Fire damage engine worth using?

-
75slant6

75slant6

FABO Gold Member
FABO Gold Member
Joined
May 15, 2011
Messages
6,394
Reaction score
3,198
Location
Russellville, ky
Last fall I bought a 97 (I think) ram, that had an engine fire, for parts and I was wondering if the engine is worth using as a builder or if it's be best to clean up the block and build a coffee table with it? Everything in the engine compartment and interior of the truck was torched. It got hot enough that the lower passenger side of the bellhousing melted some and the rear of the kegger intake melted, a/c condenser and aluminum radiator melted away to nothing. I realize 5.9 magnum engines can be gotten cheap at junkyards and pull a parts so this may not be worth worrying about using. Thoughts?
 
Probably just a junk engine now. Metal loses its integrity when it gets hot like that. Plus, the fire department more than likely shot 3000psi worth of water into it. You'd be better off gettin a different engine.
 
I have used engines out of cars that have had fires with no issue.
Pull the intake and see how bad it is, if aluminum is melted down in the heads I would pass on it.
 
1980 one of my first cars was a 73 Gremlin Levis X with 304 V8. Motor blew up at 86K miles. Found a 1980 Jeep in Myrtle Beach that suffered friction fire ( bad loan rubbing good insurance ). Odometer showed 3100 miles. 500 dollar gamble was a winner.
Replaced all the burned crap with my parts, valve covers, intake, carb, plug wires, etc... Still running great when I traded about 4 years later.
 
If not too bad, Id be tempted to use it. I have inn the past with no problems. Complete rebuild of course! MT
 
internal combustion, external combustion, po-tey-toes, po-ta-toes

I guess it depends on how big a rebuild you are thinking
if all you are looking for is a rotating assembly it should be fine
if you just want to re-ring and run, I would pass
 
I resurrected a Chevy Mini-Blazer (V6) that suffered an engine fire (leaky rubber fuel pump hose caused the fire). It was below freezing when I began to work on it outside. First removed the drain plug, nothing came out. Put a trouble light under the oil pan for a couple of hours to melt the water that had turned into ice inside the oil pan (crankcase had filled with water thrown on the engine by the fire department hoses). After the water melted and drained out, the oil (which had been floating on the water) drained out next. Pulled the plugs and shot oil in cylinders for quite some time because the motor was froze up. Finally got it to turn with a breaker bar on the front dampener bolt. Replaced the wiring harness, one wire at a time, with a soldering iron and new wire. Replaced all the melted plastic parts under the hood. Fired it up and later sold it.
 
There's "been in a fire", and "been on fire". If the car it was in had a fire say, top of the engine and/or the cabin - no big deal. If the car it was in was engulfed completely, it's junk.
 
moper said:
There's "been in a fire", and "been on fire". If the car it was in had a fire say, top of the engine and/or the cabin - no big deal. If the car it was in was engulfed completely, it's junk.
Click to expand...

It was more than "top of the engine" the fire got so hot that it melted a hole in the plastic gas tank and all the gas ran under the front of the truck and torched the entire frontend. I'm in Colorado till tmrw but I'll post pics of the engine and trans when I get home.

I may just be better off stripping the engine down, hot tanking the block, crank, rods and Pistons, painting it up and using it for a coffee table or mailbox or something.
 
The block is cast iron, aluminum melts at 1,221 deg F, the melting point of cast iron is about 2,100 deg F. Were the pistons melted inside the bores? If not, then the engine block itself didn't get hot enough to melt the internals.
 
Don't know if it melted any internals or not as I haven't touched the engine other than pulling some wiring off and separated it from the trans. I doubt it got that hot tho, the back of the intake got hot enough that it "slid down" a little but it didn't melt a hole through or anything.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top