Bought a fire damaged engine.

 Just bought a fire damaged BMW airhead engine, driveshaft,
muffler and collector box for what I think was a pretty good price.
Still waiting on delivery.

It's not really clear how badly heat damaged any of the components
are. I figure worst case, the driveshaft is a good spare to send out
for a rebuild and the block, heads, pistons and other metal stuff
is probably in OK shape. Worst case, I've spent slightly more than
I would have expected to pay for the exhaust system components
alone. Engine came with a clutch and alternator rotor.

Anybody ever dealt with this kind of situation ? Any thoughts on
what components are typically good or bad ? Any immediate actions
to take, such as flushing and oil fogging the engine ? Should I
expect all soft components to be bad ? Thanks for any thoughts.

 
Geeze, it's hard to say, Rob. Could be anywhere from lightly scorched
to melted.

When my stepfather's old house burned down the fire was so intense
that his entire coin collection became molton and ran into one big
silver/copper/gold puddle -and then cooled that way.

Most expensive door stop you ever did see.

 | Just bought a fire damaged BMW airhead engine, driveshaft,
| muffler and collector box for what I think was a pretty good price.
| Still waiting on delivery.  .....
|
| Anybody ever dealt with this kind of situation ? Any thoughts on
| what components are typically good or bad ? Any immediate actions
| to take, such as flushing and oil fogging the engine ? Should I
| expect all soft components to be bad ? Thanks for any thoughts.

I think that what you see is what you have.  Are fins or covers
melted/warped?  If not the insides prolly have little/no fire damage altho
the wiring, cables, et al may be shot.  Good luck!

 
The good news is that in the eBay photos, I can see the plastic
end of the dipstick handle. What kind of shape the bike was in
before the fire is kind of unknown, but figuring a grand total of $435
for all four delivered components, I think it's an OK price, even for
a doorstop. :-)

 

Ray Bradbury wrote a book that mentioned the burning temperature of
*paper*
as 451 degrees Fahrenheit.

The working temperature of cast aluminum is about 325 degrees F, so
some aluminum engine parts may have been damaged by the fire.