Fire truck in deep water (submarine)

Mozzie

Mozzie

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A119, B1W, A119S, A129+ Duo
Ok, this is not an actual dash cam video but surprised me.

 
Almost related.....but kind of cool. Scare the fire into submission with tanks. :)

 
Looks like an unreleased episode of Thunderbirds.
 
If you can get a nice little bow wave going, you can drive through really deep water. Easier to attempt in a vehicle that you do not own/pay for. I had a really good run in my 1977 VW camper van. Really impressed my passengers after driving through 4 feet of water. They were really unimpressed when I could not slow down at the next intersection and flew through a red light because my drum brakes were still full of water.
 
i was going thru about 2 feet of water in my first car, an 88 toyota camry - i'd done it plenty of times before because that section of street always flooded. i was fine till some jackoff in a lifted chevy truck came flying into the water from the other direction. i held my ground in the center of the road (the high point) because he had enough clearance to go through the deepest part without getting the body wet. problem was, he decided to get as close to me as possible, and was going fast to boot... and his wake washed up over my hood and windshield, which not only slowed me down, but caused the car to momentarily FLOAT. i thought my car was a goner, but it soldiered through just fine.
 
Error7 said:
Wouldn't have thought it possible in a petrol engined vehicle.
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depends on how well your intake (and doors) are sealed up, and how long your snorkel is. ;)

i think the old VW microbus engine air intake was at the same level as the windows, on the rear corners. so it sort of had a built-in snorkel system. and as long as you stay on the throttle, no engine will suck water in through the exhaust.

vw-microbus-612x344
 
If your 4x4 dont have a snorkel fitted you are not a true offroader :p

I have been waist deep in water sitting in a Land rover driving thru a waterhole ( the low end ) the deep end would see you struggling to breathe up below the headliner with a non lifted land rover.

And you really will want water to get into your car as you cross deep water, otherwise you will just be floating with no control where you end up.
This can be a problem trying to get out of water on the other side as you can have many 100 extra kilos of weight to get out of the water, so you might have to open doors to drain cabin faster.
 
hehe yeah i laughed at that one too :)
 
Gibson99 said:
depends on how well your intake (and doors) are sealed up, and how long your snorkel is. ;)

i think the old VW microbus engine air intake was at the same level as the windows, on the rear corners. so it sort of had a built-in snorkel system. and as long as you stay on the throttle, no engine will suck water in through the exhaust.

vw-microbus-612x344
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Well with any petrol engined car, as soon as the HT leads get soaked or the distributor gets wet, the engine will stop. This applies to the Volkswagen air cooled engine in particular because it's a flat 4 design so the spark plugs are lower down. And the air intake ducts on the VW bus are just for cooling the engine, not for air/fuel mixture.
 
The bugs were a bit more weatherproof



I did manage to get a full sized pickup stuck in the sand at a place I worked at as a teenager, and was embarrassed when an old guy pulled me out with a VW 'Crew cab' type bus, and a fairly old one. Not sure the HP of that year, but would bet it was 50-60 HP.


Volkswagen_Bus_Vanagon_Toronado_V8_Swap_1365499274.jpg
 
dash riposki said:
The bugs were a bit more weatherproof

I did manage to get a full sized pickup stuck in the sand at a place I worked at as a teenager, and was embarrassed when an old guy pulled me out with a VW 'Crew cab' type bus, and a fairly old one. Not sure the HP of that year, but would bet it was 50-60 HP.
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50-60 HP! The phrase 'Couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding' comes to mind. :D
 
then again, first gear was so short (true granny gear) it didn't need a ton of power to get moving... you just had to upshift by about 10 mph or so :D

but that short gear also means it had some actual low end torque for stuff like that, so in a way, it makes sense.
 
HEY ! my 2012 car barely have more HP, and its not like my motor is a lot smaller than a 1300 CCM bug engine.
 
Error7 said:
50-60 HP! The phrase 'Couldn't pull the skin off a rice pudding' comes to mind. :D
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I once owned a '64 VW with 40HP (upgraded from 36 HP in previous generations). And I can also confirm they will float having 'accidentally' driving mine into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia. :)
 
DT MI said:
I once owned a '64 VW with 40HP (upgraded from 36 HP in previous generations). And I can also confirm they will float having 'accidentally' driving mine into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Virginia. :)
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Yes but how far did you get before the engine coughed and died :D

There used to be a story about the VW Beetles being so well sealed that you had to open a window before closing the doors.
 
Error7 said:
Yes but how far did you get before the engine coughed and died :D

There used to be a story about the VW Beetles being so well sealed that you had to open a window before closing the doors.
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"how far did you get before the engine coughed and died"

I choose not to talk about that. :rolleyes: Suffice it to say it turned out that replacing the entire car was only a couple hundred dollars more than the cost to repair all the salt water damage that was done. Lesson learned - what is designed to be used on roads is best used on roads.

Regarding how air tight they were I've heard stories about people cracking a window by slamming a door closed - could be urban legend as I never saw it happen. Also heard stories about windows breaking because of the air pressure increasing when the car was left out in the sun but that's more likely due to thermal stresses in the glass versus air pressure. You could 'pop' your ears slamming the door quickly with all windows closed because I've done that.

Edit: "I choose not to talk about that. :rolleyes:" - To elaborate on that when it went into the water I turned the ignition off (good?,... bad?...) so it never really stalled out. Got it out of the water and home - within 48 hours it wouldn't even start, not even turn over. Salt water and electronics are not a good mix.
 
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