I will forever remember Mother's Day from now on as the day I set my 280sl on fire. I was changing the fuel filter, a job I had done before. The engine was cool, and I still don't know what caused the ignition, but after releasing the filter housing and leaning in to extract it I heard a pop and then saw flames 18 inches high coming from the left front quarter of the engine compartment. Fortunately I had an extinguisher but the fire burned long enough to melt a corner of the battery leaking acid into the compartment down onto the top of the drivers side horn and hopefully nowhere else. Paint on the hood was destroyed as were all connections between the distributor and the coil, plug wires, probably the distributor and coil, and at this point don't know what else. The damage is covered, Hagerty has been great to deal with so far, even agreeing to pay for the car carrier from Spokane to So. Cal. for repairs. I include this post for a couple of reasons. First as a caution to other non-mechanic, non-engineer do-it-yourselfers to be extra mindful when changing the fuel filter. I also post to find out if others have had fires in that part of the engine compartment and can tell me what else is likely to need attention. Obviously I am just sick about the whole thing, but also consider myself fortunate to escape injury (other than emotional scarring) and to have gotten the flames out before more significant damage was done.
