Fire!!!! Detective time.

[gliding_serpent]

For anyone that has followed my build thread, you can say my car has been through "a lot." I guess the fun still goes on because while ripping out my old carpets, I found this...



Any thoughts on how this happened? Looking at it, it would seem that the source of the heat was actually the drivers side wheel well. It melted off the rubber sound deadening, and singed the recycled fabric insulation. Miraculously, the outer vinyl was pretty much unfazed. I am not even convinced that this panel was off before.

Of note, the drivers side engine bay also had evidence of a poor quality repaint. I assumed a fuel line fire.
Here is the engine bay before I had it repainted in the spring.


Time to check the drivers rear wheel well. More photos here. Looking at this photo, it would make sense if fuel leaked down onto the headers, and ignited, sending fire into the wheel well and super-heating it... possibly the rubber tire with it. Probably a good reason why my car was a re-spray.

[DRACO A5OG]

Oh Geez

[RSBob]

Never leave a toaster unattended on a back seat.

[Bill Douglas]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_human_combustion

[al lkosmal]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOErZuzZpS8

regards,
al

[gliding_serpent]

Weld lines above the region of the tire in the engine bay photo above. Could be from heat from major body repair.

[Cairo94507]

I too think that was body worked and someone used a torch to heat and shrink the metal.

[scarceller]

Interesting thought about body work. In the first pic does that door striker post look like it's had work done just below the rear window?

[group911@aol.co]

Fuel hose let go. Tons of 911's that go through the salvage auctions have this exact damage. Your outer quarter panel will have been damaged in a similar pattern.

[gliding_serpent]

I figured as much, but the weld line and plug is what gets me. Cut open to re-apply undercoating with galvinization burned off?

Lesson of the day: don't trust a ppi, dont trust a clean carfax (or other) report, look under your bed for monsters before you sleep, never sleep.

[gliding_serpent]

Drivers rear wheel well, looking at frame. Weld line on frame at level of backdated heat pipe on the bumper side of things. Drivers side. Is this original?


Drivers rear wheel well, inside of outer body panel. Looks good to me.


Hmmmm...


Drivers side wheel well looks good.


But compared to the passangers side, the oem style undercoat is gone.


The drivers rear bumper took an impact at some point.


Drivers side inner frame, where the oil tank would be on the opposite side. Original weld lines?


Not as bad as i thought... I think they just failed to think about/address the interior. So now the question is, are there any hollow parts of the frame, sight unseen, that I should be trying to have a look into? Thinking about cooked off galvanization and moisture.

[RSBob]

Still think it was the toast.

[lateapex911]

Originally Posted by group911@aol.co

Fuel hose let go. Tons of 911's that go through the salvage auctions have this exact damage. Your outer quarter panel will have been damaged in a similar pattern.

That's my thought exactly. Common issue. And it's probably ALSO had bodywork done because it was tweaked.

[sugarwood]

This just doesn't end. I commend you on your mental fortitude and resistance. I remember when you first posted about your car. I distinctly recall thinking if was blasphemy that you were modding a 50k mile survivor into a track car. Now, after all the crap you've found, I wonder if it was a odometer rollback.

[gliding_serpent]

Sugarwood, you know the story of this car well. I can assure you that if this car looked anything like the ppi described when I first picked it up from transport, i would be polishing it and aligning the wheel caps within 0.5 degrees of each other. Ok, maybe i would still HPDE it. I think the biggest sin of a nice car is that they were not driven. 60,000 miles (hahAha) in 30 years is a crime in my eyes. This one saw hpde and autocross with the last owner... So I had no issues taking it another step.

But it took me about 5 seconds to realize it was not as it was described. And the more wrong I found, the easier it was to crank up the hotrod dial to 11. It allows me to build a dream car and have no regrets. The down side is cost... And pride. Although i did not pay concourse prices, i paid fair value at the time, which I now see as a 15k overspending based on what I know now. That being said, if i know what the car was like, i would not have walked, but rather ran like hell.

My final asessment of this car is not a fuel line fire, but rather drivers rear collision damage that bent the frame. They heated it up and bent it back before any form of documentation could register the issue (thus the frame ripples). The heat burnt the interior. Probably the time of the odometer rollback. A local bodyshop said this kind of coverup job is very common. It then goes to a lot for sale, which looks to have ocurred in Pensilvania in the early 2000's.

Maybe it is time i finally write a review of the shop that did the ppi.

[gliding_serpent]

Sugarwood, you know the story of this car well. I can assure you that if this car looked anything like the ppi described when I first picked it up from transport, i would be polishing it and aligning the wheel caps within 0.5 degrees of each other. Ok, maybe i would still HPDE it. I think the biggest sin of a nice car is that they were not driven. 60,000 miles (hahAha) in 30 years is a crime in my eyes. This one saw hpde and autocross with the last owner... So I had no issues taking it another step.

But it took me about 5 seconds to realize it was not as it was described. And the more wrong I found, the easier it was to crank up the hotrod dial to 11. It allows me to build a dream car and have no regrets. The down side is cost. Although i did not pay concourse prices, i paid fair value at the time, which I now see as a 15k overspending based on what I know now. That being said, if i know what the car was like, i would not have walked, but rather ran like hell.

My final asessment of this car is not a fuel line fire, but rather drivers rear collision damage that bent the frame. They heated it up and bent it back before any form of documentation could register the issue (thus the frame ripples). The heat burnt the interior. Probably the time of the odometer rollback. A local bodyshop said this kind of coverup job is very common. It then goes to a lot for sale, which looks to have ocurred in Pensilvania in the early 2000's.

Maybe it is time i finally write a review of the shop that did the ppi.