muffler go BANG!
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Joined: Feb 2001
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muffler go BANG!
My muffler exploded this morning....
The truck is a 67 F100 with 390 and I've just converted to Edelbrock intake and an old Holley 1850 4bbl that I rebuilt. The truck will run for a minute or two, then dies and I can't get it to start again. This morning it had sat all night long after dying as explained above, and I went out and started cranking it. It turned over under battery power less than 1/4 rev and the muffler exploded like a bomb. The muiffler looks like a banana peel. I think that possibly the carb is flooding so badly that the muffler was sitting there full of fuel overnight and when I cranked it today, something touched it off exactly like a bomb. Has anyone ever heard of this?
Greg
67 F100 CCS 390 FMX
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Joined: Jun 2002
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From: Elizabeth City, NC
muffler go BANG!
Good God Man! I think I know where you can get a good seat cover to replace your now stained one!!!
Russell
1968 F250 LWB 300-6
FORD=First on Race Day
#88 Dale Jarrett
#21 Elliott Sadler
#97 Kurt Busch
#28 Ricky Rudd
Russell
1968 F250 LWB 300-6
FORD=First on Race Day
#88 Dale Jarrett
#21 Elliott Sadler
#97 Kurt Busch
#28 Ricky Rudd
Posting Guru
Joined: Sep 2001
Posts: 1,531
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From: in the country
muffler go BANG!
Hell, Bells guy!!!i'm gonna send you one brand new pair of skivvies from JC Penn'ay----they're custom made with the Butt part reinforced with Kevlar and Assbestos----also are you sure that , that dude next door named junior samples didn't stuff a Tater in your exhaust pipe????you jest never know, do ye.............OH , replace that old cheery bomber with a nice mellow 40 series Flowmaster ,good luck , fd 
:-X11
:-X11 
Post Fiend
Joined: Feb 2000
Posts: 5,130
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From: Brea CA
muffler go BANG!
Greg, your carb. is definitely flooding out. I bet you also have a small exhaust leak that let air in to complete the fire triangle. How does your muffler sound now? Bet it has a nice crackle to it! Reminds me of when I rented a U-Haul when I moved out of my parent’s house. It was a very old F600 with duals that had a small exhaust leak. Being the prankster back then, when I would coast down a freeway offramp I would turn the key off and then turn it back on when coming to the stop where all the cars were. KA-BOOM!!! It was so loud it would make me jump, lots a fun. Anyway, had to return the truck at the end of the day so for the final offramp I really let it coast down for the last KA-BOOM!!! Only problem was it now sounded like open headers because I blew open both mufflers. Oops! I coasted up to the rental house with the engine off, quickly took care of the paperwork and got the hell out of there. Noticed the next day there were two shiny new mufflers under it.
Barry
Barry
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From: La Canada, CA
muffler go BANG!
A sticking float caused a similar problem with my 1967 F100. The float had been intermittently sticking open and stalling the engine for several months. I had a non-vented gas cap and the truck was parked in the hot sun one day. The stuck-open float allowed pressurized gas to expand and run through the carb and drain into the engine. I had no idea what took place while it was parked. Luckily, when I went to start the engine, it wouldn't turnover. At first I thought the battery was dead. I finally traced the problem to liquid in the clyinders. I drained almost five gallons of gas out of the oil pan and removed the spark plugs to pump the gas out. Needless to say, I rebuilt the carb right away and added a vented gas cap.
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From: LAT 46.55501° & LON -122
muffler go BANG!
I used to light-off my mufflers in the same way that BBB explained. My favorite spot was in the center a long tunnel while comming down a mountain pass. I remember there was one car over 300 yards ahead of me when I lit-it off one time. He slammed on his brakes and swerved all over the road as if he thought he had a flat tire or something. I am sure he had a diaper to change when he got home!
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From: All over Texas
muffler go BANG!
While we’re all reminiscing I’ll throw in my 2¢. Back in high school, I was driving through my neighborhood and happened to pass a guy working under his old Tempest with just his legs protruding from under his car into the street (not too busy of a street). Anyway, I knew how to do the old “backfire” trick and let one go just as I got even with this guy…I wonder if he still has a knot on his forehead??? I must have laughed for an hour and peed myself a dozen times after that. In retrospect, it was a pretty childish and mean thing to do, but it was still funny at the time.
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Joe Kucinski
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Joined: Feb 2002
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muffler go BANG!
Join the club man! my truck ran alittle rich for
awhile and it didn't wanna start once so I went
to the john to do some business then came back
to give her another try and BOOM!! blew the bush
guard off, and there was a hole about the
size of my fore arm in it and the baffles were
jes plastered.. no prob I jes hacked the whole
works off so it would happen agien. after that
it started shooting out flames over 4 feet long at
times. Best moment with that was when I was passing
3 cars at night with the speedo buried then I
let off the gas and 3 huge gunshot booms accompanied
with flames that shot right out the back and my exhaust
was cut off 1 foot behind the cab,the whole road was lit
up with orange light on each boom! I always wonder to
this day what the surprised people behind me thought....
tis hard on valves though
Fe power
awhile and it didn't wanna start once so I went
to the john to do some business then came back
to give her another try and BOOM!! blew the bush
guard off, and there was a hole about the
size of my fore arm in it and the baffles were
jes plastered.. no prob I jes hacked the whole
works off so it would happen agien. after that
it started shooting out flames over 4 feet long at
times. Best moment with that was when I was passing
3 cars at night with the speedo buried then I
let off the gas and 3 huge gunshot booms accompanied
with flames that shot right out the back and my exhaust
was cut off 1 foot behind the cab,the whole road was lit
up with orange light on each boom! I always wonder to
this day what the surprised people behind me thought....
tis hard on valves though
Fe power
Senior User
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 144
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From: New York
muffler go BANG!
This is a really funny post. My sides are aching from laughing so hard. I had a similar experience one time when I forgot to put the rotor back inside of the cap. I was cranking it over and over before I remembered the rotor. I replaced it and hit the key I thought I was going to the moon. This happened when I was on a military base and it was hard to explain the the MP's what had happened.
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Joined: Apr 2002
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muffler go BANG!
This last string of posts is absolutely hilarious. I have never done this thing with the exploding exhuast line, but I would like to see it happen just once. Notice I didn't say try it myself, for I can't afford to restore the truck, let alone destroy anything that already works.
Thanks for the laughs guys.
Thanks for the laughs guys.
Elder User
Joined: Jun 1999
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From: LAT 46.55501° & LON -122
muffler go BANG!
>>I see how the tailpipe could get full of gas, but what is it that ignites it?<<
When you shut-off the ignition to the engine while you are still moving and the engine is still spinning, the engine is still sucking air & gas through the carb, only it is not burning it; it is just sending the explosive mixture out the exhaust. When you turn the key back on again, the engine will immediately start up again; thus the explosive mixture in the muffler is now ignited by the hot exhaust gases from the engine.
>>Notice I didn't say try it myself, for I can't afford to restore the truck, let alone destroy anything that already works.<<
At the time when I did it, my truck has glasspacks for mufflers, and they held up to (my then) teenage abuse quite well. Later on, I switched to El-Cheapo turbo style mufflers, and I tried it just once with them. They are now about two inches wider and the baffles inside them rattle.
When you shut-off the ignition to the engine while you are still moving and the engine is still spinning, the engine is still sucking air & gas through the carb, only it is not burning it; it is just sending the explosive mixture out the exhaust. When you turn the key back on again, the engine will immediately start up again; thus the explosive mixture in the muffler is now ignited by the hot exhaust gases from the engine.
>>Notice I didn't say try it myself, for I can't afford to restore the truck, let alone destroy anything that already works.<<
At the time when I did it, my truck has glasspacks for mufflers, and they held up to (my then) teenage abuse quite well. Later on, I switched to El-Cheapo turbo style mufflers, and I tried it just once with them. They are now about two inches wider and the baffles inside them rattle.
Senior User
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 271
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From: La Canada, CA
muffler go BANG!
No one has mentioned the spark plug in the exhaust trick with manual choke carb. You drill a plug sized-hole in the exhaust pipe about one foot from the end, screw in the plug and connect a wire from any post on the distributor. It works best at night when dark. You pull the choke to richen the mixture. For what it's worth, you can get some nice flames out the exhaust.
Sort of in the same category as chaining someone's rear end to a pole with about 20 feet of slack.
Sort of in the same category as chaining someone's rear end to a pole with about 20 feet of slack.
New User
Joined: Aug 2002
Posts: 12
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From: grain valley usa
muffler go BANG!
when I first stated driving I had a 1974 250 camper special it went bang at random. so I drove with this problem for a day or so thinking that carb. was messed up. Took it to a friendlyford man and the problem was only a loose wire on the coil.I learned a lesson that day . LOL:+