Thanks Bob, yep, when looking today the fuel pipe from right tank is scorched pretty bad.
Just a lucky day I guess. (apart from the repair bill) but I did buy this car for a garage hobby,just not this kind of repair was what I had in mind. Waiting for the mechanic as we speak to do his report on the cause of the fire. I won't speculate more until the insurance make a decision.

I will post some pics of the damage after he has been.

Write off the last thing I want,it's a good looking series 1 at walk by distance ,and drives superbly when not internally combusting its components.

Update, spent so much time on the phone getting police incident report,fire service report etc, insurance co (3 departments) and so on. No time to take pics today

Cheers

 

Lets hope the insurance company will cough up for repairs or at least the finances for the repairs..... economical write off is the last thing any of us want for our rides...

but the price of parts especially for these is not cheap, they may just feel its the cheaper option....

fingers crossed they come to the party for repairs...
like I said before, lucky you did notice it, if you had have continued driving it may have breached the fuel tank and things would have been a hell of a lot worse.

glad to hear every one came out fine and just a little shaken up.

 

Yep, all four of us got home safe(should I say five,XJ6 included)
Had the mechanic over tonight to do his report for insurance assessor,let us see what happens from here.
Its not a pretty site underside,but will hold off on posting pics until I have a result from them

 

Yoda is a legend

I fear what will happen to the XJ6,suffering will come next. I don' want to hate this car. It is the 30th car I have owned and the most enjoyable so far(even bb and Blue Flame chevs and 351 and Y block fords) havn't done to me what this car has in 3 months.

 

All my old cars have had fire extinguishes after I passed a magna on the freeway that had been smashed up against a bollard and was on fire. If the owner had had a fire extinguisher it could have been put out in 10 seconds but instead the car probably burnt to the ground. There is actually two in my series 3 at the moment, you can never be too safe in a jag.

Currently the only car that doesn't have one is my fairmont, which is my every day car so that makes no sense really. Its worth having one not only for yourself but also for any other unfortunate souls who we may stumble across on out daily adventures.

I did actually have a speaker in my magna catch fire one day and ignite the plastic trim it was mounted in! Scary stuff how flammable interior plastics are. Lucky it was on the drivers side as the passengers speaker is mounted directly next to the fuel filler neck.....it was equally as lucky I was carrying water as well.

Anyway, im sure everyone has a story about car fires and maybe we will all think about heading down to supercheap or aldi and picking up a few $20 specials,

Regards,
Jay

 

Never can be too careful, my neighbours who were in the car with us yesterday have asked me to pick up a couple of extinguishers for their cars tomorrow since I have the day off. Neighbours for 17 years and closest friends to boot. It doesn't get much better

The series 1 was my daily until yesterday,guess I have just got to drive the Jeep or her Mazda 3 now. Wait a minute, I have bikes to ride. They were ok as a daily ride until I got he XJ6. Back to the daily grind on 2 wheels. I'm too tight to spend 18 ltr per 100 km in the Jeep, but strangely 21 ltr per 100 in the Jag was sustainable as a daily driver (WTF) she says. There some things about driving a Jag that makes fuel economy not matter.

 

A few years ago I knew a guy who had put a Chevy 327 in the back seat of a Corvair some years before. He turned the transaxle over to face forward, applied a special kit to receive the engine (merely a bolt up after that) and fabricated a radiator mount for the "trunk" which is in the front of a Corvair, for those who are unfamiliar with the breed, and plumbed coolant back to the engine with 2 inch copper tubing laid in the passenger area (no seat). It also had a roll bar for racing and the doors were bolted shut (not welded, aluminum body).

It work very well, but he soon got bored and sold the car to his friend, Jerry. I should mention there was an electric fuel pump that was NOT connected to the key, and so, any time one flipped the toggle switch on the dash one had fuel to the engine, key on or not.

One day the Jerry let his girl friend drive the car but she neglected to turn off the fuel pump switch, which pump was strong enough to overcome the float valve thus filling parts of the engine with raw gasoline.

A few minutes later when the Jerry went out to start the car it was massively flooded and didn't even want to crank. Fuel pump still on.

Repeated tries finally overcame the flooding and the engine started with a bang... Literally, and flames and smoke began boiling into the cabin! He shut off the key, but as I mentioned that had no effect on the fuel pump, so it kept right on pumping gas into the fire.

I have related how the engine was in the back seat and the cover only a few inches from the driver's neck/head. (I should also say I wasn't there at the time so this is all second hand) When flames started coming out of the engine cover Jerry panicked (who wouldn't!) and tried to get out, but since the doors didn't open he went out the window.

He got out fine with only minor burns and some scrapes from the window frame, but that aluminum car was rendered a puddle in the parking lot.

I'm not sure an extinguisher would have helped the situation but neither would the fire department unless they had arrived a lot faster than they did.
(';')

 

The assessor came today,pretty well told me to start stripping it myself as the claim probably won't be accepted.
Thought as much.


Here are some pics. Could this stick between pad and piston cause that much heat?

 

Hi, uploading pics to other thread .

 

Here are more of the pics.

 

Here is some more.

 

What!? A stick!? As in a twig from a tree???

 

Lookin' that way, Mt Glorious is 50km of **** hot bike roads,but always sticks and branches to avoid. Tree lined roads all the way. I ran over a few on the way down,but not uncommon. Usually hit a few sticks on that road on the bike. Easy to see how it could happen with inboard brakes,wouldn't happen if they were in the normal place.

 

Have been Riding/driving this road for 25 years. Best bike road around Brisbane. 50km of tight and sweeping corners with steep accents and decents. Not uncommon to avoid sticks/branches on the road,have hit plenty on the bikes and did feel a few hit the floor pan on Sunday(as I say,not uncommon). Trees are right up to the edge of sealed road.
My "walk by theory" is a branch flicked up from the road and part of it lodged in the caliper,after a while metal to metal caused heat that melted the piston seals. Sparks ignited the paint or exhaust hanger and proceeded to ignite brake fluid from calpier.
Just lucky I stuck my head under for a gander I guess.

 

Clarke,

It's not as bad as I was expecting. The big plus is you got the fire under control before the bodywork was affected.

A rebuild of the rear suspension will be costly in parts. Everything rubber and all bearings will need replacement after the fire.

The low cost solution in the UK would be to get a complete IRS (Independent Rear Suspension) from a scrap car.



Is this likely to be an option in Australia where early cars last forever and scrappers must be rare?

Graham

 

There is a couple of complete rear ends available, but only problem is they are 2000km away. But already started the search.
Will a series 2 or 3 unit fit ?

It looks a lot better after a good hosing down and cleaning away of soot and powder.

 

I think the only issue could be with diff ratios.

Ask Doug (Doug Dwyer) about interchangeability. He has worked on Series I, II & III a lot more recently than I have.

Graham

 

LnrB:

A great tale, but it has flaws, I think. We've had a passel of Corvairs over the years. but, never an aluminum bodied one.

One of them was a 66 with a 327 in the "back seat. I don't recall the transaxle being reversed. But, I do remember the oddity of the transaxle minus flat six's pilot shaft stubb revolving merrily. A PO had cut it off. yes, it had a radiator up front and pipes back to the engine. Didn't cool worth beans and the engine was fried from over heating. it did run, though!!

Way back when, I was driving my 53 MG TD in Germany. Wowee, the SU's leaked and a fire broke out under the bonnet. Luckily a German mechanic came flying out with an extinguisher and put it out with little or no damage. Loos fuel hose. fixed and on the way. A few Dmarks to the guy to recharge his extinguisher and some American cigs as a tip. Delighted.

Much later, my son was welding on his 71 Ranchero in the driveway. Close to the fuel tank. Pow, a hole and a big fire. Blasts with two extinguishers and the garden hose failed to slow it!!! I told Ellen to call 911 and ran out in my PJ's. His friend was there with a little LUV 4 x. I grabbed a chain and told him to get the truck. I hooked up and he pulled the Ranchero away from the garage and the fuel puddle. Never mind it was on jack stands and no wheels in the rear!! At that time, the fire engine pulled up and quickly doused the fuel puddle. They checked the garage and opined that the heat was close to combustion!!!! Yup, some plastic stuff like a stud finder were almost melted!!

Because of my former profession, insurance claims, I have a deep respect for fire!!!

Carl

 

As I said, Carl, it was all second hand since I wasn't there, and none of the principals are available for comment.
(';')

 

Unbelievable bad luck!

What is the point of insurance if they do not cover this sort of thing!!

Glad no one was injured