My most important post

Discussion in '1947-1954' started by coilover, Jul 3, 2009.

  1. coilover

    coilover Member

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    GET A FIRE EXTINGUISHER. Been messing with the old cars and trucks for 60 years and never needed one till this week. Was charging a high dollar 48 five window with freon and had the idle turned up to about 1200rpm. It sits real low with the header collector being even lower. Hadn't noticed (truth; paid attention) to the fact there was a puddle of ATF on the floor directly under one collector. It run about ten minutes--enough time to get the exhaust plenty hot, and when I turned it off still on high idle it burped and set the fluid on fire. Flames came up between the firewall and the back of the engine and would have burned it completely if there hadn't been an ancient dry chemical extinguisher on the welding table. Made a heck of a mess with that powder everywhere but at least it wasn't a 30k mess. Been cleaning the carb and replacing wires and hoses for two days and smiling all the time.
     
  2. Kens 50 PU

    Kens 50 PU Member

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    Excellent advise!

    And for those of us who already have them, check them regularly to make sure that they are charged and ready for use!

    Thanks Evan!

    Ken
     
  3. Blueflame236

    Blueflame236 Member

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    Get a fire extinguisher.

    Well thank you reminding us about this issue as securety is most important. Hope your truck gets back in shape again.Advice to buy another type of extinguisher as the white powder nitrate is mean towards paint and infact is poisoness to.
    There are soap/halon mixture extinguishers whom kill the flames better and dont leave anything behind.Talk to your locall dealer or fire brigade.

    Good luck Martinius.


     
    Last edited: Jul 3, 2009
  4. booger

    booger Member

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    AMEN Brother:eek:
     
  5. vwnate1

    vwnate1 Member

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    Halon

    Is very good but , it displaces oxygen so if you breathe any of it , it'll settle in your lumngs and you'll soon die a painful death.....

    This is why they're now illegal .

    Glad no one was hurt and the shop didn't burn down .

    I sure wish I could afford a $30,000.00 Evan orchestrated rebuild on my '49 ! it sure wouldn't be a restoration but it'd be *perfect* to my needs when done :p

    Who knows , I bought a $1.00 Lottery ticket yesterday.... :rolleyes:
     
  6. ol' chebby

    ol' chebby Member

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    I had a leaky fitting on my Edelbrock carb. I nearly had it stopped. I backed off the fitting a little to get a good hard seal on it. When I did, apparently shot a squirt of gas on the distributor and ignited. The puddle of gas on the manifold then caught, as well as the gas on my arm. I jumped back and smacked out my arm, jumped in the truck, couldn't get my extinguisher out of the mount, so I yanked the whole mount off. I got the fire out with minor damage. I had to replace the spark wires and the distributer wires, repaint my mailbox, and I put a sticker over the bubbled paint on the hood, now replaced with a painting of a Tiki dawg, just to cover the peeled paint.

    I was welding on the 50 on the fireall, when the cover we had on the engine went up. I saw flames through the windsheild and grabbed the fire extinguisher from the wall....I only lost a distributer cap and wire set on that one. It could have been worse....it was in the garage at the time.

    ALWAYS KEEP AN EXTINGUISHER IN AND NEAR YOUR TRUCK.
     
  7. skalywag

    skalywag Member

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    May 14, 2008
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    Nashville
    Amen, I am happy to hear that all were saved.
    I have an ABC Fire Extinguisher mounted on the blanking panel where a "Fresh-Air" heater duct would connect to the RH cowl (I have a recuirculator). I simply mounted the extinguisher supplied bracket to the face of the panel and it is always within reach. Looks like it belongs there (it does).
    GLTA
    Terry
     
  8. Zig

    Zig Member

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    While we're at it~

    Raise your hand if you've replaced those smoke detector batteries lately? (The 4th and New Years are good days to do that...)

    Evan~ thanks for your post. I'm sure more than a few of us decided to check the remaining levels of our extinguishers...;)
     
  9. booger

    booger Member

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    my hand is up ! but having trouble seeing others hands ??? am i supposed to have some kinda camera . and everyone should have or get an extinguisher in the truck AND shop . even those FANCY G's @!!!!!!:D
     
  10. Scubanero

    Scubanero Member

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    Calgary AB, Canada
    Halon

    Halon is a version of Freon, but it is much better at killing fires than just displacing oxygen. The reason it is now illegal is the same reason that Freon is now illegal: major depleter of ozone in the upper atmosphere.
     

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