Dust Bunnys and Spider Webs a cautionary tale

Hi all! just wanted to share something that happened to me that caught me by surprise so i wanted to share it in hopes of preventing it from happening to someone else, not sure if it belongs here or in the tech section...couple of days ago i started up the new motor in my 55 chevy belair, the car had been sitting in a clean heated garage for 3 and a half years, during the cam break in proceedure where the timing has not been correctly set because the motor cant idle yet it was running a bit hot but not bad, 15 minutes in to breaking in the cam i noticed smoke coming from under the rear of the car so i shut it down...a fire had started between the muffler and underside floor board, had 2 older fire extinguishers, one refused to work, but the second one put the fire out but only squirted twice...mr garden hose finished the job..no major damage done to the car even though it seemed like a small flame burned nearly five minutes as i struggled to put it out, the car sits quite low, however i ended up with 2nd and 3rd degree burns to my hand and wrist...it seems a pretty sizable amount of spider webs and dust bunnys built up under the car in 3 and a half years even in a closed garage, then i think the undercoat someone had sprayed under the car kept it burning...so....if you are starting a car thats been sitting any amount of time i would advise that you do a look see under the vehicle first...as a car hobby guy for life whos owned over 200 cars i never had this happen before...be careful out there!

 

Thanks for the heads up!

 

Wow! I'm glad it didn't go sideways on you! So many carbecues begin from one small flame. I'm Navy-trained in firefighting, so any time I've had a fire on a car, I've been able to put it out in short order; I don't expect others to be able to put out a fire without training, so you did a good job. All it takes is flames to burn through a rubber fuel line, and your day just went from bad to very worse. Do what your doc says on your burns and heal up now, ya hear?

 

Thanks! Yes I was both lucky, and blessed at the same time...a fuel hose was very close...going to spend a day under the car on jackstands with a broom and a vacuume cleaner before starting the car again....and bought a new fire extinguisher today as well....had been wondering about a name for the car for years...now its named "The Phoenix"...it's had one wire fire, and now this one...beginning to wonder if the car has a curse on it because nothing has ever gone well on it but it has a chop top on it and i like it so I'm not ready to give up on it (yet)...

 

This is the "Phoenix" seems the ghost flames must have been put on there for a reason..

 

She's a beaut!
I have caught two different vehicles on fire (one of them twice ) After the third experience a buddy gave me a fire extinguisher as a gag gift for a birthday present. I actually loved the idea. I now have fire extinguishers in every vehicle I own, including Jennifer's Freestyle.
Life lessons right? I'm glad that there was a happy ending to this tale.

 

Thank you! Yes a life experience and lesson learned! Now I'm going to get another extinguisher for the wagon...

 

That certainly is a tasty Double Nickel ya got there! Reminds me of Bob Falfa's Chevy in American Graffiti.

 

I was going to lunch one day and saw a mustang sitting at a stop sign on a side road. Smoke was rolling out around the hood. I could smell electrical fire. I opened the hood and saw a wire glowing on the firewall. The car had lost its main ground and was back feeding thru one of the small body grounds. I cut the positive cable with a pair of side cutters. Problem solved. However someone had called the fire dept. I told them everything was under control, but they told me to vacate the premises and proceeded to hose the engine compartment with powdered extinguishers. You all know what a mess they make, especially under a hood. I just drove away shaking my head.

 

I have to put about a 1 ft wide strip of Ortho lawn granules along the inside edge of the doors of my garage. That keeps nearly all the spiders out. Otherwise just over one summer there will be so many webs that I can’t stand it out there.

As far as fire hazards, main thing I have to worry about is mice. Building nests in flammable places. Tearing up things so they now are in a place to burn. Chewing wires that can now short out and burn. And that’s just the fire related issues. One time it started smoking under the hood, and it was a chewed up hood insulation that was getting onto the exhaust manifold. I pulled over and just ripped the rest of it out until I could make another one.

Best thing I have found for that is Rat Magic granules. I keep a jar of them inside the car when parked. A plastic bowl of them that fits perfectly atop the battery with no room to spill. It’s made a huge difference.

 

Some great advice! Thanks...glad I'm not the only one with spider issues, once the webs were there leaves and dust balls had something to hang on to...my burns are much better now so going to spend a day under the car de-webbing it before finishing the cam break in.

 

Hi guys and gals, just wanted to make one last post about the fire, my hand and wrist healed up enough that i could get under the car today with a broom and vacuum, got 2 full dust pans filled with webs and dust that was totally flammable, and vacuumed a ton of webs...but that turned out not to be the cause of the fire, the fire started because a "slit" of rust had rusted thru at the weld of the muffler to the tailpipe exactly the size i could fit my thumbnail in, and one inch away was the rubber muffler hanger that had caught fire and turned in to a crispy critter, it was what kept burning along with the 1/4 inch thick spray on undercoat someone sprayed over rust... lucky at that point of the fuel line its metal, and was only on the other side of the frame, ya just never know but sitting never does a car any good...be careful out there!
Terry

 

Good to hear it wasn't really bad. It likely would've burned itself out without much damage. But I've fought three different fuel fires, 2 underhood and 1 underneath. My Navy training kept them all from becoming carbecues. However, not everyone served aboard ship or in an air squadron. Any garage where fuel and oil is used, exposed to heat or open flame, should have a good-sized dry chem extinguisher, easy to find and easy to use.

 

Amen to that! I now have a brand new one...it was interesting how one of the 2, 20 plus year old extinguishers didn't even squirt, the arrow was just barely out of the green"good" zone and it had nothing..so it's equally important to keep them up to date...finished the cam break in last night and it sounds really mean with the comp cams "big mutha thumper" cam..
Now it's time to get the wagon out...

 

Any chance you can give some advice what to do if it had been a fuel fire? In my case I would have turned off the electric fuel pump first, then if it was a carb fire, tried to smother it first or suck the flames back in by turning it over, but besides an extinguisher what does a person do?
Terry