stingrayiii67

Boy what a scare I had today.
I was just starting the car to go take it for a spin and then I saw something like this!




I opened the hood asap, if the hood would have caught fire it would have been done for!
I grabbed the water hose and sprayed it down and got it put out. But it did do a little damage.
The air filter is done for...


Some wiring melted, and the dist cap got a little melted also.



Then the underside of the hood the paint started to bubble up....



Talk about scary!!!

After I let it sit for awhile I cranked it over to see what happened, fuel jetting out of the secondary hole.


The fuel regulator malfunctioned and caused pressure toward the secondary bowl.


I am getting me a few extinguishers now!!!!

What sucks is this is a new fuel regulator only a year old.
It is a Holley 12-803, this is the second time I have had problems with the regulator. The old one before this went bad also but toward the primary bowl.
According to their chart this regulator should handle my fuel pump. But now I am second guessing.
The fuel pump I have is a Edelbrock Victor 1711 - 130 GPH - 10 PSI
So now I am looking at two different regulators any advice?

Edelbrock Fuel Regulator 174123
https://www.summitracing.com/parts/edl-174123

Holley Fuel Regulator 12-843
https://www.holley.com/products/fuel...s/parts/12-843

I prefer Holley, but now I'm not so sure.
Or any other recommendations?

All I know is I now have to fix a lot of things now. But it could have been way worse and thank god it didn't get out of control.

And if I didn't have this gap in the hood I wouldn't have seen the flames and wouldn't have known it was on fire till it was too late. As I didn't hear a backfire or anything.

Here is a video of the damage.

corvgreg

Get rid of that regulator and buy their higher end one. The cheaper ones are unreliable and you may have the same thing happen again.

calwldlife

goodness
close

sydvicious12

good no more damege than it was. please take care of you self and corvette

Mr D.

Why do you need a Holley fuel pump and regulator to feed that carburetor? GM never used either to plumb a Holley dual feed carburetor. Not knocking, just asking.

wadenelson

Back in the day I lost a 1964 GTO Tri-Power to a sticking carb float.

I've carried a fire extinguisher in every car ever since.

I was on my way to my Calculus final when she backfired and ignited. No air cleaner; I couldn't found one anywhere.

I grabbed my books and jumped out and watched her burn.

The fire hit the back of the fuseblock, and engaged the starter. Oh great. Now a fully engulfed GTO with a half tank of gas and my sunglasses is headed for some wooden 2 story apartment buildings. WTF do I do?

Fortunately she only went about 30 feet before the starter disengaged. The crowd that had gathered was screaming.

Could have been tremendous property damage and even loss of life.

It was all over by the time the Firemen arrived.

She was covered in Bondo, but I still miss her. She ate Camaros and Mustangs for lunch. Top end was about 70 --
shaking so bad you did not WANT to go any faster.

I recall one time "the guys" all egged me into doing a burnout.

The 8-track tape, in the player, but not plugged in, flew through the air, somehow missing all my passengers, and landed on the rear window shelf.

Jethro Tull, I think... or maybe Deep Purple.

If you stop to think about it you realize the 8-track didn't move. The GTO accelerated past it.

We had to smoke a lot of dope to get our heads around THAT.

I'm glad you didn't lose the car, Stingrayiii67 AND the garage / house!''

p.s. You are now "officially" authorized to put flame decals on yer hood & fender.

Coronette

Wow! Close call! Glad you caught it in time!

HeadsU.P.

So the flames were added graphics.

I agree with others, don't need a regulator on that carb.
(Maybe need one on a Eddy though)

Still sucks regardless. Cost and labor.

MelWff

Are you sure it's the regulator and not dirt on the secondary needle and seat assembly?

stingrayiii67

Yeah the regulator won't hold any pressure now.

wolfk

Open the regulator up and show us what caused it jam open. Regulators are very simple devices, only one moving part.

Jebbysan

If we are all reading the same thing....the 1711 Edelbrock pump that the OP has....requires a regulator. But if this were me......get the Holley copy that only puts out 6-8psi......the 1711 puts out 10psi. Do away with the regulator completely.

Jebby

Buccaneer

That sucks for sure, but I gotta ask...How did you have time to take a pic of your car on fire? I would have never done that and would be scrambling for the extinguisher next to my bench first. Pics come later after the fire is out. At least nobody was hurt and the car can be fixed.

jts90vette

I always start my 74 with the hood up and upon starting I immediately search for fuel leaks with a flashlight. I recently started this practice with my 1990, and guess what, the fuel rails were dripping! I had to disassemble both fuel rails and change out all the O-rings. All good now.

bazza77

I thought the exact same thing , but if you look its a photoshop image and he says "it looked something like this ".

stingrayiii67

It was photoshopped! lol.

Buccaneer

OK, if a Photoshop image, that's cool. If not, that's messed up and the car is not a priority.

grady white

sorry to see this but been preaching this for years and it seems to fall on deaf ears . That is exactly what happens when you run a air filter with no air cover snorkel..

MelWff

It had a metal cover based on the picture. Do you mean a fully enclosed filter?

grady white

yes… I have seen too many engine fires when people just run air filter on top of carb. It just takes one spark 🔥