Mondshine, how is the new Thing coming along?

[KAmes]

Congrats! We went for a motorcycle ride yesterday, it was too cold for that also. But hey, you got to run your heater too!

[74 Thing]

Stoked that you are driving the new Thing!

How is the gas heater with the top down?

[mondshine]

I was wearing a jacket, but the gas heater was blowing nice & warm.
People behind me probably saw waves rising from the cabin.

I have not installed the top yet, it's still in the house. I didn't want to leave the top folded when it is still cold out. It is amazing how quiet the car is with no top installed.

I will take it for another ride tomorrow, but that might be it for a month or so.

The new "extra quiet" VS exhaust is fantastic! Very happy with that.
Brakes are good; probably won't be "in their prime" for another 50-100 miles, then I will re-adjust.
The transmission shifts beautifully, and the steering is good.

So overall, I have no complaints.

[mondshine]

We took a nice Thing ride today; 69º here in Detroit.

Although a Thing project is never really "done", I think it's time to close out this thread. I'm calling it "done for now".

[jakokombi]

Well done sir, enjoy!
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70 Sunroof Kombi
69 Tin Top
73 Thing
72 Baja

[kent70ghia]

Damn, looks done to me!

[doublecanister]

[mondshine]

My BlazeCut is a 6' model.
It's sort of like a bullet-proof vest; you buy it with good intentions, but hope it never has to prove its worth.

The BlazeCut tube is very stiff, so you need to bend it carefully to avoid kinking it. As you can see in my photo, the BlazeCut was installed with the engine out. I highly recommend this if you intend to install it where I did.
No matter what, you will be wrestling a snake!

Kevin Ames (you know him from KTE) took a different approach.

Much more painless, I assume.

I thought the "ceiling" of the engine compartment was the best location for the thing, but I have no way to prove that (and don't want to).

Good luck with your project...
Hope to see you at the next Kubel Treffen.

[KAmes]

I originally thought I would put it on the door like the beetle people, but in reality it didn't seem like it was going to be the tidy installation I imagined. In the end I settled on using holes I already paid regret tax on. Which is to say I chickened out.

[Gene Kisner]

Three photos of Kisners BlazeCut. Five holes with truss head stainless machine screws, nylon lock nuts, and SS & rubber tube clamps. It has been in place almost three years.

[mondshine]

I am guessing that as soon as the heat of an engine fire opens the tube and vaporizes the liquid contents, the (relatively) sealed engine compartment is flooded with suppressant irrespective of the tube's mounting location.

However, I believe the BlazeCut would deploy quicker if the tube is directly above the fire.

As I had mentioned before, I hope I never find out.

Kevin-
Great expression: "regret tax".
No CPA can get me out of that jam

[Gene Kisner]

The fluid in the tube is actually a refrigerant gas. Under pressure it condenses to a liquid, which you can see through the translucent tube. The tube is a very specific "PEX" (polyethylene cross linked) formula that softens upon a rise in temperature. The liquid inside the tube simultaneously increases in pressure with a rise in temperature. When the tube reaches a predetermined temperature, along with a very specific rise in the liquid pressure (refrigerants are very predictable, temp vs pressure, as long as there is somewhere for the liquid to expand) the tube ruptures and the liquid refrigerant flashes to a gas, literally exploding out of the ruptured PEX tube. This gas displaces the oxygen and therefore denies the fire of an essential part of the combustion equation.
Since a liquid is not compressible, the gas bubble you see in the tube is necessary for the liquid to have a place to expand, or else as the liquid expanded, in day to day use, the increase pressure would either rupture the PEX tube or blow the end off of the BlazeCut.
Watch the BlazeCut video and you will see the speed at which this happens.
It EXPLODES!!
Feel free to post this explanation other places on THE SAMBA. I do not know how to accomplish that.

[mondshine]

By the way... As an update...
Based on the topic of this post... The new Thing is coming along just fine!

It's been a great Summer.
Only one road trip; the 650 mile jaunt down to KTE in North Carolina, but lots of fun joy rides all over the place.
There were a couple of bugs to work out, which is to be expected with any "new" old jalopy, but this Thing is now a solid, reliable pleasure to drive.
In 2021, we've covered about 6500 miles.

BUT... Summer is over, at least here in Michigan. I don't expect to drive it much more before next April - May.
I will try to cook up a few projects for this Winter.

Good luck, Mondshine

[Hokie87]

The Blaze Cut is money well spent. I have one in my bus and Ghia but hadn't yet installed one in my newly rebuilt Thing. The brass outflow tube on the fuel pump pulled out and started a fire. Thankfully I had a fire extinguisher.

It looks like the deck lid would also be a good location to mount it.

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[doublecanister]

Hey Hokie87,

I'm so sorry that happened man but I'm glad you saved the THING, it could have been so much worse.
My luck I'd get out the fire extinguisher and it'd go "thfft" and that'd be it.

Speaking of the deck lid, I googled a few photos of VW and Blaze cut installs and seen a few coiled up in a circle right on the engine lid.
But it was all bus and beetle photos, didn't see to many Things.

Not sure how hard it would be to coil up 6ft of Blazecut in a circle or oval shape for the decklid either.

Trying to mount it over the engine may be fun with the engine in too but i'm going to look into this and see what I can do.

And I'd think having a part of it as close to the fuel inlets/outlets would be a good idea as they seem to be common issues/locations for these types of fires.
I'd experimented with ways of running the fuel hose as to try to not put weight on the carb inlet, didn't really think about the fuel pump.

Currently I've run a long hose out of the fuel pump, to the left of the engine bay and up and around to the carb (pretty long hose) secured to the drivers side screw mount for the driver side oil bath air filter, but there's no weight on the inlet/outlets for fuel and it's not right up in the electrical stuff with the dizzy and the coil, But it's a long hose.

I'm going to get me a Blaze cut 6fter and see what I can do.

Thank you all for sharing the photos and info and Hokie87, my condolences again for your incident and I hope you can fix it up all good again.

T
_________________
****************************************
2020 - Mustang Eco Boost [High Performance]
1973 - Thing
1966 - Mustang GT- Fastback
1951 - Ford F1 pickup Flathead V8

[mondshine]

Tom-
For me, the hardest part of removing the engine is getting it out from under the car. That wouldn't really be necessary to install the BlazeCut. It the engine was still sitting on the lowered jack, it would still leave 8 or 10 inches of headroom to simplify mounting the BlazeCut on the engine compartment "ceiling".

While the actual mounting location of the BlazeCut might not effect the dispersal of the suppressant gas, I believe that it will effect the speed of deployment.
It might make the difference between the tube bursting after 5 seconds of fire vs. 20 seconds of fire. To me, that's worth a couple of hours of tinkering.

But, whatever you decide, good luck with your project.

[74 Thing]

Glad you are enjoying your new Thing and putting miles on it!

[doublecanister]

[mondshine]

Tom-
If you are worried about wiggling fuel hoses, one more thing to consider on the topic of fire prevention is to use a 1/16" NPT x 1/4" barb fitting at the carburetor inlet. These fittings are a little hard to find, but not impossible.

Example:

https://www.amazon.com/MettleAir-Single-Tubing-Fitting-Connector/dp/B00S8AYJQU

https://www.amazon.com/Drill-America-DWTPT1-16-Car...&psc=1

The carburetor inlet can be tapped (after removing the brass tube) very easily without any additional machining; that metal is very soft.

Good luck, Mondshine

[doublecanister]

Hey Gary,

Thanks for the note, I'll have to double check but I think I have that already as I had to replace my carb a while back and I got a pic34 from volksbitz, I believe he does that upgrade but I'll have to visually confirm that.

But for us all, good to know.

Thanks!

T
_________________
****************************************
2020 - Mustang Eco Boost [High Performance]
1973 - Thing
1966 - Mustang GT- Fastback
1951 - Ford F1 pickup Flathead V8