spend a day with a p... s... (that's part scrounger)

[aukc]

spent the day at the "not so local" pick-a-part. It's about an hours drive, which turned into a 2 hour trip home at the end of the day thanks to the moron that flipped his car on the highway and the other moron that stalled their car on the bridge. So 3 hours spent on the road wasn't much fun, but at the yard had my way with 13 bonneville wrecks. I'll post a list of the stuff I got and the prices.

[Jrs3800]

Good god... You have a lot of Bonnevilles in your yard...

[aukc]

when I found out they had 13 bonneys at their yard, that's when I decided it would be worth the trip. I don't know why so many recent wrecks, is it the "cash for clunkers" program, poor road system. lousy drivers, bad weather (actually a very mild winter this year) or is this yard trying to corner the market on bonneville wrecks? regardless it was good news for me.

I've got all I want for now, so unless something unexpected breaks on my car, I'll check with them again in a few months to see if any fresh wrecks come in before I make another trip

[harofreak00]

Those cars look untouched, how long have they been there? I dont see any missing hoods, fenders or doors..

[aukc]

Those cars look untouched, how long have they been there?

Most of them are dated as follows:

- 09 Nov
- 10 Mar

- 09 Sep
- 09 Aug

- 09 Jul
- 10 Jun

- 09 Sep
- ?

- 10 Apr
- 09 Oct

- ?
- 09 Nov

- ?

[aukc]

here's the list of what I bought:

Left (driver) headlight from 1992 with Pontiac script on lens (perfect – no cracks or chips) - $24.95
Left & right rear SSE exhaust shields (perfect – no scrape marks) - $5.00 each
Windshield washer reservoir lid (perfect – painted lettering, thumb tab not broken, instruction tag - $1.00
Front srs sensor (perfect – no corrosion, warning decal - $30.00
Front CCR struts (complete with springs, mounting plates) - $19.95 each
Radiator header panel (perfect warning & instruction labels, correct for 3800 SC) - $9.95
Center console lid (perfect shape - tan leather, latch not broken) - $9.95
Rear coil springs - $9.95 each
Rear CCR struts - $19.95 each
Vacuum hoses for 3800 SC almost complete set (good shape – metal tubes & preformed rubber hoses with ends) - $1.95
Onboard air compressor (perfect shape – no corrosion, factory paint mark, complete with mounting bracket) - $30.00
Gas filler door (wrong color, but has perfect premium fuel warning label) - $4.95

[John Deere Boy]

You took the struts and springs off in a junkyard? Impressive. Around here, i'd have to cut down tree sized weeds and lay in a puddle to get anything under a junkyard bonnie.

[aukc]

this place is what every u-pull-it yard should be. it is flat, the whole thing is graveled, so I just used the spare tire cover from one of the wrecks as a mat. don't know what it would be like in the rainy season (which around here is about 9 months of the year) but right now the ground is bone dry. no weeds at all, makes me wonder if they might be spraying the place with weed-kill every once in a while.

every car is elevated on 4 pairs of welded steel rims, wheels already removed, cars layed out in very organized, numbered rows with room between each car to fully open doors. Didn't have to go under the car at any time to do complete 4-strut removal, but wouldn't have been any problem to go under a car if I needed to (just use the spare tire cover to avoid getting cut up on the gravel).

I'd never before pulled a strut off a bonneville (or any other car, for that matter) and I had all 4 off in about 2 hours, the rears took a little longer than the front cause you have to pull the rear seat. Fortunately the struts have never been touched (which is probably the only way you'll find CCR struts on a bonney) so the strut nuts hadn't been "air gun welded", everything came apart really easy.

It was kind of sad, the car I pulled them from is this one:


which was a beautiful black '95 supercharged SLE, looks like it took a very small hit in the front end, driver side, bumper pushed back a bit, headlight broken, fender shattered, hood buckled a little, air bags did not deploy, looks like it could have been an easy fix, but I hate to say it, but these are not worth very much (blue book, red book, what ever color book you want to go by) so they're an automatic write-off with just the slightest damage.

[repinS]

Wow, that's great selection. I went to one of the yards here a couple weeks ago and all they had was a well-stripped and rotten 1994 SE.

[aukc]

our cars are almost twins

[aukc]

here's a view of the place:

[aukc]

Went back yesterday, here's what I found (or mostly didn't find):

- new one

- Gone
- then - now

- Gone
- Gone

- Gone
- then - now

- Gone
- Gone

- then - now
- Gone

- then - now
- Gone

- Gone

[willwren]

I'd never before pulled a strut off a bonneville (or any other car, for that matter) and I had all 4 off in about 2 hours, the rears took a little longer than the front cause you have to pull the rear seat. Fortunately the struts have never been touched (which is probably the only way you'll find CCR struts on a bonney) so the strut nuts hadn't been "air gun welded", everything came apart really easy.

There's no reason to pull the rear seat to get the rear struts out unless you couldn't open the trunk.

[aukc]

good point, I should not have said that "you have to pull the rear seat". It was my choice to pull the rear seat, since that is the procedure for rear strut removal as recommended in the '95 H-body service manual. But the service manual procedures are only guidelines. I considered going in thru the trunk, but at the time I judged it to be more straight-forward to take the time to remove the rear seat, rather than the contortions of going in thru the trunk, working by feel, the risk of dropping a tool or strut mounting nut into some crevasse, also wanted to use it as a "practice run" to prepare for when I might want perform a rear strut replacement on my car.

Having now done it this way, if I were to attempt another rear strut removal from a wreck, I would try going in by the trunk first.