The Stickman

WOW what a 24 hours I have had. Last night we were putting things away after working on a car I am selling to a friend and I put nail into my leg and had to go to the ER to get a tetnis shot. That wasn't all that bad as I have a high thresshold for pain and didn't feel anything after less than 5 min but was instructed to go by the girls in the house. Probably the best time I have ever had goin to the ER. BUT tonight was a whole different story. Almost to the hour we are coming home from hangin with car friends and I pull up and park my car and shut it off while we put the wife's car in the garage. I go back to my car to start it and it backfires through the car. It has done this before and had no problems so I tried to restart it again and it won't start. So the wife and I start pushing it forward so we can back it into my spot and we get about 20 feet maybe more when I smell something. I open the hood and can see flames behind the airfilter element. I take off the lid to the aircleaner and yell fire like a little girl. I then start running for the hose to fill up containers to put it out while continuously screaming liuke a little girl thinking my baby is gonna burn to the ground. I finally got it out. My wife did call the fire dept but and told them it was out while on the phone with them but they still had to come out and check out the situation just incase. So now I know I atleast need to take off the carb, and intake. I have already pulled the plugs incase water get's into the cylinders which i am sure has already happened. It all should dry out right and I shouldn't have to tear my engine apart right? Wow what a 24 hours!!!!

jensenracing77

you should not have to rebuild the engine but if you got water in there you need to dry it out ASAP and lube the cylinders with a little oil and turn over the engine a revolution or two till you get it sterted back up. hope today goes better.

Bluevista

Hey Stickman, had one of those days huh?, glad to here everything is okay as it can be.
It know it wasn't funny then but picturing you running around like a chicken with it's head cut off and screaming like a little girl is a bit humorous now.

I guess you already know that the very first thing you need to do is go buy a couple of good fire extinguishers.

I'm a carpenter, I eat rusty nails for breakfast.

joe_padavano

Stick, Glad you're OK. You are correct to pull the plugs. Just spin the motor over a few times to blow out any possible water, and you'll be fine. FYI, since gasoline floats on water, that's not your best choice for putting out a gasoline fire. Using a large (NON-oily!) rag to smother the flames is a better choice.

citcapp

That you admit to running around like a little girl screaming fire is in itself something I wouldn't do your a bigger man then I am. Maybe now you will be prompted to buy the correct fire extinguishers for all of your cars and install them in a handy location. Lesson learned for all of us to remember. I'm glad nothing more serious happned. Hope all turns out well.

mugzilla

Sounds like my car before I changed the timing chain ...

The Stickman

Ok I think I got all the water out of the cylinders. I took the carb and intake off and got any water laying in the valley. I will drain the oil after all is back together. But first I need to drill and tap out he vacuum ports on the Holley Intake. They are so damn small. That and the previous owner thought it was a great idea to use epoxy to seal them. Ugh so I got one out and will have to drill the other out as the allen head is just rounding it out. But once I do that I should be ok. Leg is healing ok I guess. Doesn't hurt but then that is not surprising as I don't feel much unless it is in my head. It feels kinda hard and a bit warm around where the nail went in. I'll just keep up with the antibioticss. ANd yes I am goin to get some fire extinguishers.

Olds64

Glad to hear that you are ok and the car only suffered a small fire. Do you think you can rebuild the carb, or is it a lost cause?