A coworker told me that a local salvage yard will be having a sale where you can pay $50 for anything you can carry out of the yard. If this is legitimate, I'll probably go. What are some really valuable, but small, parts that I could grab a lot of?
On a related note, what would I need to pick up there if I was going to try to convert my datsun to use megasquirt?
I'm assuming you're near Pic A Part Indy?
They're doing that this year.
T56 transmissions by the truckload 
Good luck finding a T56 at a pick a part. They do harvest the really good stuff before the hulks get put into the yard. BUT, if you need body parts, or more pedestrian stuff, these sales can be gold. The PAP's in my area do this, and you need to bring a video camera to record the madness that goes on. 250# bodybuilder type carrying half a ton of stuff. Most entertaining, been there and done that.
A 10' steel pole with chains to hang stuff off of it, or a hefty rope that u tie one end to the front right corner of a hood, then the other end to the front left corner of a hood, t-shirt bundled behind the neck for padding, put the back edge of the hood against ur hips, and u have an instant human wheelbarrow. These things were gold when I lived near a yard that did this in Tampa. U could put a pair of small blocks on the pole and walk the last 10' out of the yard that u had to carry the stuff. Just make sure u balance everything.
me and a large friend loaded up a mid-70s Impala hood (a part he needed) with an additional 300# of stuff, some his and some mine, and we carried it out the gate for 2x the sale price. was way easier than trying to go it alone.
The holy grail would be a becker mexico, but there are some mercedes parts that are pretty damned expensive. Get a 5 speed manual from an sl or slc, the only one I've ever seen was listed at 1200$ for just the tranny, but if you get all the goodies it would be more. If you had everything for a manual conversion it is around 2500$ just in parts.
Not to mention a mercedes LSD, they'd be at least 500$ if it was in good shape.
Speaking of Mercedes, the fog lights from stacked headlight Mercedes fetch a fair penny on Ebay. I bought a pair for $8 and sold them for 140, iirc.
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ECUs can be good cash cows, as can the right pieces of interior trim. For the former, check eBay for what ECUs of different models are bringing. For the latter, you pretty much need to know the model. Radio bezels are almost always a good bet since they get broken/cracked in many cars during radio removal.
Honda OBD1 ECUs.
Fake CF trim pieces for 90-93 Celicas fetch a FORTUNE.
RX7 VAFs for the Mazda BP guys.
V6 Solara/Camry manual transmissions can easily be sold for $800+.
Check under the hood of any MG and see if it has a Weber downdraft on a Pierce manifold. They were pretty common replacements for smog era cars.I pulled one off a free 76 MGB and sold the manifold for $100 and carb for nearly $200 on e-Bay, much more than I expected. That carb can be used on a lot of different cars.
on monday I'm off to get some wheels for my moms car, $15 for steelies and 16" and smaller alloys and $25 for 17" and up alloys
Catalytic convertors.....if they're still there.
JFX001 wrote: Catalytic convertors.....if they're still there.
I believe that it's illegal to sell used emissions control equipment, so most junkyards won't do it. Also, they know that the cat converters fetch big coin, so that's one of the first things the yard pulls to sell for scrap.
Winston wrote:JFX001 wrote: Catalytic convertors.....if they're still there.I believe that it's illegal to sell used emissions control equipment, so most junkyards won't do it. Also, they know that the cat converters fetch big coin, so that's one of the first things the yard pulls to sell for scrap.
or pull it your self before you take it to the yard
I have a used smog pump on my car and almost all of the parts to properly "federalize" my car were used, so I don't know about it being illegal to sell emissions control stuff. I don't think it would matter as long as the car performs on the treadmill here.
benzbaron wrote: I have a used smog pump on my car and almost all of the parts to properly "federalize" my car were used, so I don't know about it being illegal to sell emissions control stuff. I don't think it would matter as long as the car performs on the treadmill here.
It is illegal to sell converters, that is why they are always off in junkyards.
That sucks, luckily the exhaust guy down the street has good cheap cats. Thanks for the info, I guess the only way i'm going to get a used cat is with a sawzall in the walmart parking lot.
Yea, cats are illegal to sell used. Mainly becasue good ones cost $500-$2k, and the cheap ones dont last very long, so they want to keep[ people from just running used ones. I feel sorry for the people that have a v6 contour or something with a cracked exhaust manifold and an integral cat though. Other smog equipment they will sell though.
Travis_K wrote: Yea, cats are illegal to sell used. Mainly becasue good ones cost $500-$2k, and the cheap ones dont last very long, so they want to keep[ people from just running used ones. I feel sorry for the people that have a v6 contour or something with a cracked exhaust manifold and an integral cat though. Other smog equipment they will sell though.
aftermarket header + universal replacement = win
get on ebay and check out interior parts.. you'd be surprised how much some of the little stuff for pretty common cars like accords will go for...
had a friend make quite a few bucks finding clean uncracked center console plastics for 240's
here's my $50 day strategy: find a nice pair of leather bucket seats -remove the seat rails but keep the bolts (always pays for my day right there. then you're ready to leave, flip the seats upside down with they're backs to each other. then get two seatbelts to make 2 40" long straps and bolt one side of each strap to the seat using the seat rail bolts. then have assistant pile all your stuff on the 2 platforms you've created as you wear the 2 seats like a sandwich board. assistant walks out with tools and money back/store credit.
Beerguy wrote: here's my $50 day strategy: find a nice pair of leather bucket seats -remove the seat rails but keep the bolts (always pays for my day right there. then you're ready to leave, flip the seats upside down with they're backs to each other. then get two seatbelts to make 2 40" long straps and bolt one side of each strap to the seat using the seat rail bolts. then have assistant pile all your stuff on the 2 platforms you've created as you wear the 2 seats like a sandwich board. assistant walks out with tools and money back/store credit.
Don't you ever wonder if they secretly film all of these shenanigans? I'm sort of expecting (hoping) a "when motorheads go wild" type of reality-show based on the strategies suggested herein for carting out parts.
Strizzo wrote:Travis_K wrote: Yea, cats are illegal to sell used. Mainly becasue good ones cost $500-$2k, and the cheap ones dont last very long, so they want to keep[ people from just running used ones. I feel sorry for the people that have a v6 contour or something with a cracked exhaust manifold and an integral cat though. Other smog equipment they will sell though.aftermarket header + universal replacement = win
Except headers and 99% of universal cats are illegal in cali ( at least for obd II) i, but in any other state that is quite correct.
I think it is really a plan to just get crap out of there yard.
I go for the electronics, efi stuff. EFI parts, injectors, etc. I got just about every EDIS4 from my local yard the other day plus 4 coils $35 or so. Ebay profit was over $200 not bad for about an hours work (I was there anyway for other parts).
Toyota radios with the 6 CD changer that is built in. Working condition on ebay will get you 200-400 New from the dealer they are 1K. I have turned several of these in the last couple of years. My local yard sells them to me for $40. I think they are getting wise to me as the last time I was there they wanted $50. The other thing I have noticed is they always sell to the west coast.
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