RE: [Chrysler300] Engine Fire! - no, but another laugh

[christopher beilby <thelastbestgenius@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Friday I was walking past this person who was buffing a speedo cable assembly with a wire buff on a bench grinder - sort of same speedo cable assembly that 50s - 60s 300s have.  He was buffing the light surface rust off it, no doubt then going to spray it silver so it looked new/nice.  He was holding it in each hand, with a length of about 2 feet or more fed into/against the spinning wire buff, and was just doing the last bits he had missed when he said "I don't know if I should buy a new one or not" 
 
Just then the buff caught the (to me too loose) cable housing and pulled it in/around the spinning buff, near instantly stalling the machine so fast to stone grinding wheel on the other end to the wire buff stopped so fast it unwound the nut that held it on!!  The guy(idiot?!!) was holding onto both ends of the cable for grim life, like he was fighting a huge fish, or cow on a rope.
 
The motor of the machine/grinder was making angry noises as I stepped forward and pushed the stop button.  He dropped the two ends of the speedo cable, then suddenly picked them up again, started to unwrap the now very sad/angry/stuffed looking metal wrap speedo cable thingo.
 
I walked away, deciding it better I not say anything, or burst out laughing.  Nearly as good a laugh as the time his brother knocked over 5 litres of black dirty diesel oil he had drained out of a 4WD into the drain bowl atop the verical tube stand you use to put it up just below the sump when a car is atop a hoist to do a service - his brother was heaving/pulling real hard on an airline that he was trying to get to reach the hoist alongside, and was the only person withing 20 metres when 'bang, clang, alloy basin rolling on floor - and the oil hit the floor and splattered like it was 50 gallons, like it covered walls 20 feet away up near 4 foot above floor!!! - silence, and mess you wouuld not believe, and all he asks was "who did that!!!?"  They say 'Out of the mouths of babes/idiots'  ??!
 
Working on cars, 300s, you have to have/keep a sense of humour - there are days when things go well, days when they go bad, and those real treasures of days when others give you a great laugh if you can get far away enough not to be seen laughing.  Petrol is very dangerous, forget plug leads setting it off, also be aware it should never be used as a wash to clean, as it can catch fire so easily, burn you, real severe.
 
Christopher in Australia - 114 degrees here today, 108 yesterday by 10am
 
 


To: ryan_hillc300@xxxxxxxxxxx; hurst300@xxxxxxxxxxxxx: chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx: c300@xxxxxxxxxxx: Sun, 16 Mar 2008 15:15:27 -0700Subject: RE: [Chrysler300] Engine Fire! - '65 300 headlight wire plugs needed.




Ryan:Thank you for sharing your oopsy. We are all capable of doing things likethat. We often get away with it and sometimes not. As a natural gaspipeline manager, I had the opportunity to investigate way too manyincidents, injuries and accidents. Most involved human error--either by anoperator, technician, designer or work planner. One incident involved fuelgas accumulating in an intake manifold that was inadequately purged.Bang--there goes a turbocharger the size of a Crosley.One must really retain their cool when things start to go to Hades in ahandbasket. When I was learning to drive, my father taught me to quicklyturn off the ignition in the event of an accident--to reduce the likelihoodof a spark. Still a good rule.Be sure to check the crankcase for any fuel that may have got past the ringsand remember you may not have any cylinder lube when you start the car. Maywant a squirt of oil in each cylinder or at least crank a little whilebefore connecting the ignition.All readers need to tuck Ryan's story away for future consideration whenworking on your favorite letter car.C-300'ly,Rich BarberSubject: RE: [Chrysler300] Engine Fire! - '65 300 headlight wire plugsneeded.Ray, to be honest it was just plain stupidity. I know better. I'm copyingeveryone because it seems to be of interest. After using the gravity feedmethod of providing fuel to the new edelbrock carb to try and diagnose afuel delivery problem I realized the needle and seats hadn't done their joband the cylinders filled up with almost a litre of gas. Frustrated, Iremoved all the plugs and allowed the fuel to pour back out. Withoutthinking I turned over the engine to pump out the last of the fuel in thecylinders. A few blasts of gas spewed out all over the inner fenders. One ofthe plug leads must have arched and the whole compartment went into afireball. Most of it burned out quickly as the fuel source was just residualfuel. A rag caught fire which fell between the rad support and thegrill.......burning the wire and connector.....also, the speedo cable, fuelline, and a puddle of gas on top of the upper control arm stayed burning.The fire extinguisher I grabbed was empty! Not sure what happened there, thelast time I inspected it, it was charged. Once there was no fuel left toplatter, I put it all out with a hose. I'm usually very careful, I reallydon't know what I was thinking. Could have lost the house, my irreplaceableclassic boat, the '68 Charger, the BMW, not to mention the whole 300 thathas yet to see the road after restoration. I was about to just push it outonto the street when I realized the fire could be controlled.Rather humbling......and embarrassing.Ryan Hi Ryan;Glad to see it wasn't very bad.Share with us what caused the fire,might be something for us to look for before it's to late.Ray JonesOn Mar16, 2008, at 2:03 PM, Ryan Hill wrote:Had a bit of a mishap yesterday and the engine compartmentwas burned in several places. Fortunately I got the gas fire out beforedoing major damage. Looks like the front end is coming off again!Anyway,does anyone have or know of a source for the plug (light grey, two prong) onthe end of the wiring harness that you plug the headlights into? I havespares of the headlight side but not the other. Other than some blisteredpaint on the inner fender and grille support, no other real damage.RyanHill[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]  






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