I about burned up two MGs today!

[Kevin & Deana Brown <MGTRAutoXr@sprintmail.com>]

I about burned up two of my MGs today! While trying to time the '86 
Corvette I suddenly had flames shooting up out of the engine compartment 
over the windshield!!! This is a car that I had bout a few months ago 
that needed a little work on it, I had fixed a vacuum leak on the intake 
and knocked the timing way off because the distributor was loose - so my 
project today was to time it. I was sitting inside the car at the time 
letting it idle when all of the sudden all of flames just started 
shooting up from between the engine and the firewall. I shut the car off 
and jumped out  the flames kept shooting up and were licking over the 
windshield where I had my service sitting. I couldnt move the car 
because it was trapped by other vehicles. I thought (hoped!!!) I had a 
fire extinguisher in the garage. I first glanced over by my welding 
torch (since I usually grab the extinguisher when I am using the torch), 
didnt see it there, so I walked over to the pedestrian door in to the 
garage since I vaguely remembered keeping it there. I moved two folding 
chairs and fortunately it was behind them. I have never used a fire 
extinguisher before, though Ive seen the drill before, and this is a 
real old one  one of several that I had picked up at an auction about 
twelve years ago so I hoped that it would work. It is an ABC model and 
does have a gauge, which I check and has always been in the green zone. 
I walked right up to the car, pointed the hose at the fire and gave it a 
shot from the passenger side, to my surprise it knocked the fire right 
down  even though it seemed to be burning stronger on the other side. 
However it flared right up again, I walked around to the other side and 
gave it a good shot and that knocked it down for good  I though I would 
have to give it a shot from underneath but that didnt turn out to be 
needed. It doesnt look to have hurt the car at all, except for powder 
everywhere from the extinguisher, which I could hardly believe, given 
the size of the flames. That was fortunate since I dont have the Vette 
insured. Plus it was parked between two of my MGs (a 54 TF1500 RHD and 
a 78 MGB with a Buick 215 V8 installed) and nose to nose with my daily 
driver 01 Camaro SS that is parked under my 70 350 hp 4-speed Corvette 
convertible! Not to mention the racing Kart I just bought my daughter 
was right behind the 86 Corvette plus the garage is full of car parts 
and my woodworking and automotive tools. I guess the moral of the story 
is to have a fire extinguisher handy any time you are working on a car  
even when you dont expect to need it. Plus make sure it isnt one of 
those little dinky cheap ones  one of those would not have had enough 
charge to put this fire out  I dont know what the rating is on this 
extinguisher  I guess that it is too old for that type of rating other 
than saying it weighs 14 lbs. So I guess that I can give thanks, on this 
Thanksgiving holiday, that I didnt panic and I had what I needed to put 
the fire out  plus I was about ready to walk in to the house, while 
leaving the car idling (the house is a couple of hundred feet from the 
garage) and get my wife to help set the timing (hold her foot on the 
brake while the Vette was in gear), so fortunately the fire started 
while I was still in the garage  otherwise everything would have gone 
up in smoke. I dont know what started the fire, I had a big piece of 
cardboard under the car to catch oil leaks and that all burned up  in 
fact I think that was the main thing that was burning, Im wondering if 
I had a fuel leak  I thought I smelled gas when I was trying to start 
it yesterday  that got down on the cardboard and the vapors caught 
fire. Oh well alls well that ends well  Im just glad I had the fire 
extinguisher handy!

Take care all and Happy Thanksgiving!

Kevin Brown '54 MGTF 1500 RHD, '78 MGB V8, '71 MGB, '66 MGBGT V8

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