NoPistons -Mazda Rx7 & Rx8 Rotary Forum - Holy flaming rx7, Batman!

A friend with whom I work has an 84 FB that I've been trying to fix. We brought it down from Albany, GA after it had been sitting in his backyard for three years. Getting it down here was an adventure in and of itself, but that's another story.

To get the car running, I: cleaned out the gas tank, changed out the fuel filter, put on a new, rewired fuel pump, put in new plugs, put on new wheel and tire, put on new clutch master cylinder, and cleaned out the clutch line bleeder that had rusted over.

The cat is clogged, so we just had it disconnected. After unflooding it with a moderate (ok, heavy) amount of ATF, I drove it around some. Well with a disconnected exhaust and smoke billowing out from the ATF, I didn't want to hang out in my stall in the service dept. of the dealership where I work, for fear of pissing someone off. So I took it out back, by this run down old building, about 100 yards away from where I normally work. Well, I'm back there revving the engine up to burn off the ATF, and all of a sudden the car shut off. (After I had driven it around some, the cat slipped back onto the header.) I got out, to unplug the fuel pump wire, and let the car sit, when I noticed that it was still smoking. "Hmmm, that's not right," I thought to myself. So I get down to look under the car, and notice that the catalytic converter has become my own personal fireplace. "Oh ****!" I say. Take off running as fast as I can to the shop. I'm hauling ass past the guys in detail who are just thinking "Crazy ass mother fucker." I make it to the first fire extinguisher, grab it and run full speed the 100 yards back to the car. Get there, completely out of breath, spray down the cat, and the fire was out. Now I have to get the bitch running again, and it's nowhere near my tools. On the bright side, it doesn't look like it did much damage to the car. Just thought I'd share that.

--Danny