Electric pump or not

carl said:
Don't forget, when you lift the engine lid you provide everything the fire needs to get REALLY BIG!

I suggest you clowns don't buy $20,000 Fiats. Buy beaters like I do, insure it and walk away from it when it's on fire....maybe dial 911 to report a car fire.
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In my experience with car fires if you just barely open the hood you can spray in the crack with the extinguisher.

Back when I was a part of the Killington Sports Car Club we got training from a fire department around proper technique. One of the bits of training was knowing when to walk away…
 
As an aside comment, whenever the use of an electric pump is discussed, the thread eventually drifts to engine fires. Yet every Fiat engine fire I know of started when the brass fuel line spigot on the carb fell out of the carb body. I used to safety wire the hose clamp to the carb body to keep the nozzle from falling out of the carb if (when) it got loose. Also, guys driving their Fiats with forty year old cracked and pin holed rubber fuel lines can lead to fires yet it never occurred to those folks to change out the original lines.

Maybe a general fire prevention thread would be useful.
 
carl said:
As an aside comment, whenever the use of an electric pump is discussed, the thread eventually drifts to engine fires. Yet every Fiat engine fire I know of started when the brass fuel line spigot on the carb fell out of the carb body. I used to safety wire the hose clamp to the carb body to keep the nozzle from falling out of the carb if (when) it got loose. Also, guys driving their Fiats with forty year old cracked and pin holed rubber fuel lines can lead to fires yet it never occurred to those folks to change out the original lines.

Maybe a general fire prevention thread would be useful.
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My only close call (knock no wood) was with my X. Duel DCNF's. was on the freeway and smelled gas. I pulled over and the screw/cover (see pic) fell out pouring fuel onto the exhaust. was lucky. no fire. and was within walking distance to my friends house that I happened to have spare parts at.
DCNF.png

Odie
 
On the 128, it's factory wired through 2 relays to use the oil pressure... Took a little work to get it working right when I replaced the previous owner installed mechanical pump, but now it's all good. In small displacement cars I prefer the electric pump to reduce the parasitic drain on HP... I know it's not much, but anything driven by the engine takes something, it all adds up... I used an S.U. pump, High volume low pressure. The Holley pumps have been pretty crappy quality in recent years, I had 3 'race' pumps from them fail after just a couple of years in my Datsun .... I won't use them anymore, either S.U., a Facet rotary cylindrical (not the cube) or Aeromotive makes some nice pumps but most of theirs are overkill for a small car... Aeromotive makes a nice High flow low pressure regulator for carbs (1-5 lbs ) The Holley one's are pretty restrictive for flow, and it's not easy to find a regulator for carbs these days ..
 
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PO of my 76 X installed an electric pump. Not sure what was off with the setup but it would starve for fuel and shut off at anything over 5000 rpm. Eventually blew out a line and started a fire. Of course the pump kept running and feeding those flames, I was lucky to get the ignition off and fire out with just a few singed wires. When I went to dual DCNFs I also went back to a mechanical pump. Runs great.
 
Lowtechprime said:
On the 128, it's factory wired through 2 relays to use the oil pressure... Took a little work to get it working right when I replaced the previous owner installed mechanical pump, but now it's all good. In small displacement cars I prefer the electric pump to reduce the parasitic drain on HP... I know it's not much, but anything driven by the engine takes something, it all adds up... I used an S.U. pump, High volume low pressure. The Holley pumps have been pretty crappy quality in recent years, I had 3 'race' pumps from them fail after just a couple of years in my Datsun .... I won't use them anymore, either S.U., a Facet rotary cylindrical (not the cube) or Aeromotive makes some nice pumps but most of theirs are overkill for a small car... Aeromotive makes a nice High flow low pressure regulator for carbs (1-5 lbs ) The Holley one's are pretty restrictive for flow, and it's not easy to find a regulator for carbs these days ..
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I think that you have shifted the parasitic drain from the fuel pump to the alternator based on conservation of energy. If the electric pump is more efficient than the mechanical pump, that could help a bit but I've got no clue on fuel pump efficiencies. The other way that could help is with peak demand situations where the battery can buffer the peaks from the alternator a bit.
 
You guys are totally out there with that efficiency thing! I remember an article in Cycle magazine back in the 70s about a class winning Yamaha 350. The guy had removed the wheel bearing seals to reduce rolling friction.

With Fiats it's not about super efficiency (from the guy with dual carbs), it's about doing your drive and making it home!
 
carl said:
You guys are totally out there with that efficiency thing! I remember an article in Cycle magazine back in the 70s about a class winning Yamaha 350. The guy had removed the wheel bearing seals to reduce rolling friction.

With Fiats it's not about super efficiency (from the guy with dual carbs), it's about doing your drive and making it home!
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Great idea. Just remind me to change all the wheel bearings if I bought a car from you 🤪
 
How about the swimmers who shave their body hair? If you're worried about the drag your body hair is causing, you have just not trained hard enough...
 
Lowtechprime said:
How about the swimmers who shave their body hair? If you're worried about the drag your body hair is causing, you have just not trained hard enough...
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If you start swimming some distance regularly, there is a high probability that you will lose hair on your arms and legs from the water ripping away at it as you stroke - no shaving required. I was out of the water for about 20 months due to COVID shutting down the pools and the hair actually started growing back.
 
You are forgiven my son. IDFed Xs are kind of a fringe group thing and I may be the only one in that group.
 
kmead said:
In my experience with car fires if you just barely open the hood you can spray in the crack with the extinguisher.

Back when I was a part of the Killington Sports Car Club we got training from a fire department around proper technique. One of the bits of training was knowing when to walk away…
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Does everyone who owns a X19 keep a fire extinquisher in the car? Where? I don’t - should I?
 
tvmaster said:
Does everyone who owns a X19 keep a fire extinquisher in the car? Where? I don’t - should I?
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I mounted mine between the seats on the back firewall, but I am not going to for a clean look so not sure that would be a good spot for people looking for the stock look. If you can get your frunk opened quickly, wouldnt be a bad place up there as mainly all flammable stuff is in the back or under the dashboard.

Odie
 
On the Fatrat it's attached to the passenger side of the shifter tunnel just in front of the seat. Probably not a great location as I'm not sure I could reach it from the driver seat as I bail out. On the brownx I don't give a damn, I'm just walking away from it and let Hagerty deal with it.
 
lol - first car I've ever owned where installing a fire extinguisher seems to be standard fair. another day, another thing learned
 
tvmaster said:
lol - first car I've ever owned where installing a fire extinguisher seems to be standard fair. another day, another thing learned
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Its really cheap "insurance". I have one in all my cars. Although I personally have not had a fire, I work for an insurance company and very seldom are the fires small if the people dont have an extinguisher.

Odie
 
tvmaster said:
lol - first car I've ever owned where installing a fire extinguisher seems to be standard fair. another day, another thing learned
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Any old car needs to have a fire extinguisher, old systems/parts, neglected maintenance and so on. It doesn’t take much gasoline leaking to start a fire. The other fire risk is in the electrical system. A wire can chafe over decades and create a direct short which can create a fire.

It’s cheap insurance to try and save your car. I have saved a couple of cars, none of them mine.
 
Is there any statistical data on people who got burned trying to put out a fire in their car?

Remember all those movies and TV shows where cars go over a cliff and somehow burst into flames while still in flight?
 
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