Yep, I set my 5.0 on fire yesterday.
I had rebuilt the Holley 4180 and gotten the car running and out on the road a couple of weekends ago. Yesterday I was fine tuning the floats and fixing a little choke problem. I thought I had everything sorted out. She started up great and I high fived myself. The car stalled and when I tried to restart it no go and then flames. The hood was up and I could see the flames between the cowl grill and the lower edge of the hood. Not a good thing! I jumped out of the car, grabbed a towel and tried to snuff it out... no good. The hose was out as my wife had just washed her car and I though about that for a second before thinking if there was a bunch a fuel the water might just push it around and make it worse. So I dash into the kitchen, grab the First Alert fire extiguisher under the gas range dash back out to the garage and give the base of the flame a short burst and out she goes. Of course the base of the flame was my carb!
OK I know I am not the first to do this, nor will I be the last so I am looking for guidance in multiple areas to recover from the carbecue disaster!
- The underhood insulater did its job for the most part. Insulater is scorched, push pins melted and under hood light melted. Easy to get those items from LRS or CJ's and move on.
- Amazingly wiring, vacum hoses and other engine stuff appears undamaged as the flames were erupting from the carb and going up vs. spread around the top of the engine.
- Where the under hood light is mounted there is no insulater and the white paint on the outside of the hood has a scorch mark the size of a softball from the heat in that spot from the inside where the flames hit it. Can that be rubbed out or I am just going to need to get it repainted?
- Of course I have white powder from the fire extiguisher all over the place. I got much of it up with a shop vac. A bunch sitting on top of the throttle plates that I coulod not get with the shop vac. Any other suggestions on
getting it cleaned up without making it worse or getting the white powder into the engire? It is in the garage so hosing it down would be a mess.
- Engine was not running and throttle plates were closed so there should be no interio damage. Any precautions in this area? Engine flush or just an oil change to be safe?
- Lastly, the carb. Scorched up pretty bad. So to be safe I think I will forego rebuilding and just get a new one or a rebuilt one. Any suggestions here? It is a Holley 4180C on a 84 5.0 with the only modifications being dual exhaust, shorties and high flow cats. It dees have A/C and MT. Street driven only. I would like to keep the replacement carb replacment simple and as close to stock as possible as I run the orginal air cleaner and emissions. Who do you know has a quality replacement carb?
Thanks for reading my story and providing your ideas on fixing my mess! I won't forget those flames anytime soon!
I had rebuilt the Holley 4180 and gotten the car running and out on the road a couple of weekends ago. Yesterday I was fine tuning the floats and fixing a little choke problem. I thought I had everything sorted out. She started up great and I high fived myself. The car stalled and when I tried to restart it no go and then flames. The hood was up and I could see the flames between the cowl grill and the lower edge of the hood. Not a good thing! I jumped out of the car, grabbed a towel and tried to snuff it out... no good. The hose was out as my wife had just washed her car and I though about that for a second before thinking if there was a bunch a fuel the water might just push it around and make it worse. So I dash into the kitchen, grab the First Alert fire extiguisher under the gas range dash back out to the garage and give the base of the flame a short burst and out she goes. Of course the base of the flame was my carb!
OK I know I am not the first to do this, nor will I be the last so I am looking for guidance in multiple areas to recover from the carbecue disaster!
- The underhood insulater did its job for the most part. Insulater is scorched, push pins melted and under hood light melted. Easy to get those items from LRS or CJ's and move on.
- Amazingly wiring, vacum hoses and other engine stuff appears undamaged as the flames were erupting from the carb and going up vs. spread around the top of the engine.
- Where the under hood light is mounted there is no insulater and the white paint on the outside of the hood has a scorch mark the size of a softball from the heat in that spot from the inside where the flames hit it. Can that be rubbed out or I am just going to need to get it repainted?
- Of course I have white powder from the fire extiguisher all over the place. I got much of it up with a shop vac. A bunch sitting on top of the throttle plates that I coulod not get with the shop vac. Any other suggestions on
getting it cleaned up without making it worse or getting the white powder into the engire? It is in the garage so hosing it down would be a mess.
- Engine was not running and throttle plates were closed so there should be no interio damage. Any precautions in this area? Engine flush or just an oil change to be safe?
- Lastly, the carb. Scorched up pretty bad. So to be safe I think I will forego rebuilding and just get a new one or a rebuilt one. Any suggestions here? It is a Holley 4180C on a 84 5.0 with the only modifications being dual exhaust, shorties and high flow cats. It dees have A/C and MT. Street driven only. I would like to keep the replacement carb replacment simple and as close to stock as possible as I run the orginal air cleaner and emissions. Who do you know has a quality replacement carb?
Thanks for reading my story and providing your ideas on fixing my mess! I won't forget those flames anytime soon!
