Magnesium Burns.... its crying time

[GothingNC]

Just heard from Gary.

He was able to buy back the car for a reasonable amount and will start on the resurrection

[Danimal16]

CH-37 Helicopters had Magnesium Skin over aluminum.

Way back, I had a very good friend in elementary school who's father was the pilot on one that hit the high power lines near Dyer Road on the Southwest side of LTA.

My Dad was stationed there and we went by the crash site. The only thing recognizable was the main engine components. Witnesses said the bird went up in a huge flash.

They never found the Major's body.

[cmcfaul]

Is it really totaled? From an insurance point of view I would say yes. From an original owner point of view I would fix it.

Chris
73 E

[GothingNC]

Originally Posted by cmcfaul

Is it really totaled? From an insurance point of view I would say yes. From an original owner point of view I would fix it.

Chris
73 E

It will be back on the road in about 18 months

[Geneman]

Hi Peeps i just did a search on fires and this turned up. As responsible member here thought it would be useful to post here and save someone else the heartache of loss. This weekend, My 911 race car caught on fire on the lift and burned both garage and car. likely total loss. This was the end of an 18 month rebuild to IROC specs for Vintage racing. I had planned to have it on track for testing this week. now its toast. The cause was stainless steel fuel lines ( going to PMO Carbs) arcing to the exposed 12v terminal of a tilton high torque starter motor. For safety purposes, I had re run the fuel lines out of the cockpit and thru the tunnel, such that they exited then looped directly over the gearbox on the way to the pmo regulator in middle of the shock tower. The last thing i did before the fire was to brush away the fuel lines and hook up the 12v feed from the battery : this terminal is exposed with no rubber cap . The fuel lines were not fixed yet with clamps or ties. The 12v line was fused with a big ass 150 A fuse right near the battery in trunk but it did not blow. The car also had a cockpit mounted kill switch which cut off the MSD ignition boxes as required, but it did not cut off the 12v feed to battery. (This can be done but rarely is in these type race cars). I left this car intact and fine with kill sw off at about 1030 pm. Motor stone cold but fuel in the lines from a test start at about 530 PM. Everything was fine when i left the house at 7 AM By 900 am i received a call that it was burning. It was a cool night and Its possible that as the sun came up it heated the inside garage enough to cause a bit of flexion in the ss fuel lines i had brushed away and they touched the 12 terminal. During track prep, had i not actually returned and clamped the fuel lines somewhere, this would have likely happened on track with 50 lbs of fuel pressure. i consider my self lucky but also an idiot. No insurance on car at all. No sympathy required just a PSA. Note the Mg fan housing was burned at top. Most of fire is on top of motor and car. Literally no damage to bottom of motor or running gear, or any suspension. Wondering if I can strip to the tub, sandblast it , powdercoat and rebuild. Moroever, no damage to fuel cell , oil tank , MC or anything in the front. The CF hood protected it all. Would anyone be concerned with the structural integrity, rigidity of the cage, meaning the integrity of the metal itself? Thanks for reading and i appreciate your comnments. BTW no injuries, it was a detached garage. i hope the gentleman who was burned per this original thread has recovered. best wishes to all and please be careful. Frank

[GothingNC]

Ugh, I feel your pain :-(

Glad nobody got hurt.

Did you have insurance for the garage?

[Geneman]

thanks goth yes on garage..... thats all....

[Tom '74 911]

Geneman,

Wow... that's a major bummer. I'm glad no one was hurt. The fact that you are already thinking/asking about rebuilding shows your resilience. A lot of people would throw in the towel after an experience like that. I can't answer any of your questions about whether the structure of the car was compromised, but just wanted to show some support...

Best,

Tom

[tdw28210]

Man..that is so tough to look at it. Feel badly for you. Some of the parts looks salvageable though and if the tub is not compromised I guess you could build it back. Sorry again.

[Geneman]

Thanks Tom and Td for your kind words. i am trying to rebuild if feasible based on the tub integrity..... this racing bug is really hard to shake.... cheers Frank

[manbridge 74]

A good time to observe #24 above. Its missing on a lot of 911s I work on.

Sorry for this, a tough break for sure.

[stownsen914]

Jeez Frank, that's a really tough break. Sorry to hear it happened. Glad that no one was hurt at least.

[bugstrider]

I just vomited....

Sorry to hear and see that.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[pc100porsche]

Frank -- so sorry to see this -- is this car your one owner 88 ?

[theiceman]

Frank that is heartbreaking. But i'm sure this would NOT have happened on the track as you would have had the fuel lines tied down in one form or another . The one thing it does teach us is due diligence when working around cars and don't leave power hooked up if things are not complete and buttoned up.

So sorry for your loss.

[cmcfaul]

Make it better, stronger faster as originality is up in smoke.

Don't know about a magnesium fire but I ran over a rag that landed on the left heat exchanger and caught fire right about where the fuel pump is. Fire extinguisher saved the day and got me back on my way. Will not drive without one.

Also had the instrument lighting short out (thanks Hollywood speedo). Luckily I was in the car and just had to turn the lights off and later replace a bunch of melted wires (plus buy a new speedo).

Chris
73 e

[m42racer]

So sorry to see these and for the owners. My thoughts go out to those that this happens to. So sad.

Just glad no one was hurt. The power of fire should never be under estimated.

Here is some inspiration that the worst can be recovered. This was a 1+ million dollar car I'm sure.

Porsche 962C Resurrection – performancedevelopments.com

[Geneman]

thanks m42 thats an amazing rebirth of a 962 encouraging.. even with extensive aluminum and mg damage... i pulled my motor last night .. seems my long block is OK! Bingo!

pc100 yes it was my one owner, " bought-new-when-i-was-a-starving-grad-student" 88 G50 coupe.. tragedy really ....

thanks for everyones kind words.. please be on a lookout for an air-cooled, roller race car ... with no motor gearbox... i think this is direction i am taking

frank

[GothingNC]

Gary's car is back home :-)

[dad911]

That's the car from 1st post?

Please tell us the story.