Yep, fire folks....

I got it all back together, cranked her up, let it idle for a while, revved it. All seemed nice and good in the world. I did notice that it sounded like the Air filter was sucking in a lot more air, even at idle, I could hear it.

I go for a spin, car seems to sound different, hesitate a bit then jump out, and then seem to go flat......???? Seems lean right?

I pull into a Brandsmart parking lot, park it on the curb, walk over to get a hot dog from the hot dog girl. Im sitting there eating this really good sausage with onions and chili and all the good stuff when all of a sudden I see smoke from under the hood!!! AHHHHHHHH!

I run over, drop some onions and chili on my hood, darn, reach into the car to pop it, Im almost acared to open it at this point, I contemplated letting it burn and getting the insurance money! Of course I wasnt going to lose her without a fight, Ipopped the hood and theres flame where the brake booster hose is, it has caught the hose, my plug wire and stainless braided plug wire boot, and some wires on the harness on fire!!! Like an idiot, I blew on it, waved my hands, then I looked around for a fire extinguisher within site, or any kind of emrgency vehicle, no luck, the hot dog girl gives me a big ole empty mayonaisse jug full juice or liquid!!! I sniffed it, didnt seem flammable, so splash, the fire was out! I was going to throw my sweater to smother it next, but this was surely a better route for now.

So I back off, let the smoke clear, and look at the damage. The brake booster has a big ole hole in it, the hose i half gone as is the fitting, there is a harness there for something with a lot of insultation on the wires gone, a plug wire and boot are toasty white and charred, but intact. Maybe some more but I dont have the stomach to investigate right now, this car has beat me today, and I am done with it till tomorrow!

Its starts and runs, just has a stiff brake pedal right now. Everything electric works, and it never flared up again so I know it wasnt electrical. I think it was lean and the headers were glowing and ignited the compartment. Would a lean condition do this? Or maybe I didnt get the distributor clamped tight back in perfect time which caused the header to get hot? I marked it with a sharpie, and I think its almost exactly where it was before. Maybe the backfire from this morning hurt something causing the header to get hot? Should I consider the molten header as the culprit, even if I never saw it glowing?

Ideas, help, anything??? I really want a new C5 at times like this!!!! I might just go buy one of those PT Cruisers for 14k brand new......C5 is kinda pricey!

I need a brake booster at minimum, anyone got one for sale?

 

What did you take apart? :confused:

I will offer this piece of advice to anyone who loves their corvette - pack a fire extinguisher in one of your rear compartments. After seeing so many burned corvettes at the local wrecking yard and also taking apart the fuel rail and seeing that a bunch of little rubber O-rings are the only thing holding back 40+ lbs of fuel pressure was enough to convince me to take this simple preventive step.

 

Exactly what I thought a while back, and today, but you know how it goes.....
ahh, its running great, it will never burn!

RIGHT!!!!! Im getting one this weekend!!!!

Read Oh No! My engine part one on another post from this morning about the details leading up to this one.

 

Looking at the engine picks...I see heat insulation on some wires and stuff. That heat insulation is famous for starting fires, all it needs is a little oil to soak into it and it will catch on when heated.

Probably that one running close to the valve cover?

 

Gus,

I read both posts and am truely sarry to hear of your woes. I hope you don't own any large hammers or sledges- lest you get an unpleasant idea in a moment of rage :eek: BTW, Nice car-sized extinquishers are $12-15 a piece at Advanced Auto and the like....

Sometimes vettes are like women: Just plain evil! :reddevil :reddevil :reddevil

haha
goodluck with tomorrow buddy

 

That stuff is supposed to be fire retardant!! It couldnt have been the valve cover, bc it doesnt get hot enough, and its been fine for oer a month. It had to be the lean mixture which caused the header to glow and ignite something.

2 things:

The timing is a bit off, or the backfire this morning blew a gasket somewhere in the intake

I dont like the thought of taking off that Superram.....Im not gonna sleep tonight just thinking about that darn mousetrap.

WHERES MY HAMMER?????

 

HOLY Crap GUS!

MAn your luck is about as good as mine. :eek:

I tried to email you today, but as usual I type a 20 minute letter, hit reply and my email crashes the computer :mad

Sorry I missed your call last night. I was out painting my engine till late, but there were no messages? I will be here till 8pm if you see this.

In my email that was lost, I commented on your ignition problem that you found (rotor). Remember when I saw your dyno graphs I said it looked like you ignition was flaking out or something, because of how jumpy the curve was. Bingo, bet it smoothed out more now with your rotor fixed, not to mention the power might be better now.

As for your most recent problem. If you did not have the timing back to 6* it may have been too retarded and you started burning fuel in the headers. This is what causes them to glow, if they were. But you easily while fixing the rotor, could have bumped something close to headers, or even left something laying in there that caused the fire. Glad to see that you got it extinguished with no problems.

This should be a lesson to all of us to carry an extinguisher. I am definately gonna invest in one once I hit the road again with mine.

I will talk to you later. Hope everything works out. :cheers:

 

So far I am $130 bucks deep due to this, the brake booster is $96 plus $30 core which they will not accept my burnt one. Hopefully I wont find much else in there, I think I may have to by some shrink tube to re-insulate some wires. My nice big shiny red Taylor # 7 plug wire is now charcoal white, and a little thinner, but it still works!!!! I need to check the O2 sensor wire, and all the leads going to the ECM, but I think theyre fine, the car starts and runs fine.

Oh, add another $20 for a fire extinguisher!

I was just thinking....How lucky I was that I stopped for that Hot Dog, what if I would have gone into the store, or just tried to drive home?!!!

Imagine coming out of Brandsmart and finding firemen beating your car to pieces!! Or feeling the fire through the firewall once its too late, while you are driving!!!

God is good to me even when I am Schleprock!

Jesse, can I be Schleprock for a month? Send me some plum paint!

I dont know wether to laugh or cry or beat myself silly! Hot Rods are for the brave (or for those with a 3rd car!)

Time to fire up the Cherokee - I hate driving it!

 

Holy ... Sorry to hear that. I am getting a fire extingusher tomorrow

 

WoW, hope you get things sorted out, :eek: all this talk of fire is scary !!
Good luck.

 

I've been driving with a fire extinguisher on my passenger seat ever since I installed my SuperRam. Which is only about 80 miles worth. Looks like I may be tearing down my SuperRam too, Second time this month :banghead:

Somebody was watching over you Gus :blueangel:

 

Ummm...you didn't research those very much did you? There is a safety warning on the material that says they are fire hazzards because they absorb oil.

Do you know how many cars with header wrap are resting in burned up charred fragments in junkyards right now? More than either of us would like to count...and you had the stuff right where it would touch a header pipe...and absorb any oil seeping from a valve caver gasket.

So..I say about a month of slow oil absorption...sounds about right. Sorry man, just imagine how lucky you are it didn't burn the whole car up. :party:

 

Now after I dug around and had a good look, the spark plug boots did NOT burn! The 2 wires did lose their insulation though. There was nothing else there except maybe I left an oil soaked rag or something??? I did check the timing, and it was so retarded, I could not even read it! That must have been the cause of the extra heat.

 

That far retarded the fuel mixture is burning inthe headers taht explains the engine "laying down" good luck.

 

Anyone else find this ironic?


Sorry about the car fire, but at least it didn't happen while you were away from the car. It could have been much worse, as we've all seen in the past...

 

Okay, now the only signs left of the fire are 2 things:

1. Cruise control cable outer insulation has a bare spot that melted. I covered with aluminum tape (not black tape bc it burns!)

2. 2 of my nice Red Taylor 409s have lost their insulation near the fire. I wonder if Taylor will sell me 2 wires?

While I was changing the brake booster, I also installed the DRM bias spring. While I was cleaning the cylinder that houses the piston, I found two of the vent holes clogged, and cleaned them. Now I have a serious pedal! Havent tested the brake bias yet, I had to get cleaned up for Superbowl party, Yay Bucs!

So the fire cost me $150, I think I learned a valuable lesson, at a bargain price!

The Fire Extinguisher is in also!

Heres hoping theres not a part 3!!!

 

after reading soo many storys about vettes burning i bought a nice chrome one & mounted it on the passanger 1 post! not only am i covered if i have a fire but it looks awsome 2! :yesnod: :thumbs:

 

Sorry about your fire, Gus. All that stuff looked sweet during the rebuild - now a minor setback that could've been worse. A lesson I'm gonna learn from - extinguisher, and watch the non-flammables becoming flammable!! :cheers: :seeya