Funco Sandrail goes up in flames

Yup @Squatcher had a bad day! but he is blessed to be alive and not harmed! these things are just that material things. We need to do our best to keep safe what really matters and that is those inside those vehicles.

 
Curious why he claimed his kids would not have survived? engulfed in fire? not been able to exit car? scary chit regardless. 

 
So glad everyone is safe and just $$ lost. Curious if folks with cars like this have insurance that would cover this? I believe it is hard to impossible to insure cars like this? 

 
Doonit said:
Curious why he claimed his kids would not have survived? engulfed in fire? not been able to exit car? scary chit regardless. 
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It made a backfire sound and then boom flames, 

 
Stuff that I wonder about...

Would a fire suppression system help the (none) rear passengers if they are sitting above the fuel tank?

Would a fuel cell, like the SAFE ones with bladders have prevented this? 

My car doesn't have doors dangit! It takes me a long time as it is to climb out! 

I don't have friends with car to car radio! I can't even figure my radio out! 

I would imagine that is fuel running on the floorboard to the front of the car. The "pop" heard was most likely the tank rupture? 

I don't have a firewall myself. My tank is pretty much against my back seat.

Was this due to fuel sloshing too hard on a hard ride maybe? Or a simple poor weld on the tank unfortunately. 

I'm just trying to figure out if I should act, to make my car safer as I built it to tote my kids around. Sure, these threads come up, and the fire suppression system is the answer but let's be realistic here, I would imagine 80% of the cars out there don't have them. Or a fuel safe cell thing. I don't see them going up in flames. I'm not poking at anything here guys. Just debating if building a 5 seater was a good decision after all. Sooo glad Squatcher is safe, but it could've been any one of us. How would you have fared in your car as we speak? I'd been injured at the very least, Guaranteed! Thanks for hearing me out. 

 
EastMT said:
A couple good reads.
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i have safecraft on my rzr. my only gripe is they won't sell me a 6" line to extend the hose. they want me to tear it all out and send it back in. im sure its for safety reasons but its not a big deal i just need 6" to keep from cutting a hole in my trunk

 
zilla68 said:
i have safecraft on my rzr. my only gripe is they won't sell me a 6" line to extend the hose. they want me to tear it all out and send it back in. im sure its for safety reasons but its not a big deal i just need 6" to keep from cutting a hole in my trunk
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Thanks for the info. I’m pretty sure I will be adding some kind of system. Just haven't figured out all the mounting locations yet or whether it’s worth it mount a make shift shield in front of the fuel tank and another over the fuel pump/ fuel lines.

 
OMG that sucks !. Glad he was ok. Maybe their trying to figure out what actually happened. The only time I ever experienced a non engine pop ever was a shock blow out. Is shock fluid flammable ? I think yes.

 
Paul, that is horrible--Glad you are ok!  any news or ideas on what caused the fire?  i once had the craziest thing happen to me.  Funco,  i was driving and all of a sudden my car stalled--that's weird  i get out and can see a clutch metal line glowing red,  the whole line, like 5 feet of it.  i start throwing sand on it and shut off the battery switch and watched and it started glowing again.  had to literally tear the battery cables off my battery.  come to find out something metal was shifting around on the floor back near the battery switch (metal washer, pliers etc). it fused itself on the "hot" side of the battery disconnect switch and my clutch line.  600 amps going on and thats why the battery disconnect switch didnt help either.  

will and can this car be rebuilt or is it a total loss?  looks like fire  was more in the cab and not at the motor??

 
Scary situation for sure. Glad everyone is ok and nobody was in the back seat. 

 
I had fire suppression systems on my last three rails, the first two came with them and LRS put in the third. If you carry passengers then as Captain of your ship it falls on you to keep your crew as safe as possible. 
As LRS explained to me nozzle placement is key when putting a suppression system in. Please consider making the investment, I don’t want to read about you / your passengers on an “oh chit” thread.

Happy you’re OK Pablo.

 
Glad Paul is OK

Fuel Bladder and Fire Supression system are a must.

RIP Geoff Naylor

abc

 
dunesteve said:
OMG that sucks !. Glad he was ok. Maybe their trying to figure out what actually happened. The only time I ever experienced a non engine pop ever was a shock blow out. Is shock fluid flammable ? I think yes.
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I found out the hard way that it is. Luckily, minor damage was all that happened, but my friend 2 miles behind us on the 8 saw the fireball. Had an out of round tire on an older motorhome that had tag axles and it heated the shock enough to burst. Scary. 

 
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Hopefully it was insured. I always insured my cars for at least the current value. Did anyone have or use a fire extinguisher?, What a shame to see this happen to any car. 

 
Rockwood said:
I found out the hard way that it is. Luckily, minor damage was all that happened, but my friend 2 miles behind us on the 8 saw the fireball. Had an out of round tire on an older motorhome that had tag axles and it heated the shock enough to burst. Scary. 
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I am probably lucky when my shock blew it was just cruising away from camp and warming up before the fast kicked in. I heard a pop and saw a big puff of white smoke after a g out. My header was covered in shock fluid. Probably just a few degrees away from a total fire. I always had a good size extinguisher between the seats for a grap and go. Not sure if that would've been enough. Hopefully Paul will fill us in on the cause.

 
They discharged 3 fire extinguishers.  Don't even think a fire suppression system would have done much more than help the passengers get out.  Look at the photos.  So much wind directly behind the car, feeding the fire.

 
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