[71ChevelleLS5]

I thought I would share a recent event with you all.

A friend of mine has an '86 Suburban and he asked me to rebuild his carb. While he was away on buisness I went to his house and removed his carb. Later that day a friend of his, who was staying at his house, hopped in the truck and tryed to start it. Apparently he did not notice that the accelerator pedal was laying on the floor. He must have cranked for quite a while because the fuel pump passed enough fuel to get into the manifold. The guy accutaly backed the truck down the driveway and got it to go back up before it burst into flames. I don't know how long it burned. I saw the remains though. Let me tell you, it was not a pretty picture. It got so hot that the windshield melted through.

The owner was not too upset. It was only a work truck and he is fairly well off. I sure learned a lot though. The moral of the story is ALWAYS REMOVE THE BATERY CABLE.

If anyone has any similar storys please share them with us.

Matt


P.S. Sorry it didn't have to do with Chevelles. I'm not sorry that that didn't happen to my Chevelle.

 

[Wes V]

WOW!!

On almost all of my cars, I've installed a battery disconnect switch (SCCA approved). It makes it so simple to turn off the car when working on it and I don't have to risk damaging the battery cables.

When I was originally building my wagon, I even wired up a small LED (mounted to the bracket that holds the switch) so that I could tell at a glance if it was turned on or not. (The led uses so little current, it couldn't possibly drain the battery)

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Wes. Vann
Technical Reference section
Gold Member #5