Bus on Fire!

Sylvester · Post by **Sylvester** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 9:44 am

How much have you spent John? I wonder if this is type 1 doable?

left handed kennedy · Post by **left handed kennedy** » Wed Nov 14, 2007 10:39 am

I spent about $700 total, but that was for a car that is already FI. I know that CB makes bolt on injector ports and throttle bodies for the type 1 http://www.cbperformance.com/catalog.asp?ProductID=321

The other thing you have to consider is the fuel system is a closed loop. You will have to work around that.

Try http://www.msefi.com/ to find someone running it already. I have seen many type 1 that are turboed running this.

Hope this helped

John

left handed kennedy · Post by **left handed kennedy** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 3:03 pm

Damn it!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't believe this.

The bus caught on fire again!!!!!!!!!!!

This time it is much worse than the last time. All the wiring in the engine compartment burned. The culprit seems to be a brand new FI line. It looks like it split and shot gas all over the hot engine compartment. I heard a whoosh and saw flames shooting out of the intakes.

I'm beginning to believe this bus doesn't like me.

RussellK · Post by **RussellK** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 3:15 pm

Can't believe it. Sorry to hear it's happened twice. So why would a brand new FI line fail like that. Was it line provided by Megasquirt? Can you go back to them if it is?

spiffy · Post by **spiffy** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 3:44 pm

^^^^ I agree, somethin's up with that line.

Adventurewagen · Post by **Adventurewagen** » Thu Dec 06, 2007 3:45 pm

Holy crap that sucks! You must be at wits end with that thing. I'm thinking that maybe installing a Halon system in your engine compartment might be justifiable

On another topic, was there a reason you decided to replace the stock FI with the megasquirt? I'm not trying to be stock Nazi or anything but i'm curious as to the advantages you see in that system?

Post by **Amskeptic** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 9:41 am

left handed kennedy wrote: Damn it!!!!!!!!!!!
I can't believe this.
The bus caught on fire again!!!!!!!!!!!
This time it is much worse than the last time.
The culprit seems to be a brand new FI line.

This is extremely peculiar. What brand of fuel line? What kind of clamps? Where was this line routed? Any contact points? How tight were your clamps? I had a less than one year old fuel line rupture on a hot engine a couple of weeks ago, and had lots of volatile vapors and gas pouring under the car, but no ignition. (Bus Depot allegedly sold "fuel injection" hose to covelo that was merely cloth-braid carb hose) You can help make your engine more forgiving of fuel incidents by following the following important points. Follow:
A) All high-tension leads are not to touch each other anywhere. The factory had nice clips and you can route the wires such that they do not touch each other from the cap all the way to the plugs. This also helps prevent heavy load mis/cross-fires.
B) All other electrical connections should have DeOx gel not only for superior corrosion resistance but for superior electrical conductivity, then there won't be little electrons trying to jump to ground where they do not belong.
C) This is not the car disliking you. There is just some missing intuition on your part. . . though I imagine that you are reaching red-alert-paranoia pretty quickly at this rate.

RSVP on the brand of fuel hose and any notes as to its premature failure.
Colin
(ow! ow! owooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo! the howl of anguish)

left handed kennedy · Post by **left handed kennedy** » Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:40 pm

Adventurewagen wrote:Holy crap that sucks! You must be at wits end with that thing. I'm thinking that maybe installing a Halon system in your engine compartment might be justifiable

On another topic, was there a reason you decided to replace the stock FI with the megasquirt? I'm not trying to be stock Nazi or anything but i'm curious as to the advantages you see in that system?

The fuel line was a high pressure FI hose for a Mercedes. I don't think it had a chance not to ignite since it shot into the fan and over the exhaust. the car was already warm and had been running for about 15 minutes.
As for the megasquirt, the reason that I put it in was due to the last engine fire. That time my charcoal canister came in contact with the pos side of the battery and melted itself along with melting part of the FI harness. The reason I went with a non stock FI system is due to the ability to control all the variables of the engine. I can hook up my laptop and read intake o2 temp, exhaust o2, spark timing, and adjust it for optimum performance. I like that ability. Plus, it gets rid of the AFM, ECU, and various other smog devices. I had the car smog checked after I had got it running really well and it passed California smog without any of these.

So now it is back to square one. The bus had been my primary driver, but I went out and got myself a 2002 MR2 Spyder to drive while I fix it. Boy is that fun. Like a modern 914.

vwman55 · Post by **vwman55** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 11:41 am

Some info on fire extinguishers, use BC type. ABC type makes a mess and the A part will stick to the engine metal. Hard to remove.

Gypsie · Post by **Gypsie** » Tue Dec 11, 2007 8:20 pm

nice tip VWman, duly noted.

Fire bad....

Itinerant Air-Cooled

Itinerant Air-Cooled

Bus on Fire!