Gregory,
I would keep your fire extinguisher IN the car. My Sprite caught
fire when I was travelling from Toronto, Ontario to Regina, Saskatchewan
via North Dakota (don't ask why) and was in this place called Devil's
Lake. All of a sudden, poof, I smell lots of smoke, the guages on the
dash are getting cloudy and the motor is stumbling. I pull over rapido
subito and pull the bonnet release, which is always stuck. The time is
late April, it's a nice sunny warm Spring day, but looks like all hell
has broken loose under the hood. I pop out of the car and run up front
and lift the hood to find flames licking the distributor cap! Yowie
zikes, carumba! I run around to the back, yank the bungee cords off my
suitcase on the trunk rack, throw in down on the shoulder of the road
somewhere, fumble for the keys, unlock the trunk, rummage about thru
miscellaneous luggage and yank out the fire extinguisher. I run around
to the front which by this time is totally engulfed in smoke and flames
and WHOOOOF with one big puff the entire engine compartment is covered
in white powder!
By the way, you only get one play for your quarter with those little
extinguishers. If you miss, tough luck, there's no more juice after the
first push.
Well after I calmed down I managed to figure out that the cable from
the solenoid to the battery had been rubbing on the body and had shorted
out burning the spark plug wires in the process. So a friendly farmer
gave me a 4' length of spark plug wire from an old Massey-Ferguson
tractor he had in the field and I cut it into four pieces and replaced
the burnt bits. The distributor cap was a little lumpy, but it worked. I
had to do a little jumping of wires because the ignition switch had
melted, no prob. I was on my merry way.
Moral of the story, always keep an fire extinguisher IN your loved
one, and practice your aim!
Dean Meyer
1964 Morris Mini Minor Traveller "Wanna see my woody?" - (Having the big
snooze)
1966 Austin-Healey 3000 MK III "The moneypit from Vegas" - (Sealed in an
Andy Warhol time capsule and buried in the yard)
1967 Austin-Healey Sprite MK III "The big block" - (95 BHP Swiftune
Sports Tourer from Longs Corner Farm is here!)
1974 Land Rover Series III 88" "Kinabalu" - (Where's all the bits?)
Gregory Kirk wrote:
> I've got a 5 lb model (about 2.5 kg) that I blan on mounting on the
> parcel
> shelf behind the drivers seat. as it will be easyt o reach from
> outside of
> the car, and I have no intention of staying in a burning car. I'd
> avoid
> the trunk ( boot to you aussies?) as it would take much longer to get
> to it.
>
> Greg
>
> At 01:50 PM 12/4/97 +0800, Greg MAHNEY wrote:
> >I went to my first meeting of the local AH Club the other day and won
> a
> >fire extiguisher in the raffle. It's a 0.9kg model (about a pound in
> US
> >weights).
> >
> >I'd value your opinions on where in the car to mount it. I have a
> Mk2A
> >Sprite and use it mainly for driving around on the weekends.
> >
> >TIA
> >
> >Greg
> >
> >
> >
>
**************************************************************************
>
> ***
> >Greg Mahney
> >Admissions Officer, Murdoch University, Murdoch WA 6150,
> Australia
> >phone: +61 (8) 9360 2725 fax: +61 (8) 9360 6491
> >e-mail: mahney@central.murdoch.edu.au
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> "But I, being poor, have only my dreams;
> I have spread my dreams under your feet;
> Tread softly because you tread on my dreams."
> Yeats
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