Any tricks to working on a car that was in a fire?

I'm a hot rod and Kustom guy. But my brother is more into Muscle Cars. My brother just bought a Superbird that was in a fire. Before the fire it was a nice restored car. What happened is the car was in storage and the building it was stored in caught fire. The car got really hot. Carbs melted to nothing, transmission has a melted hole big enough where you can stick your hand inside, springs are arched the wrong way, etc. If it wasn't the rare car it is I wouldn't even attempt the fix. I'm good with metal and body work, but have never worked on something in a fire. Are there Any tricks/advice on bringing the body back to life on a car in a fire?

 

Good luck!

 

Depends

how bad?
any pictures?

Lost a 68 Chrager due to fire..with all the fuel that burned, and every other flamable product in my garage it was pretty much a total loss.

the sheet metal ended up being very funky..I gave up.

that was many years ago..22 or so, and i didnt have much in the way of body working skills, and I had lost all my tools,so I gave up and scrapped it

not only that but i was pretty heart broken by the distruction of a once beautiful finished car

 

Don't have any experience with burnt sheetmetal etc, but I do have experience bringing a burnt motor back. I got a burnt 350 out of a Chevy pickup once and it was burned like you said with carb melted down into the intake. I just tore the motor down, put a new set of gaskets in and also a timing chain set since I had it torn down anyway. Turned out to be a great motor.
V/8

 

I know you wont listen, but that metal is never going to hold paint, for some reason, it will always rust back, the paint will crack, and then it starts like that, tried it many times, you can sand blast it ,grind it, whatever, it will look perfectly fine but after you do all this work, a couple years later everything goes to shit. I even tried painting a car that was near a fire and what was called heavy smoke damage, it also did the same results. but the only true way to find out is to do it yourself and learn the lesson like I did.I was bound and determind to prove everyone wrong, but it just broke my heart. good luck.

 

If it was hot enough to melt a hole in the trnny and trash the springs the body is going to be annealed all to hell, very soft. But that will be the least of your problems..that is a unibody, right? You know where this is going, don't ya?

 

How bad is the body? Pics?

 

Wait till it cools off...

 

I have to imagine that this particular car would be pretty hard to make right considering all of the rare stuff is fiberglass like the wing and the nose. Especially with the above stated unibody structure. Sounds like a tough one to me???

 

Get a shell and put the unique peices ,rear window opening, Vin tag and other parts from the burnt shell on it. You could even buy a restored car and put the parts on it and be money ahead.

 

Was looking at fire-related info not long ago for another OT car that was at auction. Found this info which may be useful http://www.tcforensic.com.au/docs/article10.html. In particular look at 3.1 "temperature indicators" for steel.

Now ... FWIW, do what you will, but if you get caught VIN swapping as suggested in earlier posts you will have killed the value of any work you do on the car and once found out nobody will ever forget. If that's the plan, just build the clone with the left over parts but don't move the numbers or you cross the line from hot rodding to fraud.

Sure, yeah, some rich guy overpaid for a VIN-swapped burnt car at B-J a few years back. Bet he's still got it or took it in the shorts to get rid of it though.

 

Wing and nose are not fiberglass. For more info, look at http://wwnboa.com/

 

Now that's great advice.

 

I messed with a few Firebird's some years back, making one outta two....one was a burn, but not complete....
The metal is never the same....I would go ahead and try, but don't get disappointed if it does not turn out real well.
Good luck..
Cheers.........

 

I'd use Ov-Gloves

 

Who's turn is it to bring the popcorn?

 

Its a Mopar- you would need all new body panels anyway....

 

It's a leverite. Leave 'er right where ya found 'er!
Everything, bolts, shafts, sheet metal, castings, all junk. Shed a few tears and move on.
If they burn in a building, they are scrap, 'way too much heat.

 

All outer body panels are available so for that car I'd replace the outer panels after blasting the inner structure. The doors, hood etc can all be replaced with donor parts from an unburned parts car.
Lots of work, lots of money...but your not talking about a 4 door Dart here.
Its a car that will never depreciate in value once its redone.
A HEMI would have made it better as an investment but I assume this is a 440 because you didn't say the magic word!

 

Thanks Bob

 

Ouch that hurts !

 

Iam pretty sure thet is a body on frame car.And sorry for the loss

 

i would find a mopar nut and sell sell sell they love garage ornaments

 

I would put some serious thought into how far you want to go. Being a firefighter, I have seen the damage happen. I also know guys who have pulled, mostly cast iron, antique tractors out of a burned down barn, spend a bit of time and money on them and have a beautiful tractor when done. But they were mostly cast iron. As PnB suggested, alot of annealing has taken place and most, if not all the sheet metal is gonna be way soft and not want to hold its shape well. The springs got hot enough to rearch, so the frame or uni-body, whichever the case may be, will also be weak, possibly to the point of failure at an inopportune time. Some serious safety concerns exist, and if that does not scare you off, I agree with the "get a new shell" mentioned earlier, but not a fan of people swapping vin plates either...

 

If it melted part of the tranny, being a unibody car, I'd be concerned with what the heat has done to the frame rails,inner structure, floor pans, etc.
You may be able to re-skin the outside of it, but everything else will be trash if it got that hot.

Jim

 

Sounds like good yard art to me. NO ONE would out do you.

 

Sounds like a lot of work. I was going to suggest you sell it to someone looking for a deal on a rare car, but I re-read your original post, and it appears that has already happened.

I guess you can 'fix' just about anything, just look around some of the posts here. Maybe a good donor car, some re-pop sheet metal plus some hard work will get it back on the road. Maybe just fix it and turn it around and sell it....

 

Can you post any pics?

Here's a good thread to read,
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=428737&highlight=40+ford+shrinking+disc

 

Years ago,, I helped put a factory "K" member in a SuperBird,, it is a body on frame car. If the fire was hot enough to re-arch the springs,,, the frame is (pardon the pun) Toast. I think the Yard Art quote says it all.

 

Here's a thread on a guy doing a 32 Vicky right now. Send him a PM.

http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=546502&highlight=ashes

I say if your a metal guy get after it...