting in the bowl area at the rear of the front carb. The fuel was dripping down on the valley cover under the Air Gap manifold and then pooled under the Dist. A backfire seconds after starting the engine set it all into motion. In the excitement I couldn't get my fire fighting equipment to go (I wasn't pulling the pin guard) and I ultimately grabbed a large towel and was able to beat the flames out. I got a few minor burns on one hand and my arm but nothing bad enough to need any medical help. In my case the car was inside of my garage and I had the exit to the outside of the building blocked with my pickup truck parked outside directly behind it and the keys to this truck were inside the house. Where I am going with all of this is that along with having fire fighting equipment handy, maintained in good working order and having knowledge of how to operate said equipment a guy needs to also have an escape route plan so if the worst happens and you are unable to get control of the fire you can possibly shove / drag the car and all outside and not lose your whole operation. The only thing that saved me from a huge major loss (car, garage, house and additional projects) was blind ass luck. I can tell you the whole deal went up in flames and was over and finished with in a lot less time than it has taken for me to peck this message out. I also have Grundy Ins and I am glad to hear that they were good about taking care of your loss. Until I read your Post I never even gave a thought to contacting Grundy for $$ help. I guess I was just so excited and thankful about the damage not being what it could have been that it never crossed my mind to contact them. Thanks for sharing with us your event and helping to remind us all to check our fire fighting equipment and to do some planning. The Seven "P's" certainly apply to our hobby. Take care and be safe.

 

Just bought it bout a month ago

Really thinking bout just repainting the firewall black

Crazy... Check those fire extinguishers !!!

Sorry to hear bout your problem also. Lots of good info here. Thanks for posting.
Couple days went by before I thought about turning it in to Ins. also. I was like you, just assessing the damage and thinking I can get this back together, just glad it wasn't any worse. Then it hit me "I'm insured" thats what it's for.

 

I was actually searching your posts this morning to see if you had any updates on your coupe. This is not what I wanted to see! I'm glad you were able to get things under control. Scary stuff for sure!

 

I'm heading to the parts store and buying one for my 35.. Thank goodness you got the fire put out.. Keep us posted on the repair progress..

 

Very sorry to hear this Gary. I remember putting a dent in one of my older cars years ago. Car survived from 1938 to 2000 without a dent and 5 minutes after I'm the owner I damaged it, still pisses me off. Sounds like this was no fault of yours just an "old leaky" carb. Good thing you got that fire out, could have been much worse if the old OF&D had to respond to help out. Could have lost the car, house, neighbors house, church down the street, ha ha. Oh ya, better re-think the whole repaint of the firewall, guys like you and I can't "just repaint the firewall", I know you know what I mean. Let me know if I can help in any way.

Dan

 

i get a sick feeling in my stomach when i hear stuff like this, sorry to about your car,it could have very bad,good luck with it and have a happy new year.richie.....

 

That sucks, but I guess a few scars are better than a total loss

 

x2 on going back to a 4bbl. Strombergs have caused more engine fires than our carpet bombing of Europe. nostalgia is great but it's thru rosecolored glasses.

 

Gary......so sorry to see this.......obviously, it could have been worse......on the other hand it shouldn't have happened at all.......but you'll get it fixed and another experience to tell stories about!!
\
Stay warm out on those Midwestern plains!

CB

 

WOW, so sorry to hear bud but like others have said thankfully it wasn't worse. I'm looking forward to seeing the car this upcoming summer. Happy New Year sweetie!

 

Damn that sucks ! Sorry to hear that.

 

All the old nasty burned-up is out and the re-build begins.
Re-paint firewall, all new wiring, plug wires, intake/4bbl carb.and Cal-Custom valve covers. Done messing with those vintage carbs...we just don't get along. Also putting Dyna-Mat inside and getting it all done and ready for the upholstery shop mid-march (tuck/roll and rubber mats). Gary

 

One hell of a shame about the fire . I would've been freaking out too with all the extinguisher mis-fires ! Glad it was only as bad as it was & was repairable . Would've been a shame to lose a cool ride like that . Good to see you're already underway fixing stuff .

 

That really sucks !!! You still have one hell of a nice ride !!

 

great progress ! Just went and bought a Haltron after reading your first posting on the fire.. Again sorry to see that happened, but looks like things are coming around and looking great. So what model intake and CFm Edelbrock are you running. I 'm thinking of changing my carb set up( chevy 265 , with stock 4 barrell)

 

Edelbrock Performer EPS intake w/front oil fill and Edelbrock 500 cfm carb

 

HRR...good to see you have it moving along quickly.

Couple of lessons in this for all of us. There do seem to be way too many fire stories on here. I am guilty of setting a lot of stuff on fire..... and I put them out for a living.

The first point has been well made about the settling powder in dry chem extinguishers. Just turn them over and tap the bottom with a rubber mallett every 6 months and they should be good.

The other thing to remember is that fire needs oxygen. Hot-rod roadster said he saw the fire through the louvers, opened the hood and the breeze fanned the fire. Don't open the hood until you have some kind of firefighting equipment in hand (and you have test fired it). Same goes in your house if you have a fire. Keep it shut up and confined as much as you can. That's going to buy you time. That's important.

Pete

 

just saw this. Buddy you got lucky! This should be a reminder to all of us to take our dry powder fire extinguishers, turn them upside down and "smack" them with a rubber mallet a coupple times on the bottom, you need to keep the Jizz" stirred up in side them. What probably happened is that it crusted over inside and there wasn't enough
pressure to blow it out untill you dropped it to run for another. Again, Sorry for your pain, but you really did get lucky. Hey by the way, go buy a lottery ticket.

Fenderless

 

Oh boy Gary, sure glad that didn't go really bad. I also didn't know you had a '36. Probably some old 4 door or something, huh?? Hey, leave a garage door up or something so I can see this stuff when I roll by on Thursdays. Good to see you're getting it back in shape. Bill

 

HOLY HELL!!!! I dont have 1 fire extinguisher in my garage!!! Gonna go buy one now, glad you got the fire put out!!!!

 

car-b-cue averted... very good.. we dont have a single extinguisher here either.. but then again we don't have a garage either... but good to see its coming along.

 

Geesh, so sorry to see that, and must have been the craps when neither extinguisher worked.
But glad you are OK (first) and glad your car survived (second) and can be repaired.
Good luck.
Cheers......

 

As said 100 times glad your not hurt,.. I might need to go get one these fire extinguishers everyones talking about these days.. although my car sits in my garage out of gas anyway,.. but you never know. Thanks for posting and making us aware of cruel realities.

 

Wow man, I'm truly sorry to hear it!

But I'm glad you, the family and the house are ok. Could have started in the garage and been worse.

 

Whew! I was afraid of what I was going to see when I opened this thread. Glad the damage was only minor and that everyone's okay.

Good advice. I'm paranoid about my three deuce setup. Just too damned many fuel connections. Before I leave the driveway I always fire it up and let it idle and run my hand over all the fittings just to make sure they're dry, as well as doing a visual inspection. Fires suck.