Well, after swapping cams, I wanted to test and tune on friday, well it was rained out so it was a no go. Saturday I raced Pure street because being a strange car, i would just be throwing that extra 10 dollars away to run sportsman. the car ran an 8.24 @ 83 n the 1/8 in time trials, the DA went down by 600 feet by eliminations so i dialed an 8.19 @ 83. Broke out with an 8.182. I figured its not too bad considering I was running through a gutted converter and single 2.25 or 2.5 inch pipe to the muffler in the back. Before with the HOT cam in the car the exhaust cutout was worth about .3 so I was pretty happy with the times. They wouldn't let me open it up because of class rules, but aparently its OK to dial almost a second under the ET cap (there was a mercury capri doing just that.)

I go back today to uncork the beast and really let it scream down the track, I pull up do my burnout then go up to the line, it launches pretty hard, then from first to second something feels wierd in the shifter, so i baby it down the track, and notice some smoke from the rear, then FLAMES IN THE COWL! the clip on the Hurst shifter came loose in the bottom, and the trans was in between gears, spit out fluid on the headers and caught on fire. Not a good day. The heater box is pretty well dead, along with the wiring for it, but the damage was pretty minor for a fire. We parked the car, went back later and ran a wire for the fuel pump, one for the distributor, put on some new plug wires, and then disconnected power to the rest of the car and limped home. Guess its time to make a new wiring harness and get an AC delete box.

Bad deal, but you know it could've been worse so thankfully damage was minor...hence the reasoning they like you to have fire extinguishers in the car since your the first person on scene.

I remember one time i was in a time trial with a buddy, about half track i was passing him and seen fire under his car, so the next few seconds i was drifting over to center line hoping he would look at me, was'nt until after the finish line when i started drifting really close he finally looked and started to get something was wrong and pulled over...i ran over with my extinguisher, he got out wondering WTF and finally seen the black smoke instead of the whtie smoke he initally saw, and we both got the fire out before track crews got there. Ended up tranny line sprung a leak, was filling up his tranny diaper and then header finally set it off.

had ano0ther friend with a freshly restored 70 monte carlo with a big block. he made a pass and lost an alt belt...no biggie right. Well he swapped belts and happened to leave the hood up, we're all over a few pits BSing and we heard the whooooosssshhhhh and seen a big ball of black smoke and a huge fireball. When alt belt broke, it slapped the 1/2" aluminum fuel line and put a pin hole in it, whole time he was swapping belts it was spraying fuel near the pass side header tube, but hole was so small he could'nt see it and no puddle on his trailer to tell tail it. musta hit the header just right after he was done and the fire ensued. luckily in the pits my buddy carries 4 halon extinguishers so we got it put out with minimal damages, but dem fires sure scare the heck outta ya and can do serious damages.

glad your okay, and damage is minimal...you dont need an air box anyways, too bulky. back in the day i just took some aluminum like we cap windows and doors with when siding houses and bent my own box, saved a bunch of space and still retained heater.

yeah, all both of my cars are about to have extinguisgers. the track has them just over the wall, and i knew it, but i couldnt find it, i was slightly bent out of shape. a guy i help out had his car out for the first time, forgot that its a reverse manual valve body....oopsies going 3 2 1 down the strip isnt good for parts lol. after that, i didnt touch ANYTHING.

Under IHRA rules, I have to have an extinguisher in the car. Chances are if there was ever a fire, the safety safari would be there before I could get unstrapped and out of the car. My extinguisher is more to keep an in car fire from burning me even though I wear a 2 layer fire suit.

I hope I never have to use it.

I had to laugh when you said you have a 2.25 or 2.5" pipe for an exhaust. The primary tubes on my headers are 2-1/4"

the car REALLY needs a better exhaust. but it sounds MEAN with the cutout open, 236/242 @.050 lift and a 110 LSA makes for a pretty fun sounding motor, well, when its not on fire. lol.

ok ok...so I can't let Brando take credit for this as it's MY car...lol Needless to say it was an eventful day!

I am in agreement on the better exhaust...I am going to try and save for the 3" GMMG system...if I don't end up building my own...
IHI, we are down at the Eddyville Speedway, and want to hit up Cedar Falls or Cordova for a 1/4 mile track. If you ever manage to swing down let us know, it's always nice to meet fellow 3rd genners....the 4th gens seem to run rampant down here...