Had the most miserable time working on a car today

"Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder" (pabuuu4)
01/04/2018 at 14:12 • Filed to: None

I had the car on a jack, I was on my back on the cold ground while it was raining, HAND SAWING the exhaust because of course I ran out of grinder disks. while getting lubricating oil in my face dripping from the car. It took me 1.5 hours. Sounds like a good time right? I couldn’t move because I wore so many layers I looked like the Michelin man.

So I’m still trying to part out the Alfa 156, and I had to remove the catalytic converter today to ship to a buyer tomorrow.

Also a bummer I found out my wheels are not OEM Alfa wheels, they are MAK wheels with the Alfa emblem put on. They are Italian, so I guess it suits the car. They do look good on the car

So far I’ve almost made a profit, and I’ve only sold 3 parts... Expect a Tavarish-style update when I finish this endeavour.

DISCUSSION (13)

PartyPooper2012 > Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder
01/04/2018 at 14:29

I am no expert, but wouldn’t a reciprocating saw with a blade for metal be better than a disk or a hacksaw?

If it takes longer to cut by hand than to run out to a store and get the right tools, I am going on a run

MonkeePuzzle > Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder
01/04/2018 at 14:30

I had the car on a jack, I was on my back on the cold ground while it was raining, HAND SAWING the exhaust

jack... stand? I sincerely hope! especially with the motion that could be caused by hand sawing!

crowmolly > PartyPooper2012
01/04/2018 at 14:32

Absolutely. Sawzall all day long. Even one from Harbor Freight.

A hacksaw blade should have similar TPI but will be slower.

Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder > PartyPooper2012
01/04/2018 at 14:55

I had to work with the tools that were available, and this was the only metal cutting power tool.

With no car available to me, hand sawing was my only option. At least I got a workout.

sony1492 > Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder
01/04/2018 at 14:58

I feel your pain, I once had to remove an exhaust manifold bolt with a dull chisel laying on muddy ground. It took about 3-4 hours of hammering and cursing.

MoCamino > crowmolly
01/04/2018 at 14:59

I have to ashamedly admit it took my wife pestering me about it many times to finally adopt this approach, but today it is S.O.P. I’ll either make the run to HF to buy the tool outright or make a run to AutoZone/O’Reilly to obtain the tool as a rental if the tool is really pricy. Get the right tool for the job! (It is certainly arguable that HF isn’t the best source for ‘the right tool’, but limited funds controls the source of tools.)

The exception is if the tool is prohibitively expensive and can’t be rented. Fortunately for me, my dad probably has anything that falls under that last category. It’s just that he lives 90 minutes away so borrowing it from him requires a non-trivial amount of time. :)

!!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!!

PartyPooper2012 > Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder
01/04/2018 at 15:07

I hear you... here is a question. Say you had to do similar job again tomorrow with the tools in your collection and no car to use... would you...

A) go get the reciprocating saw via taxi or uber or
B) cut the someofbitch by hand again?

Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder > PartyPooper2012
01/04/2018 at 15:31

Here is the thing, I actually have to cut the other side of the exhaust tomorrow morning.. But then I might have a car available to buy a grinder disc. I’m not buying a tool just yet..

So yeah, I’ll go at it again by hand if I have to.

duurtlang > Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder
01/04/2018 at 16:58

How are you marketing the parts you have?

I parted out a Lancia Zeta after it had donated its engine to my project. I then put a few ‘parting out a Lancia Zeta, tell me what you need’ ads online. It worked, but only somewhat. Most replies came from Germany (eBay Kleinanzeigen). Most of the car ended up in the junkyard, although I did get more back than what the car had cost me.

Then I found an old box of BMW E30 parts I had in my garage. I got that box with an E30T I bought years ago. I made an individual ad for every part, on German eBay. €€€! Jackpot! I made almost as much as that car (not a parts car at all) had cost me, and that was only from one large box of parts!

Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder > duurtlang
01/04/2018 at 18:46

Right now I have a general ‘scrapping 156, parts available’ post on Marktplaats, and I’ve gotten a couple of replies, all of them are serious and are buying. So far I’ve sold the cat, a sunvisor and there is someone coming for the hood this weekend (of which I grossly underestimated the value apparantly, lucky him). I also have someone interested in all seatbelts.

I do have a post up on a dedicated 147/156/159 forum, but parts are cheaper and easier to come by there. I’ve gotten no replies.

I plan to post on a larger, more general Alfa forum, plus on ebay. I don’t know a lot about Ebay so I’ll have to read up on it.

But I am in no rush to sell the parts, I plan to take the doors, bumpers, lights, trunk and the sunroof mechanism and have the car picked up for scrap. Then document each part and put it up for sale.

Did you recieve anything in return for your scrapped Zeta? I’ve read some scrappers give anywhere between 40-110 euro for the scrap car. I’m probably on the low end of that scale because I have a mostly stripped car.

I did save all the bolts and stuff for every part, but I don’t see others doing that. Am I overdoing it by including every bolt and attachement with every part?

duurtlang > Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder
01/05/2018 at 03:24

I got about €150 for the Zeta. It had no engine and all fluids were out of the car, it did still have the cat. It also still had its wheels, so it could be moved easily. They picked it up from the place where I parted it out, I didn’t need to trailer it to the junk yard.

Don’t forget about interior and dash parts. Certain parts can be worth some money. First suggestion are AC elements, radios and the like but I’ve also sold window switches and similar.

The important part to note is that many people will be looking for a specific part. If you’ve got an ad for that specific part or at least have mentioned the specific part in a more general ad they’re more likely to find you. Many won’t think about looking at a general part-out ad.

PartyPooper2012 > Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder
01/05/2018 at 06:58

reciprocating saw is about 20 bucks. 1.5 hours of your time on cold floor is worth less than that?

Pabuuu, JDM car enthusiast & Italian parts hoarder > PartyPooper2012
01/05/2018 at 19:28

I’ve never seen one for that price here, but I got the job done with a new grinder disc for 4euros.