Small Block & Big Block Chevy Specific - My Engine Fire Story

So I was rolling up to my friend apartment complex looking for a guest spot. I pass one and throw it in reverse when all of a sudden I hear a pop! I look forward and all I see are flames coming out the cowl hood. I run outside and pop the hood. The whole top of the engine is burning. I run inside and I'm like guys my car is on fire. Mark is all like yeah Jared its a hot car. So I ask for a bucket of water. The sink fills at like an inch a minute, im like bump that get me a wet towel. So i run out with whatever was in the bucket and threw it on the fire which barely did anything. On the way some old lady tries to stop me, shes yelling at me "YOU CANT PARK THERE, YOU HAVE TO MOVE YOUR CAR!' Im like what the hell is this lady thinking! theres flames everywhere. So i run inside to get my wet towel to smother the fire, the old lady is yelling "DONT WALK ON THE GRASS!" As I sprint by and hop the fence. So kristin who lives there is like heres you towel. ITS A 5 INCH WIDE MINI RAG! At this point im like okay ill just wait for it to blow up. I run out with a wet BIG towel which was very fancy by the way. But some guy was there with a fire extinguisher and put out the blaze. I wish he didn't though because it a pain in the ass to get all that powdery crap out of the many small spaces of the motor and engine bay. That garbage is corrosive too on bare matal. So I towed that baby home and starting working on getting it running again.

Damn, sorry to hear that! Were you running an air cleaner?

yes I was

I've had 'em pop back thru the carb before but usually with an air cleaner that has been as far as it went. Hope it didn't cause too much damage.

damn that sucks hate to hear it!

dont worry guys I got that mofo running again. No the only problem I am having is my car stalls if i go hard on the breaks with the new holley 750. I guess its the gas rushing forward. I have to do something with the floats.

dont worry guys I got that mofo running again. No the only problem I am having is my car stalls if i go hard on the breaks with the new holley 750. I guess its the gas rushing forward. I have to do something with the floats.

My truck used stall when I went hard on the breaks with a Demon carb. If you have a larger camshaft, and you'll pulling vacuum for the break booster from the lower part of the carb, the break booster will suck enough air to stall the car.

Bummer about the fire, but glad to hear you got it back running again. My Nova stalls or can lose rpm if I get on the brakes hard as well. I pop it into neutral and keep the revs up if I need to brake hard, and that way the carb doesn't have any headaches.

Derek

Weird thing, I have a 78 camaro which is completly stock, and after my latest qjet rebuild, it seems to do the same thing. One time behind my house I stomped the brakes and skidded across the gravel for fun and the car died on me... how do I fix that... its a damned stock engine too.

i got no power brakes or any sort of vacuum line running to the brakes so its probably just the pitch of my car compared to the one it was in. My cars pretty low in front. Only stuff that melted was my msd wires, my vacuum lines and the part of my carb thats connected to the linkage that enters the main body of the carb and makes it squirt fuel. I dont know what that thing is called. But I gave that to my friend so hes got to worry about it now!

The reason why cars will sometimes stall is just because of all the air that rushes into the booster upon hard brake application. The fix is to place a metered restriction in the booster line so it "limits" the volume of air that can move all at once. It won't change the way your brakes operate at all, it'll just take 3 seconds instead of 2 or whatever to replenish the lost vacuum in the booster. I've found that a restrictor hole of "around" 1/8" is usually pretty close. You'll have to experiment with your own combo however :)

Thanks Ill keep that in mind for when i buy a booster for my car. 4 wheel drums and no manual brakes get scary sometimes! :eek2: I really dont want to rear end anyone.

Thanks Ill keep that in mind for when i buy a booster for my car. 4 wheel drums and no manual brakes get scary sometimes! :eek2: I really dont want to rear end anyone.

I think front discs (at the minimum) are in someone's future.:)

Sorry 'bout the fire but glad damage was minimal. Now, i hope you equipped your truck with a fire extinguisher!

And I always made fun of the ricer kids with fire exstinguishers on their A pillars! At least I wont put a NOS sticker on mine.