Remember the van-de-graff (sp?) generator you were tortured with in high school? It was essentially just a big rubber band attached to a coupe of pulleys with a motor driving one of them. What’s on the front of your motor? A big rubber band attached to a couple of pulleys with a motor driving one of them…
Remember the big spark you got from the van-de-graff generator in high school? (points back to the article about the guy who caught his car on fire because of a spark, but rolls his eyes at the “cell phone” explanation :rolleyes: )
Not that I think the guy in the article had his engine running. Most likely his car had built up a charge just from moving, and hadn’t discharged until the unfortunate moment when he finally touched the metal body with his feet on the ground.
You know, all you have to do is buy a piece of metal braid (will probably cost you all of a buck at ye ol local electronics shop) and bolt it to the metal frame on the bottom of your car, and let the other end drag on the ground. It looks ugly, but you won’t get shocked when you close your door and you won’t blow yourself up at gas pumps either.