The process & prospects of parting out an e30

[Marvin_Hecht]

Hey... to those of you who have parted out an e30,
either one-time or regularly... what is the experience
like. I have to decide whether in my case I should
to keep my "parts car" and try to get it going then sell (timing
belt +possible head work) OR just part it out. A lot of work
either way.....

I am interestd in hearing people's stories. I want to know things such as..

* what are the 5 parts that make up 80% of what everyone is
interested in or willing to buy
* what are the most valuable pieces of a car to sell (eg. 80%
of the money is made by selling parts xyz...rest might as well haul
away)
* what do you do once the car has been picked over (valuable
parts extracted) this seems to be a royal pain.
- eg.One wrecker told
me that he would charge me to haul away my car esp if I was to
cherry-pick all the good parts off it
* what kind of laws regulations etc are involved. the same wrecker
told me you need to properly dispose of all fluids, torch everything
into small pieces that fit into a cardboard box etc and all of this is
a royal pita so dont even attempt it yourself
* what is the true value of the scrap metal - say you picked most
of the suspension interior and electronics off then wanted a wrecker
to take it...
* at what point does a car become worth more in parts than alive
* what about the value of an 86 es parts car vs an i, m etc (i know
it is lower cause not many parts people want it for)
* can you actually make money or is it such a pain you are just
asking for trouble
* do you like Ebay or prefer to post on local forums

also just interested in hearing people's experiences...

[Digitalwave]

I will save myself some time and say that I doubt its worth the time to part out an eta. The only cars I'd bother with are late models; 325i's, 318iS's, or M3's. Plastic bumpered ones preferably. If you still want me to answer all those questions, I can.

[Rob]

parting a stock eta is not worth it. parting a plastic bumper IS is only worth it if you have lots of spare time, space, and patience.

[rs4pro3]

5-speed tranny, good black interior, some of the do dads like OBC, Cruise, But ya Eta's arn't worth parting.
But I do most my sales on Forums, then put high dollar bidding war worthy items on ebay(rare items)

[Marvin_Hecht]

Hmmm..... so its not worth it, eh for an eta I dont want to say what I got
it for exactly but it was sig. under $1000.. I've already picked off
the steering wheel, sport seats, cluster, fuse box cover, bumper trim,
cat, etc for myself and plan on taking the OBC, spoiler, air vents, shift knob, speakers. I am hesitant to take the Bilsteins and trailing arms cause then
I won't have a fixable car .. at this point its all a swap event (*mostly interior) and the new onwer would get crappy versions eg my seats, my cluster, my vents etc. But it also means investing time in putting on timing belt and possible head work...

What happens if you do go futher and have a metal shell on your driveway..do people charge you to pick it up or is the scrap metal worth enough to come to your house.and what about the regulation.....I guess I am interested in the answers to some of my other questions after all.... and doesn't it depend on what you get the car for as to whether its worth it ? Eg home low would you need to get an 89i for to make it worth it?

[Digitalwave]

I bought my 91 325i parts car for $650, and made a couple grand off it, but for all the time I spent working on it I don't know if that translated to good money or not.

Considering you already stripped some of the best parts off that eta, its not going to be worth the effort.

I had to pay $35 to have a scrap yard tow the rolling shell away.

[rs4pro3]

I'd payed a guy $30 to hual off 2 shells for me, but they were gutted to the bone. If they have more junk in them they will bring more money for scrap(remove the gas tank before hand)

[Rob]

we get our shells towed for free. the bone yard considers the shell as their payment for picking it up.

One problem with parting cars is the leftovers. After 2 leftovers, I still have tons of random, not really sellable parts leftover

[ZiMMie]

How do u guys lke this one

:)
yea i know about the mastercylinder/booster. i already got 2 of them in my garrage. Bottle caps were pulled when they came pick it up. I payed them 30$ for it. BTW this is my 3rd e30 parted out.

[golde30]

we get our shells towed for free. the bone yard considers the shell as their payment for picking it up.

One problem with parting cars is the leftovers. After 2 leftovers, I still have tons of random, not really sellable parts leftover

damn, i had to pay $200 to get my shell towed away. the scrap yards dont take pre '94 cars anymore in my area. so i had to pay a towing company to tow it 2 counties away. :x :evil:

[Schniddy]

damn just push it in freakin a river or lake

[f u z z]

i bet mine is more stipped than that. :o


hammers are fun.

[Marvin_Hecht]

Zimmie - Hey you left the blower motor in there! And the power steering fluid reservoir! And does that dash have any cracks?

Man - I got a ways to go then .... my car (top) and parts car (bottom)
I know - some say that my parts car looks better than my "real" car--
but mine has less oxidation, lots of new internals, and it actually drives!

[ZiMMie]

The dash has 3 cracks in there. there was no blower motor in there. Previous owner did a single wiper swap (modified) and after he wasnt able to fit a blower in there. so it was deleted. and for the reservoir tank i got 2 of those i dont need any more.

[Marvin_Hecht]

Digitalwave & Zimmie,

You both mention or show the leftover shell as capable of rolling. So is that the key ..keep 4 wheels on there (however crappy) so it can be rolled away?

So what else are some of the very sellable parts-- that I haven't mentioned--I am thinking along the lines of the tail lights, BMW kidneys, transmission, motor, battery,spare, toolkit, exhaust...hmm....come to think of it...yes...no one really wants these out of an 86 eta. I even am thiking that if I change the front bumper its not worth just going to a front sports spoiler- I like the 89+ bumper look so much more....