Can it be saved? Found a 454 in a burned out 82 Chevy truck yesterday. Story was, it was a work truck that caught on fire and between the gasoline and ace. & oxy. tanks that were on it - everything burned from the back to the front. Under the hood even the carb melted from the heatMy question is do you think the block and heads would be okay for a rebuild? I can buy it for $100, I realize that the only way to tell for sure is to buy it and open it up. But - before I even go that far into this - I want to know if #1 has anyone else has ever stumbled across this situation before & #2 how did it turn out? Thanking you in advance for your two cents worth.
I would p***. The 82 454 is not that great of an engine and fire has a funny way of messing with the intergrity of metal. I used a old Mercedes head off of a fire car once. The head would not hold a valve seat in the head. I'd have it built, put it together and it would stop with a clank and a thud. Start over again. It's just not worth it.
For a hundred bucks I'd get it. I'd rebuild it. I can't believe a fire outside the engine could produce more heat and damage than the inside of the engine sees. There's thousands of degrees in that cylinder.
I had a 67 Impala that caught fire and also melted the carb right off the block. I did pop the heads and intake to check it and it was fine. I ended replacing the carb and all the **** on the top of the motor (electronics, etc) and it ran for another 2 years when a Mercedes killed it. I think it would be OK. My car only got real hot on the top of the motor. Heat rises so it didn't really get in to the motor. Now, if one of those tanks rolled under the motor, then I'd be worried. $100 is worth the effort if you ask me.
Is the $100 for the engine alone or the whole truck? If it is for the whole truck you can't go wrong with the way s**** prices have been. If it is the engine alone, it's a little bit of a gamble, but it may be fine for a rebuild. You take a gamble on most core blocks anyway.
It might be worth it for the crank and block if that's all that's good. You can probably get a clue how bad the heads are by seeing if all the oil under the valve covers got toasted off, or if it's still protected by oily sludge. Don't re-use the harmonic balancer (damper) because the rubber part of it is probably ruined. The water pump and distributor are probably useless.
Theres a junkyard by me that buys alot of burned cars, and they sell the engines. Alot of them come back. But these are late models with all sorts of sensors on them, and they are aluminum as well. I would not be too afraid of it, unless it got filled up with water when they were putting it out.. Its worth $100+ as s**** here, and if you are getting the whole truck, I'd definitely give it a shot.
How does the exhaust manifolds look if they are a whites color that means they got really hot. If so I would p*** on it, if not I would give the 100 bucks and take a chance.
I had an engine burn. Melted the valve covers, and carb. The fire dept put the fire out and filled the engine with water. Cylinders were rusted and the valve springs were all bad from the heat. I'd buy it. It's worth more then $100.00 for s****.
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