Any one know what a person can use to get black soot off of chassis and related parts. Thanks

Simple Green

Thanks I will pick some up today and read how to use it. Dragster is covered in soot so will be using on chassis paint and wires and everything else

You running the tractor in the race shop again?

No Vern. Went to drags this past weekend for first race this year. Had lots of issues to work out but car was awesome et spread 004 when not rippin. Reaction spread with moving numbers .003 won race left car at track went to Waffle House got home late 4:35 am. Went picked up trailer next day. And trailer caught fire and burnt. Luckily fire stayed high. Paints gone on dragster dripped plastic on it from lights. Trailer is done. So much black smoke soot even the tools in the tool boxes are covered in black soot.

quote:

Originally posted by smokinjeff:
No Vern. Went to drags this past weekend for first race this year. Had lots of issues to work out but car was awesome et spread 004 when not rippin. Reaction spread with moving numbers .003 won race left car at track went to Waffle House got home late 4:35 am. Went picked up trailer next day. And trailer caught fire and burnt. Luckily fire stayed high. Paints gone on dragster dripped plastic on it from lights. Trailer is done. So much black smoke soot even the tools in the tool boxes are covered in black soot.

Damn... that sucks.

A product that my round track friends turned me on to that works great for cleaning chassis etc is SD-20. Our local speed shop sells it. Not sure how it would work on soot, but it works better than anything I've used for cleaning up greasy / dirty chassis parts.

SD-20 Cleaner

Well, I just got off the phone with Jeff. Let me tell you something guys, fire sucks!!

PLEASE do something!! Too many of these are happening. There are all kinds of things out there now. One of my friends just put a wireless backup camera in his trailer.

I have an alarm system. Ed probably did the best thing by installing a fire suppression system.

The point is to DO SOMETHING! That ole saying, it won't happen to me sounds great until it does!

If you don't find anything that works to you liking call one of the fire damage restoration companies and ask them what they use. They will have years of removing soot.

Curtis

quote:

Originally posted by Cashflow:
The point is to DO SOMETHING! That ole saying, it won't happen to me sounds great until it does!

I honestly believe THIS is one of the best things you can do.

Jeff, any determination on the exact cause of the fire? Sorry for your loss.

Jeff, very sorry for your loss as well. I hate you have to go thru this.

Let us know what happened so we can possibly be more prepared in the future.

Again, really sux.

I talked to Jeff for about an hour so since he's busy farming I'll explain to the best of my recollection what happened.

He went to a race in Amarillo which he won by the way. After the race was over he was putting stuff away in the trailer. He had changed the battery in his car and he had a spare battery that he put on top of the rubber bladder you use under the chassis.

Going down the highway the battery flipped over shorting out on the aluminum floor. He's pretty sure he left the vent cap loose on his fuel jug. The vapors were then ignited and hence the ensuing fire.

He did get really lucky in one respect. He had a drum of methanol in front of the trailer and there were some rags on top of it. Those rags burned but the drum never caught fire.

He sent me pictures, I think the car is okay but covered with soot. He will have a lot of cleaning to do and he is currently looking for a 32 foot or thereabouts sized trailer if you have one or know someone who is selling.

For those who don't think my alarm system would have worked you are wrong in this instance. If he would have been alerted he could have minimized the damage. Several a-z-z holes passed him on the highway and never tried to stop him.

A nice lady going the other direction saw the flames coming out of the trailer, called the fire department and turned around and chased him down for ten miles and got him to stop.

Things like this just make me sick. We work our butts off for our stuff and it can all be gone in an instant.

Thank God he or nobody was hurt by an explosion.
Ten miles and nobody said anything except for the responsible woman. Unbelievable.. just like last month, they was an elder gentleman that got hit on his bike out for his daily exercise,Hit and Run.
I'm 1.5 stop light away. Not one person stopped and tried to assist except for me. He was OK. I seen him laying out in the street.

quote:

Originally posted by TD3550:
Thank God he or nobody was hurt by an explosion.
Ten miles and nobody said anything except for the responsible woman. Unbelievable.. just like last month, they was an elder gentleman that got hit on his bike out for his daily exercise,Hit and Run.
I'm 1.5 stop light away. Not one person stopped and tried to assist except for me. He was OK. I seen him laying out in the street.

When things like this happen you wonder that kind of a society we are living in.... I know what kind we live in being hit on a motorcycle as the driver drove away , leaving me in the middle of road....

It was my fault as soon as race pictures were taken I loaded dragster and just put things in back of trailer instead of putting them where I usually put them. Left trailer at track and went to Waffle House then drove home. Got home at 4:35 AM. Went back next afternoon to get trailer. Picked up tools from all the work I had done previous day but didn't move fuel jugs to front where they go. Also had changed battery and old one I moved behind wheel well and set it on a dragster wheel holder to load dragster and forgot about the next day. On ride home bumpy interstate guess it fell over and shorted post on diamond plate floor about 3 foot from gas jug That I don't remember tightening vent. So I assume that the short ignited the fumes or maybe some slosh out of vent. Could have been worse as fire stayed high in trailer. Also had a bag of old rags laying on a drum of alcohol that burned but bung was tight on drum. Tools in tool box have black soot on them even though the draws were closed. Was asked how I was going to clean it and thought I should drag it to town and look for those kids hollering "Car Wash Car Wash" HaHa Also going to buy monkey food and find the worst part of town and throw monkey food out the window. And when the monkey jumps off my back I'm rolling up the window locking the doors and getting the heck out of there.

Yeah, I was lucky....got rear ended while riding my dirtbike, in a ditch well off the road, rode the car's windshield for a 1/2 mile or so and finally climbed off right before a stop sign. Laid in the ditch for a good 1/2 hour in excruciating pain until one of the guys I was riding with came looking for me. I was riding in the very back, way behind the rest of the crowd...July 4th, 1998. Then July 4, 2001, I was driving my El Camino over to a friend's cabin and a bunch of deer ran out in front of me, on a pea gravel back road in a curve alongside a hill. I hit the brakes while I was reaching for a camera and of course it doesn't have ABS, skidded straight off the side of the hill, only thing stopped me and the truck from rolling the rest of the way down the 900 foot hillside was a 5" diameter sweet gum tree. Truck laid on it's side with the top resting against the gum tree, driver's side up. I got out as quick as I could but do you think the 5 cars/truck that passed would stop as I was trying to flag them down? Yeah right. Bloody, bruised, barely able to walk, I walked as far as I could for a couple hours and this nice gentleman which lived about 5 minutes from my house stopped and asked me if that was my truck off the side of the hill...and gave me a ride the rest of the way into town (about another 4 miles). Being a tiny town, on a holiday, nobody open, but they had a phone and I needed to use it. I did not have a cellphone and it wouldn't matter anyway because there ain't no signal.

But ever since those two instances, I find myself stopping to help everyone, and I get myself late for work too often. I was coming back from the girlfriends house (and she lived out in the sticks, where daylight has to be PUMPED IN) and I see something shiny in the ditch. Hmm. Trash. I kept going. A minute later I couldn't live with myself not knowing what it was, so I turned around and stopped. Guy was laying there in the ditch, battered, barely able to speak, both legs obviously broken. Motorcycle in the ditch about 200' away, destroyed, and a dead deer on the other side of the road (dead deer are common in that area). I called 911 and stayed with him for a while, then followed them to the hospital. Turns out the guy had been laying in that ditch for 43 hours, hollering as best he could at passing cars and bikes, but nobody stopped. Said one truck stopped and some guys threw a couple bottles at him and drove off (probably drunk kids if I had to guess). That man was BARELY alive when I got there, but again, I'm SO glad that I stopped when I did. Had I kept going and read it on the news that I drove right by, I'd be pretty mad at myself!

I think some people are afraid of what they might see if they come up on a wreck, or maybe they're afraid of being involved in a courtroom challenge. Or maybe they're just too tied up in their own little world that they just don't think about others. Think a little harder..it could be one of your loved ones involved. When I was a young brat in high school, I passed a fresh wreck not far from the house. I was late to get in, and knew that if I beat my mom home, that I'd be fine (she normally got home by 11:30pm), and I did. Fell asleep easily. Got up next morning, mom's home, but her truck was totalled...she was involved in that wreck, and I was so wrapped up in thinking about the girl I took out that night that I just wasn't even paying attention to the wreck. Pay attention folks!

I have wireless camera in my stuff now after reading about fires. I don't carry a golf car. I carry my scooter but it's battery is totally covered, as is the one in the race car, AND the winch battery. Way too many fires going on. Sometimes we get complacent and rightfully so, as Jeff said, it was really late (or early?) and likely tired from a great day's racing. I've found myself in the same situation, but in my case got careless tying the car down and cut the back of my hand wide open, requiring 8 stitches. But of course the hospital was a long way off, so I tuck taped it up as best I could and drove myself..trailer, car, everything, to the ER that night about 1:30AM. All from being careless. Lesson learned.

Wow Jeff I am so sorry to hear this but glad nobody got hurt and the car was saved. Crazy that the trailer is burning but nobody but that woman did anything to let you know there was a fire.

I’m sure everyone is sick of this subject but Tony Elrod just lost his entire T/D operation. Pictures are on Facebook.

Do something folks, let’s make make trailer fires a thing of the past.

Thanks guys. Simple green helped take the soot off. Everything had to be rubbed. Pressure washing did nothing. Chassis looked dull but used Nu Finish paste wax and it put the shine back in chassis. I'm busting butt to get this thing back on the track by the 14th but actually probably dreaming. Car is completely disassembled and getting everything gone over. Body is at friends and parts are ordered. So lots of things could stop progress but not giving up. I appreciate all replys and hope that by my bad experience that it keeps someone from a fire in the future.

Good luck Jeff, we’re pulling for you!