<VV> My neighbor had a bit of a problem starting his car ...

[Charles Lee]

Too bad about the EM Monza too - looks like a nice car, and the body is
still good.

The El Camino's roof looks caved in from the heat, so it may not be
salvageable ?  

I had a Corsa convert nearly go up in flames back in the day ~

I was driving on a nice clear day, top down and not payable much attention
to the rearview mirror (apparently).

When I stopped at a light on a main road, I was engulfed in think acrid
smoke, that was billowing out of the rear vents, behind the boot!

I had previously seen a team of firemen hack up a perfectly good car once
for a small fire, and didn't want that to happen to my Corsa, so I drove it
into a residential area, to be out of sight of anyone who would call them,
to see what I could do.

The engine was ablaze, mostly the left carbs and battery cable.

There was a little kid playing with a lawn sprinkler a few houses down, who
saw me and tried to catch water in a trash can lid to help me.
Water on a gas fire is not a good idea, but I figured it would take too long
to get any that way anyway.

I had to do something soon, before anyone called the firemen who would have
a jolly time hacking up my beautiful Corvair.
(Sorry if I offend any firemen out there ;>})~ 

So, all I could do was play "Big Bad Wolf" and huff, and puff, and blow the
fire out, which I did, but it took 4 or 5 of the deepest breaths I had even
taken, and the fire was out!  I was hyperventilated, but the fire was out,
and no one called the fire department, so all was well.

I walked back to the corner where there was an auto parts store, and I
bought a new battery, cables, and plug wires.

I drove home, cleaned her up, rebuilt the carbs, and I was back on the road.

Apparently, after too many jack rabbit starts, the battery had stretched the
hot cable through the grommet, and actually arc welded about a 2"-3" cut
through the shroud as the cable "sawed" through the metal, before eventually
catching fire!

Oh, I also put in a new battery hold-down clamp, since the battery was from
a 400 CI Buick (it once held a charge with the bright lights on under a snow
bank that had accumulated during a Christmas party, and started right up ~ I
could see the lights glowing through a foot of snow, and thought it would
never start, but it did!)

The owner of the El Camino has two of them, the other one is "prettier" -
good body, paint etc, but this one was the "runner" that was strong enough
for sponsors to endorse, but alas, the engine is literally "toast" !

Too bad really, nice car even if it's not a Corvair 

It reminded me of my episode with my Corsa - bit of a flashback~

Charlie


-----Original Message-----
From: virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org
[mailto:virtualvairs-bounces at corvair.org] On Behalf Of Matt Nall
Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2012 8:23 PM
To: virtualvairs at corvair.org
Subject: Re: <VV> My neighbor had a bit of a problem starting his car ...

sadly.. here's a guy's new purchase