On the fence, and fun junkyard pictures

I went to visit a non-local junkyard with my father today and found some stuff that is having me consider making a second trip later this week. I am undecided if I should open this can of worms project however.

So to start I will post fun pictures of neat things in the yard;

Yes, its a toyota, but what is this?

It is a remote mounted supercharger (Clutch activated) and an intercooler.

Up next is a buick with complete driveline, lots of rust and mice homes, but suprising amount of good trim;

More mice and rust: Sprint turbo 3! pretty complete;

Unfortunately I didn't notice the sun washed out the pic of this sweet turbo script steering wheel.

an amazing full set of wheels with radials on an old pontiac :

Now the dillemma:

the yard has a '94 miata with what I believe to be a complete torsion rear. My determining factor was the car has power mirrors...

Also are 2 lexus 1uzfe's marked running condition that appear complete.

A couple of jeep's with ax-15 manual 5 speed trans.

The negatives holding me back:

The miata is rusty. The steel diff carrier is RUSTY. So rusty the bolts holding the steel and aluminum carrier together are round rust blobs. The cast steel part is flaking huge bits of oxide. So if I could get it out, it may be destined to be weak and leak..

The 1uzfe and ax15; I really want to do this BUT my 1.6 miata runs perfectly, the AC blows cold and it uses very little gas. The JY ax15 would need a tail housing as they are attached to transfercases. This particular JY is notorious for nickle and diming, so if I pulled the v8, they would charge me for the starter, 8 injectors, intake and exhaust manifolds, wiring, ecm etc, etc.. They don't have listing for a dressed engine as they charge for every bit..

Soo, I could go home, prep all my tools and penetrating oils, study dissassembly diagrams, travel back on tues (next day they are open) and

-get the complete torsion setup. Pay $50 for the diff, $30 for each cv and $30 for the driveshaft, leave happy but poor. clean and install another day.

-Drink lots of coffee, spend the day there, limp out with an aluminum dohc v8, a relatively sturdy 5 speed and either the torsion rear or something else I find (2 caddy cattera's there, couple bmw's, the lexus rear, I don't know, did't do research). And a plan to destroy my functional car for a few years while I bankrupt myself.

Final twister; I have no current garage access and probably won't for the next 6months to a year..

How would you spend my money and sanity?

On hookers and blow. Itll wind up the same in the end.

Dusterbd13 wrote: On hookers and blow. Itll wind up the same in the end.

This guy knows what's what.
You should get those Pontiac wheels though. You could base a whole project around those.
And there was a factory supercharged Previa I believe. Toyota alien van awesomeness.

Supercharged Previa: "We couldn't fit a V6 under the driver's seat"

Buy diff setup, sell for huge profits regardless of condition. THEN hookers and blow!

I'd have snagged all those Buick port holes before the rat rodders do.

Junkyard_Dog wrote: Buy diff setup, sell for huge profits regardless of condition. THEN hookers and blow!

^^^This..

Take hookers to junkyard, let them dismantle parts for blow.

I was about to say none of the above since you don't have room. But I have no room to criticize.

I have been buying things like turbo manifolds, chrome trim from old cars, supercharger and turbos for years.

It usually only takes a decade or two after I buy it for the junk to become valuable.

Step 1. Hookers. Step 2. tools. Step 3, camera. Step 4?????? Step 5, BLOW! \

Check with some of the MR2 guys, the Previa might have a "grunt box" that is worth a bit on the MR2 forums as well.

Without a doubt you should grab the Buick trim, the Pontiac wheels and the rear end from the Miata.

The internals of the Miata diff will have been coated in oil their whole life (most likely). The condition of the carrier shouldn't stop you.

The internet enabling and my memory supression helped me forget how miserable pulling used parts from rusty cars in junkyards really is.

I spent my entire day off pulling the diff. I broke a breaker bar getting the half shaft hub nuts off only to realize they will not be freed from the hub. The PPF bolts snapped off inside the carrier, I haven't been able to drive them out so I will probably end up drilling out both... Fortunately the trans end came off, I was about to attack the ppf with my battery powered sawzall.

Needless to say, I checked out the 1uz's on my way out and saw enough rusted fastners to realize there is no such thing as a quick engine pull in a yard up north. Someday..

I got the driveshaft, both u joints are bad. I got the calliper brackets, probably the only good parts. I got the speedo gear, it is noticeably worn. For all I know this car had 500,000 miles (dash gone). And sometimes I think this is fun.....

You dont have to take the axles out of the hubs to get a miata diff carrier out.

Are you sure it is a Torsen diff?

I dislike working in non-rusty Texas junkyards enough that i probably wouldnt have tried to pull that unless i was 100% sure it was Torsen. But i am also a little annoyed at my local junkyards after some changes of ownership etc.

Weather is also a factor here. It is usually too damn hot at this time of year to be crawling the yards. But that is also the reason any moisture that makes it to the surface will quickly evaporate before it can rust anything.

Mount the supercharger from the Previa onto the Buick Straight 8, and install that into the Sprint.

Things to bring to an "Up north" junkyard if you want to get parts off quick:

Tip it over so you can get at it with....

Cut the brackets with...

In reply to Giant Purple Snorklewacker:

Exactly! Then fine-tune dismantling at home... In the shade, with fewer bees and spiders.

^that man knows so much.

"Do you have a Chevy Astro steering box?"

"The hell you want that for?!"

"Jeep"

"Okay then!"

It was out in 15 minutes, and I can safely say that there wasn't a single ratchet used. Pry bars, gas-powered chop saw, and oxy-acetylene. They literally cut the front of the van out around it with the exact opposite of surgical precision, haha.

In reply to daytonaer:

I'm from Texas, what is all that flaky reddish brown stuff on the diff?

Ojala wrote: In reply to daytonaer: I'm from Texas, what is all that flaky reddish brown stuff on the diff? In MA we call it life.

I wanted the cv's because there shorter than my '91's. I left them there.

I'm trusting internet lore and assuming it's a torsion because the car had powermirrors and the damper on the neck. Even if it's open I will look for rx7 internals for the cast carrier as I have a '91.

The yard employees cutting torch removal for engine pulls if you pay their flat labor rate, unfortunately if I do a 1uz swap I will want the wiring harness and all sensors/ brackets, and they blast those with bolt cutters and torches. If you want it done right do it yourself kind of thing.

Weather was rough on tues, predicted rain but got sunny and 95, but I survived!

I still love finding useless treasures in these type of yards, I'm just less enthused about collecting them :-p

I have a room full of stuff I don't need from junkyards, but got because I thought they were cool. Fiberglass hood with custom scoop from early 70s van, Trofeo digital dash, early 70s Ford cab lights, vintage roof rack....I have also developed a thing for vintage vinyl low back vans seats and I don't know why, but I love those things as long as they're in great shape.

Torsion rear ? I thought Miata's had coil springs.

Ojala wrote: In reply to daytonaer: I'm from Texas, what is all that flaky reddish brown stuff on the diff?

Pain. Hours of pain.

Ojala wrote: In reply to daytonaer: I'm from Texas, what is all that flaky reddish brown stuff on the diff?

It's Yankee Visene usually.