Thread: I discovered something interesting

the other day i started doing my header swap, going along no problems until i didnt have a ratchet strap. got the front and crossover off in like an hour and had to stop until i could borrow one and got started again a few hours later. pulled the motor forward and was working on the back stuff when i noticed the windshield plastic cowling was melted in a spot. didnt really think nothing much of it, but the fiberglass on the firewall was pretty much falling off and it was making my itch so i just tore it off. when i did i noticed black scoreing marks like from a fire and then all the pieces fall together. alot of plastic pieces, connectors, plugs, throttle cable are all melted or warped. before i thought that maybe it was something like an electrical surge or a high voltage wire has shorting out on something, but nope. my damn car was in a fire! from the looks of it, it must of been a while back because the metal where the cowling is melted is rusted, and its just a small spot. was there a recall of some sort on these cars for spontaneously bursting into flames? im kinda pissed at the guy who sold me the car for not telling me but maybe he didnt know iether, maybe it happened with the first owner before him but im still none too happy.

97-03s were known to catch fire, there were a couple of recalls on the issue.

yeah, the valve cover gaskets had a recall on them.
9047, engine compartment fire.
at first i think they changed the gaskets, then they just started doing a spark plug rewire or something.

Wait I thought the fire was in the front not the back of the engine.

coulda been driving. a fire's a fire lol

The recall was replace the VC gaskets AND remove the spark plug wire plastic retainers where they would hold the oil if it leaked out of the VC.

wow interesting. it seems as if the fire was towards the back of the fire but im only speculating as there are black marks going up the fire wall, a small part of the windshield cowling is melted, and i have all sorts of melted/ warped/ bubbled plastic in the engine bay. also there are two bare spots on my hood which i would also assume was caused by the fire burning the paint off.

bluegtp...strange you should mention the part of the spark plug wire retainers cuz i still have the front one on

ya, f-ing retarded too. if it was a recall then a dealership wouldve repaired all damages right, maybe not the insurance but still you know. from what i can tell though is that it appears to have happened some time ago cuz the spot where the cowling is melted, the metal under that is rusted

from looking at it, it appears the fuel feed and return line have both been swapped for rubber fuel lines

no, just single clamp and i think i described that wrong. from the metal feed line as it come up under the brake booster, there is the rubber fuel line that attaches to the fuel rail and same for the return line

rubber cuz ive been rubbing my arm on them all afternoon while swapping my headers lol

so im thinking that maybe they got swapped when the fire happened, dont know.....

i havnt had any problems with them since ive had the car for the 4 months. plus the hoses are attached to the stock metal lines at both ends so they are clamped to flared ends, im not all that concerned with it, if they were rubbing against something i would fix them but they appear to be doing fine, just gunna continue to monitor them