Parting out a car - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

gatorblue92 · #1 03-25-2014, 07:17 AM

Has anyone here ever parted out a car before? I am going to be getting a parts car sometime in the next week and honestly do not want to keep a parts car in my garage for more than a few weeks. Any tips or first hand experience in unloading parts? I have a homeowners association so keeping the car outside will not work.

spdrun · #2 03-25-2014, 08:18 AM

Make the people on the hoa board so terrified of ypu that they keep their mouths shut

JB3 · #3 03-25-2014, 08:21 AM

hardest decision will be if you want it to roll and steer or not. Gotta leave a lot of juicy parts on the vehicle if you want those things, but those things will be very important to getting it easily removed when you are done stripping it.

I once wanted the entire front suspension and subframe from a parts van, so I ripped all that out, and built a 2x4 cradle with a crappy trailer axle on it, and ratchet strapped the whole mess together and to the van. After that it technically was a rolling body since I left the high mileage diff in place.

Also I have discovered the website junkmycar or I think its called "peddle" now is a great resource for taking the vehicle away. Their website battery of questions has some really good loopholes in it, and once its all agreed to, they have to honor the price they quoted on the web. Then they dispatch a local junk yard down to pick up the body.

For instance, I sent off a rolling rusty 123, that was missing all doors, all windows, hood and fenders, and just for shiggles I threw a random GM motor in the engine bay, AND I cut a huge section of the roof off. Only thing left on the car was a rotted shell with a non stock motor and tranny, and the stock diff and rear subframe to keep the wheels on.

The guy showed up and was extremely angry that they were paying me 350 bucks for this hulk.

what can I say? the website asks if its missing body panels, I said yes. It asks if it has a motor and transmission, and I said yes.

TheDon · #4 03-25-2014, 08:35 AM

If you want to make money on it you need to sit on it since parts don't exactly fly off he shelves. Save everything. If I had a storage space or a few old shipping containers they would be full of every single nut and bolt off of parts cars because as time goes it's going to be hard to find certain things

gatorblue92 · #5 03-25-2014, 08:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JB3

hardest decision will be if you want it to roll and steer or not. Gotta leave a lot of juicy parts on the vehicle if you want those things, but those things will be very important to getting it easily removed when you are done stripping it.

I once wanted the entire front suspension and subframe from a parts van, so I ripped all that out, and built a 2x4 cradle with a crappy trailer axle on it, and ratchet strapped the whole mess together and to the van. After that it technically was a rolling body since I left the high mileage diff in place.

Also I have discovered the website junkmycar or I think its called "peddle" now is a great resource for taking the vehicle away. Their website battery of questions has some really good loopholes in it, and once its all agreed to, they have to honor the price they quoted on the web. Then they dispatch a local junk yard down to pick up the body.

For instance, I sent off a rolling rusty 123, that was missing all doors, all windows, hood and fenders, and just for shiggles I threw a random GM motor in the engine bay, AND I cut a huge section of the roof off. Only thing left on the car was a rotted shell with a non stock motor and tranny, and the stock diff and rear subframe to keep the wheels on.

The guy showed up and was extremely angry that they were paying me 350 bucks for this hulk.

what can I say? the website asks if its missing body panels, I said yes. It asks if it has a motor and transmission, and I said yes.

Excellent!

cmbdiesel · #6 03-25-2014, 09:52 AM

What kind of car...??

tbomachines · #7 03-25-2014, 10:36 AM

Know when your point is to unload the thing. Selling every part off the car is very unlikely, depending on the car, its condition, availability, etc. At some point you'll probably have to scrap it, know which parts you want to strip based on value and condition from the start and make sure those get saved.

daw_two · #8 03-25-2014, 10:51 AM

Yes. I have parted out several cars. I even took the wiring harness from the fuse distribution panel toward the BACK of a 300SDL; the only requirement from the buyer was I not cut a single wire. That was a chore. I'd do it again for about the same money.

I think it took me about a year and then I sold what was left to a guy in Ohio.

PM sent

t walgamuth · #9 03-25-2014, 11:03 AM

Have parted out probably at least a dozen. I have never really picked one clean though. I just take all the stuff I know I might need or is very easy to remove. The 123s are getting scarce enough that a lot of stuff I would not have taken ten years ago I'll take now.

gatorblue92 · #10 03-25-2014, 02:46 PM

It's another W124. I have yet to decide if I will totally strip it down or not. Once I get it home I will go thru and make sure I get everything I'm after then I'll post it up in the for sale section. I have enough room to store the car for a month or so but after that SWMBO will want it gone. Having four cars is her limit and the 5th parts car is not something she is thrilled about but I'm looking forward to having something to play with.

Mölyapina · #11 03-25-2014, 03:37 PM

I stripped the doors, trunk, and interior completely out of my W123 in a day. The engine/transmission will probably take the longest.

tbomachines · #12 03-25-2014, 04:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jooseppi Luna

I stripped the doors, trunk, and interior completely out of my W123 in a day. The engine/transmission will probably take the longest.

Not if you do it right... only takes an hour or two with a lift.

Fulcrum525 · #13 03-25-2014, 05:01 PM

Taking it apart is relatively easy and can be done in a weekend depending on how much you take off and if you're diligent. The trick is ensure that you have enough storage space for all the things you're going to keep.

As mentioned before, things won't exactly fly off the shelf. It took me well over a year to sell a 90% perfect SEL interior.

catmandoo62 · #14 03-25-2014, 05:43 PM

and make damn sure you get a title for it or no salvage yard will take it.

iwrock · #15 03-25-2014, 06:42 PM

x2 on getting a title.

I've parted a few cars, and like others have said before, parts won't quite fly off the shelf as well as you would expect. Thing I thought would have normally sold quickly took more time than I would have thought to sell! Things like interior pieces are tricky to sell - as a whole an interior is worth quite a bit to the right person, but to many people, it's just not worth as much!

FWIW - I'd just pull the easy parts off, then just send the car to scrap/junkyard and not waste the time.

But if you're hellbent on parting the whole thing, pull the parts you need, then set a deadline of when you want to be done with the car. Pull what you can, then send it away when that date you set comes. You don't want to be sitting on a whole carcass if you're only maybe going to make $200-300 on little bits and bobs.