Miura up in flames

Joining the Bugatti EB110 destroyed earlier this week is this Lamborghini Miura, which went up in flames yesterday. The horror!

The 47-year-old Lamborghini owner reports he heard strange noises on a drive home near Riechenburg, Germany. Truck drivers came to his aid when the car erupted in flames, but not before it did serious damage to a rare piece of wonderful Italian automobilia. Save the Miuras? Maybe we should stop handing over exotics to people who can afford to repair them. Give someone who makes minimum wage a Miura and we promise you they throw their body on the car at the first sight of flames.

 

Why does this photo look "normal" to me for a Miura with out a modified fuel system and an on board Halon system, just for insurance?
Gary Bobileff

 

Sad. I wonder if better maintenance (i.e., fuel lines replaced) could have saved this car. Hopefully
someone will be willing to go WAY upside down to restore it...

Jedi

 

Not being a Lambo guy per se, is this a common demise? What about the fuel system
is wrong that modification improves? Now you got me curious

Jedi

 

This has happened, more than once (even with a fire system installed). A stuck needle valve or leaky fitting is always a possibility. Some cars are run with open stacks which could be just a misfire away from disaster.

If your car alights, the most important thing to do (besides getting out!) is to bring the key with you. If the key is "ON", the fuel pump is running. This can make an engine fire "3-dimensional" and almost impossible to extinguish before it's too late.

 

Miura fuel systems are flawed by design. First, they start with a steel fuel tank, when the car was new, not a big deal, but give it a few years, cars stored with low fuel for long periods of time, lots of rust forms on the inside of the tank. This passes to an overly pressurized fuel system, with the fuel pump filter not catching the rust particles. Fuel continues to move to the fuel filter, which can remove certain contaminants, but with constant rust "dust" from the tank overloading the filter, that too, passes up to the carbs. Then, the needle and seats can't stand the contamination, and they become sticky, slow in actuation, and fail, causing flooding. The spark plugs sit directly underneath the dripping/leaking overflowing carbs, and now the Miura thinks that it's a gasoline powered inboard motor boat with out a bilge blower before start up. Get the picture?

But, happy to say, this is a correctable situation. Out of the dozens of cars I have modified over the last 35 years, fortunately, I have not had even one catch fire after the mod's. An onboard fire suppression system is always installed, just for insurance.

And that's my perspective.
Gary Bobileff

 

"Maybe we should stop handing over exotics to people who can afford to repair them. Give someone who makes minimum wage a Miura and we promise you they throw their body on the car at the first sight of flames."

That's a fk'd up thing to say.

 

I've seen the same idiotic statement posted elsewhere as well.

 

One of the scariest moments I've had in a car was when I pulled up to a traffic light and looked through the rear window of my Miura (3180) to see a steady drip of fuel coming out of the dried-out accelerator pump gaskets and dripping right onto the hot engine. I was on my way home after having just driven the car for about an hour and was only a mile from my house, so I decided to risk getting it home. I just kept thinking thank goodness it had one of Gary's halon systems onboard. Fortunately I made it home without incident or deploying the halon, but I wouldn't own another Miura without one. In fact, I will probably have one installed on the CT. I definitely don't leave home without an extinguisher.

I wish I still had that car. :-(

 

lol!

Gary, you said a mouthful....

Honestly, I think if folks just followed the basic (60s) manual as far as tuneups are concerned, this wouldn't happen.

Fred

 

Very good information. Thank you.

 

Wow. Scary story! I worry when I fill my lowly F 328-GTS even though every single fuel line
is new as of last October. I still keep an extinguisher in the car and 2 in the garage. I never
knew that the Miura was so susceptible to such things.... I learn SO MUCH here

Safe drives to all ....

Jedi

 

This thread is full of BS, first it happened in Switzerland not in germany, second that car was restored it was on it's first drive after the restoration.
We lost 3 lambos in the last 2 weeks by fire incidents, scary...

 

Whoa...... do you have SPECIFICS outside your post? Why do you say this?
Them's some pretty HEAVY things you say....

I know NOTHING of Miura's as an F-car guy.... but please provide some
HARDCORE detail if you would.

Jedi

 

Here is the article.

http://www.20min.ch/news/stgallen/story/19449716

On the A53 outside Reichenburg

Mike

 

"According to its owner the Miura had a value of over 500,000. (Picture: Kapo SG) Shortly after the entry Tuggen had heard the 46 year old driver amusing noises. For still unknown reasons a fire in the engine compartment behind the driver's seat and it caught fire began to burn, as the canton police communicated pc. Gallen. The driver could continue and step out on the Pannenstreifen. A Lastwagenchauffeur and a group of recruits continued likewise immediately and came with their fire extinguishers to assistance. They could to a large extent delete the fire up to the arrival of the fire-brigade Uznach. According to the driver the Lamborghini had a value of over 500,000 francs. "

 

I thought Halon went out of manufacture decades ago?

 

The "Good stuff" 1211/1301 mix went out years ago, but I could still get 1301 till about 1 year ago, now all that's legally available here in the States is FE 36 or equiv.
Gary Bobileff

 

Halotron is still available here.

 

Why Halon?

They used normal estinguishers, You cannot buy Halon anymore but there are still plenty around.
lastwagenchauffeur is a truck driver, typical swiss mixture of two languages, first part german (Lastwagen= truck), second is french (Chauffeur= driver)

 

You can buy new hand held Halon extinguishers at many racing stores and online. They are expensive, but don't leave chemical gook behind if used the way other fire suppression systems do.

 

More modern and better for your own security is CO2.

 

The problem with hand helds are that :
1. you discover the flames in your rear view mirror
2. after a moment's panic, you slow down as soon as possible, try to pull over in a suitable, safe area, shut down
3. fumble for the extinguisher
4. fumble for the rear deck latch opening
5. open the deck, flames are everywhere, attack the fire
HOW MANY SECONDS OF TIME DOES THIS TAKE? By now, the body is singed, the carb bodies are warped from the heat, the carb internals are now melted, and the rear window glass is cracked. That extra 15 - 30 seconds of performing steps 1- 5 above, just cost you $10,000.00 to $15,000.00, maybe more, in extra repairs and damage

OR

1. you discover flames in your rear view mirror
2. pull the safety pin on the fire system on the dash
3. push the plunger on the fire out
4. fire out
5. shut down, coast to the side of the road, o[pen the rear deck latch, take your time to open the rear deck
6. try to assess the visible damage, which is minimal and may be hard to detect, with the air boxes in place.
total elapsed time to extinguish the fire 2-3 seconds?
total damage possibly $2,500.00?

Obviously, you can see that in this situation, given the choice, an on board system makes complete sense to me.
Gary Bobileff

 

Most important: Get OUT of the car.

Next most important: Good agreed value insurance (reviewed and coverage adjusted frequently).

No car is worth risking your life, it can be fixed.

 

Anyone ever tried the pre-packaged Halon suppression systems available? Firebottle makes a nifty electronic-activated one which actually fits nicely behind the right firewall in non A/C cars (and next to the coils in a pinch for the rest). I can't vouch for it's reliability - I personally would feel better with cable-actuated or push systems.

Just curious if there is any experience with them.