thoughts about fuel hoses and fire estinguishers

ghostdancing

True Classic
i purchased some new hoses with the intention of change the old (probably OEM, so from 1972) CAVIS hoses; when i was inside the trunk i saw the old hoses look nice and not particulary hardened, so for the moment i did not removed them..

do you think i should renew the hoses in any case?

do you have fire estinguishers in the cabin of your cars? do you think i should get one as safety measure anyway?
 
I think agewise, you should replace all fuel lines. I don't know if you have ethanol in your gas like we do which really trashes fuel lines.

Many of us have fuel extinguishers in our Fiats but to be honest if my car caught on serious fire I'd be running for the side of the road and watch my flaming car from a distance. Oddly enough I see a lot of folks putting extinguishers in their trunks, you won't have time to mess around with opening the trunk if your car is on fire! Also see a lot of what I call boutique extinguishers that look so small they wouldn't put out a match but look cute.

The ultimate solution is don't have so much money tied up in your Fiat that you actually plan to do serious fire fighting on it.
 
yes, the panic factor it's the main point in case of fire.. i saw a system with hoses pointed permanently on the carburetor and other zones of potential fuel leak, actioned from inside the cabin..this can really save the car as you can just push the button and escape away from the car..no need to open the trunk , allowing more oxygen to feed the fire..should not be so difficult\expensive to implement this..

and Carl, another question: never heard of the word "agewise"..it's poetic? what does it means? (i like to improve my english knowledge while chatting on motors forums..)
 
I'll put this out there: Having a fire extinguisher in the cabin is not always practical, so having one in the frunk is better than no extinguisher at all. The key is, like all fire safety, is to have done your own personal a fire drill on getting it quickly. Fire drills are at least one way to shave valuable seconds off your response time. Not optimal, but it can make the difference.
 
The 128 would not have the barb and collar system that the Bosch fuel injection sysem uses, so replacing the hoses should be relatively painless. I would definitely replace the fuel hoses if they are from 1972.

For fire suppression, I have seen a few Youtube videos showing BlazeCut. I have not tried this system, but it looks interesting.
 
I have carried fire extinguishers in my cars for years and so far have only used one once...on someone else's car.
The problem with old hoses besides being old is with the cloth braid cover it you ever do spring a leak the whole line pretty much gets wet making it hard to find the source.
The European cars I have owned I changed out the braid covered hoses A sap whether they needed it or not.
 
I knew I had a problem with "agewise" as the spell check on this forum kept telling me it was a typographic error! Yes, I use this made up(?) term to mean the hoses are too old. Your use of English is good enough to fool us that you struggle with it. I took three years of high school French and can't speak a word of it.

The fire suppression system you mention is a racing system. I have to admit, I have never heard of anyone using it in a street car but I see no reason why you shouldn't install one if you are that afraid of fire.

I think you may be a bit too focused on possible fire in your car. I only know of one Fiat that caught on fire, a beautiful 124 coupe. It was apparently caused when the fuel inlet pipe on his carburetor came off and the pump proceeded to dump fuel all over the motor. The fuel inlet and return spigots on old Webers can get loose like this. For sure check yours for very snug fit with no looseness at all.
 
I knew I had a problem with "agewise" as the spell check on this forum kept telling me it was a typographic error! Yes, I use this made up(?) term to mean the hoses are too old. Your use of English is good enough to fool us that you struggle with it. I took three years of high school French and can't speak a word of it.

The fire suppression system you mention is a racing system. I have to admit, I have never heard of anyone using it in a street car but I see no reason why you shouldn't install one if you are that afraid of fire.

I think you may be a bit too focused on possible fire in your car. I only know of one Fiat that caught on fire, a beautiful 124 coupe. It was apparently caused when the fuel inlet pipe on his carburetor came off and the pump proceeded to dump fuel all over the motor. The fuel inlet and return spigots on old Webers can get loose like this. For sure check yours for very snug fit with no looseness at all.
I agree, although I do carry a small extinguisher in my car. I have never heard of a fiat catching (until you just mentioning it) I even had a very similar issue to the 124 without incident. The filter bolt on a dcnf fall out pouring fuel all over the engine bay, turned off the car, pulled over. fixed the issue, and drove back home without an issue. didnt rinse it, nothing. had a cleaner engine compartment after all that gas was sprayed!

Odie
 
OK, here is the voice of experience. My 75 caught fire (in 1978) and I stood across the street and watched it burn. I bought a 78 and kept a fire extinguisher in the trunk and it also flamed up (in 82), but having an extinguisher on hand saved it.
Lesson learned: Once a month, I inspect the complete fuel delivery system. After a drive, I wipe all fuel line junctions with a tissue.
Fool me twice....
 
I change my fuel lines regularly (2nd time now in 30 years of ownership). My car is injected - I've had one hose that developed a hole, and it was literally squirting gasoline onto the exhaust manifold!


I've also had one fire (catalytic converter caught the grille and valence paint on fire! - car was running rough. Anyway, I used a dry chemical extinguisher and it made a HUGE mess...

Now I carry one of these in every car I have. It's Italian made, and my friends distribute this product (I introduced the product to them). Anyhow, it leaves no residue - it's really small - I have it tucked under my seat in a clip. It lasts 50 seconds or so. It is very effective. It was even featured on Jay Leno's garage!

upload_2019-9-12_12-10-23.png


 
I change my fuel lines regularly (2nd time now in 30 years of ownership). My car is injected - I've had one hose that developed a hole, and it was literally squirting gasoline onto the exhaust manifold!


I've also had one fire (catalytic converter caught the grille and valence paint on fire! - car was running rough. Anyway, I used a dry chemical extinguisher and it made a HUGE mess...

Now I carry one of these in every car I have. It's Italian made, and my friends distribute this product (I introduced the product to them). Anyhow, it leaves no residue - it's really small - I have it tucked under my seat in a clip. It lasts 50 seconds or so. It is very effective. It was even featured on Jay Leno's garage!

View attachment 25296

OMG> did some quick googling. LOVE it. it is on its way to my house! thanks for passing this on


Odie
 
I used to carry Halon extinguishers which leave no mess but used them on another car’s electrical fire (they worked great). I now carry an ABC unit in the rear trunk (which is almost always open) so it would be easy to access in case of fire. I have practiced opening both releases and running around to the back fully opening the trunk and popping the engine lid open enough to squirt in but not introduce more oxygen.

Car fires can go really fast but with an extinguisher you should be able to save it.
 
Last edited:
I agree, although I do carry a small extinguisher in my car. I have never heard of a fiat catching (until you just mentioning it) I even had a very similar issue to the 124 without incident. The filter bolt on a dcnf fall out pouring fuel all over the engine bay, turned off the car, pulled over. fixed the issue, and drove back home without an issue. didnt rinse it, nothing. had a cleaner engine compartment after all that gas was sprayed!

Odie
My first '74, my avatar, caught fire after the fuel line pulled out of the carb. I got the fire out and the damage was manageable.
The SCCA requires the fuel lines on Weber carbs be the screw in type. It's not too hard to do with a 1/8" NPT threaded barbed fitting.
 
Mike, so you had an estinguisher in the car and was able to use it in time? if i understand the brass nipple\boss on the carb became loose?
 
Mike, so you had an estinguisher in the car and was able to use it in time? if i understand the brass nipple\boss on the carb became loose?
No, I didn't have an extinguisher in the car (a '74), but I do now. When the fire occurred I was maintaing and cleaning up the car at a body shop (I worked there). When I was done I backed it out, then went inside to lock up. When I came back outside the car was on fire . I went back inside and got an extinguisher, opened the engine cover, then did what I could with the extinguisher. While I was doing that a neighbor called the fire department. The fire did a lot of damage, totalled the car, and prompted the purchase of my first (of many) parts cars. (Not so easy to find back then.)
Yes, the brass fuel inlet nipple had pulled out of the carb, probably while I was changing the fuel filter.
FWIW I did witness another X driving down the street on fire around the same time (had to be a carb car).
 
The brass nipples are usually the problem, they are a press fit and with time get loose. Some folks say to remove them and re knurl the part that goes in the carb to make a tighter friction fit but most of us don't have tools to do that. In the past I have used JB weld to "glue" the nipple to the carb. I also have safety wired the hose clamp to the body of the carb to keep the line from pulling out and have threaded the opening in the carb for a fuel line spigot that has threads.

But, just to show how inconsistent I am, I have a pair of Webers on my X right now and none of the above! Now you have me nervous.
 
sorry Carl for putting bad scenarios in your thoughts! anyway i think that a simple and built-in fire estinguisher system should be installed in any car (the modern ones can go on fire as well, perhaps easier with their high flow gas pumps)..in my point of view this should be a legal mandament (not sure my english it's understandable enough here..too lazy to check on the google translater though) to the all cars makers
 
Back
Top