I wanted to check further for fire damage while the new Jupiter engine was on the stand. I didn’t think the fire was hot enough to melt
steel or aluminum, but plastic fittings and paper gaskets could have been affected. I took off the oil filter adapter and distributor cover and found no damage. The Sunbeam uses paper gaskets to seal the oil filter and distributor to the engine block, and these were intact when I removed these parts. The engine rebuilder had used silicone sealer on the gaskets, so I needed to scrape them off. I elected to forego the silicone sealer when I replaced the parts, hoping that the paper gaskets alone would keep the oil inside the engine.
The other side of the engine saw more of the fire.
I wasn’t concerned about the carburetors as I had good ones from the original engine. But I did want to look at the gaskets on the intake and exhaust manifolds. All looked unaffected by the fire.
I did see that the studs holding exhaust pipes to the manifold had worn threads and needed replacement. As is to be expected on a 50 year old car, they were frozen in place. Professional mechanics would normally use an acetylene torch to heat the metal surrounding the stud and then back out the stud. I, unfortunately, do not have that equipment. I do, however, have a MAPP gas torch. These do not produce as much heat as acetylene but more than a propane plumber’s torch. With about 10 minutes of heat, the metal was glowing red and the stud came out. One step closer to a new engine in the car.
Sunbeam 