Copper wiring questions

i mainly scrap junk cars and such. anyway was wondering would it be worth my time to take out automotive wiring? (cooper,aluminum?)also how about aluminum wiring? i do pick up some scrap metal from time to time but normaly very little. far as stripping wire what type of wire stripping tools you guys use? all i have is a is a pair of wire cutters and a hobby knife. soon as i save up some more money would like to invest in a better wiring stripping tool. any ideas?

I haven't taken wire out of a car, but I don't think there is enough there to be worth your time. Most is small gauge and strapped down quite well. seams to be a pain for the gain

what i have so far i have stripped the inslation off. should i not be doing that? so far its #12 wire or bigger. i have tryed little bit of that real small wire and to me seems like a pain to cut more thans its worth time wise. i don't plan on selling the wire right away. its more like my reserve for in the winter monthes when things are slow along with my aluminum cans,cats,car batterys,starter,alt,a/c compressors and now copper wiring. i more less just toss in each pile and sit on it for winter monthes or till i have a truck load and need some money.

Jord...how much in lbs would you say comes out of a car? Just for my own curiosity. I take any wire I can get as it all adds up, an I get decent prices for it left whole, no need for me to strip the thin stuff. Average of course, in your experience.

thanks ahead of time!

Sirscrapalot - Curiosity knows no bounds. - I dunno, you tell me.

Cory you answered my question in a round about way...so thank you!

If that's the case..why wouldn't you remove the wire? An another question, Cory or Jord, or someone who pulls wire...Is that the easy to get wire, or all of it?

I ask cause I may have the chance to scrap one with a buddy, as it's his car. lol. I like wire, I take it from any an everything if it has it. I get close to a 1.00 lb for the thin stuff, so it's worth it for me to take all wire, when I come across it.

Maybe I'll just bug you guys in private so the OP doesn't get mad at me for asking in his thread.

Apologies to the OP, seemed to go with your thread.

Sirscrapalot - Off to find his answer..somewhere.

When I scrapped a car I popped off the left fender and there was a big part of the harness. We hooked it up to the truck and pulled but it didn't really come out. So I cut that out, yanked what I could out of the engine compartment. Smashed the **** out of the dash and ripped what I could out of there. Might as well get that heatercore out too. Then I relalized there was wiring under the seats so I yanked that out- carpet rips easily. Of course it goes without saying to remove the battery and airbag for safety reasons. Oh yeah be careful with the gear shifter. The one I scrapped was in the center counsle and I had busted it up getting wiring. Then when we loaded it it didn't want to move but we finally got it. If we wouldn't of been able to move it, we would of cut the brake line and then deal with fluid.

Quote Originally Posted by Sirscrapalot View Post
Jord...how much in lbs would you say comes out of a car? Just for my own curiosity. I take any wire I can get as it all adds up, an I get decent prices for it left whole, no need for me to strip the thin stuff. Average of course, in your experience.

thanks ahead of time!

Sirscrapalot - Curiosity knows no bounds. - I dunno, you tell me.
To be honest, I Really havent weighed the wire from each car individually. I just dump it all into a 55 gal drum.

That's a good question, SirS. The following link says that there is 15 - 28 Kg of copper in a vehicle. I assume that includes everything - motors, alternators, wiring , etc. That's still a lot more than I would have thought.

Copper recycling and sustainability - End of life vehicles

Otto, thank you, an Jord thank you also. Double thanks to Otto actually for reminding me, Google can be my friend.

Didn't even think to Google it, of course, doing anything other then one thing at a time on this laptop pretty much annoys me to the point I need to get the hammer an go break things. lol.

An Jord...consider yourself slapped. or chaired if you prefer..

Sirscrapalot - Who knew smilies could be so much fun.