How good are you at soldering? (archive)

Once I rebuilt a Fiat (don't ask) that had caught fire, and helped my father rebuild a volkswagen bus that had caught fire. The bus was easy, the Fiat was not. Main difference between the two was the complexity (or lack of it for the VW) under the hood. Hoses and wires will be your biggest challenge. Old VW's have two hoses total......a water-cooled engine like a BMW has many.

Cutting out a wire harness from a donor car, and splicing it in requires very good soldering and heatshrinking cpabilities. The hardest part for me was figuring out which wire ran where, and how to re-run good wires without creating a fire hazard again....and I'm an Electrical Engineer. Any wires that rub with metal parts are potential igniters.....On the good note, engine is probably ok internally, but look for charred oil deposits when draning the oil.....a kerosene flush with a few revolutions of the engine (without ignition) before oil refil is probably a good idea to loosen any burnt-on oil deposits within crankcase.

: There is an '84 320i coupe for sale near my house. It has had an engine fire. The owner claims that all it would take to repair it are a wiring harness, cold start switch, and fuel injection hose assembly, which he assures me I could obtain fairly easily at a salvage yard. The body is in very good condition-no dents or evidence of major accident. Paint is pretty oxidized, and a scorched place on the hood from aforementioned fire. He's asking 350.00. Common sense tells me I would be getting in way over my head, since I'm not a mechanic and would have to have all the work done by someone else. But...it still tugs at me when I drive by. Can someone put my mind to rest one way or another? I'd be very grateful and promise not to ask any more dumb girl questions.

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