Ill share another car memory with you guys.

[fastfredracing]

I just found this photo today .
I was just starting to really become a gearhead by this point . This was a ****ty lesson to learn . I think I was 19. I was not employed as a mechanic yet,
Really clean 77 Camaro . Bronze color, pretty car . I had just got done building a pretty hot 327 with a cam, headers, intake, camel hump heads, gears , posi, shift kit, all the fun stuff .
I had worked on it all night, and quit at about 3 am . I pulled it out of my parents garage ( I still lived at home ) and left it in the driveway overnight . It was mid January , and super cold outside
I did not have the choke hooked up yet, and had no air cleaner lid on . I was going to pull it back in and work on it most of the day again.
I ran outside in the morning to fire it up and pull it back into the garage to finish up last minute stuff . I was wearing shorts, docksiders, with no socks, and a sweat shirt . ( probably the clothes I slept in ).
It was freezing out , and it just did not want to light off . I had it sputtering a few times, then it backfired once or twice , and I gave up .
I had figured I had flooded it by then, so my plan, was to run back in the house, pull on some jeans, and warmer clothes , and go back out and get it to run .
I will never forget , I am up in my bedroom putting on my pants, when I see smoke out the window, and by the time I got over to the window to look out, it was already engulfed
I emptied both fire extinguishers we had into it, but it was too far gone at that point . Had to dial 911 and watch it burn .
Of course, no full coverage, I had spent every penny to my name on it, and I was out of work , only time ever in my adult life that I did not have a job .
We were all just thankful that it was not still in the garage .
One of my good friends burnt down his parents house the same basic way .
I figure, I probably did flood it , then all the fuel that was pooled in the carb, lit off when it backfired. With no air cleaner lid, it just went to town , total loss .
I have always been very mindful about fire dangers, after this episode .
I bought my 1969 z 28 to replace this , and later on , took all the goodies out of this car, and built another 78 z 28.
It was pretty toasty , the dome light melted in this fantastic stalagmite looking thing, from the ceiling down onto the center column .
The motor , trans, and all the hot rod parts were salvage able , minus the carb, distributor and other stuff on top of the motor
You guys ever loose one to fire ? I remember jake here, burning up his sidekick .

[masraum]

Ouch! I suspect you might have been OK if the hood had been up. You'd have probably had a big fireball and that would have been it. I had a buddy that had fireballs come out of a carb backfire a few times.

I worked at an auto parts place years ago. We were on a pretty major road right at an Interstate exit (I75 in Tampa). Many times folks would get off of the freeway and their cars would catch fire sitting at the light. They'd often run in and ask for a fire extinguisher. Two or three times someone would grab the extinguisher off the wall and run dump it into the engine compartment. those extinguishers did absolutely nothing to stop or slow the fires. I think they were rated for wood and paper or something, and just had nothing on a fire fed by gasoline and all of the stuff under the hood of a car. After a few instances of having to pay to get our extinguisher recharged, we stopped using them. Folks would get very frustrated with us, but it wasn't going to do any good. It would have been a waste.

I've got a story, but will have to wait and post later.

[rfuerst911sc]

That's a tough lesson to learn but as you stated could have been worse . I have never had a car fire and really don't want the experience 😁 . Thanks for sharing .

[Scott Douglas]

I'll never forget the time my brother tried fixing my Jeep gas tank. He'd stripped the threads on the outlet pipe so wanted to braze in another one. We'd witnessed the local welder weld on gas tanks, so thought we knew the drill. Fill it with water to get all the fumes out of it first. 'Course we didn't have the fire extinguisher handy in case something untoward was to happen, but hey, we were teenagers at the time.
So we fill the tank and drain it as Dad's little torch couldn't heat up a tank full of water. We're sitting on the driveway apron out in the alley. Brother lights the torch and says 'I think I'll just pass the flame over the fill neck to be sure it's empty of fumes'. As he does this, I turn my head to the side, you know, just in case.
The resulting boom was heard by lots of people, including Dad, who just happened to be at work but at that moment was on the phone with Mom in the front bedroom all the way at the front of the house. Mom said Dad asked her what we were up to and said she ought to go check it out as it was a pretty LOUD bang.
Well, there was a Vietnam Vet working on a car up the alley who had a limp when he walked. He was down that alley before the tank hit the ground. It had flown up as high as the big telephone pole in the neighbors back yard, you know the one's with the power lines way up there.
My brother meanwhile was bleeding all over his face from the solder that got blown out of the joint that held the two pieces of the tank together.
Luckily when the tank landed it was about ten feet away in the center of the alley. Lucky for him he was wearing his glasses so no eye damage.
The Vet asked us what we were doing. He thought for sure someone had died. Well, the tank died that's for sure. It was all warped out of shape.
Mom came out and asked what had happened. Told us she had been on the phone with Dad.
Lucky for us, no one was hurt badly. Mom picked some pieces of solder out of my brothers face but he was none the worse for wear except for the ringing in his ears. I was lucky too as I had turned away and rocked back on my heals just in the nick of time. Dad was very understanding and knew we'd learned a good lesson so didn't say too much when he got home.
My brother ended up buying me a new tank for the Jeep.

Then there was the time we were running the distributor driven fuel pump on a 'Vette FI unit with an electric drill and we noticed the drill motor sparking inside the housing...but that's another story.

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by rfuerst911sc

That's a tough lesson to learn but as you stated could have been worse . I have never had a car fire and really don't want the experience 😁 . Thanks for sharing .

I had a 911 catch fire...that stupid factory cold start system on the 1970 911T. As I was watching the air filter housing melt into the carb stacks, a quick thinking buddy ran into his house, soaked a blanket, used it to smother the flames.

[A930Rocket]

A friend had his 240Z “stolen”, stripped and burned, because he couldn’t sell it. I’ll leave it at that.

[masraum]

30-ish years ago, I bought a '69 Buick Riviera. The interior was fantastic, the body was fantastic, it appeared to be very original. The paint was ok. I went to buy it, and took an oil gauge with me to check the oil pressure before I purchased it. The car started and seemed to run great sitting in place. The oil pressure switch was in a horrible location, so I decided to give it a pass. Big mistake.

I bought the car and drove it back to where I lived. I had it on the interstate and drove it to show a couple of folks. On the way home, it died. The motor seized. Turns out the Buick 430 and 455 motors have a weakness in the oil system, but in this case, I think the issue was due to previous owners. When I pulled the motor and stripped it down, there was a layer of crap that mostly looked like old bits of gaskets that had been allowed to fall/flow down into the oil pan. When I dropped the pan, there was a mold of the bottom of the pickup in that crap in the bottom of the pan.

So, spun bearings. I bought another 430. Between the two motors, I had a good block, a good crank and 3 cracked heads. Then I bought a 455 that "was running when we pulled it." It also had spun bearings, but it did have good heads. I called a Buick club and was told by a guy "sure, those heads will work. Just make sure you put 3/4" freeze plugs in the top center water jacket hole in the bottom of the heads because it won't line up." I didn't go crazy, but I bought a mild cam, Edelbrock intake and carb, forged pistons, and a ton of other stuff (I worked at a parts store, so I was poor, but got a decent discount). I spent a ton of money rebuilding the motor. As I mocked the motor together, I looked at that hole in the 455 heads and thought "that looks fine, I don't need a freeze plug" (and I had them, I was just too smart and lazy to put them in). Yes, I was a 21 yo moron who thought I knew better. I put the motor together, filled it with antifreeze and oil and was getting ready to turn it over to circulate the oil when I noticed a problem. I drained the "oil" and what I got was a bunch of anti-freeze and then the oil.

It wasn't rational, but I shut the door to the storage unit. My roommate even tried to get me to go back and pull it apart and fix it, but I was done. I let it sit there for months until I finally sold it for next to nothing when I was moving out of state.

I should have listened to the Buick club in the first place. I should have torn it down and fixed it, even if it was just to sell it and recoup some money.

It was a valuable lesson in stupidity.

And one small side story about the same car. I had a buddy that agreed to tow the car home with a tow strap and his mustang II (it was maybe 2-3 miles, and most of it could be through neighborhoods. I told him, "you've got to go slow. I've got to keep tension on the tow strap, and since the motor isn't running, I've got no power steering or brakes." We stopped a couple of times and I reminded him, "make sure you keep going slow." He was fine on the first main street. Then we turned into the neighborhood and he lost his mind. We were going too fast and approaching a stop sign, so he started braking and caused a bunch of slack in the line with my car rapidly approaching his. So I stomped on the brakes which was also a mistake. That took up the slack. Then imagine 2 billiard balls with a rubber band stretched between them. Yeah, that ended up being about 3-5 hits.

[911TES]

Somewhat related to the gas tank story:
To stay safe I’ll say it was a friend of a friend of a friend who figured-out that he could fill a truck tire inner tube to full pressure with his oxy-acetelyne torch - unlit of course - that part comes later. The next step was to bring that enlarged inner tube to the large abandoned property next door. The next step was to douse the inner tube with lighter fluid, light it and run like hell. I was told the explosion was so loud it was heard eight miles away. The local police called-in the US Army bomb squad.

[mattdavis11]

At the time, my DD was a Dodge Ram Charger, the one listed in my signature. After a long day, I pulled into the driveway, one brother was knocking back a cold one in a chair in our open garage. As I step out, he says, "your truck is en fuego", to which I replied, "well, help me roll it into the street".

I repaired it.

The 944 had a cam tower gasket blow. I just waved at the dog walkers as I went by on fire. It wasn't that bad, unless you saw the smoke behind me. Only melted a few rubber and plastic bits under the hood.

I tried to get a tow truck when I knew what was going on (I did stop previously to check things out) but it was Labor Day at 7am.

[oldE]

In March '04, I got a GMC reg cab with 8' box and was pretty happy with the unit, until one August day it wouldn't start. I had a neighbour flat deck it to a friend's garage a few miles down the road, just outside of town. The garage owner called me that afternoon and advised me the in-tank fuel pump had failed, he would get a replacement and call me when it was done. A couple of days later, I was on the internet early in the morning before going to work when the connection failed. Hmmm. Phone line went out too.
Around 8 AM, I used our cel phone to call my son in town to see is there was a fire at the switching facility near his apartment. Negative. All quiet there.
I joked to my wife "Well, I know where someone is working with gasoline between here and town!"
As the wife drove me to work, we could see smoke ahead and, as we crested the last hill, the source of the smoke was indeed the garage where my truck was having work done. At the detour barricades, the local volunteer fire fighter was able to assure us my friend had been taken to the hospital with minor burns, and shock, but no serious injuries.
It later came out he had changed the fuel pump but was having trouble getting the gas to the throttle body the evening before. First thing in the morning he started bleeding the lines, ending up with gas on the engine and in a drip pan under the truck. That's when the engine backfired, igniting everything. The fire extinguishers he had wouldn't kill the fire and by that time the building was involved. As the fifty year old garage burned, the heat melted the phone wires along the highway.
The next morning the hulk of my truck was on the front page of the provincial newspaper. The insurance co tried a low ball offer until I provided more details about the mileage, cap and trailer hitch. The real funny part was they would not pass over the cheque until we produced the second set of keys.
My friend built a new garage and a few weeks later I found a similar truck in very nice condition.

Best
Les

[1990C4S]

Originally Posted by 911TES

Somewhat related to the gas tank story:
To stay safe I’ll say it was a friend of a friend of a friend who figured-out that he could fill a truck tire inner tube to full pressure with his oxy-acetelyne torch - unlit of course - that part comes later. The next step was to bring that enlarged inner tube to the large abandoned property next door. The next step was to douse the inner tube with lighter fluid, light it and run like hell. I was told the explosion was so loud it was heard eight miles away. The local police called-in the US Army bomb squad.

A coworker of mine was a little nutty, he got drunk and filled a green garbage bag with oxy-acetylene gas and fired a flaming arrow into it. The explosion destroyed a metal garden shed, collapsed the one wall completely.

[asphaltgambler]

OK,- this is thread is so good, I have 1 of many to share but need to track down the actual photo, stay tuned....

[1990C4S]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

OK,- this is thread is so good, I have 1 of many to share but need to track down the actual photo, stay tuned....

A real thread! No politics today! Success!!!

[Scott Douglas]

Originally Posted by 911TES

Somewhat related to the gas tank story:
To stay safe I’ll say it was a friend of a friend of a friend who figured-out that he could fill a truck tire inner tube to full pressure with his oxy-acetelyne torch - unlit of course - that part comes later. The next step was to bring that enlarged inner tube to the large abandoned property next door. The next step was to douse the inner tube with lighter fluid, light it and run like hell. I was told the explosion was so loud it was heard eight miles away. The local police called-in the US Army bomb squad.

I can only imagine how loud that must have been.

[mattdavis11]

We had a 1984 2.8L V6 Chevy S10 Blazer, I say we because my mom and dad owned it, and paid for parts, my brothers and I shared use of it.

I'm the youngest of 5 boys, so it was ragged out when it became my turn. That thing had been sunken in the river, stuck in deep mud, nailed from behind, you name it, it happened.

The motor was going bad, and we all knew it. Down on power, knocking, etc... We tried to kill it, and finally we did, but that was not until after we banana peeled one muffler. The first couple of times, we scared a few folks, the last time, I cleared out a party at my friends home when the keg was getting light. Police were there quick.

1st gear up to speed, ignition off, two pumps, ignition on. BOOM!

[Scott Douglas]

@mattdavis11 - That reminds me of the time my brother and I were returning the U-Haul rental truck for my folks after they'd moved into an old house on a vineyard in Mendocino County. Being as it was up on the hill top, it was mostly down hill to get to the highway into town.
As we're going down the road we noticed it backfired a little bit when you'd let off the gas slightly. As a car was approaching going the other direction, uphill, we shut off the ignition when it got about four car lengths from us. Just as it was next to us, we switched it back on. I think the other driver thought they'd been shot at as they pulled over and stopped. We had a lot of fun on that trip.

[Skip Newsom]

Ah yes...
Bought a '67 Bug from my big brother, it had been sitting on the street in front of his house for about a year, he also had a '64 Buick Electra with the 425 Wildcat engine that was his daily driver and a '72 super Bug his wife preferred.

It had at least one dent in every fender, plus my then SIL liked to tailgate even at breakneck speeds. The odds caught up with her and she had rear ended an much bigger car and buggered up the hood, apron, more of a fender, etc.
Some one had thoughtfully broken out the rear window while it sat in the bowels of Everett on Oaks street.

I liked VW's a lot and at 17 dreamed of a sleeper-ish version.

$300 and and a full throttle first gear clutch dump artfully preformed by aforementioned big brother busted the rusted parking brakes free and she was on her way to my house for slow transformation toward my vision.

Lucky for me most parts for an old bug were readily available from a local specialty shop "Bow Wow", most bits cost about $15.

Except the motor... beyond brakes and basic necessities I could clearly see that would make the most difference to the car's fun to drive quotient, the 1500 cc OEM mill just was not cutting it.

I popped for a 1776 cc dual port, dual "Kaldron" carbs set up with a mild cam aiming for at least 100 HP.
Removal and install were easy, first fire up and tuning went perfect, no leaks anywhere so off I went to see what I'd created. I got about 5 miles and was very pleased at how smooth and snappy the new motor was when suddenly the power dropped off, glanced in the rear view mirror and all I see is black smoke billowing.

Many bad words ensued, shut it off bailed out, opened the engine lid and she's still on fire. Grab a piece of the brand new carpet kit and madly beat out the flames.
My beautiful fresh painted motor, wiring and inside of the lid were pretty toasted.

Realized after cleaning it up and troubleshooting the new fuel pump had leaked from the outlet tube side between the metal tube and the pump.
Bow Wow helped cover some costs of the repairs, but that sure took the shine of my first big automotive project.

[1990C4S]

Not a fire, but probably my dumbest move...

I was rebuilding a shed and found a guy about five miles away was selling some really nice composite boards that I wanted for siding. He was desperate to get rid of them, they were worth about $1,000 but he said '$100 cash, but you have to take them now, my wife is coming home and she said they had to be gone when she came back'.

So normally I would get my trailer but I'm cheap, so I loaded these 16' - 18' long boards in my Volvo wagon. I loaded the longest ones onto the arm rest right up to the dash, gate open, boards flapping out the back....total moron s/show.

I get very close to my house and I turn the corner...the boards shift...they slide off the console and the sharp edge digs into my soft steering wheel...the wheel locks mid-corner....I slam on my breaks...they slide forward into my dash. I'm stuck on a busy street with a cracked dash and a locked steering wheel. I slide everything back/to the right and I limp home.

Another successful Craigslist purchase! Ten years later I still look at me shed and laugh.

[asphaltgambler]

OK - I've literally have a hundred cars / stories to go with them. This first one came to mind. I bought this rusty but high optioned / big block '66 Impala SS. I spent a fortune of time / $$ on rebuilding the drivetrain, suspension, interior, etc. But had nothing left over to fix the rust and paint at that time, circa 1982 or so.

So one Saturday morning trying to figure out what to do with it, had a brainstorm...……..the rest as they say is..............:history

[asphaltgambler]

This is a not so great story...…..I worked as a Tech at the Exxon station ( back ground) that had 6 bays, very busy, we did and worked on almost everything, including a "Foreign Car" bay and Euro tech. One of the many benefit's were the owner allowed us to work on our own stuff anytime as long as it was after normal hours. So naturally, we all had various projects in various forms of completion 'round the clock.

I ran across this '70 big block, high option Chevelle SS (see a theme here?) BEFORE the accident pictured - that had a rough life. I picked it up for a song and started making it 'whole and drivable' again. Keep in mind that I had '67 Nova Pro-Street / Race car, my above 66 Impala as well as a crappy daily driver.

So I work on the Chevelle on and off for about a year, in between all the other stuff I had going on - managed to get all the Hill Billy out of it, and the last thing was to have carpet installed and the front seat upholstery partial replacement.

I finished it one Friday evening, took a drive literally around the block to make sure it was road worthy as Monday morning had an appointment at the local upholstery shop.

Except I couldn't keep my car in my bay over the weekend as a crew was coming Sat to dig up the in ground lift in my bay to fix. The parking lot was full, so I parked beside the island next to the street...………………….

Early Sunday morning - like 2 am, I here this banging on my door. I lived about 2 miles from my work at that time. It's a friend of mine he's all wide-eyed and keep saying there's been an accident, my car's totaled...…….

For a time I don't get what he's telling me, I'm looking out in my driveway, he's yelling, I'm dumbfounded. Finally I hear him say "It's your Chevelle man!! - it's totaled...……….." I say "how can it be totaled it's parked against the curb at the station?"

He said "A guy in a Subaru was drunk, going over 90MPH, ran the traffic light, lightly grazed a car in the intersection - set him at an angle and he T-boned your Chevelle!!"

And here it is...…………….





He lived btw, only because he was so drunk. Me...………I was going to tag and put insurance on it that Monday...…………….