[B4CDRIVER]

Hello everyone I wanted to post about the new purchase I just picked up. After winning a bid war against somebody I’m taking a 7 1/2 hour long trip to pick it up I have my new project at home. I enjoy doing salvage rebuilds. I mostly do ex police cars but I saw this and I knew I had to have it.It’s a 2007 GT with a turbonetics turbo kit on it. I plan on documenting the rebuild here. I have owned several mustangs in the past but never this body style. As you can see by the pictures the car wound up having some kind of interior fire in the dash. The rest of the interior is fine just the dashboard and behind the dashboard has fire damage. The insurance company totaled it as salvage and here we are now. I wanted to post a few pics. Feel free to follow along as I dive into this. When I get the chance to actually look at it very closely I’ll take pictures and post them so you can see the extent of the damage and maybe give me some advice on what some of the parts are behind the dash. If I get a chance I’m going to purchase an FSM for the car.

 

[vinnyc5566]

wtf burnt the dash like that? How much did you get it for? Looks decent if the price was right

 

[B4CDRIVER]

wtf burnt the dash like that? How much did you get it for? Looks decent if the price was right

Cash investment is about $7k so far, after IAAI fees and nonsense, plus the $100 in gas to get it. When I dive into it hopefully I keep the parts total under a grand additional. I found a bill of sale in the glovebox from a few years ago for over $16k if I read it right. If it’s running well for $8k or less I’ll be happy. I plan on trying to pull it apart tomorrow

 

[vinnyc5566]

Cash investment is about $7k so far, after IAAI fees and nonsense, plus the $100 in gas to get it. When I dive into it hopefully I keep the parts total under a grand additional. I found a bill of sale in the glovebox from a few years ago for over $16k if I read it right. If it’s running well for $8k or less I’ll be happy. I plan on trying to pull it apart tomorrow

For that price seems like a decent investment but you never know how far that damage goes figure the insurance company will total anything out if the repair exceeds 70% of the value. They obviously don’t take modifications into consideration. We’re you able to hear it run at all or at least turn the crank by hand? I’ve never see a car burn like that

 

[B4CDRIVER]

It looks like I might’ve found the issue. This thing had a big aftermarket stereo system in it. Most of it was stripped out when I bought the car. After I tore things apart I think I found the culprit. I found a great video on YouTube on how to remove the dash from this body style mustang. Here’s the link if anybody needs it:

Now onto my disassembly. Since I posted that video I skipped most of the dash removal steps.

On the backside of the dash you can see where it burned. Now with the dashboard out you can see a lot more of where the damage is. As you can see by the pictures below the fire damage is mainly on the passenger side. I didn’t find any on the driver side. The heater box melted causing it to be attached to the firewall insulation. It was a nightmare to pull out I actually had to use a crowbar after disconnecting everything to yank it off of the firewall insulation and carpet.

In my next post I’ll show what I found as far as the possible cause of the fire. I’ll also show more in depth on the damage. It looks a lot worse than it is.

 

[B4CDRIVER]

The damage looks worse than it is.

So looking at this with everything burned up it’s hideous. After I pull the firewall insulation back……….

No real damage to the firewall. In fact I believe the dark spots may wipe off later on. Upon inspection I found this:

Hack job wiring. Just a few minutes more in effort would have looked a lot better. Then I saw this:

It’s right there at the firewall.

This is where the stereo wires came through. I believe they shorted out against the firewall. I’ll take more pics as I get further in. Maybe I’m just old. Factory systems are good enough for me. I’d like to keep what hearing I have left.

 

[vinnyc5566]

Nice work! Doesn’t look terrible at all

 

[EmmJay]

Did the other side of the firewall burn too? I ask because if it shorted it seems the entire length of wire would heat and burn the insulation off the entire wire length on the hot side of the short. Is the engine the hot side for the wire in question or the cabin side?

Also, thanks for the link to the video removing the dash. I might have a bad heater core and it is nice to know what I am getting myself into if I tackle it myself.

 

[B4CDRIVER]

Did the other side of the firewall burn too? I ask because if it shorted it seems the entire length of wire would heat and burn the insulation off the entire wire length on the hot side of the short. Is the engine the hot side for the wire in question or the cabin side?

Also, thanks for the link to the video removing the dash. I might have a bad heater core and it is nice to know what I am getting myself into if I tackle it myself.

No burn on the drivers side at all. It’s a possibility the car was parked when it happened and went out on its own. No fire extinguisher residue was in the car. Either that or the driver shut the key right off so most of the wires had no power to them. The main harness only burned in that area on the passenger side.

As far as removing the dash it was a simple job. Just took a little time. Removing the heater hoses sucked. I’m 6’4 and have large hands. Not easy at all the reach behind the intake with gorilla hands. After the dash was disconnected I rotated it rearward so the face was laying on the front seat. Then I slid it out the passenger side. I was on my own no help. You should be able to do it that way by yourself if you can’t get a helper. I did remove the shifter ball and handle. Strange find, the a/c still had pressure.

 

[EmmJay]

No burn on the drivers side at all. It’s a possibility the car was parked when it happened and went out on its own. No fire extinguisher residue was in the car. Either that or the driver shut the key right off so most of the wires had no power to them. The main harness only burned in that area on the passenger side.

Usually the wire that grounds out will have its isulation burned off from its power source to the grounding point. Maybe I'm missing something but the red power wire seems to have its insulation still intact.

 

[B4CDRIVER]

Sorry for the delay. I haven’t really had a chance to play around with the mustang. I did start to pull the insulation of the firewall to see just how bad things were. As you can see there is no damage to the firewall just some burn marks on it that may actually wipe right off with some solvent.

 

[Leadsled Coupe]

I’d love an update here if you’re still around.