Ferrari Mailing List: fire extinguishers and gas smells

[George P . (ygpz4re]

All,
 
I'll echo the sentiments here - fire extinguishers are like your AMEX card - don't leave home without it!  I once experienced a fire in a 308, though not a gasoline fire, and there was not extinguisher in the car.  Luckily, I was able to stop near a gas station (yeah, I know, duh....) and use one of theirs.
 
A good friend of mine with a Cayman bought a Halotron 2 (I think) extinguisher.  Bottle and bracket about $200.  And another good friend (and professional fire fighter) fully endorsed this decision (good enough for me - it's what I'll be putting in all my "special" cars).
 
Now, gas smells in carb'd cars like Robert's GT4.  When I had my 308 (the ex-Steve Cook car), I also smelled gas.  What I found was that there is a "pressure relief" tube (about 3/4"dia.) that runs from the top of one tank to the top of the other.  This allows the fuel level to equalize in the two tanks.  On my car, a PO (not Steve, I'm pretty sure) had installed braided steel lines from the fuel pump up to the carbs (and between the carbs, too).  This braided steel line basically "chain-sawed" a hole in that tube, so raw gasoline vapors were spilling into the engine bay.  That it didn't go up in flames is simply a miracle.
 
I've talked about this before here (many moons ago), but wanted to bring it up again since the gas smell was brought up again.  Those of you w/ carb'd cars, be aware of this possibility and be safe.  Hate to lose a car, hate worse to lose a driver.
 
George P.