Phil Suttons 5 door.

[burgo]

Anyone got any pictures of it?

[nova ian]

Wow, that's a blast from the past, this was the first ever XE nova I went in!

Only one's I could find :(

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v314/cruisindude/31072005001.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v314/cruisindude/31072005003.jpg

[Markd89]

how did it catch fire ?

[nova ian]

Can't remember the exact cause now, think he was on the way to Pod. Some years ago now!

[burgo]

lol i was kind of expecting the burnt out pictures to turn up

[John]

fuel line split iirc.

[nova ian]

lol i was kind of expecting the burnt out pictures to turn up

lol it was a nice looking nova, pulled off a kit really well, would be good to see some pics of it in it's former glory though! Anyone ever heard from Phil by the way? He still got the TVR?

[burgo]

he was on not long ago selling some bits. his is the only 5 door i have ever liked and now that i have a silver 5 door want to get some ideas

[John]

Pics :)

[jeremy fisher]

I was in that when it caught fire! I think I may have taken those pics.
Think the TVRs long gone and he's all grown up.
He was racing a Civic Type R and then things got very smokey inside the car. Pulled over and minutes later it was a fire ball. Fuel onto the exhaust I think. On way to pod to look at American muscle to buy.

[Mike]

Proper blast from the past!

[Spudly]

I thought it was the carbs, either way he was on the way to PVS circa '05 when it went up on the motorway, iirc him and his mate had time to pull over, bail and take the phot as posted earlier, it went up that quick, im sure i remember reading that the fire was already catching the dash as he was trying to force people out of his way in lanes two and one trying to get it off the carriageway and get out of the car, mustve been fooking scary!!

[jeremy fisher]

Fire definately started under the car, we got out and it was just smoking a lot then stood on the bank for a minute or so and then noticed flames under the car an then it was too late. The worst bit for me was, what the hell do you say to someone when you're watching their pride and joy burn! He was hoping his carbs were ok but then the fire brigade opened the bonnet and there was just the butterflies sat there and a load of melted alloy. You can see in one of the photos that his wheels melted so dont think carbs stood a chance!!

[burgo]

:( seems no one has pics then, was a long shot i guess

[Liam]

A bit of searching and this is the thread about the fire. It has a couple more pictures of the fire: CLICKHERE (http://www.pngclub.com/forum/showthread.php?52591-The-5-door-has-died)

[Southie]

I want to see what this car looked like before the fire now, surely Craig Greens got a random picture of it in his archives.

[Edd]

That looks proper scary

[BRoadGhost]

Who here has an xe without a fire extinguisher..?

[Spudly]

Who here has an xe without a fire extinguisher..?





I did until the other day, was always on my 'i must get one' list but finally grabbed a 'flamebeater' from work the other day, priced at cost +vat i couldnt refuse, our rrp on it was £17.99 and i got it for £5.99 lol


Going to buy another next week and get one for the astra too, still looking at proper plumbed in systems though, basic ones can be had for £150 which is bugger all imo when it comes to the cost of your car, not to mention the time and effort of building it in the first place!

[turbojolt]

think I'm going to be buying one, the heat that comes off a car fire like that is unreal!!!

[Edd]

Ah but if you build/maintain your to a high standard mechanically its not very likely to catch fire

If you have a split fuel line a fire extinguisher aint doing much lol

[turbojolt]

fuel shouldn't just go up because of a fuel leak on a hot surface should it?

[Spudly]

Ah but if you build/maintain your to a high standard mechanically its not very likely to catch fire





Utter bollocks, anything can and does fail, just because youve put your hand in your poscket and bought good stuff, doesnt mean that its not going to break, i admit its less likely but things happen, hell if new cars can randomly catch fire through things failing, a 20 odd year old nova whether its been built with all new bits or not, has exactly the same chances of thermal incidents, look at Andy's pug for example, we all know the lengths he has gone to in rebuilding his engine and prepping his bay, his alt caught fire when he first ran it up to temp to check for leaks!

[Bubba]

fuel shouldn't just go up because of a fuel leak on a hot surface should it?

my cav fuel line split and was spraying a fine mist across my engine inc onto the manifold...somehow it didnt go boom

[turbojolt]

petrol is a stable fluid it need a spark or a naked flame this guys motor must have had someother problems aswell

[Novasport]

I had a fuel leak on my 1380cc Mini. The engine had a lot of movement even with a competition engine steady fitted. I was giving it some beans and I had a strong smell of petrol then it cut out. Flipped the bonnet to find the carb had gone back with the engine and split the fuel line against the bulkhead. On Mini's the exhaust manifold is under the carb and the fuel was pouring all over it with smoke coming off it. Luckily it did not go up.
TBH fuel is not as flammable in a liquid state as the vapours.

[Bubba]

petrol is a stable fluid it need a spark or a naked flame this guys motor must have had someother problems aswell

if it was a fine mist from say a pinhole...it would have gone up a lot easier tbh.

[turbojolt]

even then it should still just have vapourised,

[Southie]

even then it should still just have vapourised,

Bolllocks tbh, I've seen 16xe_chris have to put a fire out on his old Rally Nova when a Conrod spat out at great speed, which spat a shard of metal out somehow onto the fuel filter... which then spat fuel all over his engine bay, then splash, piiss and pour all over his manifold to which set alight... this totally knackered his engine but luckily not the whole car.
Fire extinguishers under the bonnet luckily worked btw ;)

[BRoadGhost]

Flamebeaters are a bit toytown due to their small size; you can get one for about £13 that's twice the capacity. It looks better proportioned too.

I've had under bonnet fires before due to brake / clutch fluid touching the exhaust, no matter how well you build something or maintain it believe me when I say anything can happen.

[mk1nova_rich]

I always kept a fire extinguisher in my Nova, necessity IMO

A lot of people keep them in the boot which seems pretty pointless

[Andy]

I am all for fire exes.Anyone with owt old should have one,as i said in me project thread,even if the car's totalled,save yaself!!

[mk1nova_rich]

Agree with Andy, even if its just to hold the fire back so you can get everyone out safely

[General Baxter]

fire rats ftw,

you all know what happened to me, t45's in my cav, lol

it back fired and ignited the fuel vapor in the carbs, that was a good day :)

[Mazz]

So any pics pre-fire then?

[Spudly]

Flamebeaters are a bit toytown due to their small size; you can get one for about £13 that's twice the capacity. It looks better proportioned too.

I've had under bonnet fires before due to brake / clutch fluid touching the exhaust, no matter how well you build something or maintain it believe me when I say anything can happen.



Agreed, which is why im going to order another one at least for the nova and one for the astra tomorrow at work. and i totally agree, it doesnt matter how much was spent on the build, be it time, preperation or money, anything can and quite often does happen, and as Andy said, even if the car is a total loss, it could come in handy to assist you to get yourself and your passengers out and keep them safe, you might even find youre pointing your fire extinguisher at people and not cars!

[TWAG]

:( seems no one has pics then, was a long shot i guess

I'm pretty sure I've got some pics, I'll dig them out later tonight and upload them.

[Adam]

Ive got pics from "back in the day" but they'll be buried within my old pc somewhere lol

I remember the day that went up. Scary stuff even just seeing the pics, it melted a hole straight through the gearbox like it was made from plastic. :eek:

[Riggy]

I've got a load on my pc , even got some of it when it was still a 1.4 lol

I'm in Crete till wed morning though so I'll upload them when I get back :)

[BRoadGhost]

You can get a good one for about £13 from the camping section of Halfrauds

Perfect place to put it too:-

http://i336.photobucket.com/albums/n321/scoob500/022-1.jpg