Had a small fire yesterday

[anchor2]

Went out to start the Cobra yesterday and I heard a “pop” and saw a small flame coming out from the hood scoop. I opened the hood and found a fire a bit too large to put out without an extinguisher. Well the fire is out, no real damage to myself or the car but a heck of a mess.

It appears the braided fuel line has developed a hole from rubbing against the bracket for the expansion tank. As you can see by the photo the line is very close and must touch while on the road. Anyway before I replace this line and possibly see the problem again I wanted to see if any of you have some type of cure to separate the bracket and line.

I suggest you all take a look at your set up so you don’t run into the same scary problem I did.

[marco454v8]

I'd be interested to find out what started the fire- I assume you started it from cold, so it had to be a spark- I guess from the dizzy no? Must have had some fumes inside? I imagine a post fire photo won't help much.
Mark

[ACademic]

One cure is to take a length of larger diameter rubber hose (or the clear nylon hose you can find in the plumbing dept at Home Depot). Split it length wise, work it over the section of ANY braided line that rubs up against other steel or hard edges, and then zip tie the outer "sheath" over the braided line in several places (about every 1"). The sheath takes the brunt of the vibration and rubbing that caused your failure.

[Wbulk]

I don't have the tank but I ran mine under the thermostat housing and then up along the edge of the intake and the valve cover to the carb.

[tcrist]

Another thing that you can do is get some slip on rubber edging and put it on the bracket. Use a little silicone on the inside of the edging material to keep in place if you need to.

You might also want to look into re-routing the fuel line.

JMO,

[Jerry Clayton]

The reason a lot of these fires start with leaky braided lines is because the car has poor grounds on the electrical system and there is a lot of current being carried to the bright spot that has been rubbed clean. It is a common fault I have found numerous times on cars with an lines---

[marco454v8]

Originally Posted by Jerry Clayton

The reason a lot of these fires start with leaky braided lines is because the car has poor grounds on the electrical system and there is a lot of current being carried to the bright spot that has been rubbed clean. It is a common fault I have found numerous times on cars with an lines---

So actually Jerry, braided fuel lines are not as safe as plain rubber ones.

Mark

[xb-60]

Originally Posted by anchor2

Went out to start the Cobra yesterday and I heard a “pop” and saw a small flame coming out from the hood scoop. I opened the hood and found a fire a bit too large to put out without an extinguisher. Well the fire is out, no real damage to myself or the car but a heck of a mess.

To state the obvious - you are really lucky a small fire didn't turn into a big one!
What about some heatshrink tubing? When shrunk, it is nice and hard, and snug fitting of course, so won't move and will be very abrasion resistant. Should consider re-routing as well.
Glen

[Double Venom]

Ok, protection has been covered to infinity!

Now, about the exstinghuiser? Powder form is BAD, it is caustic, eats into aluminum from the intake to the air cleaner,can be sucked into the engine, the answer is HALATRON-No mess, No residue. Put the fire out fix the problem and re-start immediately!

Just a valid 2-cents worth of info!
DV

[Jerry Clayton]

Marco--

It isn't an issue of which is safer---after all they both are carrying an highly flammable liquid---However, having said that---either would of rubbed a hole into it self by being in contact with something, the rubber one most likely a lot sooner.

Now---about what I said about poor grounds---I have seen several vehicles have braided lines put on safely---after all, they are from aircraft--but with fiberglass bodies(same deal applies to boats) and trunk mounted batteries---a build by not so knowledgable people( lacking all the auto industry experience) these cars end up with electrical systems that would probably only score 20 out off a perfect 100 points.

In addition to that---(well maybe there wasn't a leak in the hose where it passed the tank) a plumbing job with poor / wrong flares, loose, etc, a slight fuel leak will seep DOWN the braid of the hose, and where the shiny place is where the starting current makes its way to ground (against the tank) and it will light off the leak!!! This will happen during starting as thats when current draw is highest. I would be willing to wager that there was no hole in the line where the fire started.




It is a good idea to have a rubber line from the chassis line to the fuel pump so as not to be grounding the electrical system back to the battery via the fuel system!!( as the factories do )

[lovehamr]

Why not just use an adel clamp and attach it to that bracket? That way it'd be solid and wouldn't rub anything.