Cars burned...engines any good???

a week before my late friend's cars were to be auctioned off, a renter started a burn barrel fire that got to the garage and the cars ended up like what you see... 2, 1969 chevelle SS big block sticks and a 1957 olds convertible.....they all had antifreeze in them and the radiators did not melt and are somewhat intact - carbs melted as did most any aluminum pieces on the engines - any thoughts about the internal integrety of the engines???....454, 396/402, 371 olds... they are going up for auction dec 11th in binghamton ny along with other big blocks and transmissions

 

uhh... yeah... toast! Imagine how hot it must have been to MELT the carburetors and valve covers. The radiator might be intact, but I bet there isn't an ounce of solder left in it!

 

My buddy had a ford f250 7.3 diesel truck. Someone thought it still belonged to the previous owner and came and lit it on fire.. The motor was transplanted into another truck after the obvious burned outer parts were replaced and it was still running fine.

 

scrap....

major engine pieces might be okay.

 

First, shoot the renter! Buy the motors, just don't give much for 'em, they're now very seasoned cores!
Is that an MG that survived? Yeah, there's some justice.

 

I wonder how the fire was put out? spraying lots of water on the HOT engines?

 

That poor Olds... very rare and very desireable.


Chevelles are are too, but not as rare.


If the prices were not crazy compared to scrap value, I maybe would chance them as core motors...maybe...


Prices may go much higher due to buying the "paperwork", rather than the metal.

 

The engines would be good cores, tear them down and have a machine shop inspect everything.

 

I'd salvage the cast iron parts if they didn't get doused with water while they were still hot.

 

Engine in my drag car is a 454 4 bolt out of a 94 Chevy 3/4 ton 4wd that burned but not quite as hot as those. I think the block cranks and rods would probably all right. Ill bet the aluminum cases on the muncies were starting to melt . I would think the gears could be usuable though. No doubt they will go really cheap so it might be worth the gamble.

 

thats my worst nightmare! i've seen burned engines salvaged but don't know the long term results.

 

Very sad, the FD saved the slab tho.

The engines held water, didn't melt off the hoses. Didn't get hot enough to boil over and puke everything out. And they weren't spinning at the time.

Replace the wire, tin and little stuff that melted. Youre good to go. Dig out whatever fell into the intakes.

 

Tear em down, clean em and reassemble.

 

I have fixed and used a few crispies. All new rubber even the valve seals. Last I knew the 460 in the F-350 was doing fine and that was over 10 years ago.

 

I had a 67 Impala (SBC 283) back in high school (mid-80's) that caught fire. It also melted the carb off it. I pulled the heads and checked things out. Reassembled it, put a new carb on it and it ran fine. No new seals on the valves or anything. It seemed to be OK. I drove it for another 2 years before a guy in a Mercedes killed it. I still have the motor.

 

Not a problem. Been there, done that.

 

Well, if you can get them for close to scrap, it wouldn't hurt to tear them down and look them over. Worst case, you scrap them anyways. Have some fun, paint one so it looks kind of nice and take pictures after it's squished and tell people you couldn't sell it, so you had it crushed.

The Olds ragtop I would consider offering for parts if the frame isn't too toasted, it's convertible-only and a guy with a rotty one might be able to use it. The top stuff and most of the other rare parts are certainly shot, though. There's at least one year the quarters are convertible only, but it's tough to re-use body tin that's been burned like that, hard to get paint to stick.

 

They wouldn't necessarily be bad engines.I bought a 350 out of a burned truck.The carb was melted.The distributor was toast.I took it to a machine shop as it needed to be bored anyway.It checked out as still good,nothing warped.I rebuilt it and its still running great 10 years later.

 

Come to think of it, check the frames on the Chevelles, too, those are rot prone in the front cowl and rear section, especially up here - if they're re-useable, you should be able to sell them.

 

I used to love buying engines from low mile burned cars in the wrecking yards! replace the carbs and rubber parts and run em! Core prices, and never had one let me down!

 

check valve springs. I say go for it as it takes a lot of heat to hurt the internals of a engine..

 

This isnt true, the paint will stick just fine. But you will still be dealing with panels that may be warped from the heat.

 

I lost 5 cars in the feb bushfires here in australia...I kept the chev small block out of a HT prem and have it ready to rebuild.....the powerglide melted{alloy} so Im interested to know how the engine looks inside...i will post when i do....just rebuild my shed and house!
I did speak with an old bloke who collects vintage engines of all types and he has rescued many from fire affected properties...so he seems to think all will be well with the block and heads etc...if the oil got boiled away with the heat, alot of the internals will rust up so some machining will be in order.....definitely rebuild time though..........my opinion......as for the bodies, even if they are straight, the heat will harden the steel and it will crack.......I threw out all car stands, jacks, stub axles, I put a new ram in my engine crane and a coat of paint and a new ram in my press too...they are ok......anyway, most is toast after a fire.......................Bert

 

It's probably debatable, but most of what I've read on the subject says it won't stick, or maybe you'll get a nice paint job but it falls off in a year or two.

But I'm sure someone might gamble on them, it's not something that's reproduced and if they're not warped to shit it's a lot easier than trying to make some from scratch.

 

Junk buddy of mine had camaro fiberglass hood caught fire then caught everything else on fire. Fireman put it out with cold water cracked between most all the cylinders and both heads transplanted it in elcamino hence unknown of damage and motor dropped a valve within 10 miles

 

I've used two 5.0s that were in burned '91-'92 Mustangs that were at least as bad as those three, and both ran perfect when the external crispy stuff was replaced. I didn't even pull the heads, just blast the blocks with a hot water pressure washer, repaint, reassemble, and go. All I did in the boneyard was to see if the engines still turned, and if there was still oil under the valve covers, as the yards drain all pans now. I'd certainly chance those.

-KK

 

there fine replace the carb pull the intake and clean out the mess and run it seen it done before .id save the trannys and the 12 bolt rear ends im sure there is a lot of saveable stuff on theses cars..

 

Depending on the fire, I'd check it over pretty good. I lost a 396 in a garage fire (which I believe is hotter than an engine fire.). The tail shaft housing melted on the Muncie 4sp and slumped off leaving the shaft with the remnants of the seal just sticking out the back.

Drive shafts blew the ends off and split wide open down the sides. We used one as a shovel to push the ashes off of the concrete pad.

Craftsman sockets just stripped out when trying to remove head bolts. We could compress the valve springs by pushing down on the retainers with our fingers.

A carb fire is one thing. A total garage fire is another thing altogether. A 396 wasn't that big a deal back then but we saved nothing. The casting may have been usable but I had no interest in finding out after the valve spring deal.

 

thanks for your opinions guys....there was NO solder left on the radiators...the aluminum valve covers on one engine melted into the rockers....there were 5 trans in the shop - 1 is melted into crap, one has melted spots, but somewhat intact, and 3 are fully intact...i reached over and actually shifted thru the gears on both chevelles...still a crap shoot as many think.

 

that's so sad - my buddy Bob had a beautiful 28 fenderless roadster with a 48 Merc flattie. He had it stored in a garage in West Seattle that caught on fire...FD got there, but it was a crap garage and burnt like tinder....finned heads melted, 2x2 carbs and intake just a blob...FD got enough water on the car that every panel was warped, including a beautiful deuce shell/grille. Enough to make you drop to your knees and cry. He deemed nothing salvageable except the crashbox and banjo/driveline.

dj