So I'm gonna be living somewhere for a year only, renting a garage without electricity, how long will it take a guy who has only ever done routine car maintenance, i.e changing brake pads, oil etc to completely strip everything from the shell and scrap it? I want to have a lockup full of engine, gearbox and diff etc as soon as possible

I'd love to hear how long it took you to do it. Obviously I've never taken a car apart before so I can't really estimate it, but if I had access to an angle grinder it would drop excessively!

Cheers,
Pete

Depends how meticulous you are, and how much time you've got.

Took me about a weekend to strip a car down to a shell with two of us.

Probably four full weekends if you've never done it before and you're on your own (some things are tricky without a helping hand).


Mind you, when I did it I removed the entire wiring loom without damaging any connectors, and removed trim sympathetically as I was reselling it. If you don't bother with that, it'll cut down the amount it takes in half.


You may need a grinder anyway if some of the bolts (thinking exhaust in particular) refuse to budge.

Took 2 of us 2 days to strip mine, no power tools either, hacksawed through front cross member to make engine removal easier & you can keep it then because the chassis plate is on it

My Dad also helped us by marking up the wiring loom as it was taken out, we removed everything apart from windows,doors & fuel tank.

If you remove the 'whole' rear end in one lump, make sure you loosen the hub nuts whilst its still on the car, its a tricky job once its off the car due to the torque that they are done up too.

Sounds good, where in hertfordshire are you?

Did mine in a weekend, however if you're a bit more selective - taking out the bits you need rather than reducing as far as poss, you could get engine/box/rear end/column etc out in 4 - 5 hours taking your time. Half that if you go for it

ATB

Simon

Mine took weeks but I had a nice dry garage to do it in and was in no rush,engine & gearbox will take the longest,have a plan for the shell to ie when the axles are removed how are you going to move it? I used old airport trollers I 'found'

I think I remember looking at your build thread lewis! I'm going to be commencing the strip during my work placement down in Littlehampton so you may be the closest person to me at that point

So I should be well within the timeframe of a year :p and I suppose if worse comes to worse and I need to sell, the parts have 'gained value' as they have been pre stripped from the donor and I got to exercise my hacksaw arm!

Cheers for all the help guys,
Pete

If using hacksaw power remember good solid frame and quality branded (e.g. eclipse) blades - some chinese bit of junk from poundland is not the way to go.

Ah, car stripping! My speciality!

Me and my grinder could reduce it to component parts in half an hour or so!!!

Depends how good you are at figuring out how things come apart.

Have stripped a Sierra in a day before now...with occasional help from SWMBO...but a weekend is probably a good yardstick...

If you can get some mates round to help you, it makes the time go faster and the job easier...

[Edited on 12/3/12 by stevebubs]