Out of nowhere, i had a massive fuel leak from the hole circled in the picture. I started her up (1965 98) and smelled fuel before i even got out of my apartment complex. I pulled to the side and popped the hood and saw fuel flying out from under the air cleaner. I pulled the cleaner and fuel was shooting out from this spot. Right out of the hole there. In the picture it seems to be blocked off, so i'm trying to figure out what happened. Long story short, the car caught fire and burned up. Unfortunately, there was an argument my wife had with a real scum-of-the-earth person the day before this happened, who threatened to "get me and my family," so arson is in the back of my mind Any reason why fuel would shoot out of this hole? Thank you so much for any input you have about this problem.

RIP 65 landyacht

 

Bummer about the car. The item you've circled is a plug that is used by the factory to seal an access hole used to drill internal passages in the casting. It's very possible that after almost 50 years, the plug vibrated loose.

 

Bummer about the car! Good to hear that nobody was hurt though. I guess it is always a good idea to keep an ABC fire extinguisher in the car.

 

Very sorry to hear about the car. As Joe said, the plug came loose. The exact same thing happened with my old '65 Starfire, however it happened before I could pull out of my driveway, and there was no fire. I shudder to thnk what would have happened if I was driving at speed. The plug, by the way, is solder. Pretty frightening. Since it is on the air horn / top plate, it would probably be a good idea (and not too difficult) for anyone with the same or similar carb to have this weak point addressed somehow.

Any thoughts on a more secure method to plug that hole than reying on a 40 year old hunk of solder?

 

Thanks for the responses. Once i saw black smoke, i was literally about 30 feet away from a fire extinguisher. I grabbed it and started spraying, however, after 20 seconds or so, the starter engaged (???) by itself and fuel started shooting all over the place once again and I had to call the fire department at that point. I'll post some pics when i get the car brought back in front of my place.

Here's another question: I only had liability from my normal car insurance (USAA) and the fire adjuster told me over the phone that it wont be covered. So now i have a nice complete car from the firewall back. I live in an apartment complex and I am not allowed to part the car out here or anything. Should I stash it at a friend's house and have everything replaced under the hood? Should I list it as a parts car? I have no idea what to do and i'm so saddened by the whole thing.

 

If you can park it at a friend's house that will give you time to figure out what you are going to do. It would be a shame to sell it for a few hundred dollars to a slavage yard just to get it out of your hair. I am sure it is worth alot more than that just in parts. Post some pics. Maybe someone on the site can help you assess the damage.

 

If the fire didn't get under the dashboard, it shouldn't be that expensive to repair. It's a rather nasty job, with all the burned rubber, but other than the carburetor, the parts shouldn't cost all that much. A few grommets, hoses and wires and several hours work might be all you need, other than a carb.
Be sure to get the water out of the cylinders; pull the spark plugs and turn it over with a wrench, then spray WD40 or somesuch into the cylinders ASAP.
(The water the fire department used. . .)

 

Here are some pics, i have standing water in the floor i have to get out.

 

I guess I misinterpreted "long story short" as I thought you had the air cleaner off looking at the fuel leak when it caught fire!

I'm sorry.

 

It caught fire about 45 seconds seconds after I saw the leak. The hood had been closed for about 15 seconds of that. My face could have gone "boom!" I really dont want to scrap it for a few hundred bucks, but i'm not sure of a ballpark figure to redo everything under the hood. I looked under the dash and didnt see anything but water damage.

 

You would have a job putting it back together, but from the photos the frame should be in tact and if there is warpage in the sheet metal...its a firewall. hood will need replacing. I would keep it. otherwise I guess you would be able to pull more money from it in parts, but that would be a shame to have to do that in my book.

 

I'm gonna hold onto it. If i dont carry insurance on the car while its being repaired for a while, am I going to get into trouble with the DMV for having a vehicle that's not insured?

 

That must have been a pretty car before the fire. It's a real bummer that this happened. I am glad to hear you decided to keep it. Good luck in your repairs.

You might want to call your local DMV and ask them about registering/insuring a car that is disabled. My 64 98 went 4 or 5 years without registration and insurance sitting in front of my dad's house. This was in MO. The only problem is that if I had re-registered it in MO after 4 or 5 years of sitting I would have had to pay $20-40 / year in fines that it wasn't registered. Now I live in OK. I registered it here and they do the same thing only the fines are over $100 / year.

Uncle hands in my pockets!

 

I'm not familiar with Florida law but as long as you are not driving the car I don't imagine you will have a problem. Just don't drive it without insurance... ever! I'd look into full coverage as soon as it's ready for the road again. Personally I think you made a good choice keeping the car. It doesn't look like it will be too hard to fix, and you seem to really be attached to it. I think she is has a good home.

 

ouch! I just called my insurance and asked them about it sitting for repairs. In Florida, it must be insured, but the 6 month premium with FULL coverage is 10 bucks!! HA!

The car was pretty before this happened. The interior was in wonderful condition, minus a badly stained headliner. Oh well, life goes on. I couldn't get collector car full coverage because I don't have a garage and it was sort of a daily driver. Well, more like an every other day driver. What's funny is that one of the fire fighters on the scene told me i should scrap it, and i politely told him to F*** off and I was going to fix it. Then he said, "Its just an old CUTLASS sedan, right?" hahahaha I then walked back to talk to someone else. Thanks for the kind words guys. Mucho appreciated. My kids and wife are the most dissapointed in what happened, they thought the car was soooooo coooool.

 

I'm glad nobody was hurt. It's alot easier to fix fire damage on a car than on a person.

 

what he said

 

4gc "freeze plug"