Pantera Fire

I know if I put too much gas in it will overflow and drip right below the driver's side door. And I know if there's a leaking header gasket on the driver's side, and the gas tank is full, or too full, it's a combination that can create a fire. I have a fire extinguisher right behind the driver's seat. So also does a friend keep his fire extinguisher there, and when his Pantera caught fire, it only cracked his rear window, but he extinguished it pronto, so no other damage. A Pantera guy wants to keep his fuel hoses new also, since they crack with age and get brittle. The fuel hoses pass close by the headers, and if leaky, can cause a fire. Them headers, they can get loose all by themselves... so snug them up on occasion and make sure to use a good quality gasket. It happens, but it's preventable. Also, keep an eye on the intake manifold. My Holley carb, though rebuilt, was leaking gas onto the manifold, on the passenger side. I swithed to an Edelbrock carb, which has no gaskets or rubber o-rings below the float bowls. No more fuel on the intake manifold. When I noticed the gas smell, and the fuel on the intake manifold, I soaked it up with a rag and drove home very, very easy. And then took action. We gotta make sure we're covered with fire and theft insurance too, it's cheap enough, so check them policies! Sorry to hear about one of our brothers, but it won't likely total his Pantera, to the scrap heap, just another project.... Sorry to hear, so let's d a maintenance check, and prevent that as best we can.

I saw an interview with the fella. They said it was a 70's Fer-308. He was in the middle of the flames and backed out with out a scratch; maybe a few less hairs on his arms. I wonder we don't have more of these with the Pantera's. I was filling up the Ford 8N tractor this weekend wondering why we don't see these things on fire all the time. They are hard to fill and the extra gas goes right over the top of the engine, exhaust manifold, battery, starter. Amazing you don't see them start fires every day.

Gary

Did you see the fire flash on the ground under the driver's door?

You can't over fill the gas tank. If you do, the filler neck is higher than the air vent at the top of the tank and a pint or two of gas will spill out the vent tube, running down the frame and onto the ground under the driver's door.

The vendors sell a check valve which would have prevented the fire.

Stop filling your Pantera gas tank the first time the gas nozzle clicks off. That means it's full. If you over fill, it will spill unless you have a check valve, increasing chances for fire.

Mr. Ferrari probably didn't want to go back in the gas station to get $0.35 change, so he wanted to fill it to the top of the filler neck. Ferrari has a transverse engine, and the proximity of the headers are even that much more dangerous for fires caused by over filling. And this time of year, his headers were probably very hot. Could have also been thathe left the radio on (the key on), the Ferrari in 1st gear, no parking brake on, and bumped the car forward or backward. Just enough for the ignition source to come from the distributor or spark plug wire or faulty 'hot' wiring and a ground source. Any ignition source will do. Vapors of gasoline are more prone to cause fire than liquid gasoline. Hot weather, over filling the gas tank (with no check valve on the tank vent tube) and any ignition source equals FIRE!

Let's learn from this unfortunate guy.

I feel bad when any car catches fire. It's a very bad and dangerous situation.

Michael

Sounds like a classic case of static spark + fumes go BOOM.

http://www.snopes.com/autos/hazards/static.asp

I heard of a guy yesterday who opened his plastic gas tank cap and a blue flame poped out. Nothing happened after that but he stood there in awe wondering what to do next.

I saw the news package on that, it appeared to be a Fly Yellow 328 GTS judging from the hood and fenders

can anybody help me understand the serial number code on a Pantera

http://www.geocities.com/provamo72/VINDecoder.html

From Chuck Melton's website http://www.geocities.com/provamo72

Professor Jim, thank you for the Static Electricity theory. I've been wondering where the ignition source could have come from and now I know. I've seen metal strips attached to the ground in the pit lanes in Formula One, and they touch the bottom of the cars to provide a grounding souce to eliminate static electricity. People employed in the microelectronics industry wear a strap attached to their wrist to ground their bodies and prevent static electricity from causing failure of the tiny circuitry they are assembling.

So, from this, I learn that it's going to be nearly impossible to prevent static electricity from being a possible ignition source, unless we ground our cars and our bodies at the gas station.

Thus, the only thing we can do is to be aware that we need to keep fumes to a minimum in the fumes + static electricity = fire equation. Not over filling the gas tank and allowing spillage is the easiest thing to do, I suppose. And the ever present fire extinguisher, plus a cool head in a panic situation, is essential, since we're all vulnerable to fire.

Please continue to stick around and educate us Professor Jim, that's a cool thing.

Ever see the guys on the aircraft carrier ground the hovering hellicopter before touching it? The helo static shock (especially in inclimit weather) can knock them down if they don't first.

One of the airplanes I used to fly was a twin Cessna. In continuous moderate rain it would glow green at the base of the windshield. If you put your hand on the dash within about 6" of the base it would zap you. It would build then discharge at the dash. We had static discharge wicks on the airplane. It would be interesting to see how bad it would have been without them.

The composite aiplanes are the worst. The metal can can conduct the electricity giving it an avinew for discharge. The composite airplanes have to have a wire mesh in them if they are to be flown in inclimate weather. If not the discharges can damage everything from electronics to body pannels.

G

There was an interesting article in the local paper a few years back. The workers in toll booths hated to see a particular model of Honda in their lane. They new that they would get bit when they accepted the toll. It seems that the OEM Bridgestone tires were the cuplrit in that case.

My Escort came on Goodyear Eagles. After 40,000 miles I bought Dayton tires (Dayton is owned by Bridgestone/Firestone). For the next 40,000 miles, I would touch the car with my key to discharge the static before I put my hand on it. I suspect that the conductivity of the tires varies with the carbon black content. Must be a really big difference in the carbon black content of the Dayton tires.

Around factories, you will see material handling vehicles dragging a short piece of chain from their hitches, especially on the big electric forking lifts. If you want to mess with the operator, just steal his chain. The static electricity will knock the $#!t out of him when he gets on or off the forking lift. If you really want him to know that someone is messing with him, use a ty-rap to tie his chain up so it does not touch the floor.

Factory LP gas fueling stations have grounding straps for the vehicles. When you go to get fuel, the first thing that you do is attach the ground clamp to the vehicle. Remember to take the ground off last thing before you leave.