Parting Cars

[NotColtonOrr]

I've never parted a car before but it looks like I may be tearing apart my 88 325is soon. I know there are a ton of factors to take in to account but I wanted to get a rough estimate of how much people usually make when doing so.

So what's the most you've made, the least you've made, and what you would consider an average amount?

[TurboJake]

Hard to say, because to sell everything takes a LONG time. Unless you completely blow everyone out of the water for pricing, then it takes a little shorter LONG time.

Don't do it unless you have room to keep all the shit until people buy it.

[NotColtonOrr]

The reason i might be doing this is because I have the opportunity to buy another 88 325is in much better condition for 1700. Runs great. No rust.

The car i might be parting is my daily driver at the moment. Bought it last summer without doing a thorough inspection. I was a 17 year old bmw noob and just wanted a 5 speed so bad so i bought it. Terrible decision and i absolutely regret it but I'm stuck with it now. It runs like shit, clutch is going, rust/rot on the passenger seat floor panel, needs a new driveshaft... the list goes on.

I also have an 86 325e and I just don't have the room for 3 cars but I have room for parts. So parting it out makes sense.

I feel like I have a better chance of making more money from parting it out then selling it complete.

[CrusherCurtis]

$1700....No rust.....What color?

[NotColtonOrr]

Delphin. I was kinda sceptical of it too at first. My mechanic (been around bmw's for 30 years, really trust the guy) told me about it and showed me about 7k in work receipts that he did for the guys car in the past couple years. It just sits at the dudes house and he's looking to get something newer. I checked it out the the other day, had a huge checklist of things to look over on it and i'm about 90% sure im gonna buy it.

Its not perfect. But i think its worth my money.

[flyboyx]

i part cars all the time. the biggest pain in the butt is getting rid of the carcass once you are finished and it no longer rolls.

run ads on your vancuver craigs. the forums, and ebay. if you stay on top of it, you can probably get a grand out of each car in 6 or 8 months. then about 150.00 for each body shell at the junk yard. you will find quickly that there are some parts that likely won't sell at any price.

from experience, i can say that what really sells well are factory options, good leather sport interiors, lsd's, plastic bumpers, good clean rust free sheet metal(fenders and hood only), good engines, 5 speed transmissions, late model valances, and aftermarket parts.

if you don't have any of those items, your income potential is limited because buyers will be hard to find for stuff you can get off any old random e30. other than what the junk yard will give you of course.

this doesn't apply to you but i have always made the best money parting z3's. i purchased one for 600 bucks and made close to 3500.00 just selling stuff off it. i once picked up a z3 m roadster. i kept the seats, engine, diff and suspension, but still broke even on the car after i sold off most of the other parts.

[slammin.e28]

Parting cars, at least for me, sucks dick.

I hate it. Storing shit, pulling shit. I always seem to not make enough to make it worth my time.

[TurboJake]

from experience, i can say that what really sells well are factory options, good leather sport interiors, lsd's, plastic bumpers, good clean rust free sheet metal(fenders and hood only), good engines, 5 speed transmissions, late model valances, and aftermarket parts.

I can add upon this and say late model tails if they're in good condition, maplight mirrors, uncracked dashes, I clusters, wiring harnesses, 885 heads.

Seeing as your buying another one. It's not a bad idea to tear it down and keep spare parts, rather than selling them. I can't tell you how many times I've had the luxury of saying "Well shit, my XXXX has shit the bed/broken", only to just go downstairs, pull it off the shelf and replace it.

It was really nice refreshing an entire rear subframe outside of the car, and just swapping the new one in over. I did a LOT more than just that at the time, so it was REALLY nice being able to refresh everything without the car ever being down.

[TobyB]

the biggest pain in the butt is getting rid of the carcass once you are finished and it no longer rolls.

Milwaukee. Sawzall.

That said, I only part 'em when there's no other option. I figure if I make 1k less on a whole
car over the parts, I'm saving myself well over 100 hrs of work. Not to mention all
the time spent on email, text, phone, mailing crap, yadda yadda...

t

[NotColtonOrr]

Seeing as your buying another one. It's not a bad idea to tear it down and keep spare parts, rather than selling them. I can't tell you how many times I've had the luxury of saying "Well shit, my XXXX has shit the bed/broken", only to just go downstairs, pull it off the shelf and replace it.

It was really nice refreshing an entire rear subframe outside of the car, and just swapping the new one in over. I did a LOT more than just that at the time, so it was REALLY nice being able to refresh everything without the car ever being down.

I think I'm gonna go that route too. There's a lot of parts I wanna swap over to this new car and a bunch of other parts I'd like to keep as spares. Having a spare rear subframe is a great idea.

I doubt I'll make as much money as I'd like too parting this car out. But at least I'll have a back up of damn near every part that can fail haha.

[Stanley Rockafella]

I've never parted a car before but it looks like I may be tearing apart my 88 325is soon. I know there are a ton of factors to take in to account but I wanted to get a rough estimate of how much people usually make when doing so.

So what's the most you've made, the least you've made, and what you would consider an average amount?

how many kms?

[NotColtonOrr]

A little over 300k. The previous owner had some kamei side skirts on it and decided it would be best to install them by putting a nail through the body of the car. Now I got two 4 inch rust spots with holes on each side.

It's rotting/rusting directly under the feet of someone who would be sitting on the passenger side rear seat. Rust by the rear tow hook. An 8 inch rusted crack below the driver side passenger window

Needs new driveshaft and clutch. Head needs a rebuild.

Does all this sound like good reasons to part the car? The body is just too rusted and needs way too much work.

[TurboJake]

I rock a rusted body, because quite frankly, a rusty e30 is better than no e30.

[NotColtonOrr]

Very true. Now I'm starting to second guess myself haha.

The plan was to take this car from BC, Canada to Cali on a road trip in mid July but now with all these problems popping up on the car I just don't know if I can trust it.

So my options are either throw some more money at this rust bucket and get the engine running smoother and the driveshaft replaced and hope it can handle the long ass trip

Or purchase the other 325is in much better condition in every aspect, do some minor maintenance and also hope it can handle the long ass trip haha.