Tried firing up the car after installing the new clutch and this happened -
Dahmn Brother :barf: ..... How did it start?
Oh no.... I'm really sorry :bricks:
thanks, either I`m a total f-ing idiot and didn`t tighten the fuel line enough or it had a split. When I tried firing it up and took a minute as it always does (no choke) but when it didn`t start and I let off the key a big ball of flames started under the hood. I went thru the garage extinguisher and then had to run inot the house for another larger one, I was lucky I didn`t lose control and have the car along with the whole garage go up!
So sorry: However there are things to be thankful for. The car can be repaired, you didn't get hurt and it could have been worse.
That sucks! Glad you got it put out. One of my biggest fears with these cars.
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That's a sad sight! I would be just sick to my stomach . . . :crying:
Dang Jeff! I feel for you.
Quote from: Spikedog08 on June 10, 2018, 03:56:07 PM
That's a sad sight! I would be just sick to my stomach . . . :crying:
ya, pretty depressed, ready to give up working on cars as it seems it`s one thing after another going bad. I just put over $500 into a new motor for my compressor then spent $7-800 for frame connectors and new clutch and then this.
That is awful :Thud: , you have to be so careful all the time , Can we help :notsure:
So sorry to see that. Don't give up man.
Take a deep breath, collect yourself and push on.
Life throws us all curve balls one time or another.
So sorry to hear, but it sounds like it could've been worse if it was in the garage and no one was hurt.
ya, it`s probably going to sit for a while and I also found another issue while the engine was on the stand - .050 end play on the crank, should be .005. At this point I might just take it apart and re-do everything as it`s been on the road since `95 and I`ve been wanting to go thru the whole car and re-paint and fix/better a lot of things, the only thing that sucks is I can`t drive it this season and it may take a while before it`s done as I never have enough time or money lately.
Quote from: Chryco Psycho on June 10, 2018, 04:29:59 PM
That is awful :Thud: , you have to be so careful all the time , Can we help :notsure:
Already started the claim with Hagerty online, may need some help pricing parts.
I'm so sorry to hear about what happened. Makes my very sad to see a great guy like you have to deal with a fire like that. Don't give up man!!! Step away for a bit, but do not quit on it. At least you didn't get hurt and thanks to your fast thinking it doesn't look nearly as bad as it could have been. What can we do to help you?
:stop: Take a break & contemplate..... Don't wanna hear another wish I had kept it story
That sucks !!!! horribly
First assessment is paint cooked on passenger inner fender, underside hood and valance, maybe fender, parts list - grill warped, lower valance insert cooked, radiator shroud and vapor cannistor took some heat, wiring, hoses, not sure if anything electrical got fried. basically I`ll have to see what Hagerty says and settles before I do anything but thanks for offers of help.
Quote from: Bullitt- on June 10, 2018, 04:51:24 PM
:stop: Take a break & contemplate..... Don't wanna hear another wish I had kept it story
Had it since `82 so it`s not going anywhere but maybe put on the back burner for a while - I have other projects to work on anyways.
At least you had fire extinguishers in place, this stuff happens to the best of us. This could of been way worse! Glad your ok and your car is seems fixable.
You could step back for a week or so but make sure you dig in and get it running ASAP. I've seen deals like this last for another 30 years and getting sold in the end anyway. You'll get over it but make sure it runs otherwise it is just a bunch of parts and that will get anyone down. My 66 caught fire and it seemed bad but I had it running within a week, it would still be sitting with dust on it if I hadn't.
Really sorry that happened to your Cuda
Don't give up; the situation will get better.
Good advice here; take a short break, wait for the insurance assessment, but get the car running.
It will go a long way in taking away some of the pain.
I'm really glad the car can be repaired!
Wow Jeff. :sorry: Set back for sure, but no one got hurt. It can be rebuilt!
Do yourself a favour and make a list of everything you see that's damaged, then, source a repairer to perform said repairs and make sure that they are competent on electrical, mechanical and body/paint or that they have good subcontractors. If it's like Canada, the company will not pay for the cause of the loss, so if it's the fuel line, they won't pay for it, but will cover all the resultant damage. See if the appraiser uses a computer appraisal system, as if he does, then the damages will show up on Carfax and that may be an issue for you. Make sure the appraisal reflects accurate labour costs in your arera and not just a common set amount as you'll end up paying the difference otherwise. Give the appraiser any info you may have on sourcing replacement parts as that'll speed things up since these cars are no longer in the system. Be sure he allows for clean-up, both inside and out and see if your policy has loss of use coverage since then they'll pay up to a specified amount for a replacement vehicle for you to drive during repairs. Might be an opportunity to get your butt in a new Challenger, who knows. I did this for a living for 35+ years so if you have a question, just PM me. Good luck and keep your cool. :cheers:
Wow, So sorry this happened. It is a fear of mine as well, I always carry an fire extinguisher with me at all times. No one was hurt which is great, take breather but don't let it beat you get back at it with a fresh start.
Sorry that happen , I am glad it could be saved all the best :australia:
As all have said. Sorry to see and hear of that.
Be thankful your calm head and extinguishers prevailed. Breath and then step back into it. All is repairable.
Damn dude, that sucks.. Glad nobody got hurt. I know it's heartbreaking, but you can make it right again.. Sorry, wish it didn't happen.
Nooooooooooo. Man, I am so sorry to hear this. I would reach out to Jimynick and anyone else you know in the insurance business as this was an accident, and hopefully there will be some coverage. You would think the insurance company would be thankful you put the fire out vs having a total loss. Super sorry hear this.
Very glad that you are OK and no major damage was done. That could have been a lot worse.
I recommend that you clean it and get it running.
Then take a break.
Then fix it
Quote from: jimynick on June 10, 2018, 07:43:23 PM
Do yourself a favour and make a list of everything you see that's damaged, then, source a repairer to perform said repairs and make sure that they are competent on electrical, mechanical and body/paint or that they have good subcontractors. If it's like Canada, the company will not pay for the cause of the loss, so if it's the fuel line, they won't pay for it, but will cover all the resultant damage. See if the appraiser uses a computer appraisal system, as if he does, then the damages will show up on Carfax and that may be an issue for you. Make sure the appraisal reflects accurate labour costs in your arera and not just a common set amount as you'll end up paying the difference otherwise. Give the appraiser any info you may have on sourcing replacement parts as that'll speed things up since these cars are no longer in the system. Be sure he allows for clean-up, both inside and out and see if your policy has loss of use coverage since then they'll pay up to a specified amount for a replacement vehicle for you to drive during repairs. Might be an opportunity to get your butt in a new Challenger, who knows. I did this for a living for 35+ years so if you have a question, just PM me. Good luck and keep your cool. :cheers:
It`s thru Hagerty not regular insurance. I did collision and restoration work for ~ 10 years and did some estimating so know most of the ins and outs of it but thanks for the offer of advice. I`ll also do all the work myself which Hagerty allows but will need to get my own estimate to compare to thiers.
Wow... that sucks. Having survived a garage fire years ago while working on a car... I can tell you that just reading about this gave me chills.
It is a great reminder to us all to ensure you have fire suppression of some sort in your garage/shop or where ever you are when working on your car.
:(' :sorry:
OMG, you just went through one of my biggest fears. Don't get down on yourself ("I must be a f...ing idiot") either, accidents do happen. So glad that YOU were't hurt and you managed to keep the damage down to a minimum. All the best in sorting this out.
Looking at those pictures just took my breath away...and not in a good way. I am so sorry Jeff! Glad you were Johnny on the spot with those extinguishers! It could have been a lot worse if you weren't so quick on your feet.
Sorry to hear this, that is exactly what scares me about firing mine up for the first time. But you did very good to keep a cool head and prevent more damage and no one got hurt, that's the main thing, cars we can repair.
That's a tough lick - sorry to see! Moving forward, and as a guy that's been messing with cars for 50 years now, I've seen a few car fires (including TWO Corvette fires; you haven't LIVED until you see a Plastic Pig catch fire!), and watched other guys try to fight them (in vain!) with conventional fire extinguishers. Conventional fire extinguishers are usually WORTHLESS on car fires, and end up being MORE dangerous, since they give you a false sense of security. Also, you land up putting yourself in eminent peril by trying to use one to put out what is usually a gasoline-fed fire...
My advice to one and all (now that Halon extinguishers are no longer available) is to use what they carry & use in most of Europe - a "Fire Suppression Stick". I've had TWO of these in every classic/vintage vehicle that I've owned since 2010 - one in the glove box/console and one under the hood. They're quite a bit cheaper now than they were when *I* bought mine - here's a link which has a video as well:
https://elementfire.com/ (https://elementfire.com/)
Not only do these "run" for quite a while, you can also stand back at a safe(r) distance from the fire. As the Frankenstein monster said: "Fire - NO Good; Grrrrr!"
Quote from: TheGanzman on June 11, 2018, 08:05:26 AM
My advice to one and all (now that Halon extinguishers are no longer available) is to use what they carry & use in most of Europe - a "Fire Suppression Stick".
FWIW I had a car fire on a daily driver back in 2010, had a big 10 lb Halon extinguisher.... It did very little because there was a moderate breeze & the Halon was blown away as soon as it left the extinguisher... In a contained environment Halon is great, clean & effective, but outside it's not nearly as effective as you might think....
So sorry to see this
Your post has me freaked out about starting up the Cuda after all of this work. It made me check the fire extinguishers in my house / shop / truck.. The house and shop ones were expired.. Got a couple new halotron based extinguishers on the way. If you don't have current extinguishers they may not be terribly effective when you need them.
Quote from: TheGanzman on June 11, 2018, 08:05:26 AM
My advice to one and all (now that Halon extinguishers are no longer available) is to use what they carry & use in most of Europe - a "Fire Suppression Stick". I've had TWO of these in every classic/vintage vehicle that I've owned since 2010 - one in the glove box/console and one under the hood. They're quite a bit cheaper now than they were when *I* bought mine - here's a link which has a video as well: https://elementfire.com/ (https://elementfire.com/)
Not only do these "run" for quite a while, you can also stand back at a safe(r) distance from the fire. As the Frankenstein monster said: "Fire - NO Good; Grrrrr!"
Great info Thanks! Looks look pretty cool! Sure would be good if they were sold at Carlisle!
That element.com site has me convinced to buy one for my car and one for the house. Seems like an effective and economically friendly way to terminate a fire. thanks for sharing.
fingers crossed :fingerscrossed: hagerty works with torredcuda.
FWIW here's a link to an independent test of the Element fire extinguisher https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDkwLbIqKVw
As I mentioned before I had less than satisfactory results with a $$$$ Halon unit so I'm somewhat skeptical & when all your seeing is marketing hype from the company selling the Element it looks great.... But maybe you should look further...
That Element Fire extinguisher looks pretty cool. I picked up a couple of those as well, maybe I will mount one in the car.
THANK YOU
Sorry to see that. I had a pretty good "thermal event" while welding my trunk floor in about 3 years ago. I kept the trunk lid down and put it out through the tail light holes to keep from fueling it with fresh air.
Hagerty did a very. Good job of taking care of it. I have a 5lb fire extinguisher behind my drivers seat 100% of the time in light of that. The scar to my ego was worse than the damage, but it sure gives you some perspective.
Insurance will get you going in the right direction again.
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I had a pristine 67 Cougar that was the epitome of a little old lady's car. Always garaged. Worked to fire it up after 30 years of sitting. Left an oily rag on the exhaust. Was there to catch full up of oil. Already had run it. Changed oil, fired it up, made sure no oil leaks. Slammed hood and went for drive. Burned the paint on hood.!@#$%. Pulled burning rag out bare handed. Dumb a** move but worked.
You will move beyond this.
Buddy of mine left a rag under the intake of his built 455 when doing some work on it, got sucked thru the head and bent valves etc., not a good day for him. Still trying to set up an appointment with the appraiser, he`s not very good at making phone calls as I keep needing to call him, if I don`t get a time on Monday I`ll be calling Hagerty to complain. :dunno:
Carnage -
That's not as bad as I was expecting? What's the top of the hood look like? Did it warp?
Top of hood looks OK and I even think the fender could buff out even though it had a fender cover on it that melted. Of course I haven`t touched it other than rinsing off the extinguisher crap so the appraiser can see all the damage.
IS the picture reversed or your fan is on backwards
Wow sorry to see this. :sorry:
Let's go to a better thought:
Everything happens for a reason. And this is an opportunity to make it even better than it was.
Take your time and make it better than before.
Ya, car has been on the road since `95-6 and driven hard and lot`s of rock chips, dings, scratches etc. so been talking about tearing it down for a redo but just sucks I probably lost the whole season ofdriving it this year and due to my constant time and money constraints it will take me a few years to get it done if I go that route.
While it looks like some work, it looks totally fixable... It's a good opportunity to go through things a bit.. I know you weren't planning on it, but life happens.. You will make it better, stronger, faster than it was before :)
I wouldn't lose the season because of it. Get it running and drive it this season battle scars and all. You might find other little things to sort out and that's easy to do on a car with a few surface imperfections. It's more tricky leaning over a fender with perfect paint on it. Myself and a lot of other Mopar guys have no problem looking at a car with a few battle scars at a show either. I'm just happy to see a Mopar driving around in any condition these days.
Appraiser finally came out so now at least I can splice the burnt wires and replace the fuel hoses and see if it runs, at that point I may just finish making it roadworthy and drive it this year and tear it down over the winter.
Good news, at least you can do something with it.
Not very impressed with Hagerty so far, been 17 days and still waiting for the appraisal to come in. The lack of communication is what really annoys me, the adjuster is very hard to get a hold of, doesn`t return call when I leave voice messages and hasn`t called with any updates. I called the claims department for some kind of update and told them I was very un-happy with the lack of communication, we`ll see if it does any good? :angry:
In New York state after so many business day's you can start repairing the vehicle, even if it's A total loss. check with A local body shop and see if your laws are the same. if so take pictures, have invoices, and all the old parts ready to hand them when they do finally show up!!!
Insurance companies are always willing to take your money right away to pay the premiums though.
Sorry for the unfortunate events brother. I can recall several of mine own doings that damaged my cars. Simple forgetfulness that led to thousands in damages to my classics.
Recently, a simple shop towel left in my supercharger ducting leading to engine, clutch, and yes, body damage that I'm still dealing with.
Quote from: torredcuda on June 27, 2018, 05:13:11 PM
Not very impressed with Hagerty so far, been 17 days and still waiting for the appraisal to come in. The lack of communication is what really annoys me, the adjuster is very hard to get a hold of, doesn`t return call when I leave voice messages and hasn`t called with any updates. I called the claims department for some kind of update and told them I was very un-happy with the lack of communication, we`ll see if it does any good? :angry:
Bummer, perhaps you can get a different adjuster? I had great results with Hagerty, they sent an appraiser out quite quickly.
Quote from: Mopsquad on June 28, 2018, 02:27:49 PM
Sorry for the unfortunate events brother. I can recall several of mine own doings that damaged my cars. Simple forgetfulness that led to thousands in damages to my classics.
Recently, a simple shop towel left in my supercharger ducting leading to engine, clutch, and yes, body damage that I'm still dealing with.
A buddy of mine had that happen to him, left a rag in the intake doing some work on his pretty recent 455 build, luckily damage was limited to a couple bent valves.
Quote from: GoodysGotaCuda on June 28, 2018, 03:45:56 PM
Quote from: torredcuda on June 27, 2018, 05:13:11 PM
Not very impressed with Hagerty so far, been 17 days and still waiting for the appraisal to come in. The lack of communication is what really annoys me, the adjuster is very hard to get a hold of, doesn`t return call when I leave voice messages and hasn`t called with any updates. I called the claims department for some kind of update and told them I was very un-happy with the lack of communication, we`ll see if it does any good? :angry:
Bummer, perhaps you can get a different adjuster? I had great results with Hagerty, they sent an appraiser out quite quickly.
What a coincidence! After talking to a nice claims adjuster last night and informing him I was not very happy witht he lack of communication I get a call this morning from the adjuster. Excuse was he was waiting for appraisal which might be taking a few days if they had trouble finding parts but I can find almost al the parts I need in any Mopar reproduction catalog. ::)