schwarz

iTrader: (3)

Long story short, I cut up my car. I was sick and tired of it, wanted something new and couldn't sell the sucker for the life of me. Six months of it for sale and no one wanting it, I parted it out. There was nothing wrong with it other than it needed new shocks and had 173K miles on it. It drove nice, handled well, never been in an accident, didn't have any rust on it at all but the midwest just isn't the place to sell these cars evidently. Many a people thought it was a shame I was parting it but it was just a car to me. They come and go. It treated me well the 4 years I had it but it needed to go. So with that being said, here are the pics of before, during and after.

Before:

schwarz

iTrader: (3)

The first step was to get the exterior panels off, strip out the interior and then finally the suspension and engine/trans. For anyone that will do this, take the bolts holding the seats in, out before disconnecting any of the wiring. When you start doing that, the electronics stop working all together. Needless to say, I learned that when I couldn't get the drivers seat to move anywhere and was thus stuck in place. It had to be cut out when the sawzall came out. Anyway, here it is with the exterior and interior removed (save for the seats)...

RockRash

you got me crying

schwarz

iTrader: (3)

Next up was the suspension and engine/trans. The rear suspension drops out as an assembly which was fairly easy. Then the driveshaft came out followed by the engine and trans as an assembly. I got most of the engine torn down to the short block to make it a bit lighter but the thing is still heavy as hell. Again, for anyone wanting to do this, loosen the crank pulley before removing the starter. Once the starter and such comes out, trying to loosen that is impossible. I've tried it all and nothing is budging that bolt.

I don't have any pics of it as it then sat but then I needed the sucker out of my garage. I was nearing a move and needed to find some way to get the shell gone. I called every junkyard in town and no one would touch it because it was a bare shell. I really didn't want to cut it up myself as I had done that before and it's not fun at all. Long story short, I had to cut it up to get it out. For anyone wanting to do this, make arrangements before hand to get the shell gone.

And for anyone that is contemplating parting out their car, it's not an easy thing to do. This is my 6th part out (did Porsche's and VW's before) but by far, the most difficult. The Lexus is apparently put together by people with incredibly small hands so getting a lot of parts out took great effort with many bloody nuckles and lots of swearing. Not to mention the fact that there are TONS of parts on these cars (with each and every one of them intermixed with what seems like miles of wiring).

So here it was as it was being cut and loaded up to be hauled away. The shell is heavier than any other car I've parted and cutting it was a pain. The steel is thick, the frame has tons of reinforcement and it's just a PITA. So there you have it. Yes, these cars are worth way more in parts than as a whole but parting is not for everyone. For anyone curious, this was my first and LAST Lexus I will ever part out.

RockRash

but i understand what you mean i've been there. but i didn't know that once you do all that nothing works afterwords. that's prob about the only thing i dislike about my sc400 to many electronics to screw up

RockRash

do you still have the rotors? if their still in good shape i might could use them, and the struts, fog lights, head lights, hell make a list of anything your willing to sell i could use some extra parts

schwarz

iTrader: (3)

If you undo the window controls and mirrors, the seats stop moving. As well, if you don't have both window controls (D&P) connected, neither will work. All the electronics are inter connected it seems so when one thing goes out, it could be anything. I'm glad I never had an electrical problem in this car, lol!!

schwarz

iTrader: (3)

Everything is gone now for the most part. Rotors and struts went with the shell as scrap. Hell, boxes upon boxes of parts went in the trash because I was moving and didn't want to move them. That's another thing, don't part out a car if you don't have room or time to sit on parts.

RukusSC300

dangn those seats are still good! haha no one tookthem seats?

redforeva

iTrader: (2)

Dang, you could get those sold easily here in socal :/

schwarz

iTrader: (3)

Nope. The motors and heaters still worked great but the leather was showing it's age. No rips or tears but they were cracked and dry. Like I said, the drivers seat had to be cut out so I wasn't too worried about saving them. Could've taken out the motors and heaters and sold em separate but seats are a dime a dozen. And no way in hell I was going to try and ship one!

schwarz

iTrader: (3)

Every part I sold went to California or Florida. I'm in Nebraska and I can count the number of SC's here on one hand. They are few and far between.

RockRash

around this part of NC i dont see any sc's or very many lexus vehicles (the one you do see are driven by older ppl and the ugly ones are driven by ppl that dont give a **** about their cars. but when i go to SC i see nothing but nice well kept clean lexus cars and suv's like ppl actually have taste.

mak89

iTrader: (6)

How much where you asking?
What is the process of parting out a car? I know every state probably varies
How much you think you'll make?

k7q

iTrader: (37)

haha what did you cut it up with? sawzall?