I'm looking at buying a complete 89 corvette l98 for 850$. Has only 89xxx miles and has BBK TB, SLP TPI Siamesed Runners, and Edelbrock hi flo intake. Comes with all accessories needed to drop in and start.
My only concern is he told me he pulled it from the corvette after a garage fire since the car had been badly damaged. Do you think it still runs, or maybe suggest what I should inspect?

 

I would risk it , might be able to talk him down to a safe number $5-600, The best way to test it would be install a oil filter prime the oil system and do a compression test. The tb might have the seals damaged on the sealed roller bearings and The injectors might need to be sent out for cleaning and testing. the iac sensor and tps see if they look melted if fire got that close you will be spending some bucks on sensors. if you break it down the 113 heads are worth 3-500 if the are not cracked 150-200 for the tb and 150-200 for the runners. not including the roller block and cam and the intake is about 200-300.

 

If it's that vette in the photo, then the front didn't really burn, - not even the paint. In that case all should be good. I doubt I would trust the wire harness or all of the sensors though. As far as mechanical parts go, - if they weren't directly in the fire, then they should be ok for the most part.
If you're going to run it mostly as-is, then it's a great deal either way.
If you're going to change the heads and other parts, then not so much.

 

I was going to leave it for the most part, maybe do some porting on the runners and plenum for better flow and purchase a set of hooker 2055's. Should it just drop into an 87 iroc with the wiring harness and sensors or would I run into any problems?

 

I would see if he has the memcal the $6e maf tune is great no cold start injector. It does contain vats.

 

If you meen the ECM then yes it comes with it. Would Vats be a problem?

 

you can have the vats reprogramed out of buy a vats bypass module for cheap. the ecm is the same as your iroc if its tpi 1227165 or 16198259,16198445

 

Were can I get a vats bypass module at?

Do you think I would benefit much from having the Plenum, runners, and base ported out?

 

thats a c5 vette, so thats not the vette the motor is out of

since the belt didn't even burn the motor is probably ok, the superficials are suspect though

 

I'm not to knowledgeable, but could the fire have traveled through the gas line (if it even reached it that is)

 

no it could not have

 

Exactly right... the parts of a motor that usually get damaged in such a situation are the soft parts like gaskets hoses & belts, and electric/electronic parts. Since you can see that the belt and heater hoses survived, that's good news for the rest.

 

Def drain the oil on that thing.
Most fire departments have a adapter to spray stuff down the dipstick tubes for the trans and engine if a car has been on fire.

Years ago, I bought a 350 from a 87 GTA that was burned to the ground. It even had the runners melted a lil bit. I drained, flushed the pan cleaned it up with new intake parts, put it in a car with new injs seals and stuff and its still running today.

what are you going to put it in???

 

it doesn't look to be really hurt from the fire to me.
if a lot of the hoses and wires were cooked, then i might worry, but they don't look that bad.
check it over closely and replace any of the rubber and plastic parts that are damaged or just worn out.
i would clean all the pulleys. the rust on them will kill a new belt pretty quick.
a wire wheel on a drill would probably work and then clean the old belt and run it for a little while before putting a new belt on it.
oil and filter change, a set of freeze plugs because they are easy to do with it out.

fire can't really travel thru the fuel line, not enough oxygen.

 

Well its good to hear that most of you think its fine.
On the porting, should I have the plenum ported out and Siamesed and matched to the ported SLP Runners? Then that leaves the base which I can't find much info on. Would it be best to only port out the base to match the runners? I've heard you dont want to siamese the base as it causes turbulance

I was thinking for the runners and plenum I could have either have http://arkansaspolishing.com/porting.php#3 do it or http://www.corvetteplenum.com/Products.htm

 

Sorry, last post was kind of off topic but I got that figured it out.

I was able to get him down to 750$ including the engine stand (I don't currently have one) do you think that it is still a good deal for the money?

 

Id pick it up.