So after overcoming the discouragement of finding out more issues with the SC than I originally thought by deciding to use the 1uz in one of my DSM's and doing a full build on the SC by swapping in an M70 & a 6 speed, I experienced a fire. I wanted to get the 1uz running smoothly before I pulled it, so in the process of going over everything that may have been causing the midrange hesitation and the rumbling, hard idle, I found that the fuel system was not staying pressurized. I changed out the gas cap and swapped on a known good FPR with new gaskets. The SC fired up & idled without any of the roughness that has been plaguing it for the past weeks. I wanted to see if the mid-range bogging & hesitation was gone as well, but never got the chance. 2 blocks from my house, while pulling onto the main street I smell melting/burning plastic. Then I see white smoke beginning to come from the passenger side of the hood. I popped the hood and pulled into the church parking lot a block from my house and jumped out. By this time the smoke was really pouring out. As I completely opened the hood the flames started building. Fortunately one of the men at the church was walking towards me and saw the flames, and ran for an extinguisher. I ran towards him & met him coming back out the building. Fortunately it was the right class and it was one of the oversized tanks because it took every bit of it to put the fire out. Oddly the police arrived before the Fire Dept.

It is rebuildable since the fire was confined to the engine bay. I haven't pulled the engine yet to see the the root cause of the fire, but I have a pretty good idea. I'm throroughly over this car at this point. I don't even know if I want to go through the trouble of salvaging this engine when I can get another for a few hundred. At this point I kind of feel like this car is cursed & I'm on the fence about what to do with it especially when I've found a handful of great donor SC's at great prices.

 

Yeah, fire is pretty much one of the worst things that can happen to a car. I don't really believe in cursed things, everything has a cause, you just haven't found it yet. As far as salvaging it goes you'll have to evaluate what's been damaged, the heat from a fire can cause all sorts of hidden issues, but that all depends on how bad the fire was, how hot it got, and where it started. SC400 engines seem to be a dime a dozen, so getting a cheap replacement seems like an easy way to bypass fixing a burnt motor that already had issues. Best of luck and don't give up on it!

 

Wow man that sounds extreme, glad to see youre alright and that no one else was hurt. Sorry about the car man, that must be a bummer- working hard on something just to have it go down in flames. by the johnny cash reference im assuming youre taking it quite well though lol

Quick question though, i was told that to upgrade my car i should upgrade the fuel system, and seeing as youve done some work with it, maybe you can help me figure out what exactly the fuel system consist of?
Whenever i google it, its usually the fuel pump that gets mention, but i figure it would be called a SYSTEM if it was only one part.. would appreciate it if you could help me out. Thanks

 

Keep those question in PM or post up in a different post please.

Sorry about your loss man. I know it is heartbreaking to see all the work go up in smoke. It would kill me if it happened to my SC. When you say cursed, ask my buddy Jay about his SC and it being cursed. He has nothing but bad luck with it. It still runs good, but what the journey he had to go through to get there. Around 60K.

 

Get a new SC at a reasonable price and use the one that caught fire as your donor/spare for parts.

 

Scotty you're right about the 1uz's being a dime a dozen, and honestly I was looking into doing that if I was going to keep the SC as a daily. I'm still going to pull this engine because it will bug me until I figure out exactly what caused it. Funny that I would consider this car cursed when I had a DSM thst tried to kill me on 9 separate occasions. It just seemed like the more I put into the SC the more thst would go wrong. C'est la vie. I'm not done with the platform by a long shot(just maybe this particular vehicle).

LOL It's the 1st thing that came to mind as I was standing there looking at the aftermath. I know there's no need to stress out over something that's already done. Just figure out how to move forward and get on with it. Here's a link that should answer all your questions: http://www.lextreme.com/misc2.htm If you have any others feel free to PM me.

Thanks 1J. 1st time I've had a car go up...usually it ends up in a wall. On the plus side it's just a "thing" that can be replaced. I bet your buddy Jay & I could share countless horror stories, but in the end we're car people, more importantly SC people, and if anyone asks us if we would do it again, of course the answer is yes.

 

I'm leaning in that direction...except for the donor car aspect. I already have one that I was using for THIS car, so one of them has to go.