I ran across this on jalopnik and he claims his car caught on fire because the cold weather made his wiring harness that made it too brittle and collapse

http://www.stancenation.com/2012/04/...the-ups-downs/

 

Pouring flammable coolant on it didn't help either...

 

Remember kiddies, always pack a fire extinguisher before you go hooning in your FD.

 

lol.....that seriously sucks. But goes to show... Emergency Fuel cut off... and fire extinguisher.

And honeslty... harness collapsing? I dunno about that.....

 

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000965333627

I think this is the persons car.

 

And a good insurance policy.

 

It was the FD saying "Silly Ricer. Give me real tires to play with."

I hate stretched tires. 245's on 12" wide wheels? Tool...

 

"Before he could do anything the fire burned thru his oil metering lines which spilled oil all over the motor, which eventually ignited with the flame."

Another reason to premix.

I know it sucks, but its common sense. Driving an FD without a fire extinguisher is like hitting the red light district without rubbers..... DISASTER CAN STRIKE!

 

^ lol

 

After reading the article I browsed the site..... I was immediately annoyed.

 

much debated subject haha. As long as it's not poking past the wells.. i'm usually fine with it. The 12 up front is just absolutely ridiculous though. Stock steering angle on an fd is around 35ish degrees.. I'm sure he'd have to make a 8 point turn on any street to turn around. His wheels prob hit everything at 25 degrees lol

 

Oh I get the appeal. It's like anything else.... A little is cool but it gets pushed until it isn't functional. No matter what it is.

The S2k on page 4 was the worst.... wow.

 

Thats Arvins car, hes local here. I honestly think his injectors were leaking, he'd been having problems with his KG rail for awhile. The car is nice in person and thats his new wheel setup, he didn't even get it out to a meet yet with that setup. Unfortunately he didn't have an extinguisher but **** happens. He has a sick widebody FC thats hes almost done with coming out.

And they're not stupid enough to throw coolant on the fire genius, they were filled with water.

 

Well I'm glad he is bouncing back in some way and wasn't injured. It would be extremely devistating to see that happen to my car.

 

Always carry a fire extinguisher

 

Jeez another KG fuel rail leak...

That makes more sense than a harness collapsing because of the cold.

 

all the guys who are talking about a fire extinguisher...

Did you ever tried to take out an engine on fire? This little a** cans everyone installs in his cars are for NOTHING... That's like peeing onto the fire...

We've had an engine fire on a bi-turbo 350z on the track. the ONLY thing that helped was a BIG co2 extinguisher. Every other extinguisher didn't do anything.

So, IF you decide to take an extinguisher with you, dont go cheap on that stuff. The best idea is to install an fire suppression system into your engine bay like it's a must in different race classes. An el cheapo extinguisher from autozone ist not the right tool for an engine fire.

 

I don't get why the fire department had to " break his door open, tore thru his dash and literally ripped out his interior. They also broke his windshield."

Terrible story, hate to see anyone's car go up in flames, but it's really hard not to be a wheel snob though, I don't get these high dollar builds where people cheap out on wheels, so kills appeal of the car.

Best of luck to him though in his next build!

 

It is just as stupid to pour water on a gasoline fire.

 

I wonder if his insurance covers leaking fuel rail fires or cold induced eletrical fires. Wouldn't running the car to the photo shoot and prewarming it to do full boost burnouts warm up the engine bay. sounds pretty fishy to me that cold weather would cause a brittle wiring harness which would then cause a fire. I'm also impressed that the fire department got there so fast. Heck, the fire didnt even really damage the fiberglass hood... Ususally when I see cars on fire, the entire car goes up in flames. Hell there was a Lamborghini Aventador which went on fire recently and it burned to the ground before the fire department got there http://www.inquisitr.com/220901/test...or-fire-video/

Either way, I knew a guy which would always get into a crash and total his 4th gen supras when ever he just happen to blow his engine at the track... He always had plenty of money to buy a new car and engine/turbo mods.

 

If it's a bucket or garden hose, probably so. But a ~ 3" line from a pumper has been effective on every car fire I've seen over the years. Which is more than I can count.

 

^I was referencing the empty coolant bottles that were filled with water.

I definitely agree a 3" hose from a pump truck will put a fire out like that, as evidenced by the photographs.

 

It depends on the fire and the extinguisher.

I had a decent little engine fire. My own stupidity lit a gas soaked rag while I was de-flooding my engine in my garage. A compact 2.5lb ABC home fire extinguisher put it out in less than 2 seconds. Had I not had that extinguisher, I feel my car and possibly my house would have burned to the ground.

If you are talking about the Coke cans the Civic crowd mounts to their A-pillars, then yeah, I am with you. But a 2.5lb extinguisher is compact and very effect.

 

That is something else I didn't think of. Having my battery relocated to my passenger bin, I have my circuit breaker mounted with it. It would be easy to press the button to shut off the pump.

 

Just gonna leave these here.

https://www.rx7club.com/time-slips-dyno-128/575-481-caught-fire-669319/

http://youtube.com/watch?v=JK3I-g-3Yps

Compact is ok just make sure you have one, get to the fire quickly, and don't pump flammable liquids through hoses that melt.