Technical I just got the "Ever Living" scared out of me...

So...
I don't ever start a statement with so... but today it fits.
I'm under the back of the '51 Ford Coupe. The gas tank is right about the gonads. I'm under there replacing the rear brake hose. That fitting was encrusted with 70 years worth of Tennessee Mountain clay and the original undercoating. I undo the steel line. That clip was not going to come off.

So....(again)
I get my handy propane torch. Now right next to the brake hose and bracket is the fuel line. A few inches away from that is the gas tank. Can you see where this is going?

I'm real careful. There's no smell of gas. I grab the fuel line with my hand as I heat the fitting and bracket just to make sure the the fuel line does not get hot. I make sure the flame direction is safe. First I burn off the undercoat and scrape the remains off with my screw driver. Then I try to move the clip....she ain't budging.
It needs more heat. So I light up again and put it to it with a gentle flame.

A few minutes into that heat....

BOOM!!!!

The damn old hose popped off the fitting. Gosh-O-Mighty it sounded like a 12 gauge!
No fire. No 51 Fords were damaged. No clothing soiled.
It did get my attention though.
Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr
She gave it up...
Untitled by Travis Brown, on Flickr

 

You better go to church this Sunday.

 

That could have gone very badly, I'm glad you are telling the story and not hearing this from a family member.

Forrest Gump said it best - "Stupid is stupid as stupid does". HRP

 

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Geez! You are lucky you didn't blow yourself into the next time zone. I have several old license plates that I use as heat shields, they bend easily and just the right size for most jobs. Glad you are safe. I prescribe one bourbon, one scotch and one new pair of undies.

 

Glad you're OK! A good reminder for the rest of us!

 

Yes, it’s TRUE what they say about gasoline and open flames...

 

It's good for that to happen ever so often.....respect is a good thing. I was bearing down on my hand held grinder a while back, like I didn't have good sense and that's when the wheel came apart. I heard it zing past my ear....I slow down now.

 

Heating a brake hose will do that. I always cut the rubber hose off of the fitting with side cutter's before I heat the fitting.

 

I was in charge of the Auto Hobby Shop at an USAF base in England in the mid 80s. One of my workers came into the shop white as a ghost. I said, "Jim, what happened?" Jim tells me he was getting a fuel line off the tank of one of the scrap cars out back after jacking up one side of the rear. The hose was tight and he was being very careful as to not make any sparks while tugging on the hose with pliers. At the very moment the hose came loose there was a loud bang. Jim said he rolled 30 feet before realizing he was okay. Here's what had happened, scrap car with old rotten tires on it, and when he jacked up the rear, there was pressure on the opposite side front tire. It chose to blow as the hose came loose. True story.
I can imagine what went through your mind when that happened to you. No matter how careful you are and knowing you shouldn't be doing something a certain way, it always gets you. How many times has someone been pulling on a wrench the wrong way, knowing better, when the wrench slips and you smack yourself in the face.
Another person I knew was soldering a hole in a fuel tank float when it went flying across the shop.
Anyway, as the others have said, glad you are all right! Ron

 

Living on the edge!

 

Oh my. Tell the truth about the soiling, wait,
On second thought...

But wow, I assume the 51 is a running vehicle? Could have been fatal.

 

Don't buy any Lottery tickets, you just used up all your LUCK!
KK

 

Oh wow.
Glad you’re ok.
We all make dumb mistakes.
Glad this one didn’t get ya.

 

My dad had a down-on-his-luck friend who was a "hammer-mechanic" that he would give jobs to every once in a while...

One such job was taking the best parts from two '69 full-size chevy wagons and making one. The wagon with the bad body had a larger gas tank, so he asked his buddy to move the one to the other.
We stopped by that afternoon to see how things were going, and the mechanic rolled out from under the car to let us know he just about had the tank out. He re-lit his bud torch and went back to cutting the tank straps... there was still 1/4 tank of gas in the car... you could smell it because he had already cut all the lines...

we quickly moved to the OTHER side of the barn until he finished...

 

I had a similar experience with my electric die grinder - only in my case it was the cheap HF arbor that bent while at 20,000 RPM. Boy Howdy, liketa broke my wrist before I jerked the plug out of the wall.

 

You must be an Auburn fan...

 

I would suggest not doing that again. use a heat gun next time.

 

In the early 80’s I worked at a station in Phx, the owner smoked like a chimney. If you pulled into the full serve side, he’d come out with a PallMall dangling, take the request and put the burning smoke inbetween the light conduit and the pole for to eave/overhang. Pump gas like it was no big deal.

Anyone know if the EXXON station on 24th near the freeway is still there? Or see a big hole?

 

That sounds like one of those "underwear changin" situations

 

Yup, you discovered what a residual valve is for... Been there too!

 

I thought you were going to say your wife got home early from work.

 

flame/spark ignite fuel in a combustion chamber - why would one not think the same would happen in an open space? - friend had a one man Hot Rod garage - while trying to figure out why a customer's car was not running correctly he checked dip stick & smelled gas - decided to drain oil - was laying on a piece of carpet for comfort - using a basic drop light to see with - as soon as drain plug loosened gas/oil mix gushed out onto drop light - FIRE!! - while trying to figure out how to get out from under car by pure chance a buddy stopped by to visit at that moment - grabbed his feet and helped drag him out from under car - too late for fire extinguisher - car, '40 Ford Coupe as I remember, totaled - most of shop survived - the carpeting helped block the gas from running into other areas that could have caused more damage - carb source of gas filling oil pan because needle valve stuck open and was just allowing gas to keep flowing from tank to carb - sure that I missed some info

 

Never heat anything in a brake system until you vent it. A buddy got a good cut on the lip from heating a wheel cylinder in a vise and the internal pressure split it. I think the inlet port was plugged.

I had a power steering return hose that leaked at the metal fitting. There was a slight crack near a bend. I pulled it off and clamped it in a vise so I could braze up the crack. I was quite surprised when the hose blew out from the crimped fitting and shot across the shop. It made a loud swooshing noise as it parted company with the fitting. I'm thinking years of being soaked in ATF caused pressure to build when I heated the pipe.

 

Had the same thing happen to me with a brake line. I had it off and in the shop. Trying to use heat to help burn off 20+ years of rust. Not an enclosed system, nowhere near a gas tank. Just in the vise. Scared the crap outta myself when it popped. Never would have guessed that it would do that. Now I know.

 

What doesn't kill ya makes ya stronger!

 

Glad your ok.

two stupid stories I got ( out of many ...)

1. Sprayed off some new rotors over my trash can at work some years ago then proceeded to use the torch to free up the stick sliders directly over said trash can, that was just beside and under my bench vise. BOOM a friggin trash bomb went off and just about every mechanic including me shit themselves!!

2. heating up a seized brake slider in the vise, the dust boot was still on the slider when .... again ..BOOM !! And the slider just disappeared..... about 30 minutes later found it stuck in the garage door roughly 100’ down the shop !!


Yeah...... that’s all I’m admitting to today

 

are you awake now?

I started working at the junk yard when I was 18, one of the yard rules was no torch work until you remove the gas tank. So I never would have considered using a torch on a brake line fitting next to a gas tank.

I'm glad you're ok