Oh no!
 
Thank God you were able to get it under control! I have an extra wiring harness from an 80, automatic, non-A/C car you can have, just reimburse me for shipping.
 
PM me your address if you're interested.
 
-Steve

A day after the fire things have calmed down some. When I get off work today I'm gonna be surveying the damage & start teardown. At this point I know I need to rebuild the carb, replace the plug wires, some vacuum lines, etc.. I am gonna remove the alternator and have it checked out since there was fire damage to the wiring on it, as well as degrease the whole engine to make sure all is in good shape. Gaskets are going to be inspected & replaced as needed. Five years ago I had an engine fire on an old 85 Dodge Omni & the goal was to have the car running in a week. I made the goal, although the car didn't run all that well as I needed to do other repairs. In the case of this car I will have a similar goal, but will aim for two weeks. I do have the old plug wires from the 77, as well as some vacuum lines in the garage that I can use to patch up the vacuum system. The fuel system will be gone over to insure nothing bad happens after it's all fixed. I was hoping to drive this car to the family reunion but after this the 77 Pinto will have to do.

Sorry to hear about the fire. Hope it doesn't set you back too far....

A fire is not the way I wanted to get to page two already  .
 
Anyways, I got the engine compartment torn down & it really did a number on it. The following were destroyed by the fire:
 
Distributor, power steering pump, alternator, all vacuum lines, all the wiring in that area, distributor cap & plug wires. The alternator & power steering pump did not get much of the fire but the reservoir on the power steering pump shows a lot of blistering & warping so I will be replacing that. The alternator has a lot of charring & it appears the bearing & diode area got a lot of flame exposure.

Well that sucks !

It sure does.. Well, I haven't gotten anything else done to the car the past couple days, especially since I had a problem with the latch on my 2008 Pontiac. It wasn't the cars fault, but the operators for backing into a pole with the door. Oops. Back to the Pinto now... The car stil stinks under the hood but I'm hoping that when I clean it up with oven cleaner the smell will go away. Yes, I said oven cleaner. I have had more luck using oven cleaner to degrease an engine than I ever did using engine degreaser. I am gonna use that to clean all the old oil off the engine & engine bay. Depending how motivated I am today I will be timing the engine before I install the distributor I had in the garage.

Hey Matt, with all the problems you have solved on your Pintos, you are becoming a Pinto Guru or Sage whatever fits. If you come to Carlisle next year you can have the chrome grille gratis.

Didn't do a damn thing to the car today. Just too hot out. When it hits 103 in Ohio there is a problem. I have a replacement radio I plan on installing in the car that is a little more period correct. I got it for free when I got the 8 track radio I won off ebay. It's not an 8 track but is a nice weather band radio. It will go in until I take the radio from Harold II & install it. The Sony digital radio that was in the car had sticky buttons & no working passenger speaker. I think it was a problem with the radio but will find out for sure after installing the replacement radio.

Nope, no updates. The power is out at my house due to a series of heavy thunder storms so I haven't been able to touch the car recently. It's cool about the harness. Like I said I haven't been able to work on the car anyways.

Haha... Not a bad idea... Only thing is I have family with the last name Murphy & they drive me nuts. That would be a reminder lol.
 
Now for the update on the car. It's been too hot to really do anything outside but the good thing is the wiring harness from Steve AKA Alpine615 has arrived. Thanks! Now I have started the painful process of fixing the fire damage. It's not an exact match in some sections so I'm having to mod it a little. It seems that there are some wires for extra parts that aren't on my car. No harm as the old wiring,although burnt to a crisp, is still able to be used as a template for anthing that needs to be switched. It's gonna be perfect once I get it all installed.! I also have an air cleaner assembly from someone in Michigan, who I don't know his username on here. Hopefully he can chime in on here & shed some light on the mystery lol. I'm also gonna be getting the radio ready to install in the car. Just gotta crimp some connectors & in it goes.
 
The radio is a kraco weather band radio an will work great until I part out the 77 & install the 8 track from her.
 
Future mods for this car include a/c, dual horns, and map light. Everything else is pretty much in the car! All I have to do is fix the rust outside & get her repainted. I'm leaning towards the robin egg blue since that was original but I'm not totally sure.

I sure will Bill.

Thanks for ID'ing yourself on here so I knew who to thank properly lol.
 
I should be fine with the carb & actually have a couple plastic nuts. Managed to hang on to them from the 78 I used to have. The carb seems alright & I have a rebuild kit for it but will let you know for sure.

Tested the radio hook up & so far so good. It appears that I have either bad wiring or just a dead speaker on the passenger side, as no sound. I'm gonna have to check in to it some other time but at least I know the radio works.

Got paid today so now I'm going to get this car running, hopefully by the end of the night! When I get off work I am gonna get the cap, rotor & plug wires. I will also get some carburetor cleaner to rebuild the carburetor, as well as replace the fuel pump & hoses. Wow... that sounds like a lot on "paper" Maybe not running tonite but I'm gonna give it my best. Then I will drive the car around the block & sound the horn in front of the nosey neighbor's house & drive the car away.. Take that jerks!
 

I got one thing done to the car today. It was sort of out of sync with what the car needs but what I went ahead & did was replace the wipers on the car. Over at Ollies Bargain Outlet they have off brand wipers for $2.99 each. I had got a pair for my 77 when in Carlisle & they worked pretty well so I went there & got a pair for the 80 as well. I would have just taken the ones off the 77 but they are a month and a half old, and if I drive that car in the rain I sorta need them lol.

Sure will Thanks Bill! Just gotta get it all cleaned up & a carb mounted under the air cleaner. It's really nasty & parts have been soaking for 2 days.

Cool, I will let you know. It's the Holley 5200 carb with all the emissions junk connections. Ran really well before the fire, hopefully it will do the same after I get it all back together