Whatever!!!!!!!!! Gearhead-EFI Edition

[joegreen]

I can't stand my junkyard. I want to change over from a flex fan to a fan clutch on my 78 k20. Last time I went to the junkyard I was told $40 for a fan and clutch combo. I thought that was high at the time but after a little research I decided that was fair. So today I look around for about an hour an find a fan and clutch I want out of an 87 suburban with rear a/c. I go back to the counter and told him about the $40 for the combo the last time i was here. So he says $40? Uh yeah we fired that guy its $75 now. Oh yeah I'm sure you fired the owner. You are going to sell me a 28 year old part for more than I can buy new. You have so many fan clutches why charge extreme prices. I can understand maybe a newer car but a rusted out old part?

[JeepsAndGuns]

I know what you mean there. We have a yard around here like that too. I simply choose to not ever go there. I take my business to more reasonable yards. I prefer pull-a-part myself. Low prices, same price for a part regardless of what it came from, and you pull it yourself. Sometimes they might not have quite the selection of vehicles as the other yards, but what they don't have, I find online.

[joegreen]

If their prices were reasonable they would have gotten a lot of money from me over the years. A while back i wanted a center cap horn piece for my truck and they wanted $30. Thats so crazy high for what it is (at least a 30 year old piece of plastic) . I was walking in the yard the other day and just saw it laying in the mud. They are also choosy on what they sell. I wanted a new plastic piece that covered all my gauges because my old one was yellowed from the sun. They wouldn't sell it separate from the whole instrument panel. Im fine with that if the panel was all mint but when its just hanging their out of the dash and things are broken and pieces are missing from it and you still dont want to sell it ill bring my money somewhere else. Looks like im on the lookout for some new junkyards to explore. I have a couple good leads within 20 miles of my house. Ill have to call and get some quotes on fan and clutch combos.

[Six_Shooter]

I'm really embracing the "one price fits all" yards anymore. The prices are usually low to start with and for the parts that I usually want, they are plentyful. Only a few times have I completely struk out on something specific, but I usually find other stuff anyway. lol

The saving grace for other stuff is that I know the owner('s son) of the local yard and he usually treats me pretty well on stuff. :)

[JeepsAndGuns]

I have a couple good leads within 20 miles of my house.

Sometimes you gotta drive a little. The pull-a-part I go to a lot is about a 45 min drive away from me.

[Six_Shooter]

Sometimes you gotta drive a little. The pull-a-part I go to a lot is about a 45 min drive away from me.

Yep, the one that I go to most is about 35 minutes away, there is another about 10 minutes away from it, and another is about 30 minutes away. But even if there's not great, there's always something worth getting.

[1project2many]

Is it a bad thing when you view a craigslist ad from another state and immediately recognize that a) the vehicle being sold is in a salvage yard, and b) you know which yard even though it's probably been 10 years since you visited it? Worse yet, the photos didn't really show anything remarkable... a few cars parked together with trees in the back were the clue.

I don't do business with yards that don't deal. I try to help the places that help me because there are fewer and fewer of them all the time. More recently all the places that buy scrap metal (not automotive salvage yards, but the metal recyclers) have been bought by a large company and the new policy is not to sell anything. Where I was once able to buy used cylinder heads for $.20/lb and stainless steel sheets for $.35/lb now I can't get anything. There's one place left but their selection isn't great because their payout isn't so great. It's going to hurt if they close.

FWIW, scrap steel is heading down in price and some analysts are predicting $0 per ton by Christmas. Maybe the "I won't deal" type yards will have a change of heart soon?

[ony]

this is kindof off the subject, some forums don't seam to like things when you get close to helping someone fix their vehechale other than the adminstaters, I love this forum it wants ever ones wisdom on a subject I wont say case in point I just feel sorry for the man trying to fix a electricale issue when it sound like a mechanical issue.

[1project2many]

Yep... we grow 'em here too.

https://nh.craigslist.org/cto/5303145362.html

[steveo]

my new winter shoes

255/75/16 truck rears, 205/50/16 passenger car fronts.

my neck feels a bit red right now.

[1project2many]

lol... I did that with a set of Desert Duelers on a 73 Omega many, many years ago.

[RobertISaar]

I've done this a bit as well.... only 235/75-15s in place of 205/70-15s though, nowhere near as dramatic.

[1project2many]

Test setup to file ring end gaps. Ring being used is from an old air compressor. 14" cutoff wheel is attached to brake lathe and ring is clamped to rotor cutting attachment.

[Six_Shooter]

That seems excessive...

I once made on out of some threaded rod a wide piece of U channel and a cut off disc for a grinder...

[1project2many]

Found an ad for an '87 Monte Carlo with Edelbrock Performance Everything. Can't seem to find a performance Everything in the Edelbrock catalog though.