A fear of fire
An engine fire has got to be top of the list of fears for air- cooled, rearengine VW campervan owners, with engine failure being a close second. I’ve discussed the potential problem with several specialists and discovered there are a few reasons as to why these buses catch fire. For example, it doesn’t help having a fuel tank located in front of
the engine as a fuel leak and fire in this vicinity will keep going providing there’s petrol in the tank and oxygen in the air. Another reason is common across many classic vehicles – perished fuel hoses. With a hose routed from the petrol tank to the mechanical fuel pump in the central area of the engine, it’s quite an easy one to inspect and renew, along with
the shorter pipe from the pump to the Solex carburettor.
So to prevent a fire, my plan of attack consisted of renewing the petrol tank and hoses, fitting a battery isolator and installing a number of fire extinguishers and a fire blanket. Maybe you think I’m a bit paranoid, but after hearing about several fires that seem to quickly get out of control,
I don’t want to take any risks, especially considering my family and I sleep in this vehicle.
So my first job was to renew the fuel tank, which involves removing the engine to gain access. Engine removal isn’t particularly difficult as it’s dropped from underneath, but I realised that if I did this job on my own, I’d probably still be working on it after two or three days. Instead, I asked my local air- cooled VW specialist, Herbie Hospital ( www.
herbiehospital.com) for assistance. I’m glad I did – they had the engine removed within two hours and highlighted a couple of issues I would have struggled with – tall axle stands and roof height. Had I tried this job at home, I don’t have axle stands that are tall enough to raise the back of the vehicle and slide the engine out. And even if I bought a pair of suitable axle stands, my garage isn’t tall enough to accommodate the height.
With the engine out of the way, a steel bulkhead panel was removed to expose the old petrol tank. Its fixings were heavily corroded, so they were dissected and repaired. I discovered there are several breather pipes (expansion pipes) routed across the roof of the engine bay, so these were inspected and any connecting hoses were renewed. We also replaced the fuel filler neck, which can perish and leak.
I acquired some fireproof self-adhesive lead-sandwich soundproofing from Noisekiller ( www.nkgroup.co.uk) and lined the engine and petrol tank area in it, then I helped Herbie Hospital fit a new petrol tank from VeeWee ( www.
veewee.co.uk – part of GSF) and refit the engine. Total time from start to finish was less than a day.
Next job was to install some means of fighting a fire. I’d already installed a smoke detector inside the living area. Now I added a fire extinguisher and fire blanket, which could be used for cooking fires but may also help in the event of an engine fire. However, there are a number of automatic fire extinguishers that can be installed in the engine bay. Firetrace ( www.firetrace.
co.uk) sell many of their kits to the VW camper scene. This consists of an extinguisher and a long tube that’s routed around the engine bay’s roof. In the event of a fire, the tube melts and the extinguishant escapes. They even offered to install the system, so I removed the engine lid and photographed the work, which is quite straightforward, involving fitting mounting bracketry for the extinguisher and cable ties for the tube.
The final job involved fitting a battery isolator. I’ve added one of these negative isolators to the engine and leisure battery, along with quick-release terminals.
“Maybe you think I’m a bit paranoid, but I don’t want to take any risks, especially considering my family and I sleep in this vehicle”