The first thing to do is to look at the car and seal up any holes in the firewall. Years ago, we had a friend, Chuck, who came to the shop and showed us his Nova he used for drag racing. When he opened the hood to show off his engine my brother, Thomas, noticed a BIG 4 inch hole in his firewall where the heater used to be. (Drag racers like to remove EVERYTHING from their car. They are crazy about removing just a few pounds. Funny thing is most of them could go to the gym and remove 50 pounds off their own rear end and get a much cheaper and better effect...I digress). Anyway, my brother saw the hole and informed him, "There is a reason they call it a firewall. If you have an engine fire, you will roast." Indeed that very weekend we saw on the evening news Life Flight had been called to the track. We knew Chuck was racing a Nova that looked too much like the black burned out bomb on the evening news...
When we went to visit him in the the University of Utah's burn unit, he was burned so badly we didn't recognize him. He searched our eyes and kept asking how he looked (they don't allow mirrors in the burn unit). He spent months in recovery. Fortunately, he finally finished therapy with full use of all the parts that got burned and remarkably little scarring. Luckily, his face was almost entirely spared because of his helmet and thanks to the excellent staff at the University of Utah Burn Unit who cared for him. Of course, as his friend, we now call him "Chuck Roast." So, anyone who works on a Kirkham, or any other cool car...SEAL YOUR FIREWALLS!
David
I just had a GREAT question PM'd to me.
David,
Don't want to mess up your thread with a question like this, so I thought I'd ask it offline: what do you use to caulk with?
After your stern lecture/story on sealing the firewall which I heartily endorse I must ask: is your caulking fireproof?
Not being critical, just asking,
Gents:
These are the EXACT questions I welcome people asking. PLEASE don't be shy...post any questions on the
Assembly Manual Questions Thread
We use 100% silicon caulking because it has a very high temperature resistance. Is it "fire proof?" Well, no, but neither are you at 400 degrees! It is all about getting time to get out.
This is what we use. Notice it is HIGH TEMPERATURE!
