Today, my Z32 tried to kill me with fire...
 

So, about 2 weeks ago I picked up a 1990 300ZX TT as a project. It has lots of upgrades but needed an ECU EPROM chip so I got one from CZP and installed it today! The car ran much better than before but still did not hold an idle without keeping my foot on the accelerator. It has upgraded LS coils, 555cc Subaru Yellow Top injectors, Stillen exhaust, GReddy boost controller and single air filter. This is also a JDM swap with all of the deletes already done. So I get the car running decent and put some gas in the tank. I drive it maybe 1/8th of a mile and it starts running really rough. Like, had to keep my foot halfway on the throttle to keep it running. I got it limping back home and in the yard. Let it sit for about 2 minutes and decided to crank it back up. Well, it did crank up but still ran poorly but I was able to keep it running by revving it up. I thought maybe id blow out whatever and get it running better. THIS is when it went south. I was probably at 2-3k RPMs when I hear a terribly loud noise and as im reacting to that, see a FIRE BALL in the corner of my eye. I then simultaneously closed my eyes and turned my head towards the door to GET OUT! I jumped out of the car and scraped my knee, ran inside the house to get a fire extinguisher, came back and started spraying it down. I could still hear the aux fan coming on and off. At this point, the only fire id seen was towards the front bumper near the passenger headlight coming from under the hood. Didnt look too big though. I go inside and watch the car from a safe distance until I determine that its safe to inspect. Upon inspection I see that under the hood has a fair amount of sut. The timing belt cover plastic has melted a little. The coolant temp switch wires are melted a little. And maybe the biggest giveaway was a clear liquid on the top of the plenum in the center. Maybe 1/4 inch deep. I presume this was gas. I also found inside the car that the center console plastic piece was removed (read BLOWN OUT). It wasnt screwed down however, just sat in. The passenger side window is outside of its rubber slide as if you were to push it from the inside. The plastic cover just behind the passenger seat was removed.

Now, I didnt have a lot of time to inspect after as I needed to tend to the lack of hair on the right side of my body, but I can not tell for sure where the explosion originated from. Does anyone have any ideas? I think the car is salvageable from what I can tell, but It kinda freaks me out a little still... Has anyone had this happen before? Is there any way that a fire from the engine bay can pass through the firewall like that? Also for the record, there was a sealed gas can in the hatch that I had in there just in case I ran out of gas while I went down the street. Thanks for any help in advance and Im just happy to be alive, it could have ended much worse...