Well recently this week like Tuesday my Buddys truck caught on fire. He had just put a rebuilt 355 flat tappet motor in with a decent sized can not even 600 miles ago. How the fire started is that the carb backfired through the carb and caught the air cleaner on fire while it was running and proceeds to burn down the whole truck. Would the motor still be reuse able if I went through and did a new gasket kit through the whole motor? I could get it for $150 but don't want to jump on it before I do

 

With that kind of fire anything under tension(valve springs/rings),and seals,tolerance is gone.

 

Most of it should be re-useable if the engine stopped running before it got too hot. I'm guessing that it didn't get hot enough to melt the throttle body? (or carb?) If so then you should be fine. I'd pull the engine apart, pull the heads apart, clean everything (or have a shop tank it). If it didn't melt the valvecover rubber gaskets (assuming that it's a centerbolt vc) and especially melt the PCV grommets then the valvesprings didn't get that much heat and I wouldn't worry about them too much - if they were melted test them and replace if necessary. Once everything is cleaned put on new valve stem seals, and then assemble with a new gasket set and prime it like a new engine and run it... Should have no more than $100 more into it for a gasket set and a set of flat tappet valvesprings...

 

It melted the holley or atleast the fuel bowls

 

did the front tires of the truck burn up completely and does the engine still have oil in the pan? a mild underhood fire is enough to melt the carb a little while doing little damage to the engine "long block"

 

The front tires popped but didnt melt. You can tell it was a decent fire because the paint burnt off the hood and it did shattered the glass and the interior