colt on fire

[coosaridgerider]

I bought this colt about 6 weeks ago.I got it home and got the motor cranked and it ran good for a 40 year old jlo motor.I had a temporary tank mounted in the back.I ran the motor for about 20 minutes then went in the house to eat.After being in the house for about an hour i went back out and was doing some grinding near the attex and the next thing i know it was on fire.I guess it had a gas leak some where and a spark from the grinder set it on fire.I grabbed the water hose and the more i strayed the worst it got.My wife finally heard me screaming for her to bring me a fire extinguisher and then i got the fire under control.I thought it was going to burn to the ground.If i would have left it long enough to get a fire extinguisher it would have burnt to the ground.I saved it but it has a couple hot spots.Know i keep the fire extinguisher close.I have been busy with brandons argo but i have been cleaning it up a little.Here are a few photos of what it looks like.

[amphibious drew]

Lesson learned I guess. Glad you saved it from the fire. It doesn't look at all toasted. Just no more grinding, cutting, torching, or welding near gas anymore. Next time your wife may not be so handy.

[North Country Tough]

Damn that was close,I carry a fire extinguisher in my machine,truck,boat at all times,probably because I worked in the fuel industry and that keeps you paranoid of gasoline fires they can be a challenge,thankfully you got it out and no one was injured,and you saved a Attex good for you.A little story for ya,a number of years ago at a fuel terminal I was at I had to do a safety tour and orientate the local fire department and town operations officer with the site in case of a emergency,next door to this place and a reasonable distance away was a bit of a nut case neighbor,while i had the entire fire dept as well as the fire chief town officials in a semi circle around me engrossed in what I was telling them,over there shoulders I could see the next door neighbor standing on top of a brush pile dumping a 5 gallon gas can on the pile,I never broke stride just kept on waving my arms around explaining that there were thousands of gallons of gasoline stored and moving in and out of this terminal,a minute or two passed and I could see this guy standing back and i might add not far enough strike the match and toss it,well there was a mighty woof as the pile more or less lifted from the ground and settled I assure you we were in no danger it was far enough away and the terminal was inactive for the tour,but you should have seen the faces of the fire fighters and Iam sure there were some soiled undies,the guy from the town and the fire chief peeled out of there and next door in a flash,we never had a issue with tha guy after that,ahhh precious moments I damn near fell over it was too funny.NCT

[coosaridgerider]

Yes that was a lesson learned and i do keep my fire extinguisher close and will be mounting one on both machines.After it caught on fire it melted the line to the gas tank with about a gallon of gas in it.It is amazing it looks this good,That is with a lot of cleaning.

[North Country Tough]

Its amazing coosaridgerider,a small fire extinguisher used properly that cost a fraction of the piece of equipment you are trying to put out works so well and can save you a ton of lost money,and people should spend some bucks learning its cheap insurance and you are less panicky put a low tray of gas in the back forty and spark it up and learn how to use that extinguisher I was professionally trained and that was the one thing they did to get you use to dealing with the situation.NCT

[azz7772]

one good reason to have a diesel

[coosaridgerider]

I cleaned the top and back side with acetone to get the oxidation off but i still have black streaks in it.I was told to use 400 and 600 grit sandpaper to wet sand it will that remove the black streaks or would buffing it work.This is my first attex so i am not too familiar with the abs plastics.

[azz7772]

try a magic eraser if not wet sanding will work lots of elbow grease though

[coosaridgerider]

Thanks azz,I will try that first.My elbow grease is running low.

[azz7772]

I googled your problem and I read that toothpaste may work as well.

[George]

I've had a few machines that had evidence of fires in them. Right behind the carb...guess it happens even without the grinder.

[Bazooo guy]

Lesson learned ....dont ever spray water on a fuel fire.....it spreads the fuel and makes things worse.
If you dont have a fire extinguisher handy use sand or a blanket to smother the flames.

[coosaridgerider]

You can't tell by the pictures but this thing went up in flames and my only option was the water hose.No sand here.

Lesson learned ....dont ever spray water on a fuel fire.....it spreads the fuel and makes things worse.
If you dont have a fire extinguisher handy use sand or a blanket to smother the flames.

[coosaridgerider]

I Have been working more on Brandon's argo but have put in a little time on the colt.I got all the bearings and axles back in.I have all the hubs to covert it over to polaris wheels and i have all the 10" rims or i could run 12"rims.Know i need to get the trans put back together and put in and a new throttle cable then it should be ready to ride if nothing else goes wrong.