[Roadsters] FW: Video of Burnt Eliza

[Pete Peters]

Think this should have gone to Peter (the roadster owner) and/or the
list....

-----Original Message-----
From: Andy Pastore [mailto:ajpastore at rcn.com] 
Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2012 7:44 PM
To: Pete Peters
Subject: Re: [Roadsters] Video of Burnt Eliza

I don't know if you found the exact source of the fire yet but I want to
mention something that has happened to me.  It's a bit wacky but true.
One summer I noticed what appeared to be melted spots on the vinyl seat back
of the drivers side. It upset me because they were relatively new and in
perfect shape. I thought maybe I got some cleaning solvent or brake fluid or
something on my back while crawling around on the ground and transferred it
to the seat.
Then some time later that summer in the morning, I pulled the car out of the
garage and left it in the driveway, top down, while doing something in the
garage. After a while I looked out at the car and saw smoke wafting up from
the drivers seat back. It was the sun, reflecting off the steering wheel and
pinpointing a "laser" of heat onto the seat and burning a hole! Really? WTF
On my roadster I installed a steering wheel which I can't remember the name
of.  This wheel has a very shiny chrome horn button that acted like a
parabolic collector/reflector, pinpointing the suns power to my seat. If I
hadn't noticed it I'm sure it would have continued until the sun moved
enough to stop the "laser" or even started the seat afire when it made
through to the foam.
I can't tell from your video which steering wheel you have but is it
possible this may have happened to Eliza?
The different spots on the back of my seat prove that it happened more than
once and in slightly different positions so it wasn't a one in a million
type of thing.  In the morning during the summer, the sun shines perfectly
down my driveway, low in the sky and hotter than hell.
As far as the speaker wires...unless the amp malfunctioned, it's not very
likely you could get enough current to start a fire with out the fuse
blowing. It would require more power than the amp should put out before just
stopping working. A shorted speaker can get pretty hot but you need many
watts of continuous power to get it to glow and the voice coil would burn
out before that or the amp would crap out. Does the radio still work? All
the channels left and right? If so I really doubt the stereo was the
culprit.

Good luck and I'm sorry this happened to you.
regards,
Andy Pastore

> -----Original Message-----
> From: datsun-roadsters-bounces at autox.team.net
> [mailto:datsun-roadsters-bounces at autox.team.net] On Behalf Of peter 
> harrison
> Sent: Friday, April 06, 2012 10:45 PM
> To: datsun
> Subject: [Roadsters] Video of Burnt Eliza
>
> Just a sorry video of potentially avoidable damage - BUT - she is 
> still running strong 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hwjIMpHxit0&feature=youtu.be
>
> Peter Harrison - Eliza [TOAD SAN]
> 818 448 3181