What to do with old car parts?
 

I've got a bunch of junk, notably a few blocks and heads that probably no one will ever want. Will a metal scrap yard take them? I didn't know if the steel sleeved aluminum blocks would be scrappable or not.

Or ideas? I've considered art but I don't really do sculpture.

It's all scrappable, at least w/ the yards I've gone to. If in doubt, give 'em a call. Having that much Al should net you at least a hundred or so.

O wow, real money...

Camden Iron is the best around here, I can give you directions. It's a pretty simple process. I took in a aluminum block with steel sleeves, they didn't care to much, it was seperated from the aluminum that had some steel mixed in. I've done quite a bit of scraping in the past few years, prices were very good, now they are ok.

I'll just check them out on google maps. I've got lots of junk to get rid of. I might keep the camshafts but I don't anyone is gonna miss a bunch of valves, etc :p

Hey, if you want, just bring them with you and drop them off at my house.

Everyone else does...

Nevermind, I just realized the money you're talking about with all that.

Could always craigslist it, never know.

It's hard to find on Google maps and they don't answer the phones, but they pay the most of any scrap yard around here. It's on Atlantic drive, just before the BenFranklin bridge. They got two yards, Ferous and Non-Ferous. The Ferous yard is at the end of Atlantic, closest to the river. The Non-ferous yard is....I think, the second/third left after you exit 676 and go under the overpass. Just follow the broken down truck loaded so heavy the rear bumper is nearly dragging the ground and you should be ok :D
Don't get too excited though, you may just be able to pay for that rubber plug you bought ;) I'd recomend one big trip vs. several small ones.

Here if you have aluminum with steel parts in it like that, they call it dirty aluminum and it brings in about the same as if were cast iron. Which is still pretty good. Scrap prices here are about half what they where they were last summer.

If you have the means to leave them laying around, I might hang on to them for when prices go back up. They probably will when gas goes back to $4.50/gal or more.

Interesting, I noticed that last summer. Why do you suppose the price of gas is related to scrap prices?

Virgin steel needs a lot of energy to make, mostly from coal, and coal prices tend to follow oil prices to a greater or lesser extent depending on how far the coal needs to be transported and how much diesel is used.
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/coal/pa...s/wklyspot.jpg

Specifically, each ton of virgin steel requires about 10000kWh of energy, mostly coal, and recycled steel requires about a quarter of that (2500kWh). For every mile the coal needed for a ton of virgin steel has to travel, it needs about 18kWh of diesel fuel. With large container ships at about 1000+ ton miles per gallon, for every mile a ton of scrap steel has to travel, it needs .042 kWh. So, even with a 6000+ mile trip from the west coast to China, a ton of scrap steel only needs about 240kWh of diesel.

Since virgin steel needs four times more energy than scrap steel, for every mile it needs about 13kWh more energy than scrap does, so even if the coal only has to travel about 15-20 miles to get to the virgin steel making facility, it needs more diesel, and therefore more money, than it takes to send one ton of scrap 6000 miles across the pacific. Granted, I'm glossing over a lot here, since the scrap steel needs to be transported to the American coast and from the Chinese coast inland, and every stage in the handling process incurs additional costs, and diesel prices are just one part of coal prices, but the coal still has to be really close to the steel mills for virgin to cost less than recycled steel because virgin steel is a lot more energy intensive.

edited for error

Great explanation, thank you!

No problem. I screwed up and switched the types of steel, so it's actually closer to ~15-20 miles, but the coal still needs to be really close to steel making to be cheaper than recycled steel.

I also enjoyed and learned much. Also, as far as aluminum is concerned, I believe recycling aluminum only takes about 5% of the energy of virgin aluminum due to the lower melting temperatures of the recycled stuff, though of course I don't know such fancy details :)

Camden Iron didn't seem to be giving out much money compared to what the place right near me is, so I'm not gonna bother with them, I'll just haul it to the nearby place.

When do you think you want that axle, so I don't bury it cleaning up down there.. I just sold my ZC engine and spare head, only got a few more big items to go, and the rest is going in lots at sales.

You can always make stuff from the parts:
281 Modular Coffee Table

Recently, I replaced a driveshaft and wheel bearing assembly on a Ford Windstar. I'm going to make the old driveshaft into a video camera stabilizer and the wheel bearing for something like a rotating TV antenna platform.

That is awesome!

I'm into art. If you can't do it yourself or would be willing to learn, have someone teach you, or if you're too busy, pay someone to do it. Or sell your car parts online instead.

You are actually clearing stuff out, call yourself a man ? :D

I take the parts that are usable and post them for sale online... someone somewhere might be looking for those.

As for the rest, the local recycle yard pays me for bringing junk to their place

just reuse it in anyother way.

Yep, go to any new car dealership. They sell it straight from the factory :D

http://www.campbelllevydesigns.com/03_gallery.html

Engine Block table/Camshaft lamp - LS1TECH (engine block table is shown at bottom)