I am going to look at an '87 GXL tomorrow night which the owner tells me had a "minor" engine bay fire caused by a leaking fuel line. While the wiring and electrical components are obviously gone, the car has a rebuilt engine with 10k miles on it which would work great in my '87. My question is, what are the chances that the engine is still good? Besides the obvious molten plastic, etc. around it, is there any way that I can determine how hot the fire was, and whether the engine was damaged? Has anyone else ever attempted such an insane transplant?

Jeff

 

depending on its damage i believe the block itself maybe be good but u should worry about that metal warping. It would snap easy if pressure appiled to it check it out squish spots burned if it seems strong take the car if theres burns through the metal dont even bother

 

I wouldn't be so worried about the metal as I would be the o-rings being toasted within the block. The outer water jacket seal is within 1/4" of the outside of the block. That rubber having been baked into compliance in its land is going to cause external leaks of the water jacket. Conversely, you might end up with a situation where the o-ring has baked itself to both sides of the housing and will never leak on you... Really hard to tell which.

Look for discoloration of the metals. Poking with your finger to look for heat softend metal is rediculous. Heat doesn't cause embrittlement, it causes annealing and a softening of the material in its rigidity. But, this would not be able to be determined with a little prodding. Also look for softening of the crisp edges of the housings. If it got hot enough to deform the castings then you know the motor is shot untill further teardown and close inspection.

 

It's a judgement call.
Ask yourself, how long did the fire heat soak it?
And how hot did the block get?

One clue might be the plastic secondary injector diffusers inside the intake manifold.

 

Some things you might not see/realize right off: the pulsation damper does not take to fire very well. It needs to be looked over real good. Burnt diaphram will cause another fire.

The fuel pressure regulator does not take to fire very well either. Put a vacuum on its vac nipple and see if it holds a vacuum. If it leaks a vacuum ANY, its shot. It will leak rail pressure into the vac lines and cause a fire.

You don't want to know what each of these small parts cost new. Makes fuel injectors look cheap.

 

An update- I looked at the car tonight, and was pleasantly surprised: the damage was much more limited than the owner led me to believe. The fire apparently started at the fuel pressure regulator, and the damage was limited to the fuel pressure regulator and some wiring as the fire was very quickly extinguished. The owner was even able to start the car for me (please note that this was HIS idea, not mine) I can use the fuel system from mine, and the engine appears to be usable

Jeff

 

good deal then