ANOTHER Escort gone up in flames !

[Duratec John]

yep this is awful to see again, a well known well prepped car too!! i WILL be fitting a plumbed in system to my car, whats a couple of hundered quid to save something like this from happening, hand held jobbie would not have stopped this !!!!

A cheap plumbed in system wouldn't have put it out too, I will only fit Lifeline zero 360 to my Rally cars, and sometimes this is not good enough for modern trick fuel fires.

[gixer1000]

My heart sank when I saw the title of this thread. Always check your fuel pipes. I will never use braided again as you can't see what's going on underneath. If fitting an electric pump make sure it's either wired to the ignition or on a kill switch. Very sad pictures and know what he's going through.

Thats my point Kev,the only trouble with it wired into the ignition it will still be pumping as it loses fuel pressure and thinks fuel is needed,I agree with the separate kill switch,to me this is a must,whereas when the engine stops the mechanical fuel pump stops pumping.Regards Gixer1000.

[gazzamk2]

Thats shocking, another iconic car destroyed...

I repaired my mates expensively prepped mk1 golf which had braided fuel hoses which had perished on the inside and the damage was impossible to see due to the braid. Luckily it was on the 'suck' side and not pushing out fuel.

They are a liability...

[macrs2k]

I have wired up my electric fuel pump through a pressure switch on the oil pressure take off...Oil pressure drops and pump is turned off.. Have a seperate switch to manually prime it if the car has been sat for a while
Did this after seeing kevs car go up, scared the shit out of me

[gixer1000]

What a shame,a cracking motor.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LegaoBrA9FE&feature=relmfu

[katana]

Thats my point Kev,the only trouble with it wired into the ignition it will still be pumping as it loses fuel pressure and thinks fuel is needed,

How do you work that out? You turn off the ignition and you kill the elec power to sparks and pumps - how does it pump without power? That is unless you are a complete putz with wiring and put everything direct to the battery!

[gixer1000]

How do you work that out? You turn off the ignition and you kill the elec power to sparks and pumps - how does it pump without power? That is unless you are a complete putz with wiring and put everything direct to the battery!

If you cared to take the time to read the thread regarding Frosticles Mexico going up in smoke,I don`t think he had the time to turn the ignition off,he was more bothered about saving himself,before the car went up in smoke,the point I was trying to get over was if the car is fitted with a mechanical fuel pump and a pipe splits there is no fuel going to the carbs thus the car stops and thus pump stops pumping,It could mean all the difference between your car been gutted or a small under bonnet fire.Regards Gixer1000.

[rwdrs]

I too am firmly in the mechanical fuel pump camp.
I rather err in favour of changing less rather than more. I've been tempted in the past to waste money on bolt-on bits, only to discover virtually no, or very little gains. Whereas the standard parts have been tested and usually have capacity reserves engineered into them.

I also think that unless you've got a big mega thirsty motor, then a mech pump should be able to handle the task. The electric pump 'may' save you 1-2 horsepower but the expense and complication of fitting and not to mention loss of space turns me off the idea, plus as said I assume that most don't bother to wire in inertia switches that legally required for all new cars in case of accident.

Like Roger Clark said about the Lucas fuel injection on the early RS1600s, the car may have been producing 240 bhp but the Webers were producing 230-235, so it didn't give him an edge, and he disliked the added complexity of the setup.

Sad to see another one bit the dust though...

[prs]

are there such things as 'hydraulic fuses' for fuel lines ??

these are fitted to aircraft hydraulic systems which act like a shuttle valve and close off in the event of a burst pipe etc.
They wouldn't detect a small leak tho.

[gixer1000]

are there such things as 'hydraulic fuses' for fuel lines ??

these are fitted to aircraft hydraulic systems which act like a shuttle valve and close off in the event of a burst pipe etc.
They wouldn't detect a small leak tho.

Hello,the pipe that i got from pirtek has a working pressure of 28 Bar(400psi) and a burst pressure of 112 Bar(1620psi),its been made to EN854 standards.its part No is Pirtek 100R6-05 8mm(5/16).Regards Gixer1000.

[mk1gaz]

The problem with these fuel system fires is that you don't get long to put them out . You just about have time to get out of the car and run before it turns into a fireball . Even a fire engine can't put them out easily so you've got zero chance with a hand held .
This car was fully stripped out so had nothing too burn except the petrol . Even it's fuel tank was tiny so a fully trimmed road car with a big tank of fuel is even worse .
He still got scorched jumping out the drivers seat it went up that quick . No warning either , driving along one minute and the next it's game over !!!

[Frosticles]

The problem with these fuel system fires is that you don't get long to put them out . You just about have time to get out of the car and run before it turns into a fireball . Even a fire engine can't put them out easily so you've got zero chance with a hand held .
This car was fully stripped out so had nothing too burn except the petrol . Even it's fuel tank was tiny so a fully trimmed road car with a big tank of fuel is even worse .
He still got scorched jumping out the drivers seat it went up that quick . No warning either , driving along one minute and the next it's game over !!!

Exactly my scenario.

[ugly]

exactly the same happened to me in an escort van, i had no choice but to stop in a lay-by opposite a petrol station.
we tried four of there large fire extinguishers to put it out, to no avail, looking back perhaps if i had opened the bonnet, but at the time never give it a thought, took the fire brigade about ten mins to put it out.
a friend of mine live a hundred yards up the road and to save towing charges i ask if i could put what was left of the van in the yard, we pushed it up the road with a dihatsu four track, sitting on a hot seat frame, hot metal rim for a steering wheel, no brakes and a melted windscreen doing 20mph.....those were the days .... lol

[mk1gaz]

Morel of the story :
Check fuel pipes regularly (before every trip) for cracks and check for lose clips etc . The new petrol they sell now has 5% ethonel in it and this stuff eats rubber and alloy , it will be 10% in 2013 !!!!!
Also check you have enough slack on fuel pipes too allow for engine movement or else this can cause fatigue on joints at carbs , fuel pressure regulators etc . Those of us with injection have to be extra carefull as we have 4bar of pressure in our fuel lines and not 3psi like everyone else !!!!

[RS_Fiesta]

What about this:

http://www.gates.com/downloads/BarricadeBrochure.pdf