Carb Fire!

Hmmm….I’ve been having a problem with fire lately…I should probably stay away from gasoline for a while.

So I get the idea to rebuild the carb for the Challenger. Great idea, went off without a hitch. Any idiot can rebuild a Holley!

I was bolting it back up, firing it over when a small fire started on the passenger side between the headers and shock tower. Turns out there’s a small crack in my header,which ignited the gas fumes outside of the header. Warren and Mike quickly put it out, and everything’s cool.

We were adjusting the floats when disaster struck. The ignition started another fire through the header crack, and when Warren tried to blow it out, the fumes OVER the engine burst into flames!

Now I’m freaking out, my daily driver has 6 foot flames coming from the engine bay. I grab the fire extinguisher I had in the car, and when I pull the safety release thingy the whole thing breaks!! Agghh!!!! The whole engine is enveloped in flames. While Warren and Mike try to figure out how to get the small extinguisher to work, I go grab the one in the garage. I put it out, didn’t destroy the engine, but my freshly rebuilt Holley is hosed.

#^$%#& @*#(#*(!!! I am so lucky, I was so close to losing the car. Fire extinguisher crap all over, but…..If I hadn’t had a fire extinguisher…..may have been a molten Mopar….

It now has the carb from the Elco, until I check out the Holley that got toasted. The fire wasted the front gaskets (they leak now) and the front accelerator pump. Also, the plug wire holders melted (plastic) but everything else looks okay, so far. Oh well, scared the HELL out of me, nothing got too trashed. I hope.