GregBBRD

Glad you were not injured....the car does not look too bad....nothing like Van's did. Looks very repairable...and it is an '86.5, so it is worth the effort!

EVERYONE: Beg, borrow, or steal a Halon 1211 fire extinguisher and carry it in your 928. 2.5 pounds of Halon 1211 will put out a huge engine fire. There are companies that specialize in re-cycling Halon 1211 and offer these extinguishers for sale. I've bought several, from this company: http://www.h3rcleanagents.com/h3r-ha...inguishers.htm. At the end of last year, they had their 2.5 lb chrome unit on sale.



"No clue what happened, the fuel lines were all changed ~3yrs back..."

Two possibilities:

1. On '85 and '86 engines, it is possible for the injector to fall out of the fuel rail and leak fuel, if the upper retaining clip is not properly installed on the injector.

2. Someone replaced the fuel lines with rubber hose and clamps, instead of using my fuel lines.

NelaK

I think the Element fire extinguishers are probably a good alternative to a full on Halon one. Smaller, easier to operate and much cheaper.

https://elementfire.com/

Edit: I've never had to use one so there's definite value in the 'tried and true' factor of a Halon extinguisher..

vanster

As soon as you realized that you had an engine fire did you open the hood? When my car caught on fire I did not thinking that the additional oxygen would make it worse.

GregBBRD

I haven't tried an Element unit, yet. I have put out three raw gasoline fed fires with Halon 1211.

And every gasoline fed fire I've had to deal with, had one thing in common:
The fire got really big, really fast.

I'm a bit bothered by the Element demonstrations. Seems like you have to be pretty damn close...and get to the base/source of the flame.

Gasoline fed fuel fires (not in a small bowl on the ground) spread and "drive you back" very quickly, in real life.

For instance, their demonstrations of pitting out a natural gas fire coming out of a pipe 6' off the ground is interesting. However. I've never had a fire that I can get to the very base of the flames, from underneath. If they would cut those pipes off, at ground level, and put that flame out from above...them I'd be impressed.

Until then, I'm going to play it safe and stand back 6' and put out a fuel/oil fire with one "squirt" from Halon 1211 unit, with 90% of the extinguisher still inside....just in case the one "squirt" wasn't enough.



.

rexpontius

No I did not open the hood, because of the extra oxigen.
As soon as I realized I could not put out the fire from under the car, I opened the hood aobut 2 inches to spray the extinguisher under it, but that did not help either.

Even the fire fighters had to use quite a lot of water to get the fire out.

Will inspect everything closer tomorrow.

cheers

rexpontius

Hi Greg,

I searched the internet for halon extinguishers, but they seem to be strictly forbidden here in The Netherlands as they would harm the ozone layer??
Are they still legal/for sale in US?

Really want a decent solution in the car after I rebuild it.

Cheers
Michel

SwedeInSiam

Yes, Halon is banned for sale in Europe and most of the world since many years. The replacement Halotron is also banned in Europe.
FE-36 is a similar but not as effective and available in Europe but I believe it's not easy to find.

andy-gts

Anders, long time man, you are in thailand now, cool

vanster

Your scenario was about the same as mine. One suggestion I can offer is that make sure you don't have water sitting in any of the cylinders. It will corode the walls then you will have to bore it, then you will have to get new pistons, (968) then rods, GB crank and the list goes on. End of the day you will have a stroke'd 6.5. So make sure you get that water out! You could end up with a very fast 928.

SteveG

So how does one extinguish w/o opening the hood? My understanding of halon is that it displaces the O2 and there can be no fire w/o the O2? Is Halon heavier than air? If you have an indication as to the location, can you crack the hood, aim and hope for a blanket effect?

rexpontius

Haha, thanks man.
I found a donor car, so I have two engines :-)
Will remove the intakes on the fire-engine, check for water,dump some oil into the spark plug holes and crank the engine, to avoid any corrosion issues.

Took a look at the car today, I dont think its worthwile repairing it, the wiring behind the dash and footwells is also damagerd, so I would be looking at a huge amount of parts to be replaced to end up with a hopefully reliable car.

Will take a look at the donor car end of the week, if it is in a half decent shape I will get it and use that as the starting point of my 'new' car.

Cheers
Michel

Christopher Zach

Halon is weird: It doesn't act by displacing oxygen, when it gets warm the halides (Flouride I believe) separate and bind with free hydrogen. This basically stops the concept of "fire".. You don't need much and since it doesn't displace oxygen it's safe to breathe around it.

I think I'll get one of those units. Would a pound be enough, they're sold out of the 2.5 lb ones.

Alan

You aren't likely to have any idea of the fire source location without opening the hood. One option is to plan ahead and install a way to get Halon into the engine bay where you need it without opening the hood - e.g. jetted high above the engine - ideally along both sides. You could conceive of several ways to do this.

For an example - See: https://rennlist.com/forums/showthre...eferrerid=6055 ...From ages ago

Alan

rexpontius

OK Guys, quick update: I found and bought a 86.5 donor car!

It has rougly about the same milage, (100k miles), but sat for ~7 years in the Texas sun. It does not look pretty, but is is complete and should have all the parts I need to get the fire-car back on the road.

More pics to follow soon.

Jason89s4

That's great...keep us posted on the rebuild.
I followed this thread, but did you ever post where it was determined how/where the fire started?
Also...how did a car that sat in Texas for 7 years end up in Nederland?