For those of you who have drop in tanks...

Is this the same issue that got the pintos their horrible reputation for exploding upon rear-end collisions?

 

This the reason the tanks were changed to begin with, all Fords with drop in tanks had this problem. It's really nothing new, Mustang rear firewalls have been available for years.

 

Yeah op is too young to remember Ralph Nader I guess.

 

Yep, that and Firestone tires. Everyone in our family thought it was funny in the late 70's when we bought my now ex-wife a new Pinto with Firestone radials.

 

I never thought about a rear firewall until a good friend of mine was killed in such an accident. On a May Saturday afternoon, in 2009, Craig Lear was waiting to turn left into a facility in Wilkes-Barre, Pa. that was hosting a car show. State Route 309 is a 4 lane highway at that location with no committed left turn lane. He was sitting in the passing lane with his left turn signal on when a woman, in a large SUV, rear ended him full speed without as much as a tap on the brake pedal. Where he was sitting, she should have seen him way before she got into to the back of his car. The gas tank was ruptured and the car immediately burst into flames. From the impact, Craig's drivers bucket seat broke backwards leaving him horizontal. The back seat blew into the interior and the gas covered him. The entire interior of the Nova was an inferno in seconds. Many people at the car show tried to get him out of the car but the heat was too intense for anyone to get close to the car. I was told that this car still had the stock gas tank and filled with CAM 2 racing gas. From the impact, the trunk floor was split wide open and, from that moment on, it really didn't matter anymore whether the car had a drop in tank or not. I'm not going to say that Craig survived the initial impact but a firewall might have bought the rescuers that few valuable few seconds to yank him out of that car before the flames got to him. So, I already have a piece of aluminum sheet that will be cut and installed behind my rear seat and up under my rear deck.

 

What's the deal with Firestone tires?

 

Bob,
That is tough to think about. Sorry that you lost your buddy there. Makes a great case for a firewall.

Barry,
Was the marriage going that bad? ... trying to collect on insurance? LOL.

Firestone Tires .... this would referring to the FIRST major recall that they had (not to be confused with the second one ... Explorers that came stock with some 'stones that had a problem). These were called "500" radials, and they had a reputation for being prone to peeling the tread. Firestone came out with "721" radials and believe those were the ones that they would have swapped them out for at the time. This was all going on 1978-1980.

Truth be told ... this was pretty early in common use of radial tires, and it really was more user error than anything. Still true today ... if you run a tire too low in pressure, you're going to tear it up. Goodyear had "Polysteel" radials back then .... we used to refer to them as "Polypeels". Saw the tread come off of plenty of them, and it typically was some knucklehead that ran them too long under-inflated.

When they had the recall of the Firestones on Explorers, a big part of the problem is that those Explorers are a bit over-sprung. In an effort to get ride quality back to suit the general public ... who don't understand that it's a truck.... they were spec'ing the tire pressure at just 26 lbs! It is not much of a stretch to see that neglecting tires that start at that low of a pressure put far too many of them in a very dangerous condition. Combine that with the lack of driving skills that now seem to be prevalent, and you get roll-overs.

Here's a case for us older hot rodders .... I'm sure most of us have driven some evil-handling old beaters with sketchy tires. You get a special set of skills driving older cars that didn't handle well new. I would bet roll-overs due to a blow-out would be pretty hard to count among our generation.

BTW... those Firestone SUV tires that were recalled ... I bought tires that were in the same line but one designation off (basically, their cousins) two months before the recall happened. Ran them at 32 lbs, and wore them out in 80K miles of use. Overall, I would rate them an excellent tire. Was sadly disappointed when I switched brands after them.

 

No issues putting the rear seat back in. Look at my install photos in link below.

I dont remember what gauge aluminum I used. I do know that it is the minimum to meet NHRA standards.

Here is the link to the page on my build site with more detailed photos. I did not seal off the speaker deck. It just has a layer of fatmat over it and speakers poking through. Same with the holes in the qtr panels. It should still contain the initial fuel splash in an impact but as soon as fire erupts we better have our hot dogs and marshmallows at the ready.

http://www.maverick.to/mmb/showthread.php?t=54307&highlight=GrabberGT&page=30

 

Thank you sir! Nice work

 

I was always afraid of throwing a sharp object like a factory lug wrench in the trunk and puncturing the tank. When I had 67-68 Mustangs, I would put a piece of 1/4" plywood in the trunk to absorb any impact like that.

We had a 93 Explorer, we bought it used with Michelin tires on it. When we wore those out, we bought a set of Firestone pull offs and ran them until they were nearly slick. The Ford dealer was running a special on oil changes, so the wife took it in to get it done. The service manager saw the Firestone tires on it, the same ones they were recalling, and without asking any questions, took them off and put on a brand new set of BF Goodrich TA Radials! They were worn out and we were about to replace them anyway, but we didn't expect a set of free tires with the oil change! Haven't ever got that good of a deal anywhere again!

 

That is kind of funny. My neighbor bought 4 sets of tires those explorer recall firestones from local scrappers. Took his Explorer to several different stealerships until they all were replaced with new tires. Then he made a tidy little profit of about $800 selling 3 of the replacement sets. I can't comment on the morality of it, not something I would do myself. But, I can get behind getting over on the stealerships here and there!


I always thought the Pinto issue was related to the gas tank being too close to the rear differential housing so in a rear end collision those bolts get jammed through the tank wall making it go up in flames.

Also, I'm not too scared of puncturing a tank, I've pounded a few chisels and picks into tanks to drain them over the years, haven't lit one up yet. Then again, I always puncture through the bottom so that I'm not a vapor filled section.

I think I'll pick up one of those bulkheads some day just to be safe.

 

As hard as that car got hit, I dont think a firewall woulda made any difference. It allmost looks like the car that hit him went clear into the cabin and might have even hit the driver....pretty severe impact from a brainless broad!!! Shoulda put her in prison for that one.